Federal Judge Ominously Warns That Trump Won’t Accept Defeat In 2024

LOADING ERROR LOADING A federal judge on Thursday said the United States was “in trouble” if Americans don’t accept the results of legitimate elections, as was the case with Donald Trump and many of his supporters following the 2020 election. Kent Nishimura via Getty Images Walton, who’s handled a number of Capitol attack cases, said last year that the United States was in a “scary moment,” and that the attack “still haunts us because the individuals who instigated what occurred are still engaging in the same rhetoric that resulted in the frenzy that took place on that day.” Prior to Thursday’s hearing, prosecutors had requested that Zerkle spend 34 months behind bars, which Zerkle’s attorney, Christopher Macchiaroli, called “wholly disproportionate.” The defense sought no time behind bars. Macchiaroli wrote, “the district court focused on how the world viewed those present outside the Capitol on January 6 and the possible ramifications of the upcoming election and ordered Mr. Zerkle immediately detained at the DC Jail, while not allowing him to self-surrender at a federal facility.” The attorney added, “Notwithstanding D.C.’s long history of protests and willingness to afford probationary or diversion dispositions for pushing that does not result in any injury, counsel is unaware of any other such lengthy sentence of incarceration nationwide based on pushing during a protest, especially for an individual who deliberately chose not to take part in entering the U.S. Capitol and had zero criminal history points prior to being sentenced.” Prosecutors accused Zerkle of entering restricted congressional grounds and assaulting a line of Metropolitan Police Department officers who were attempting to assist U.S. Capitol Police that day. In a statement of offense Zerkle agreed to as part of a plea deal last October, he acknowledged “placing his hands on officers’ persons and forcibly pushing these three officers with his hands.” The statement of offense noted that as a result of the actions of Zerkle and those around him, the group of police officers attempting to reinforce Capitol Police “were split in two groups” and only a few initially reached the intended police line at the Capitol’s West Plaza. In court filings last year, Macchiaroli described his client’s actions as a “brief 29-second encounter that Mr. Zerkle had with officers outside the U.S. Capitol prior to heading in the opposite direction from the 2,000 people who breached the building.” Macchiaroli also unsuccessfully sought a delay in Zerkle’s trial because one of the D.C. police officers Zerkle was charged with assaulting, Carlton Wilhoit, had subsequently resigned from the Metropolitan Police Department, joined the Peace Corps, and left the country, and would therefore not be able to participate in the trial.