Closing summary
Here’s a recap of today’s developments:
The former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in prison for his part in the failed plot to keep Donald Trump in power after the 2020 election. Prosecutors had sought a 33-year-term for Tarrio, who was convicted of charges including seditious conspiracy in May. The judge did not agree but nonetheless handed down the longest sentence yet in a case relating to 2020 and the January 6 Capitol attack.
The Republican leader in the Senate Mitch McConnell is not evidently suffering from “a seizure disorder”, a stroke or a “movement disorder such as Parkinson’s disease”, the congressional physician said, a little less than a week after the 81-year-old senator suffered a second worrying freeze in front of reporters. McConnell alluded to his freeze in Kentucky as a moment in the Senate summer recess that “received its fair share of attention in the press” in remarks on the Senate floor on Tuesday afternoon.
The former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has pleaded not guilty to charges accusing him of participating in an illegal scheme to try to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia and will not appear in court in Atlanta this week. Scott McAfee, the Fulton county superior court judge, had scheduled arraignment hearings for Wednesday for Meadows, Donald Trump and the other 17 people charged last month in a sprawling indictment.
The final co-defendant in the Georgia election subversion case, Misty Hampton, pleaded not guilty and waived her right to an in-person arraignment. Hampton’s filing on Tuesday means that all 19 co-defendants have now pleaded not guilty and opted to skip tomorrow’s arraignment in Atlanta.
The attorney general of New York state is seeking $20,000 in sanctions against Donald Trump, his adult sons, other defendants and their lawyers, for repeating “frivolous” arguments rejected in court in a $250m civil suit over family business practices.
Updated
The case was one of the most significant prosecutions in the federal investigation of the attack on Congress, which saw supporters of Donald Trump shock the world with their attempt to overturn Joe Biden’s victory.
The Proud Boys are a so-called “western chauvinist” group, often involved in street fighting with leftwing activists. Enrique Tarrio was involved in the run-up to the January 6 insurrection but did not take part in the violence. Before members of the Proud Boys joined thousands in storming the Capitol as lawmakers met to certify Biden’s victory, Tarrio was arrested and ordered to leave Washington. But prosecutors showed he organised and led from afar.
Prosecutors said:
Using his powerful platform, Tarrio has repeatedly and publicly indicated that he has no regrets about what he helped make happen on January 6.
Tarrio’s lawyers denied the Proud Boys had any plan to attack the Capitol, arguing that prosecutors used Tarrio as a scapegoat for Trump, who spoke at a “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House on January 6, urging supporters to “fight like hell”.
The justice department has charged Trump with conspiring to subvert American democracy. But the Tarrio case and hundreds of others stand as vivid reminders of the chaos fueled by Trump’s lies, including the storming of the Capitol in an attempt to thwart the peaceful transfer of power, a riot now linked to nine deaths including suicides among law enforcement.
Urging a lenient sentence, Tarrio’s lawyers noted that he has a history of cooperating with law enforcement. Court records uncovered in 2021 showed that Tarrio worked undercover and cooperated with investigators after he was accused of fraud in 2012.
During the riot, however, Tarrio posted encouraging messages on social media, expressing pride and urging followers to stay at the Capitol. He posted a picture of rioters in the Senate chamber with the caption “1776”, the year of the Declaration of Independence.
Several days before the riot, a girlfriend sent Tarrio a document entitled “1776 Returns”. It called for storming and occupying government buildings, “for the purpose of getting the government to overturn the election results”, prosecutors said.
More than 1,100 people have been charged in relation to the Capitol attack. More than 600 have been sentenced, more than half receiving prison terms.
