Chansley on Tuesday became one of the first three people charged by federal prosecutors in connection with the violence at the Capitol. He is charged with violating the Federal Anti-Riot Act, as well as obstructing Congress and other violations.
Watkins, Chansley’s lawyer, said on Thursday that his client, “like many other non-voting people in our country, has been very, very, very, very synchronized” with the president.
“He felt his voice being heard for the first time,” Watkins said. ‘And what finally happened, in the run-up to the election, in the run-up to the January 6 election – it was a driving force by a man on whom he hung his hat, wa na. He loved Trump. Every word he listens to him. ”
Prior to the siege of the Capitol, the president, his family and his political allies raised their supporters during a rally on the White House Ellipse. When it was his turn to speak, Trump appealed to those present to go to the Capitol amid Congress’ certification of the election of President Joe Biden’s Electoral College.
“If you do not fight like hell, you are not going to have a country anymore,” Trump said. He also said that ‘you will never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong. ”
On Thursday, Trump became the only president in U.S. history to be charged twice – this time in a dual vote over a single count of “incitement to insurrection.”
“We all need to understand that the words uttered by the president meant something, not just to my client. “They meant something to a lot of people,” Watkins said in an interview.
They listened to these words. And these words meant something to them. “They had the right to rely on the words of their president, which were outlined worldwide,” he said. “And they did. And now they turn around [and] they are arrested, and it must be many, too.
Nevertheless, Trump must ‘stand up and own these people,’ Watkins argued. “He has an obligation to them. He has an obligation to our people. This is not going to happen. ”
Watkins, host Chris Cuomo, about what exactly he wants Trump to do, Watkins replied, “Oh, forgive me.”
As a Chansley lawyer, “my role is not to judge someone. My role is to be a lawyer, ”Watkins said. ‘If there’s a chance the man who’s the president of our country invited everyone in Pennsylvania [Avenue] – will forgive my client, you know what? I’m going to do it. ”
Watkins, however, acknowledged that it was likely that his plea would not succeed. “I hold my breath and think Donald Trump is going to sit down, ‘You know what? … What’s the name of the guy with the horns? Yes … let’s forgive him. ”
But ‘with Trump,’ Watkins said, ‘you never know. He can say, “I want the man with the horns.” The next thing you know, maybe he’s represented by the shaman instead of Rudy Guiliani. ”
Watkins compared the president’s supporters who stormed the Capitol to the Jonestown cult members who committed mass suicide during their settlement in Guyana
Watkins compared the president’s supporters who stormed the Capitol to the cult members of Jonestown who committed mass suicide in 1978 in their Guyana settlement: ‘Do you know the only thing that differs here? There is no Cabbage Aid. ”