US Capitol Riot Participant Sentenced to 14 Years... Is Trump Also Subject to Punishment?

Up to 25 Years Imprisonment Sought for Ringleaders
Prosecutors Call This Incident Domestic Terrorism... Demand Severe Punishment

On January 6, 2021, a participant in the United States Capitol riot (the January 6 Capitol riot) was sentenced to 14 years in prison. This is the harshest sentence handed down so far in connection with the January 6 Capitol riot.

Major foreign media outlets, including The New York Times (NYT), reported on the 5th (local time) that “the Washington DC Federal District Court sentenced Peter Schwartz (49) from Pennsylvania to 14 years in prison on charges of storming the Capitol.”

The January 6 Capitol riot was a violent incident in which supporters of former President Donald Trump, refusing to accept the results after President Joe Biden won the 2020 U.S. presidential election, stormed the Capitol building on January 6 of the following year.

With Schwartz receiving the maximum sentence, there are expectations that heavier punishments will be imposed on the ringleaders awaiting trial.

On the same day, the U.S. Department of Justice sought a 25-year prison sentence for Stewart Rhodes (57), who was identified as the mastermind behind the incident. Rhodes, founder of the far-right armed group ‘Oath Keepers,’ has already been found guilty of charges including conspiracy to incite. Another leader of the Oath Keepers, Kelly Meggs, was also sentenced to 21 years in prison.

Founder of the far-right militant group 'Oath Keepers', Stuart Rhodes [Image source=AP Yonhap News]

Subsequently, prosecutors sought sentences ranging from 14 to 18 years for three individuals?Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, and Thomas Caldwell?who were found guilty of obstructing official duties.

The prosecution told the court that “this incident is no different from ‘domestic terrorism’” and requested severe punishment. Sentencing hearings for Rhodes and five other Oath Keepers members will be held at the end of this month.

Additionally, four others, including Enrique Tarrio, former leader of another far-right group involved in the Capitol riot, the ‘Proud Boys,’ were found guilty by a jury in a trial held the previous day.

Tarrio did not directly participate in the storming of the Capitol building in Washington DC at the time of the incident. However, he was indicted after evidence emerged that he ordered his associates to mobilize ‘forces’ to prevent the transfer of presidential power to Biden.

Meanwhile, according to the legal reasoning applied in the Proud Boys trial’s guilty verdict, there is speculation that former President Donald Trump could also be subject to punishment.

Former President Trump had posted on Twitter a few days before the riot, calling the election “the greatest fraud in American history” and urging supporters to “meet in Washington DC on January 6,” which has been criticized as inciting supporters to rally and engage in violent protests.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.