Donald Trump thought he was done with the feds.
After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that Trump had broad immunity from a series of federal investigations, Trump loudly declared that he had triumphed over Special Counsel Jack Smith.
But on Tuesday, Smith filed a revised indictment, again charging Trump with illegally scheming to overturn his election loss in 2020, an effort which triggered an attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump was furious, denouncing prosecutors and posting a stream of internet memes depicting everything from Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in orange prison jumpsuits to calls for public military tribunals for Barack Obama.
“This is merely an attempt to INTERFERE WITH THE ELECTION,” Trump bellowed on his Truth Social website.
While Trump — so far — has been able to avoid a trial related to his efforts to illegally stay in power after the 2020 election, hundreds of his supporters have not been so lucky.
And that’s on an almost daily display at the federal courthouse near the Capitol.
In the courtrooms, it’s a sad sight to watch. You see a procession of people who upended their lives for Trump, fully believing his torrent of lies about election fraud which led to the Capitol attack on Jan. 6.
“I made a costly error,” acknowledged David Arredondo of Texas, who was sentenced to nearly three years in prison. Video showed Arredondo repeatedly fighting with police outside the Capitol, at one point joining a crowd that pinned two officers behind the giant Rotunda doors.
FBI documents are filled with examples of Jan. 6 suspects denying that they clashed with police or rushed into the Capitol — only to be shown pictures and video of them doing exactly that.
“The Court is accustomed to defendants who refuse to accept they did anything wrong,” federal judge Royce Lamberth said at one sentencing.
“We can’t let people — even in a protest — assault the police,” Lamberth said at another, as he bemoaned the ‘meritless justifications of criminal activity’ by supporters of Trump.
After Labor Day, Trump is reportedly holding a Jan. 6 ‘Awards Gala’ at his New Jersey golf club to honor those who rioted at the Capitol — people whom he often calls ‘patriots,’ and has talked about pardoning, as GOP leaders rally behind him, no questions asked.
“Donald Trump continues to be the most persecuted politician in the history of our country,” declared House Speaker Mike Johnson.
But unlike those who have been arrested, convicted, and jailed for their actions on Jan. 6, Trump may not face trial anytime soon — if at all.
Jamie Dupree has covered national politics and Congress from Washington, D.C. since the Reagan administration. His column appears weekly in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For more, check out his Capitol Hill newsletter at http://jamiedupree.substack.com
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