(JustPatriots.com)- There has been much talk over the last year or so about whether former President Donald Trump will face criminal prosecution as a result of anything that comes out of the House’s special investigation into the attacks on January 6, 2021.
At least one former federal prosecutor believes that he indeed will face criminal charges from the Department of Justice.
Speaking on air recently, Andrew McCarthy, a legal analyst for Fox News, said there are some major charges that Trump could end up facing.
All of this comes after Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide in the White House, gave testimony to the House special committee on live television that revealed how the former president was acting during the attacks at the U.S. Capitol building that day.
For his part, McCarthy said he believes that the most damning information that came out of Hutchinson’s testimony was when she said that Trump was demanding that his supporters be allowed to attend his Stop the Steal rally while being armed, before he then encouraged them to march to the Capitol.
Many of the weapons that these people had with them at the rally were then used at the insurrection at the Capitol, including pistols and bear spray. Police audio from that day, played by Republican Representative Liz Cheney at a recent hearing, said there were some people “carrying AR-15s.”
As McCarthy commented on the situation:
“Trump was clearly aware just moments before he took the podium that you had a mob of heavily armed people. The critical thing he says is ‘they’re not here to hurt me,’ which implies that in his mind, he knows they’re here to hurt someone.
“And the second thing he says, which I don’t think has gotten enough attention, ‘they can come in, they can hear me, and then they can march to the Capitol.’ So, he’s very aware that you have a mob that’s armed to the teeth that he is planning to encourage to march on the Capitol. And then as the testimony ensues, we find out that he not only intended them to do that, he wanted to participate. He actually wanted to lead them down there.”
What McCarthy is referring to there is the part of Hutchinson’s testimony when she says that Trump demanded that Secret Service agents driving him in the presidential limousine take him to the Capitol to join the mob. And when they refused to do so, he yelled at them, grabbed one by the shoulder and tried to grab the steering wheel to direct it there.
McCarthy said that prosecutors could charge Trump with aiding and abetting the intimidation of federal officials, a crime that could carry a penalty of as much as 20 years in jail. He also explained that he believes the former president could be charged with obstruction of congressional proceedings.
As he explained:
“I think that theory of the prosecution is much advanced if there’s testimony that the president knew that he was essentially urging an armed mob to intimidate the Congress.”
