Our Man On Their Side

As @joshgerstein and I reported last year, Trump’s ongoing election lies and effort to minimize the crimes committed of Jan. 6 has helped judges justify stiffer punishment and pretrial detention for rioters. https://t.co/ERIlbXBvIo https://t.co/RR7xDKBC82

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 30, 2022

“Former President Donald J. Trump continues to make forceful public comments about the ‘stolen election,’ chastising individuals who did not reject the supposedly illegitimate results that put the current administration in place,” Judge Emmet Sullivan wrote in a recent opinion ordering the detention of Jan. 6 defendant Jack Whitton, charged with one of the most brutal assaults that day.

 “[S]uch comments reflect the continued threat posed by individuals like Mr. Whitton, who has demonstrated that he is willing and able to engage in extreme and terrifying levels of violence against law enforcement with a chilling disregard for the rule of law … seemingly based on mistaken beliefs about the illegitimacy of the current administration.”

This is going to become a theme.