by Michael O’Neill

It is now three years and almost four months since the fateful day, 6 January 2021, when thousands of followers of the then sitting president, Donald J. Trump stormed the Capitol in Washington D.C. (the equivalent of Westminster’s Houses of Parliament).

Their purpose was twofold. To stop the largely ceremonial final counting of votes by Congress confirming the winner of the presidential election, and to close the place down on behalf of Trump, who since the November election had falsely claimed that he had won. He refused to accept the peaceful transfer of presidential power, for the first time in U.S. history. Between November and January, he had engaged in a variety of attempts, some in law courts but mostly unlawful, to overturn the result and stay in power.

His signature tune was chaos and threats of violence. The Select Committee of the House conducted an 18-month comprehensive inquiry into what led up to 6 January. By 6 January this year, the Department of Justice had charged 1,265 defendants who stormed the Capitol and convicted and incarcerated 460 of them. Those are the Trump MAGA foot soldiers, and a few leaders of militia groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. He calls them all ‘hostages’. So far, the Department has yet to charge Trump’s 6 January accomplices, in and out of Congress, and their financial bag men and women. The latter reportedly includes an heiress of Florida’s best-known supermarket company.

Michael L. O’Neill is a retired assistant public defender.

Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash.