By Julie Kelly
In September 2019, Couy Griffin, founder of Cowboys for Trump, met with President Trump in the Oval Office.
His group, according to its website, believes “securing our border, protecting our Second Amendment, and protecting the lives of the unborn are the most vital and key aspects in America’s Greatness.” Trump supporters riding on horseback—often carrying American flags and Trump banners—participated in rallies across the country to show support for the president.
Today, Griffin sits in a jail cell denied bail.
Prosecutors charged Griffin with one minor count of trespassing as part of the Justice Department’s sweeping investigation into the events of January 6. Griffin, who is a county commissioner in New Mexico, never entered the Capitol but investigators scoured his social media account to find evidence that he was “well within the restricted area” of the building.
Griffin did not assault a police officer or break any windows or even steal an important leader’s laptop. His real crime, of course, is that he’s a supporter of Donald Trump—and his real threat to society, according to U.S. prosecutors and a federal judge, is that Griffin dares to doubt the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. (In his post-arrest interview, Griffin told the FBI “the election was stolen.”)
Arguing that Griffin is a flight risk and should remain in jail throughout his trial, government lawyers claimed his refusal to accept Joe Biden as the legitimately elected president would cause him to also “deny the authority of the judicial officers appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.”
Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui, who was neither appointed by the president nor confirmed by the Senate, concurred. “This is an offense that, at bottom, was an attempt to stop democracy from moving forward because people were unhappy about the results of the election,” Faruqui preached during a February 1 hearing. “I don’t think that the defendant will follow my conditions if he believes I am part of this machine of the democratic process.”
The judge added that refusing to accept the outcome of the 2020 election is like “not believing facts or science.” (Faruqui, it’s worth noting, was appointed a federal magistrate last year after a 12-year career at the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s office, the same office overseeing every January 6 related case. This is the swamp in action.)
So, facing just one federal misdemeanor, Griffin will remain locked up for the foreseeable future.
He is, for all intents and purposes, a political prisoner. In fact, some FBI filings refer to unnamed protestors as “insurrectionists.” The seditious cake is baked.
“Only the Beginning”
While official Washington fixates on the plight of an anti-Putin Russian political dissident, American supporters of Donald Trump are being rounded up, imprisoned, transported to the nation’s capital, and likely bankrupted over relatively minor crimes to stoke the narrative that an “insurrection” occurred last month.
More than 200 people have been charged so far; the FBI has described its effort as a “24/7, full bore extensive operation” and warned that agents from its 56 field offices will be fully engaged.
“The scope and scale of these investigations . . . is really unprecedented not only in FBI history but in DOJ history,” acting Attorney General Michael Sherwin said during a press conference on January 12.
Since all cases will be adjudicated in Washington, D.C., it’s a sure bet that defendants will be shown no mercy in the Trump-hating Beltway legal system also responsible for prosecuting Roger Stone and Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn—just a few of the Americans targeted by law enforcement solely based on their ties to Donald Trump.
Authorities admit that the Justice Department’s various sedition strike forces will leverage minor offenses in an attempt to manufacture bigger cases against Trump allies.
“Some of the misdemeanors we’re filing, these are only the beginning, this is not the end,” Sherwin warned. “We’re looking at significant felony cases tied to sedition and conspiracy. Their only marching orders from me are to build sedition and conspiracy charges related to the most heinous acts that occurred in the Capitol, and these are significant charges that have felonies with prison terms of up to 20 years.”
Law enforcement, as promised, isn’t dragging its feet. A federal grand jury already has issued a trove of indictments against several people; charges range from serious assault allegations to silly “obstruction of an official proceeding” technicalities. Some defendants appear to suffer from mental health problems: the so-called “QAnon Shaman” and “Helmet Boy” clearly have issues—neither can organize a cogent sentence let alone a coup.
Political Discrimination
Without question, dozens of people acted badly that day. Conduct that resulted in bodily injury or severe property damage should be punished accordingly.
But what’s most disturbing is that several defendants are being held without bail for versions of the same crimes unpunished thousands of times during the Black Lives Matter/Antifa riots last year.
Biden like all Liberal Democ-Rats is a Globalists and a Traitor to America Clinton and Obama are about the same i would say BIRDS OF FEATHER but even Vultures would not go near these scoundrels
The only “heinous act” they are prosecuting is the act of drawing attention to the most egregious case of election fraud in US history and not silently accepting corruption as the new government norm.
If any of those who assaulted the Supreme Court or Senate chambers during the Kavanaugh hearings or the White House last summer had been publicly prosecuted for sedition and made examples of perhaps the idea that political violence is acceptable and honorable might have been discouraged. Were that the case, any Trump supporter involvement in the Capital riots would have most likely been avoided; as it is, they were just doing what leftists do. They should have known about the two justice systems in the US; the one that makes excuses and looks the other way for left wing crimes and the one, whose attention THEY have attracted, that harshly punishes discontent with the totalitarian police state.
This is the police state.
Liberals like Crenshaw and Kinzinger have said for years Don’s supporters were/are terrorists and should be in jail. No bail is fine with Trump hating ‘GOP leftists! As Kinzinger would say “Untermensch”! lLiberals have not changed in 90 years! Well shirts are no longer Braun.
Feb 1st, Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui had ordered the man — 47-year-old
Because Griffin refuses to wear a mask, the liberals wanted him to sit behind bars with no trial for over a year, at least until trials can take place without masking.
The Judge said no, that that was punishment before conviction and freed Griffin.
@Nan G: Funny, the left is willing to release rapists and murderers from prison because they might get COVID (I would argue they could be safer in jail than out in the population) but they want people accused of thought crimes to remain in jail.