CNN —
The American tradition of peaceful transfers of presidential power buckled in the horrific violence of January 6, 2021.
Twenty-two months on, a Washington, DC, jury shored up the breaches in the country’s democracy on Tuesday, with a monumental verdict against right-wing insurrectionists.
But while the courts – and voters in the midterm elections – have reaffirmed the rule of law, a furor over ex-President Donald Trump’s meeting with a White supremacist Holocaust denier is underlining just how fragile it remains. As does the refusal of Republican leader Kevin McCarthy – the man who would like to be House speaker – to forthrightly condemn Trump on Tuesday for breaking bread with an extremist.
In a landmark jury verdict, Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and a subordinate, Kelly Meggs, were found guilty of seditious conspiracy and other charges in what the Justice Department said was a plot to keep Trump in power after his 2020 defeat.
The convictions for a rarely prosecuted offense delivered justice over a constitutional outrage, laid down a deterrent to future coup instigators and showed the legal system can enforce accountability for assaults on democracy.
And they reinforced the narrative that the US Capitol insurrection was not simply a too exuberant protest that spilled over but a pre-planned bid to overthrow the government, the Constitution and the will of voters. The verdicts came as Special Counsel Jack Smith presses ahead with investigations into the...
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