Proud Boys Convicted of “Seditious Conspiracy” By Trump-Hanging Jury

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By Ace

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As Julie Kelly wrote recently, this is just a set-up to prosecute the man they really want to imprison, Trump. If the Proud Boys are guilty of “seditious conspiracy,” then anyone who conspired with them is equally guilty. Conspiracy only requires an agreement that some member of the conspiracy commit a crime, not that any part of the conspiracy commit the crime himself.

It doesn’t even require that a crime be committed — conspiracy is the agreement that some member of the conspiracy should commit the crime. Even if the crime is never committed, the conspiracy to commit that crime is still a crime.

They will attempt to claim that Trump’s statement to the Proud Boys, “Stand back and stand by,” was an acknowledgement of the conspiracy and further orders given to the conspirators.

Of the hundreds of video clips used as evidence in the marathon trial of five members of the Proud Boys, prosecutors began closing arguments not with a clip of the defendants engaged in criminal activity but with a clip of Donald Trump.The government showed the jury a portion of the September 2020 presidential debate; goaded by Joe Biden and then-Fox News host Chris Wallace to condemn “white supremacists and militia groups” in an effort to downplay Black Lives Matter and Antifa violence, Trump asked them to “give me a name.” Biden quickly answered, “the Proud Boys.”

“Proud Boys, stand back and stand by,” Trump said in response.

The offhand remark–Trump later said he did not know who the Proud Boys were–made the group “jubilant,” assistant U.S. Attorney Conor Mulroe told the jury on Monday morning. “These defendants saw themselves as Donald Trump’s army, fighting to keep their preferred leader in power no matter what,” Mulroe said, referring to Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Enrique Tarrio, Dominic Pezzola, and Zachary Rehl.

Prosecutors have used the clip at other points during the nearly four-month trial–a not-so-subtle reminder to jurors from a city that voted 93 percent for Joe Biden that the men on trial supported Trump. But the Justice Department may have a more sinister reason to tie the Proud Boys to the former president. Any convictions in this trial would give Special Counsel Jack Smith, an independent prosecutor in name only, justification to pursue similar charges against Trump as a coconspirator of sorts.

In fact, the Proud Boys face three conspiracy counts: seditious conspiracy, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, and a conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging any duties. A conspiracy, according to the government, only requires the agreement of two or more individuals.

Prosecutors insist the conspiracy began on December 19, 2020–a date that should alarm Team Trump. At 1:42 a.m. on December 19, Trump tweeted this: “Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 Election. Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!” According to the Justice Department, that prompted Tarrio and Biggs to formulate plans to “radicalize” the group.

Prosecutors told the jury that no actual agreement was even required to commit the crime of conspiracy– a “wink and a nod” will do, which is how they plan to get Trump.

Which explains why Graves’ prosecutors pulled every dirty trick in the book to ensure convictions. Further, the burden of proof for the conspiracy charges is shockingly low. Consider the instructions given to jurors: “What the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that two or more persons arrived at some type of agreement, including a mutual understanding or meeting of the minds, to try to accomplish a common and unlawful objective.”Mulroe, during his closing, even told the jury a “wink and a nod” represents agreement to join a conspiracy.

Preposterous.

“[There] was one final chance to keep Trump in power, January 6, 2021, and they knew the importance of that day,” assistant U.S. Attorney Nadia Moore told the jury in her closing pitch on Tuesday afternoon. “These men’s purpose was to illegally keep Trump in power.”

And that will be the crux of Smith’s case against Trump. Guilty verdicts in the most consequential January 6 trial will be the green light the Justice Department has been waiting for to go after him.

 

So this is 1, a farce, but 2, a very dangerous farce, as it sets a precedent for the prosecution of all future presidents: Joe Biden, obviously, has encouraged antifa and BLM’s riots.

And with much more than a “wink and a nod.”

Why shouldn’t we throw his desiccated ass in prison for the rest of his miserable, brain damaged life?

And once presidents all understand that they will be imprisoned if they ever lose an election — well, say goodbye to elections. No one’s going to give up his life and freedom for the sake of “maintaining our precious normzzz.”

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The mob laid siege to the Capitol, broke inside, attacked and beat police officers, tried to hunt down legislators and the Vice President and forced an evacuation, all to stop the Electoral College vote count at Trump’s behest. There were phony electors ready to appear and take the place of the legit ones. It was an effin’ planned insurrection, instigated by Trump and his lunatic tools. Nothing was done do call off the mob until it became clear that the effort had failed, despite repeated pleas from elected officials and White House insiders to do so. Trump kicked it off, and watched it all unfold on television.

You just can’t deal with that reality, even when the facts and evidence repeatedly slap you in the face.

Last edited 1 year ago by Greg

Do you realize how dumb you are?
The surrounding and blockading of a city, town, or fortress by an army attempting to capture it. Is a siege. No one trapped inside, left when asked to go, let in by occupants, no army, lets look up the definition of army you seem quite confused.
A large body of people organized and trained for land warfare.The entire military land forces of a country.A tactical and administrative military unit consisting of a headquarters, two or more corps, and auxiliary forces.
Insurrection
The armed resistance of a number of persons to the power of the state.
You just use language you do not comprehend the definition of. Do you think it makes you sound smart?
Do insurrectionist take out permits?

Last edited 1 year ago by kitt

I know full well that I’m not at all dumb. I know what I heard and saw. No one had to explain it to me. Facts are there to consider, previously laid out in hearings. All of that would be considered in a trial. More sworn testimony would be added, because central figures have testified who previously hadn’t. Pence, for one, who didn’t take the Fifth. With executive privilege already eliminated, he testified all day. Pence was the gear in the plan that refused to turn. He was bound by his oath of office and duty to the Constitution. He’s afflicted with personal ethics. Meadows? He might take the Fifth. He might tell everything he knows.

Call it an insurrection, a conspiracy, a siege, a riot, or whatever you want—it was an unlawful, unconstitutional attempt to retain power, that involved planning, coordination, and violence. We all watched it on television.

Last edited 1 year ago by Greg

I know full well that I’m not at all dumb. 

Whoa. HUGE assumption, and a grossly flawed one at that. You display no capacity for intelligent independent thought whatsoever. You can only parrot propaganda, like a machine. You have NO evidence whatsoever of a seditious conspiracy and, therefore, there can be no involvement by Trump.

Call it an insurrection, a conspiracy, a siege, a riot, or whatever you want—it was an unlawful, unconstitutional attempt to retain power, that involved planning, coordination, and violence. We all watched it on television.

We’ll just call it what it is: BULLSHIT.

It’s now an established fact that the j6 event was a government sponsored false flag to install a dictator into our White House.

Only those serving these traitors would say otherwise.

Nah. The reality is our feds staged a false-flag like we do in other countries, to installed a false regime in the way of Biden. They prevented a legal questioning of the election, and then surrounded it with 21,000 troops.

That’s the reality.

The facts and evidence prove this: The election was rigged, and J6th a false flag.

Covid was released to create chaos so they could do it.

Nothing has ever been so obviously, and factually proven.

If you believe that, you’ve been hypnotized by your own propaganda.

The election officials have yet to prove it wrong, instead they refuse to answer legal subpoenas, destroy evidence, break election and laws intimidate witnesses.
You are a retard that uses improper definitions from retards on TV and looney left wing sites.

There’s no requirement to prove crazy claims wrong. Both logic and the judicial system require that accusations be proven right. I’m not sure if Trump is a knowing liar or completely batshit crazy. Same difference, either way.

According to the Stalin-Mao version of justice you’re correct, comrade.

There’s no requirement to prove crazy claims wrong.

Well, at least you could STOP PROVING THEM RIGHT.

Both logic and the judicial system require that accusations be proven right. 

That wasn’t your stated view when Kavanaugh was being persecuted. You clearly said he had to prove himself innocent. Which is it, scooter?

Democrats incited the January 6th violence.

Wrong hiding all the election data (taxpayers paid for) Kinda like why we have FOIA we get to know what our servants are up to.

It’s just the facts, and nothing more.

The only question is how much longer is this false regime going to last?

It isn’t looking good for them.

I don’t know. Even if Soros’s DAs are being removed, we can count on more communist show trials. In the meantime watch the groomers riot in state capitols while claiming 1/6 was an insurrection. Their lies are never ending.

A storm is coming, prepare.

Yup.

You really think our military is going to go door to door for you fascist scum?

Think again.

FvUyMZEX0AAs6VR.jpg

I think they follow the orders of their superior officers and the Commander in Chief, in accordance with the oath that they took.

That’s why they hired trannies, and its the legitimate orders you draft dodger. I doubt the military will follow the orders of a traitor and puppet of the communists.

Easy. Greg doesn’t know that we found out who he is…

Shush! For the automated surveillance software monitoring all internet traffic, anonymity is a very useful illusion.

I just wonder sometimes if, in the coming war you want and have helped to commission, if you’re going to actually get your hands dirty.

Are you really going to go door to door for your cause?

I don’t think you have the stones to EVER face off with the patriots who stand up to your antics, giving up your American citizenship, at this point.

Gonna take more than you lying posts to see your plan through to the end.

My only cause is to resist the trend toward corporate and authoritarian domination. AI may soon turn that into a lost cause. Our collective human stupidity will be no match for it. Greed has blinded the huge corporate entities that are frantically pushing its development. We may soon look back and realize everything else was only a fatal distraction.

Last edited 1 year ago by Greg

My only cause is to resist the trend toward corporate and authoritarian domination.

That is literally all you support when you post here, bub. You’re either in on it, or too stupid to understand you’re a quisling.

AI may soon turn that into a lost cause.

“And the devil spoke…”

I think they follow the orders of their superior officers and the Commander in Chief, in accordance with the oath that they took.

They are not obligated to follow unconstitutional orders. Remember that as you rely on them to act as the Democrat’s Brownshirts.

And it’s their duty to defy and remove anyone who is breaking that oath, such as the deep state and the dictator they removed.

The man in the video is Trump, who serves the Constitution and honors the oath.

They are serving him, not impostor Biden…who if he wasn’t being protected, would be rotting in jail for rape, among other things.

Clearly you’[ve drunk the kool ID BY THE GALLON. YOUR BRAYING SOUNDS LIKE JOY BEHAR.

If you believe that, you’ve been hypnotized by your own propaganda.

Well, let’s see. Pelosi and Bower refuse to reinforce the Capital police, the FBI inserts dozens of assets into the crowd, Ray Epps cheers on and facilitates the rush to the Capital, Capital police, not seeing enough violence, fires onto the peaceful crowd and incites the riot and the left claims “Peacefully go and let your voices heard” is the rallying call for an insurrection. Democrats totally fabricate a “case” for insurrection by suppressing truth and making up “facts”.

Yeah, I’d say great argument exists for a “false flag” operation by seditious Democrats.

Diagnosis of your own propaganda is wearing off on Americans on a daily basis.

I’d be concerned if I were you.

You’re now part of a failed coup, and liable just like the rest.

Does pay you much?

You mean the 14,000 hours do video the Dhimmies hid? Or the five innocent civilians murdered in cold blood by the progressives Stasi? Or the FBIs and government agents who clearly fermented violence.

I’ve heard more convincing arguments from Brandon and Schumer. By the way I love his tranny wife, Schumer is a true queer.

There was no violence before the Capital Police opened fire on the peaceful protesters. Was this part of the Democrat plan, along with providing insufficient security and planting FBI assets within the crowd to goad them on? Yeah, it was a “planned insurrection”, but Democrats planned and executed it. That is the real reality, scooter. Deal with it.

When will they start trials against Antifa and BLM? when will Clinton(Bill)and Obama be tried for Treason? And Biden as well? Were seeing a Witch Hunt by the DNC/CFR/UN/Globalists with Gate and Soros behind it all

Spur, ok first no drinking anything when you read this…

Kamala Harris Named ‘AI Czar’ to Save Us from Artificial Intelligence

I didnt want your beverage coming out of your nose.

Wouldn’t you love to see the looks on the faces of the technicians, programmers and scientists gathered the first time Kamala the Whore opens her mouth and starts talking and cackling?

They might look at her as a patient. “Dammit Brandon Im a programmer not a miracle worker.”

troll alert
Sockpuppet?

Last edited 1 year ago by kitt

“Sedition” with no plan. That’s got to be a first.

That’s more of a jury CESSpool.

What’s the point of having a trial if it doesn’t satisfy the Democrat political needs? Cmon, man!

Exculpatory evidence was not allowed and the legal definition of seditious conspiracy was so distorted it has no relation to law. Garland got a headline.
Anyone who still thinks this was an “insurrection” is an idiot at this point. We know the fbi was involved in a set up.
Garland is a punk and a disgrace.

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The proud boys and the rest of the J6 political prisoners are the examples of what will happen to those who dare question the power structure.
The communist radicals that protest illegally around the homes of the SCOTUS jurists sends the message that the mobs will be unleashed upon those who rule unfavorably to the power structure.
The handpicked juries will always side in favor of the power structure.
Welcome to the banana republic of America.

https://twitter.com/suejeanne/status/1404594834153775104?s=20

Last edited 1 year ago by TrumpWon

They still have nothing to prosecute Trump on but “Peacefully go and make your voices heard”. Of course, the left doesn’t actually recognize due process and justice as actually existing.

How Corrupt Is Our Current Situation? It’s Worse Than Most Can Fathom…

The football spiking by AG Merrick Garland today deserves some context, and I am going to take you through a story that will highlight just how bad the situation really is.

Everything that preceded the 2020 federal election was a complex system of control by a network of ideologues, federal agencies, allies in the private sector, financial stakeholders and corrupt interests all working toward a common goal. There’s no need to go through the background of how the election was manipulated and how the government and private sector, specifically social media, worked to influence the 2020 outcome because you have all seen it.

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Whether it was local election officials working to control outcomes, federal agencies working to support them (CISA, FBI, DHS), financial interests working to fund them (Zuckerberg et al), or social media platforms controlling the visible content and discussion (Twitter Files, Google, Facebook etc.), the objective was all the same. It was a massive one-sided operation against the freewill of the American voter.

In the aftermath of the 2020 election, those same system operators, govt officials, corporate media, private sector groups and social media platforms then circled the wagons to scatter the evidence of their conduct. If you questioned anything you were a threat. That’s the context to the dynamic that unfolded.

Lawfare operatives joined forces with Democrat staffers, and allies in social media platforms all worked in concert to target the voices of anyone who would rise in opposition to the corruption that was stunningly clear in the outcome of the election process. Corporate media then labeled, isolated, ridiculed and marginalized anyone who dared to point out the obvious.

When AG Merrick Garland says this of January 6, 2021: […] “the Justice Department has conducted one of the largest, most complex, and most resource-intensive investigations in our history. We have worked to analyze massive amounts of physical and digital data. We have recovered devices, decrypted electronic messages, triangulated phones, and pored through tens of thousands of hours of video. We have also benefited from tens of thousands of tips we received from the public. Following these digital and physical footprints, we were able to identify hundreds of people.” {link} The targeting operation needs context.

Do you remember on April 27th when DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz recently said, “more than 3.4 million search queries into the NSA database took place between Dec. 1st, 2020 and Nov. 30th, 2021, by government officials and/or contractors working on behalf of the federal government.” The result was “more than 1 million searches of private documents and communication of Americans that were illegal and non-compliant,” and over “10,000 federal employees have access to that database.” {OIG Testimony}.

Put the statement from Garland together with the statement from Horowitz, and you get an understanding of what was done.

Hundreds of stakeholders in the Lawfare network joined forces with hundreds of people who became staff researchers for a weaponized Congress. Hundreds more social media background agents then poured thousands of hours into feeding private information to the DOJ, FBI, J6 Committee and all of their hired staff working on the project.

How do I know?

I was one of their targets.

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Before telling the rest of the story, some background is needed.

I am well versed in the ways of the administrative state and the corrupt systems, institutions and silos that make up our weaponized government. I can (a) see them; (b) predict their activity; and (c) know where their traps and operations are located.

Traveling the deep investigative weeds of the administrative state eventually gives you a set of skills. When people ask how the outlines on this website can seem so far ahead of the sunlight that eventually falls upon the outlined corruption, this is essentially why. When you take these skills on the road, you learn to be a free-range scout, and after a long while you learn how to track the activity.

When I was outlining how the Fourth Branch of Government works and/or Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop and the DHS system operating inside it, I wasn’t shooting from the hip. However, people will always seek to dismiss the uncomfortable truth.

Sometimes you just have to wait for the evidence you know exists to surface, or for a situation to unfold that is driven by a self-fulfilling prophecy. The bizarre CTH predictions turn out to be the truth of the issue because they are based on the factual evidence of the issue.

That level of how the system works came in very handy when I received this subpoena from Chairman Bennie Thompson and the J6 Committee. Warning, things are about to get very uncomfortable if you don’t accept the scale of corruption that exists.

Pay attention to the red box on the page shown. This is essentially the probable cause that justifies the subpoena itself. I have redacted a name in the box for reasons you will see that follow.

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I was never in Washington DC on January 6, 2021, nor did I work with or communicate with anyone who was involved in any of the activities that are subject to the J6 committee investigative authority.

I’m going to skip a lot of background noise, irrelevant legal stuff, jurisdictional issues, discoveries from discussions with lawyers and the experience gained in association with this ridiculous subpoena. I am going to focus on the biggest story within it.

Sticking to the information in the Red Box above, notice how the J6 committee has evidence, “public-source information and documents on file”, showing my participation, communication, and contact with people and technology that are material interests to the committee.

Here’s the kicker…. I had no clue what the hell they were talking about. There’s not a single aspect of their outline that I had any knowledge or connection of.

I had no idea what Zello was. I had no idea who 1% watchdog might be. I had never heard of “Stop the Steal J6” or associated “channel.” I had never heard of the person redacted, and I had never communicated with any Oath Keeper, any communication system, or platform, or anyone or anything – nothing – that is outlined in that subpoena.

Those points of evidence outlined in the subpoena had no connection to me at all.

The subpoena might as well have been asking me to appear in Michigan because my Red Ferrari was involved in a hit and run accident, during my trip to Detroit. I don’t own a Ferrari; I have never been to Michigan; I certainly never had an accident; I wasn’t on a trip and have never visited Detroit. The entire construct of their probable cause for the subpoena was silly. Complete and utter nonsense.

That said, how could there be “public records” and “documentary” evidence of something that never happened?

At first, I thought this was some silly case of mistaken identity and they just sent a subpoena to the wrong person. However, the investigators were adamant the evidence existed, and the need for testimony was required.

After taking advice from several smart people, and after discovering the costs associated with just the reply to the committee and/or representation therein; suddenly I realized there might be more value for me in this subpoena than the committee. After all, how can there be public-records and documents that I own a red Ferrari and went to Michigan when I don’t and never did.

After several back and forths I discovered, through their admissions of their own research, and through documents they extracted as an outcome of their tasks to prove the merit of their claims, that someone *inside* Twitter had created a fictitious identity of me associated with the networks and communications as the investigators described them.

Think about what was discovered here.

Someone inside the Twitter platform, an employee of Twitter, had made a decision to target me. As a result: (a) they had been doing this for a long time with a specific goal in mind; and (b) they created an elaborate trail of background activity and identity that was entirely fabricated.

Eventually, my assigned investigative unit admitted this.

Once, the federal investigators realized what took place they wanted to get rid of me -and my snark filled curiosity- with great urgency.

They also had an ‘oh shit’ moment, when they contemplated everything, including what they had revealed to me from the outset of my contact, now several months prior.

What I discovered in this experience was that DHS, and by extension DOJ/FBI and the January 6 investigators, had direct administrative level backdoors into all social media platforms.

Overlay the Twitter files now, and then expand your thinking….

In their quest to prove that I owned a Red Ferrari, traveled to Michigan and had a hit-and-run accident, these investigators outlined to me how the United States Government, through their DHS authority, has employees, agents and contractors with open portals into all social media platforms.

Yes, the federal government is inside the mechanics of the systems (Twitter, Facebook, Meta, Instagram, Google, YouTube, WhatsApp, Zello, etc) and they have administrative access in real time to monitor, review, extract and evaluate everything, soup-to-nuts.

It was only because the investigators and forensic data knuckleheads have these portals, that they were able to locate the source of the fabricated evidence they were originally attributing to me. This was an investigative process and research discovery being conducted in the data processing systems of Twitter in real time as they questioned me.

Once they realized what had taken place, and as soon as I started asking how they were making these admissions (now carrying an apologetic certainty), suddenly the investigators wanted no further contact or communication with me. You’re good, whoopsie daisy, our bad, sorry.

Now, take some time to fully digest and absorb what I have just shared.

The U.S. government is worried about TikTok, because U.S. citizen data might be extracted?

Meanwhile, the U.S. government, at a fully unrestricted administrative level, is inside Twitter, Facebook, Meta, Insta, YouTube etc., running amok and extracting anything – including private messages… and they’re somehow worried about protecting us from TikTok data collection. Think about it.

Provide your thoughts in the comments and I will try to fill in any blanks or questions you might carry. In the interim, live your best life.

Ears of an elephant, eyes of a mouse.

When AG Merrick Garland says this of January 6, 2021: […] “the Justice Department has conducted one of the largest, most complex, and most resource-intensive investigations in our history. We have worked to analyze massive amounts of physical and digital data. We have recovered devices, decrypted electronic messages, triangulated phones, and pored through tens of thousands of hours of video. We have also benefited from tens of thousands of tips we received from the public. Following these digital and physical footprints, we were able to identify hundreds of people.”

But they can’t find who has been fire-bombing pregnancy centers because the terrorists attack at night. Seems if their heart was in it, they could find the perpetrators as well as identifying and imprisoning ANTIFA terrorists. Clearly, they only pursue political missions.

The pipe bomber in DC never found.

They probably found him. They SENT him.

They will only find people who will fit their created crimes. Those who commit real crimes are excused re antifa and blm

Soros and Bragg will send you to prison for defending your store or home from criminals its that way under Tyranny

So, hinging on the “Stand down and stand by” remark, the left postulates that Trump already planned to lose the election and then, on January 6th, 2020, to launch an unarmed insurrection to overturn the election and overwhelm the full might of the United States of America. Yeah… that sounds rational. At least Trump didn’t set up a bail fund for “his insurrectionists”, like the left did for BLM/ANTIFA terrorists and which Kamala the Whore openly supported.

Prosecutors told the jury that no actual agreement was even required to commit the crime of conspiracy– a “wink and a nod” will do, which is how they plan to get Trump.

Sure, no crime needs to be committed. No actual words spoken. Nothing communicated at all. The leftist prosecution can just make up what they need and, through threat and intimidation, produce the “witnesses” to back it up. Much like the “quid pro quo” impeachment, nothing but rumor, innuendo and hearsay is necessary to back up the Democrats false and phony allegations. They must all have a picture of Hitler and Beria hanging in their living rooms.

So this is 1, a farce, but 2, a very dangerous farce, as it sets a precedent for the prosecution of all future presidents: Joe Biden, obviously, has encouraged antifa and BLM’s riots.

And prosecute Obama for supporting the Occupy Wall Street riots. He stated he “understood” why they rioted and never took actions to stop or displace them. Their intent was to destroy capitalism; if that ain’t sedition, I don’t know what is (and apparently I don’t because I see none in those the Democrats accuse).

And once presidents all understand that they will be imprisoned if they ever lose an election — well, say goodbye to elections. 

Well, to be clear, this only applies to non-Democrat candidates. No matter how much violence Democrats encourage, incite and forgive, they’ll never, under this regime, be held accountable.

SEDITIOUS CONSPIRACY IS NOT A REAL CRIME
05/08/2023Ryan McMaken

Last Thursday, Enrique Tarrio, a reputed national leader of the Proud Boys organization was convicted in federal court of seditious conspiracy along with three-co-defendants. This conviction in a District of Columbia court represents a victory for the Justice Department which has now charged more than a thousand people with “crimes” related to the January 6 riot at the US capitol. Most of the charges related to the riot have been for small-time offenses that amount to vandalism and trespassing. A handful of those allegedly involved in the riot, however, have been convicted of seditious conspiracy.

Notably, Tarrio wasn’t even in Washington, DC on the day of the riot, and thus could not have engaged in any violent acts against Capitol personnel. Yet, he has nonetheless been convicted on grounds that he was involved in some sort of “agreement” to “hinder” federal laws, and thus is guilty of saying things that allegedly led to the riot. The Tarrio case is an excellent example of how federal “crimes” can be spun by federal prosecutors from actions that are neither violence, nor fraud, nor any other act that a normal person would recognize as a real crime. 

Seditious Conspiracy Was Invented to Get Around Limitations on Treason Prosecutions 

Seditious conspiracy must not be confused with the act of treason legally defined in the US Constitution, however. Generally speaking, while treason requires an overt act of some kind, seditious conspiracy is a charge that a person has said things designed to undermine government authority. In other words, it is a “crime” of intent as interpreted by state authorities. This is fundamentally different from picking up a weapon and using it against agents of a government.

Of course, as we’ve noted here at mises.org before, the very idea of treason is itself problematic, since it assumes that violence against a government agent is somehow worse than a crime against a private citizen. Governments love this double standard because it reinforces the idea that the regime is more important than the voluntary private sector. Ultimately, however, violence against a person or property should be prosecuted as exactly that, and not as some separate category of crime against the “special” human beings who work for a regime.

Seditious conspiracy suffers from this same problem but is even more problematic because it relies primarily on circumstantial evidence to “prove” that a person was saying things in favor of obstructing or overthrowing a government. Indeed, the supposed necessity of such a “crime” is belied by the fact that no such crime existed even in federal law between the repeal of the hated Alien and Sedition Acts and the advent of the Civil War. Nor did seditious conspiracy laws play an important role in the US regime’s military success against the Southern secessionists.

Instead, what we find is that seditious conspiracy is a crime that is both prone to abuse by state authorities and unnecessary in terms of preventing violence to life and property. In cases such as the January 6 riot, crimes against persons and property ought to simply be considered violent crimes and property crimes of the usual sort. Seditious conspiracy, in contrast, is merely a type of “thought crime.” 

The Origins of Seditious Conspiracy

The framers of the Constitution defined treason in very specific and limiting terms:

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

Note the use of the word “only” to specify that the definition of treason shall not be construed as something more broad than what is in the text. As with much of what we now find in the Bill of Rights, this language stems from fears that the US federal government would indulge in some of the same abuses that had occurred under the English crown, especially in the days of the Stuart monarchs. Kings had often construed “treason” to mean acts, thoughts, and “conspiracies” far beyond the act of actually taking up arms against the state. By contrast, in the US Constitution, the only flexibility given to Congress is in determining the punishment for treason.

Naturally, those who favored greater federal power chafed at these limitations and sought more federal laws that would punish alleged crimes against the state. It only took the Federalists ten years to come up with the Alien and Sedition Acts, which stated:

That if any persons shall unlawfully combine or conspire together, with intent to oppose any measure or measures of the government of the United States, which are or shall be directed by proper authority, or to impede the operation of any law of the United States, or to intimidate or prevent any person holding a place or office in or under the government of the United States, from undertaking, performing or executing his trust or duty, and if any person or persons, with intent as aforesaid, shall counsel, advise or attempt to procure any insurrection, riot, unlawful assembly, or combination, whether such conspiracy, threatening, counsel, advice, or attempt shall have the proposed effect or not, he or they shall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor.

Note the references to “intent,” “counsel,” and “advise” as criminal acts so long as these types of speech are employed in a presumed effort to obstruct government officials. This part of the act, however, was never used by the regime. Those prosecuted under the Alien and Sedition Acts were charged under the section on seditious libel, which was heartily opposed for being obviously and blatantly against basic rights of free expression. Nonetheless, the Sedition Act was allowed to expire, thanks to the election of Thomas Jefferson and the Republicans (later known as Democrats).

For sixty years, the United States government had no laws addressing sedition on the books. But the heart of the 1798 Sedition Act would be revived. As passed on July 1861, the new Seditious Conspiracy statute stated

that if two or more persons within any State or Territory of the United States shall conspire together to overthrow, or to put down, or to destroy by force, the Government of the United States, or to oppose by force the authority of the Government of the United States; or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States; or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States against the will or contrary to the authority of the United States; or by force, or intimidation, or threat to prevent any person from accepting or holding any office, or trust, or place of confidence, under the United States. . . . Shall be guilty of a high crime.

Given the timing of the legislation—i.e., in 1861, following the secession of several Southern states—it is assumed that the legislation originated to address alleged Confederate treason. This is not quite the case. The legislation did enjoy considerable support from those who were especially militant in their opposition to the Confederacy. For example, Rep. Clement Vallandigham of Ohio—who would later be exiled to the Confederacy for opposing the war—supported the bill precisely because he thought it would help punish those engaged in “conspiracies to resist the fugitive slave law.” But the Congress had initially become serious about punishing “conspiracies” not in response to Southern secession, but in response to John Brown’s 1859 raid at Harper’s Ferry.

Southern secession and fears of rebellion helped enlarge the coalition in favor of a new sedition law. The new sedition law represented a significant expansion of the idea of “crimes against the state” in that the sedition law did not require overt acts against the government, but merely “conspiring,” vaguely defined. Stephen Douglas understood this perfectly well, explaining the benefits of his bill as such:

You must punish the conspiracy, the combination with intent to do the act, and then you will suppress it in advance. There is no principle more familiar to the legal profession than that whenever it is proper to declare an act to be a crime, it is proper to punish a conspiracy or combination with intent to perpetrate the act. . . . If it be unlawful and illegal to invade a State, and run off fugitive slaves, why not make it unlawful to form conspiracies and combinations in the several States with intent to do the act?

Others were more suspicious of expanding federal power in this way, however. Sen. Lazarus Powell and eight other Democrats presented a statement opposing the passage of the bill. Specifically, Powell and his allies believed the new seditious conspiracy law would be a de facto move in the direction of allowing the federal government to effectively expand the definition of treason offered by the federal constitution. The statement read:

The creation of an offense, resting in intention alone, without overt act, would render nugatory the provision last quoted, [i.e., the treason definition in the Constitution] and the door would be opened for those similar oppressions and cruelties which, under the excitement of political struggles, have so often disgraced the past history of the world.

Even worse, the new legislation would provide to the federal government “the utmost latitude to prosecutions founded on personal enmity and political animosity and the suspicions as to intention which they inevitably engender.”

Seditious conspiracy legislation gives the federal government far greater leeway to punish political opponents. Certainly, such legislation could have been used against opponents of the fugitive slave acts, as well as against opponents of federal conscription. After all, opponents of both the Civil War draft and the Vietnam War draft “conspired” to destroy government property—as with the heroic draft-card burnings of the Catonsville Nine, for example. It would be far harder to prove in court that such acts constituted treason. Unfortunately, the new legislation was ultimately approved in 1861, and the United States government had its first permanent laws against seditious conspiracy.

We now have the same reasons to fear seditious conspiracy laws as Powell did in 1861. Such measures allow the federal government to construct laws addressing intent, thoughts, and words, rather than overt acts. This greatly expands federal power and allows for prosecution of mere inflammatory rhetoric against the federal government. 

As a practical matter, seditious conspiracy laws are simply unnecessary. A commonsense foundation for addressing violence in the Capitol building would be to simply prosecute those who engaged in actual violence and trespass. It is clear, however, that gaining convictions for seditious conspiracy has been an important goal for the administration because it furthers the narrative that Donald Trump’s supporters attempted some sort of coup.

Unfortunately, these sorts of political prosecutions are just the sort of thing we’ve come to expect from the Justice Department. The FBI can’t be bothered with investigating sex criminals such as Larry Nassar, but they’ll pull out all the stops to prosecute hundreds of those who entered the Capitol on January 6, many of whom simply stood around gawking at the scenery. But when Congress gives the FBI a near carte blanche, as it has done with seditious conspiracy laws, we should expect as much.

Eighteen years, for seditious conspiracy…