Asked about the Jan. 6 insurrection during Tuesday’s presidential debate, Republican nominee Donald Trump said, “I had nothing to do with that other than they asked me to make a speech.” This statement was contemptuous of reality.

The mob that assaulted approximately 140 police officers, and damaged, destroyed and stole government property, was summoned to Washington by Trump. It was Trump who sicced them on the U.S. Capitol to disrupt the process of affirming the results of the 2020 presidential election. He told them that the election was being stolen. “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” Trump said.

Imagine the person most responsible for provoking the worst assault on the seat of the federal government since the War of 1812 looking the public in the eye and saying, “I had nothing to do with that.” Well, it wasn’t your imagination. It was one of many lies told by Trump on Tuesday night.

We can’t quickly turn from that lie without reviewing the consequences of the damage Trump inspired.

Trump told the audience in Philadelphia about the pro-Trump rioter, Ashli Babbitt, who was killed while trying to break into the House chamber that day. She was “shot by an out-of-control police officer that should have never, ever shot her,” Trump said. “Nobody on the other side was killed.”

What Trump meant by “out of control” and “the other side” was not immediately clear. But the truth is three police officers died in the aftermath of the attack on the Capitol: one while battling the insurrectionists, two by suicide in the days to follow. Three other people died as a result of medical emergencies suffered during the riot. Two more police officers died by suicide that July.

Trump has said he would pardon Jan. 6 rioters, whom he considers “patriots,” if he wins the election. “They were convicted by a very tough system,” he said in July.

“A very tough system?” Consider the possibility that it is not tough enough.

In the 44 months since Jan. 6, 2021, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia:

More than 1,500 defendants have been federally charged with crimes associated with the attack.
Approximately 915 have pleaded guilty, including about 300 to felonies.

The guilty pleas covered a lot of ground: Assaulting law enforcement. Obstructing law enforcement during a riot. Assaulting law enforcement with a dangerous weapon. Seditious conspiracy — that is, conspiring to use force against the United States.

And the weapons used and carried on Capitol grounds by Trump’s “patriots” included: firearms, pepper spray, Tasers, a sword, axes, hatchets, knives, and makeshift items such as destroyed office furniture, fencing, bike racks, stolen riot shields, baseball bats, hockey sticks, flagpoles and knuckle gloves.

In all, about 965 defendants have had their cases fully adjudicated and have been sentenced for their crimes, including 605 sentenced to prison and 141 sentenced to home detention.

But in one way, the Justice Department has had to scale back its work to impose accountability for this attack on American democracy.

The U.S. attorney’s office has taken notice of the June decision in Fischer v. United States, in which the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the charge of obstructing an official proceeding can be applied only when the defendant “impaired the availability or integrity” of a physical document. Prosecutors reported this week that the decision has prompted a review of cases involving 259 defendants charged with or convicted of obstructing an official proceeding.

The prosecutors note that there are no cases where a defendant was solely charged with violating the obstruction of an official proceeding statute. They note that every charged defendant faced, or continues to face, exposure to other criminal charges. However, of the 133 defendants whose cases had been adjudicated by the time Fischer was decided, the U.S. attorney’s office did not oppose dismissal of 40 of the invalidate obstruction charges, in response to defense motions. In only one case to date has a defendant received a sentence reduction because of Fischer.

The overwhelming majority of defendants, however, have been found guilty of crimes committed on Jan. 6. And they were not patriots. They were rioters bent on preventing the constitutionally sanctioned peaceful transfer of power. Pardons for them? It’s Trump who should beg the nation’s pardon for even entertaining such a subversive and treacherous thought.

But what should we expect from someone who, through lies and violence, tried to steal the 2020 election — and who clearly will use power corruptly if once again given the chance.

Work and pray that it ends on Election Day. Vote. Vote. Vote.

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