Lawyers keep telling judges that former president Donald Trump has immunity regarding everything that happened on January 6. US District Judge Amit Mehta wasn’t buying it and called the charge “simply inappropriate”. The judge was dealing with the meaning of Trump’s refusal to call off the rioters for 187 crucial minutes during the insurrection as they stormed the Capitol building.
About 50 of the more than 720 people charged in the Capitol invasion and destruction have been found guilty, although punishments have tended to be lenient despite the deaths and millions of dollars in damages. Lawyers are finding plenty of work on all sides of this conflict.
The evidence of a planned coup against itself by Donald Trump’s government grows almost daily. We learn this because an elaborate PowerPoint document outlining multiple approaches to stop Biden’s installation as president was created and circulated by then chief of staff Mark Meadows.
Lawyers on both sides of the election controversies in the USA will be busy for the next several years. The result of their efforts will determine if American Democracy survives in its current 233-year-old form or becomes an authoritarian state run by a minority political party.