Two years after the January 6 pro-Trump rally and Capitol riots, the Dept. of Justice has charged nearly 1,000 people with crimes.
However, nobody has been formally accused of “sedition,” “treason,” or “insurrection,” according to officials.
Sedition is defined as: Conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch.
Insurrection is defined as: A violent uprising against a government or authority.
Treason is defined as: Betrayal of one’s own country by attempting to overthrow the government through waging war against the state or materially aiding its enemies.
The closest related charge made is “seditious conspiracy,” which is planning or plotting with at least one other person to incite rebellion against the authority; not necessarily, personally, committing an act of sedition. Several suspects pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy. At least one of them, a member of the “Oath Keepers” group, was not present at the US Capitol on January 6.
To date, it is inaccurate and arguably libelous to refer to January 6 defendants as “insurrectionists.”
Most of the defendants, approximately 860, are charged with entering or remaining in a restricted federal building or grounds.
Typically, when Congress is conducting business on the House or Senate floor, the public has a right to enter the US Capitol and watch the proceedings. However, members of the public were blocked from attending on January 6, and there would not have been space for the many thousands to observe in the normal gallery seats.
So far, the Dept. of Justice reports, about 192 people have been sentenced to jail or prison.
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