Home»US»Trump Fires All the J6 Federal Prosecutors – Where Are The Prosecutions Against Them?

Trump Fires All the J6 Federal Prosecutors – Where Are The Prosecutions Against Them?

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President Donald Trump fired about 30 federal attorneys who were assigned to roughly 1,600 January 6 prosecutions.  While this is a good thing, the question remains, where are the arrests and prosecutions of these attorneys and those heading up the Justice Department?  Because without that, they will simply be allowed to come right back in to attack the people in another administration.

At least one person is not content with the firings.

Julie Kelly has more…

Paul Hodgkins, a 38-year-old crane operator living in a working-class neighborhood of Tampa, traveled alone by bus from Florida to Washington DC to attend President Donald Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021. After the speech, Hodgkins, like thousands of fellow Trump supporters, walked from the Ellipse to the grounds of the U.S. Capitol.

At 2:50 p.m., more than 35 minutes after the first breach, Hodgkins entered the building. Carrying a “Trump 2020” flag, Hodgkins made his way to the Senate floor and took a selfie. He raised the flag inside the chamber then peacefully exited the building at 3:15 p.m. He did not assault police or vandalize government property.

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Nonetheless, Hodgkins was arrested by the FBI on February 16, 2021 on his way to work. Armed agents proceeded to raid his home and seize his electronic devices. A magistrate judge in Washington placed Hodgkins, an Eagle Scout with no criminal record, on a high intensity monitoring program requiring him to wear an ankle bracelet and abide by a curfew, only allowing him the freedom to go to work; he also was forbidden from traveling outside the Tampa area.

Charged with a federal felony, Hodgkins also had to surrender his passport and was prohibited from possessing a firearm.

His crime? 18 U.S.C. 1512(c)(2), obstruction of an official proceeding, an evidence-tampering statute punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison.

From Paper Shredding to Political Protesting

The statute, enacted in 2002 as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the aftermath of the Enron-Arthur Anderson accounting scandal reads:

“Whoever corruptly— (1) alters, destroys, mutilates, or conceals a record, document, or other object, or attempts to do so, with the intent to impair the object’s integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding; or (2) otherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so.”

Hodgkins was one of hundreds of J6ers eventually charged by the Department of Justice with 1512(c)(2), representing the first time the felony had been used against political protesters. Hodgkins also was the first to plead guilty.

Despite his cooperation and quick decision to take a plea offer, prosecutors wanted Hodgkins to spend 18 months in federal prison. “Hodgkins admitted that he corruptly obstructed and impeded an official proceeding, namely the certification of the Electoral College vote count. He did so by unlawfully entering the U.S. Capitol alongside hundreds of other rioters with whom he shared in a unified goal: to block Congress from completing the certification,” assistant U.S. Attorney Mona Sedky wrote in the government’s July 2021 sentencing recommendation.

Describing January 6 an act of “domestic terrorism,” Sedky further argued that a long prison term was necessary to “deter others” from committing similar acts of terrorism.

During his sentencing hearing before Judge Randolph D. Moss, Hodgkins explained that going to prison would result in losing his job, a potential apprenticeship, his rental home, and his two cats. (Hodgkins also spent what he described as his life savings of $20,000 on his defense attorney.) “Without a shadow of doubt, I am truly regretful for my actions and the way this country I love has been hurt.”

But in determining Hodgkins sentence, Moss encountered a problem. Between 2014 and 2020, only nine individuals had been sentenced on a 1512(c)(2) conviction—and none of the cases were in Washington, D.C., further underscoring the DOJ’s unprecedented use of the statute related to political demonstrations. The judge had no comparison from which to base his sentencing decision

Continued…..

Article posted with permission from Sons of Liberty Media


Tim Brown

Tim Brown is a Christian and lover of liberty, a husband to his "more precious than rubies" wife, father of 10 "mighty arrows" and jack of all trades. He lives in the US-Occupied State of South Carolina, is the Editor at SonsOfLibertyMedia.com, GunsInTheNews.com and TheWashingtonStandard.com. and SettingBrushfires.com; and also broadcasts on The Sons of Liberty radio weekdays at 6am EST and Saturdays at 8am EST. Follow Tim on Twitter. Also check him out on Gab, Minds, and USALife.
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