Senate Democrats reportedly believe that there is a good chance that Democrat President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice will pursue criminal charges against former President Donald Trump over the events that took place during the riot on January 6, 2021.
“Given the weight of public evidence, Democratic lawmakers think Trump committed federal crimes,” The Hill reported. “But Senate Democrats also warn that [Attorney General Merrick] Garland needs to proceed cautiously. Any prosecution that fails to convict Trump risks becoming a disaster and could vindicate Trump, just as the inconclusive report by former special counsel Robert Mueller’s team was seized upon by Trump and his allies to declare his exoneration on a separate series of allegations.”
The publication cited several senators whom it talked to, including Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH).
Blumenthal claimed that “clearly what [Trump] did” leading up to the riot “falls in the ambit of what’s being investigated and perhaps is criminal.”
“They have all of the evidence at their disposal,” Kaine said, later adding, “My sense is they’re looking [at] everything in a diligent way and they haven’t made a decision.”
Kaine said that he thinks there were “federal statutes that are very much implicated” by what happened, although he did not name any.
Brown said, “I think anybody who it’s proven had a role in the planning of [the Jan. 6 attack] should be prosecuted, not just the people who broke in and smashed the window in my office and others.”
“I think anybody that’s shown to have had a role in its planning absolutely should be prosecuted,” Brown claimed. “I mean it was treason, it was trying to overturn an election through violent means.”
The report highlighted recent remarks from Garland, who said, “The Justice Department remains committed to holding all Jan. 6 perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law — whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible.”
One Democrat Senator, who wished to remain anonymous, warned that if the Biden Justice Department pursued criminal charges against Trump that all it would take is one pro-Trump juror to derail a conviction, which could then blow up in the administration’s face, especially if Trump were to run again in 2024.
“If you pull the trigger on this one, you have to make sure that you don’t miss, because this is one if you miss it essentially validates the conduct,” the senator said.