Facts don’t matter in Collaboration Theater.
This week produced yet another example of the shameless collaboration between the U.S. Department of Justice, the Democratic Party, and the national news media to destroy Donald Trump and everyone around him. The ink was barely dry on the not guilty verdict for Michael Sussmann, just one of many figures who acted as a pass-through between Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and the FBI to manufacture the Russia collusion hoax, before the same players were up to their old tricks.
Members of the January 6 select committee blanketed the Sunday news programs last weekend promising bombshell revelations would shake the nation during a primetime hearing Thursday night. Representative Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) told CBS News’ Robert Costa the committee would present findings to show an “extremely broad . . . extremely well-organized” conspiracy to overthrow the government that day. What the committee uncovered related to the alleged conspiracy, Cheney warned, is “really chilling.’
Roughly 24 hours after Cheney’s interview aired, Matthew Graves, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia handling the January 6 criminal prosecution, announced seditious conspiracy charges against five members of the Proud Boys, the so-called militia group involved in the Capitol protest. The new indictment, handed down by a D.C. grand jury 13 months after its initial indictments in the case, made instant headlines.
But the 32-page indictment contained no new information aside from a few irrelevant details; much of it rehashed previous filings in the case. Nonetheless, Graves claimed the men conspired to “oppose the lawful transfer of presidential power by force, by opposing the authority of the Government of the United States and by preventing, hindering, or delaying by force the execution of the laws governing the transfer of powerful,” referring to the 12th Amendment to the Constitution.
No American has ever been convicted of “seditious conspiracy.” The last time the government attempted to prosecute a seditious conspiracy case 10 years ago, the presiding judge tossed it out of court. Graves has so far charged 17 Americans with the rare offense comparable to treason and threatening life sentences for those who refuse to accept plea deals.
The purpose of the one-two punch by Cheney and Graves was revealed by the New York Times on Tuesday: committee members will present to the audience proof of an alleged “conspiracy” between Trump and the unarmed Proud Boys to execute a coup on January 6.
By Julie Kelly
