As Julie Kelly wrote recently, this is just a set-up to prosecute the man they really want to imprison, Trump. If the Proud Boys are guilty of "seditious conspiracy," then anyone who conspired with them is equally guilty. Conspiracy only requires an agreement that some member of the conspiracy commit a crime, not that any part of the conspiracy commit the crime himself.
It doesn't even require that a crime be committed -- conspiracy is the agreement that some member of the conspiracy should commit the crime. Even if the crime is never committed, the conspiracy to commit that crime is still a crime.
They will attempt to claim that Trump's statement to the Proud Boys, "Stand back and stand by," was an acknowledgement of the conspiracy and further orders given to the conspirators.
Of the hundreds of video clips used as evidence in the marathon trial of five members of the Proud Boys, prosecutors began closing arguments not with a clip of the defendants engaged in criminal activity but with a clip of Donald Trump.
The government showed the jury a portion of the September 2020 presidential debate; goaded by Joe Biden and then-Fox News host Chris Wallace to condemn "white supremacists and militia groups" in an effort to downplay Black Lives Matter and Antifa violence, Trump asked them to "give me a name." Biden quickly answered, "the Proud Boys."
"Proud Boys, stand back and stand by," Trump said in response.
The offhand remark--Trump later said he did not know who the Proud Boys were--made the group "jubilant," assistant U.S. Attorney Conor Mulroe told the jury on Monday morning. "These defendants saw themselves as Donald Trump's army, fighting to keep their preferred leader in power no matter what," Mulroe said, referring to Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Enrique Tarrio, Dominic Pezzola, and Zachary Rehl.
Prosecutors have used the clip at other points during the nearly four-month trial--a not-so-subtle reminder to jurors from a city that voted 93 percent for Joe Biden that the men on trial supported Trump. But the Justice Department may have a more sinister reason to tie the Proud Boys to the former president. Any convictions in this trial would give Special Counsel Jack Smith, an independent prosecutor in name only, justification to pursue similar charges against Trump as a coconspirator of sorts.
In fact, the Proud Boys face three conspiracy counts: seditious conspiracy, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, and a conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging any duties. A conspiracy, according to the government, only requires the agreement of two or more individuals.
Prosecutors insist the conspiracy began on December 19, 2020--a date that should alarm Team Trump. At 1:42 a.m. on December 19, Trump tweeted this: "Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 Election. Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!" According to the Justice Department, that prompted Tarrio and Biggs to formulate plans to "radicalize" the group.
Prosecutors told the jury that no actual agreement was even required to commit the crime of conspiracy-- a "wink and a nod" will do, which is how they plan to get Trump.
Which explains why Graves' prosecutors pulled every dirty trick in the book to ensure convictions. Further, the burden of proof for the conspiracy charges is shockingly low. Consider the instructions given to jurors: "What the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that two or more persons arrived at some type of agreement, including a mutual understanding or meeting of the minds, to try to accomplish a common and unlawful objective."
Mulroe, during his closing, even told the jury a "wink and a nod" represents agreement to join a conspiracy.
Preposterous.
...
"[There] was one final chance to keep Trump in power, January 6, 2021, and they knew the importance of that day," assistant U.S. Attorney Nadia Moore told the jury in her closing pitch on Tuesday afternoon. "These men's purpose was to illegally keep Trump in power."
And that will be the crux of Smith's case against Trump. Guilty verdicts in the most consequential January 6 trial will be the green light the Justice Department has been waiting for to go after him.
So this is 1, a farce, but 2, a very dangerous farce, as it sets a precedent for the prosecution of all future presidents: Joe Biden, obviously, has encouraged antifa and BLM's riots.
And with much more than a "wink and a nod."
Why shouldn't we throw his desiccated ass in prison for the rest of his miserable, brain damaged life?
And once presidents all understand that they will be imprisoned if they ever lose an election -- well, say goodbye to elections. No one's going to give up his life and freedom for the sake of "maintaining our precious normzzz."
America will be run by a tyrannical junta that routinely jails the opposition -- just the way it is in the Third World.
Which is what the Marxists want. It's what they've always wanted.