DONALD TRUMP

Newsweek -  Critics of President-elect Donald Trump have taken to the streets of Washington, D.C., to urge Congress to block him from taking power, citing the 14th Amendment....

An effort is underway to urge Congress through peaceful protest to block Trump from taking office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which states, "No person shall ... hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath ... to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof."

Newsweek -  Donald Trump has accused Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the president-elect's hush money trial, of being "corrupt" ahead of his sentencing this week. 

The Guardian -  As Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House, politicians, legal observers and even sitting federal judges are expressing alarm about his stated intention to pardon or offer commutations to supporters who attacked the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 and were then convicted of crimes.

Clemency for those who sought to block certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory “would undermine the US judiciary and criminal justice system and send a message to Americans that attacking US democratic institutions is appropriate and justifiable”, said a spokesperson for the Society for the Rule of Law.

The group of conservative attorneys, academics, and former federal officials and judges also quoted sitting judges Royce Lamberth (“We cannot condone the normalization of the January 6 US Capitol riot”) and Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee who said “blanket pardons for all January 6 defendants or anything close would be beyond frustrating and disappointing”.

In December, while sentencing a member of the Oath Keepers militia who pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy, the most serious charge brought in relation to January 6, the US district court judge Amit Mehta said: “The notion that Stewart Rhodes [the group’s leader, jailed for 18 years on the same charge] could be absolved is frightening and ought to be frightening to anyone who cares about democracy in this country.”

In ongoing January 6 cases, the Department of Justice continues to argue that “general deterrence may be the most compelling reason to impose a sentence of incarceration”, as “future would-be rioters must be deterred”.

Once, Trump would have agreed. On 7 January 2021, as the Capitol lay strewn with smashed glass and smeared with blood and feces, teargas lingering as troops stood guard, Trump faced historic disgrace. In a video address, he said supporters he told to “fight like hell” the day before had “defiled the seat of American democracy”, adding: “To those who engaged in the acts of violence and destruction, you do not represent our country. And to those who broke the law, you will pay.”

Many have indeed paid. According to the Department of Justice, by 6 December 2024, 1,572 January 6 defendants had been federally charged. Of those, 996 pleaded guilty to felonies or misdemeanors and 215 were found guilty after contested trials. Just under 600 were charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement; 174 were charged with entering a restricted area with a dangerous or deadly weapon; and 18 were charged with seditious conspiracy. Some rioters were convicted but did not serve jail time; 645 were convicted and jailed. The most substantial jail sentences, for violent crimes or seditious conspiracy, range from 10 to 22 years.