Federal investigators are still examining Donald Trump’s role in inciting the attack on the United States Capitol.
Michael Sherwin, the acting attorney general for the District of Columbia, confirmed that the former president is still under investigation about the January 6 coup in an interview with CBS 60 Minutes on Sunday.
“Perhaps the president is guilty,” he said.
Sherwin also said that there are now more than 400 cases against the participants in the riot and said that if it is determined that Brian Sicknick, the Capitol police officer who died, did so because he was hit by a bear spray, murder charges would likely occur.
“It is unequivocal that Trump was the magnet that brought people to DC on January 6,” said Sherwin. “Now the question is, is he criminally guilty for everything that happened during the siege, during the rape?
“… Based on what we see in the public record and what we see in public statements in court, we have a lot of people – we have Ohio football moms who were arrested saying, ‘Well, I did it because my president said I had to resume our home. ‘This moves the needle in that direction. Perhaps the president is to blame for these actions.
“But also, you see on the public record, militia members saying, ‘You know what? We did this because Trump only talks about a big game. He’s just talk. We did what he wouldn’t do ‘”.
Trump spoke at a rally outside the White House on January 6, telling supporters to “fight like hell” to prevent Congress from certifying his defeat in the elections for Joe Biden, which he falsely claims was the result of electoral fraud. A mob broke into the Capitol, causing five deaths, including a Trump supporter shot by police officers.
Trump was accused of inciting an insurrection, but was acquitted when only seven Republican senators could be convinced to vote him guilty.
Lawsuits over the insurrection, one brought by Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson under the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, are among the legal threats that proliferate for Trump now that he has lost office protections.
More than 100 police officers were reportedly beaten during the riot. Sicknick died the next day. The cause of death was not disclosed. But two men were accused of assaulting the 42-year-old officer with a spray designed to repel bears.
Asked whether the determination that Sicknick’s death was a direct result of being attacked with the spray would lead to murder charges, Sherwin said: “If the evidence directly links that chemical to his death, yes. We have a cause, we have a link. yea. In this scenario, correct, it is a case of murder. “
He also said: “That day, however bad it may have been, could have been much worse. It’s really amazing that more people haven’t been killed. We found ammunition in [one] vehicle. Also, 11 molotov cocktails were found in the vehicle’s body. They were full of gas and Styrofoam. [Lonnie Coffman, the man charged] put styrofoam in those, according to the [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives], because when you throw those, when they explode, the Styrofoam will stick to you and act like napalm. “
He also said that the bombs placed near the Capitol by an unidentified suspect were not properly armed.
“They were not fraudulent devices, they were real devices,” said Sherwin.
Sherwin also said that charges of sedition, which are not yet part of the cases against the participants in the riot, are likely.
“We try to act quickly to ensure that there is confidence in the rule of law,” he said. “You will be charged on the basis of your conduct and your conduct alone.
“… The world expects the rule of law, order and democracy from us. And that was broken, I think, that day. And we have to rebuild ourselves. The only way to strengthen ourselves again is to apply the law equally, to show that the rule of law will treat these people fairly before the law. “