Dozens of American citizens have been locked up as political prisoners in their own country for more than two months now. They’ve been denied bail. One is a wheelchair-bound Navy veteran who can barely move without assistance, due to injuries he sustained serving our country. Another is an 18-year-old high school senior. Prosecutors are asking federal judges to waive the Capitol protesters’ right to a speedy trial; they want more time to come up with evidence. And in the ultimate example of projection, the liberal-controlled Department of Justice is now using a law that liberals once protested as “fascism” to charge the protesters with a crime.
You’ve probably heard that most of the jailed January 6 protesters have been charged with “obstruction of an official proceeding.” That sounds kind of vague, but close enough to the mark that no reporter will look into the actual statute, and most people won’t stop to question it. The law comes from 18 USC section 1512. And it has nothing to do with obstructing the official business of Congress through protesting.
Section 1512 was originally written as part of the post-Enron financial scandal, in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The statute being used against the Capitol protesters reads:
“Whoever corruptly . . . obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.”
Since Democrats use sloppy English and are terrible at lawyering, this was one of those fun moments in US history when a Democrat-controlled Senate wrote, amended and passed a bill which then made their own heads explode.
Then-Senator Joe Biden of Delaware was one of the liberals suddenly protesting the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. They discovered that the bill – which they had just written and passed themselves – could be misinterpreted by The Evil One Himself, President George W. Literally Hitler Bush, to impose FASCISM on America. Fascist Bush would fascist-ly use that passage in the fascist Sarbanes-Oxley Act to send peaceful protesters of Bush’s fascism to a federal prison for 20 years.
Bush could have sent the Democrats’ bill back to them, so that their sloppy language didn’t remain intact. But that would have allowed someone who is actually a good attorney to clarify the law. Instead, Bush made an announcement at the signing ceremony for Sarbanes-Oxley. He made a pinky-swear promise that the word “corruptly” in the statute would only be interpreted by the Justice Department as “with criminal intent.” Peaceful protesters could still protest his fascism without fear of 20 years in prison. And the words “any official proceeding” were not meant to include sessions of Congress, the Supreme Court or other government proceedings.
Just to be clear, Sarbanes-Oxley is a set of laws directed at white collar criminals. Here’s an example:
Let’s say you work at a financial firm on Wall Street. The IRS calls you and says they want to stop by and look at your books next week. “Does Thursday work?” You then set about shredding all of the documents that the IRS wants to look at next week.
That is “corruptly” (and with criminal intent) “disrupting” the “official proceeding” of an IRS investigation. That was pretty much what wealthy executives at Enron and WorldCom did, and the law was intended to ensure it wouldn’t happen again by imposing punishing sanctions against those sorts of actions.
That’s how Sarbanes-Oxley is supposed to be interpreted, and George W. Bush declared that that was exactly how it would be interpreted by the DOJ. But that’s not how Joe Biden’s Attorney General, Merrick Garland, is interpreting it at the DOJ these days. Nope!
Garland, who inexplicably received 20 “Yea” votes from Republican Senators at his confirmation hearing, is throwing the book at peaceful Capitol protesters by applying a financial crimes statute to them. So, a law that was intended to throw Wall Street crooks in $9,000 suits in federal prison for 20 years is instead being used against wheelchair-bound Navy veterans and high school kids.
Prosecutors have called for 70 of the jailed protesters to be held indefinitely without bail, because they don’t believe the results of the 2020 election. That’s… not even supposed to be a crime, is it?
I don’t believe the results of the 2020 election. And if you’re reading this, you may not believe the results of the 2020 election, either. You should probably be aware that’s now a crime. You should know that peacefully protesting the US Congress is also a federal crime now, that could land you in prison for the rest of your life. You know – to prevent fascism.
Crooked as a snake.
still no justice
That is so stupid especially when it comes to our Veterans and High School students.
And Xi and Kim are sayin “good job, you learn well”!!
They let their Antifa/BLM buddies wreck property and attack innocent people, even to the point of getting those worthless pukes out of jail. But if anyone who isn’t Antifa/BLM dares protest on the grounds of the dummycrat party then suddenly they become public enemy number 1. But the dummycrats completely ignore the fact that it was their Antifa/BLM buddies who started the riot and are the ones who broke the windows and the capitol building allowing protestors to enter the building. Poor little old hag Pelosi got scared and now hides behind the military, who the dummycrats hate.
truth from a patriot
The sleeping giant rose up before. These acts by demorats are no less than the travesty at Pearl Harbor. When we rise this time there will not be another breach of our Constitution. The skateboard, urine filled pump up sprayer army will be addressed. Cancelation will mean something entirely different to them.
We can still let people into our country who illegally enter it. We can knowingly release them into the public even if they are known criminals. We can even financially take care of them at the expense of the tax payer.
Isn’t it great to live in a country run by Pelosi Biden and Harris. Our current legally or illegally elected government can find a way to do anything they wish.
ANTIFA has burned cities, impeded police ,
and they are allowed to do this anytime they wish.
I am a Trump supporter and disagree with the Capital protest but I do not agree these people who took part in it were trying to take over the government. I believe they like most people in the USA were trying to show their support for legal elections. After five years of Pelosi’s vendetta against Trump and two impeachment attempts I believe the people were only trying to exercise their right to voice their frustrations over an attempted takeover of our government by the democratic party. I think it was nothing more than a mistake that got out of hand.
Let these people out of jail on bond at least.
We have video of Jomentia calling police as “enemy” and our military as “stupid bastards”…
Yup! I was there taking videos of the peaceful protesters/marchers who weren’t even at the Capitol (we were a mile away!) when the extreme left’s plan all went down. Later, when protester/marchers go to the Capitol, some were enticed in, with the intent of being framed, by the antifa!
The riots over the summer at the hands of BLM, anti and neighbor thugs. COST 1-2 BILLION IN DAMAGES. THOSE RIOTS WERE THE WORST IN AMERICAN HISTORY. THEY WERE WORSE THAN THE RODNEY KING, AND THE WATTS RIOTS. It sickenings me that the court house for the George Floyd trial, had to to over kill protected. This is like saying, you can riot if you don’t like the outcome of the verdict. Murder trials every day all over the country, are the courts houses protected like fort knox? This country is sending g a message to the thugs ” YOU ARE ALOUD TO RIOT” BLM AND ANTIFA FOR SOME REASON ALOUD TO CAUSE VIOLENCE. BLM MEMBETS SAY ” IF WE DON’T GET WHAT WE WANT THERE WILL BE NO PEACE ” .
This is a communist regime that stole this election. The Biden’s and Obama and the Clintons are running this unconstitutional corrupt government they should be arrested immediately. CIA FBI DOJ should all be replaced with honest Americans that swear to uphold our constitutional rights and freedom. Hitlers are in office with a racial twist
God Bless you, Lynette !!!
Not too many people nowadays have the spine to stand up for the truth anymore !!!!!
We are almost a dictatorship, very close to Cuba, China, Venezuela!!!!
Frightening!!!!!!
It has now become quite obvious that the Biden regime must be removed from the White House by whatever means necessary as soon as possible. They are all criminals who intend on doing great harm to the United States of America and must be punished for their crimes .
Is this an attempt to bring justice without due process? Or is the BIDEN ADMINISTRATION at teaching all Americans don’t tread on me? I don’t think there was an attempt to kill those in power else there would be dead in the news. They did wrong and the wrongdoers punished; how long did it take to jail them on the obscure law. Many were just protesting what many many more felt a stolen election. No one has ever answered the question in PA having several hundred thousand votes more than registered voters and in how many other states was this true?
Evidently the election had been stolen!!!!!
Millions of people do NOT trust election anymore , and there are lots of reasons!!!!
And instead of getting to the truth this totalitarian regime is trying to pass laws to ensure they will stay in power forever?????
Mandatory registration, mail in ballots, no signatures required, NO ID required, ballots harvesting….
what is this ????
Is Hitler back ?????
IT WOULD SEEM THAT HITLER IS NOT DEAD… He is alive and well and not sitting in the White House…
At this point there are three options:
1. Trust the spineless members of SCOTUS to stand up and begin making decisions in accordance with the Constitution
2. Every Republican in the Senate goes on vacation until January, 2023
3. Civil War 2.0
God Bless this formerly great country
Buck Fiden
“Right on, St.Louis Steve”
Maybe # 3 of your proposals is the only way to get attention that we mean BUSINESS ! Seems Pelosi is keeping the Capitol protected with National Security just in case to protect themselves.!Trump cares about the American people and our protection (2nd Ammendment); there are many more of us also that “have had it” and are ready to reclaim
our Rights and Freedoms !!!!!
Why is Biden allowed to sign these Bill’s that are putting our country in danger, with the border situation? Most of the migrants are getting stopped , they are released into the us. BIDENS speach was so full of bs about the border, he was out in la la land. He needs to be impeached.
SEND THEM ALL BACK , PUT THE MIGRANTS ON AIRPLANES AND SEND THEM BACK. THIS IS THE RESULT OF A PRESIDENT THAT IS NOT MENTALLY NOT CAPABLE OF RUNNING THE COUNTRY.