Trump must be held accountable for Jan. 6 The insurrection remains one of this country’s darkest days

I will never forget Jan. 6, 2021.

I left my apartment in Dupont Circle shortly after then-President Donald Trump’s speech to his supporters on the Ellipse ended. I rented a Capital Bikeshare bike in Thomas Circle and rode it down 14th Street to Freedom Plaza. I soon began to live stream on my iPhone the thousands of Trump supporters on Pennsylvania Avenue who were making their way towards the U.S. Capitol. I thought to myself that they looked and sounded like a bunch of idiots, but they were peaceful and largely ignored me. I was wearing my press pass around my neck, but it was hidden under my coat. I did not feel unsafe.

I was largely unaware of what was happening at the Capitol when I reached the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and 3rd Street, N.W., in part because cell phones were not working due to the overloaded networks. The crowd, however, had grown more ominous.

Kaela Roeder, a wonderful journalist who had just fi nished her fellowship with the Washington Blade, was somehow able to call me from the east side of the Capitol. Police cars from various law enforcement agencies were racing up Constitution Avenue with their sirens wailing when she told me she no longer felt safe and asked me if it was okay if she left.

“Get

the hell out of there,” I said.

We hung up and I rushed to where she had been, which was easier said than done on a Capital Bikeshare bike. I arrived at the east side of the Capitol less than 10 minutes after we spoke. I saw thousands of Trump supporters on the Capitol steps. I saw at least three people with pro-Trump signs standing in a window.

I left the Capitol and rode my bike back to Dupont Circle after I received a text message that indicated a curfew was going into eff ect in D.C. at 6 p.m. I was sending quick text messages to family and friends in New Hampshire, Florida and elsewhere in the U.S. and around the world while on my way home to let them know that I was alright. The insurrection happened on Wednesday — deadline day — and Blade Editor Kevin Naff called me while I was on 17th Street and asked me to write the cover story for that week’s issue. I said yes, and arrived home a few minutes later. I only realized how bad things were at the Capitol when I began to watch MSNBC’s live coverage.

I wrote the cover story in less than half an hour. I then spent the rest of the day trying without much success to understand what had just happened in our city.

Kaela and I met for coff ee at the Blade offi ce at 11 a.m. on Aug. 1, more than two and a half years after the insurrection. Special counsel Jack Smith a few hours later announced Trump had been indicted on four charges related to Jan. 6.

• Count 1: 18 U.S.C. 371 (Conspiracy to Defraud the United States)

• Count 2: 18 U.S.C. 1512(k) (Conspiracy to Obstruct an Offi cial Proceeding)

• Count 3: 18 U.S.C.§§ 1512(c)(2),2 (Obstruction of and Attempt to Obstruct an Offi cial Proceeding)

• Count 4: 18 U.S.C. 241 (Conspiracy Against Rights)

My fi rst thought after learning about the indictments was justice is hopefully (and fi nally) coming to a man responsible for one of this country’s darkest days. It was also another reminder there is rarely a day that I don’t think about Jan. 6.

The insurrection was in the back of my mind last October while I was covering the fi rst-round of Brazil’s presidential election in Brasília, the country’s capital. (Now Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeated then-President Jair Bolsonaro in the second round that took place on Oct. 27, but the right-wing demagogue who is known as “Trump of the Tropics” refused to acknowledge his defeat and did not attend Lula’s inauguration. Thousands of Bolsonaristas on Jan. 8, 2023, stormed the country’s Congress, presidential palace and Supreme Court.) I also thought about Jan. 6 last month when a young Belgian couple with whom I was making small talk at the Be Fucking Nice Coff ee Shop — a real place with good coff ee and even better food — in Punta Allen, a small fi shing village near Tulum, Mexico, that I visited while on vacation, said Americans will get what they deserve if Trump once again becomes president.

I know what I saw and heard on Jan. 6. The country knows what it saw and heard on Jan. 6. The world knows what it saw and heard on Jan. 6.

Those aligned with the thrice-indicted former president who continue their pathetic attempts to convince us that something else happened on that horrible day are nothing more than professional assholes who are desperate to remain relevant. Let’s hope their eff orts will ultimately fail and history will view Jan. 6 for what it is: One of this country’s darkest days. Let’s also hope Trump will fi nally be held accountable for what he did.

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Is Trump behind bars a good thing? Incarceration could turn former president into a martyr

I often dream about Donald Trump behind bars, wearing an orange jumpsuit, to match his face makeup, and wake up with a smile on my face. But in the light of day I question if that is a good thing for the country, and I am not sure.

Don’t misinterpret my meaning. I want to see him convicted on every count, of every indictment. My only thought is whether putting him in jail for his crimes, makes him a lasting martyr to his cult. Is that the worst punishment for him? Will he fade from view if we put him in a minimum-security prison? Is there any punishment where he can be kept quiet? One of my friends facetiously suggested Guantanamo. (I think it was only facetious.)

I believe he will be convicted of several charges, if not all, and juries and judges will have to determine what the sentences will be. Clearly, whatever they are, he will use every appeal available to him, going all the way to the Supreme Court if that is an option. There are differences between the federal charges, which are on one level, and the state charges, like those anticipated in Georgia. If he is convicted of those there is no option for a presidential pardon.

What makes Georgia particularly interesting is its RICO law, which may make moot whether Trump has to do prison time if Fani Willis, the prosecutor in Fulton County, decides to use it in her indictment. As reported in Newsweek, Elie Honig, a former federal prosecutor and CNN’s legal analyst, said, “under Georgia State law, if somebody’s convicted of RICO, there is a five-year mandatory minimum.” Georgia has a stronger RICO law than the federal government. Honig added, “RICO charges could be used in the case against Trump if Willis’s office can convince a grand jury that numerous people were working together as part of an illegal plot to keep Trump in power after losing the 2020 election.” From all reports we have seen that is clearly easy to show.

in D.C., U.S. Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, has already said, “while the former president has First Amendment rights to free speech, those rights are not absolute and must be weighed against protecting the integrity of the court process, regardless of his status as a political candidate.” those in New York and Florida, religiously. To this is manna from heaven. But let us never forget what this is really about. While it may entertain some, it is about a homophobic, sexist, racist, an- thought unthinkable. We believed these things happened only in banana republics, not in the Mike Pence called cult followers, gave us a very disturbing wake-up call. That is what these court cases, particularly the potentially

Judge Chutkan went on to say, the “existence of a political campaign” will not have a bearing on her decisions and that Trump running for president should not interfere with the orderly administration of justice. If that means he can’t say exactly what he wants to say about witnesses in this case, then that’s how it’s going to be.” Let the games begin.

Many of us will follow these cases, along with those in New York and Florida, religiously. To political junkies, newspapers, and TV networks, this is manna from heaven. But let us never forget what this is really about. While it may entertain some, it is about a homophobic, sexist, racist, anti-Semitic president trying to stage a coup in the United States. Trump did something most of us thought unthinkable. We believed these things happened only in banana republics, not in the Unites States. Trump and his minions of what called ‘crackpot lawyers,’ along with his cult followers, gave us a very disturbing wake-up call. That is what these court cases, particularly the ones in D.C., and potentially if it comes to fruition, in Georgia, are both about.

So, no matter what happens to Trump, whether or not he ends up in jail, it is crucial juries convict him of the crimes he is both accused of, and by his own words, has

So, no matter what happens to Trump, whether or not he ends up in jail, it is crucial juries convict him of perpetrated.

It seems clear these cases won’t be finally decided, appeals and all, before the 2024 election. So, be- the Trump cult, allows him to be its candidate for president,

In the federal case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, being tried

In the federal case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, being tried what he has done to them. They will have the chance to do that in November

It seems clear these cases won’t be finally decided, appeals and all, before the 2024 election. So, before we possibly see him in jail, if the Republican Party, or as I call it the Trump cult, allows him to be its candidate for president, it will be up to the American people to net out justice for what he has done to them. They will have the chance to do that in November 2024, by handing him a resounding defeat.