This January 6 marks the two-year anniversary of the riots at the Capitol, carried out by a mob convinced that, in 2020, the presidency was stolen from Donald Trump. The event, which President Biden characterized as the “worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War,” has been used by Democrats for political gain.
Yet two years after the riots, the ruling party has been unable to provide any solid evidence that former President Donald Trump planned an “insurrection” in Washington to try to stay in power. Still, Democrats may be brazen enough to try to impeach the former president, regardless of the political risks involved, observers told.
On December 22, the House Committee investigating the attack on the Capitol released its final report, accusing Trump of a “multi-party conspiracy” to nullify the 2020 election and “block the transfer of can”. He also accuses him of orchestrating the riot at the headquarters of the US legislature.
Several days earlier, the committee voted to refer Donald Trump and several of his allies to the Justice Department on criminal charges including insurrection, obstruction of official proceeding, as well as making false statements and conspiring to defraud the government. If an investigation continues and if Trump is tried, convicted and imprisoned, he could spend the rest of his life in prison, in addition to being disqualified from running for office.
But there is something that the Democrats are not considering. Political analyst and associate professor of history at Alfred State College of the State University of New York, Dr. Nicholas Waddy, explained to Sputnik that there are extreme political risks if the Democrats continue their attempt to impeach the former president.
“The evidence that Trump violated the law will revolve around the fact that he allegedly did not take aggressive enough steps to prevent potential violence from threatening lawmakers on January 6, 2021. Prosecutors would have to argue that the events of that day were clearly foreseeable by Trump and that he sought to achieve them.The problem is that no one foresaw the riot on Capitol Hill, including Democrats in Congress, who took little if any action to increase security in what would surely be a tense day (…) Prosecutors could also argue that Trump contemplated taking extra-constitutional measures to extend his term, although in reality he did not comply with any of the proposed actions,” Waddy said.
The professor believes that the fact that the evidence against Trump is “spectacularly weak” does not guarantee that the justice system will acquit him. “The Department of Justice is populated with enemies of Trump, as is much of the judicial system, not to mention the potential pool of juries in Washington, the deepest blue jurisdiction in America. It is highly questionable that the most hated man in the country, and probably the world, can get a fair trial,” he said.
“However, impeaching Trump would carry risks for both the Justice Department and Democrats, particularly in the event that a trial ends in an acquittal or an embarrassing mistrial. In addition, a trial would likely increase public sympathy for Trump.” , even among the Republicans who have moved, making him, in fact, a political prisoner and a martyr,” the specialist explained.
That way, if Trump is jailed and prosecuted, this would also “effectively reset” the field of Republican candidates for 2024, increasing the likelihood that a more eligible Republican, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, will take his place, according to with the teacher.
“DoJ prosecutors and Democratic Party officials would have to ask themselves: Is it really worth trying to nail Trump to the wall through the justice system?” Waddy questions.
However, he also notes that Joe Biden’s party may calculate that a trial would keep Trump busy “and drag him through the mud, possibly even leave him in jail pending trial,” limiting his effectiveness as a candidate in 2024 and would justify the risk.
Much ado About Nothing
Still, former President Donald Trump dismissed the findings of the House Committee’s investigation, accusing what he called the “Democratic Bureau of Investigation” of trying to get him, and likened the year-and-a-half, $9 million investigations to a failed impeachment trial.
“The criminal references made by the January 6 Committee regarding President Trump are an exercise in political persecution and wish fulfillment,” Waddy said.
For his part, Sergio Arellano, a member of the Latinos for Trump advisory board, told Sputnik that the January 6 investigation has proven to be a “political witch hunt,” as Trump has repeatedly described it, and assured that the test long-promised, about the criminal behavior of the former president and his allies, never materialized in the year-and-a-half investigation.
Additionally, he suggested that there are plenty of politicians who actually deserve to be held criminally accountable for much more serious charges than the ones brought against Trump. For example, Nancy Pelosi and her husband for the alleged use of privileged information. Likewise, Hunter and Joe Biden, for the alleged pay scandal, as well as Hillary Clinton, for the deleted emails. In contrast, Arellano points out, Trump, who was “the only person who exposed what really happens in politics,” is the only one attacked.