Judge says Trump's 'steady drumbeat' of the Big Lie could continue to inspire his supporters to take up arms
A federal judge on Wednesday wrote that Donald Trump's "Big Lie" that the 2020 election was stolen from him could still inspire some of the former President's supporters to take up arms, as they did in January during the deadly US Capitol insurrection.
The judge's blunt assessment of the current, charged political climate came in a legal decision about a defendant who was drawn to Washington, DC, in January. And it adds to a growing chorus of warnings from the officials most closely weighing the aftermath of the Capitol riot about what the threat level still might be.
"The steady drumbeat that inspired defendant to take up arms has not faded away; six months later, the canard that the election was stolen is being repeated daily on major news outlets and from the corridors of power in state and federal government, not to mention in the near-daily fulminations of the former President," Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the DC District Court wrote in an opinion to keep defendant Cleveland Meredith Jr. in jail because he could endanger the public if released.
Meredith allegedly had texted that he wanted to shoot House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, on live TV and had hauled a trailer of guns and ammo to Washington in January. He has pleaded not guilty.
Federal judges have for weeks been warning that the continued push of Trump's baseless claim that the election was "stolen" -- sometimes called "the Big Lie" -- from right-wing media, Republicans and the ex-President himself may be keeping alive the same grassroots zeal that led to the insurrection in January. Because of this, some of the alleged rioters are still considered potentially dangerous. Judges have had to make decisions case by case on keeping the defendants in jail.
The Justice Department, as it argues to keep them in jail, has noted that Trump supporters -- especially when they're affiliated with extremist groups like the Proud Boys -- could attempt another insurrection.
more:
http://www.cnn.com/2021/05/26/politics/trump-supporters-big-lie-capitol-riot/index.html
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