Proud Boy
Enrique Tarrio, former leader of the Proud Boys and convicted seditionist, has a problem. He was just sentenced to twenty-two years in federal prison for his role in the Insurrection of January 6th, the longest sentence yet. Before it went to trial, he was offered a “deal”: plead guilty and serve nine to eleven years in jail. But Tarrio decided to gamble on a jury.
Before the deal was offered, Federal prosecutors asked Tarrio about links to ex-President Donald Trump. Tarrio held fast to his story – there were no links to Trump, and that Tarrio himself didn’t have a “role” in the Insurrection. So now he has at least eighteen years to think about it.
And that’s his dilemma. Whatever Tarrio might know or say, he’s going to serve a long time in jail. IF he has more knowledge of a Trump connection, he might still be able to shave years by cutting a deal. But, if Trump wins the Presidency in 2024, Tarrio could be released as early as January, 2025. If Tarrio implicates Trump now, and Trump still gets elected, he certainly wouldn’t pardon him. So for the former Proud Boy, it’s probably better to wait.
Meadows’ Quandary
Federal Special Prosecutor Jack Smith faces the same problem from the other side. Mr. Trump is the only defendant in the Washington DC Federal case, but there are six other unindicted co-conspirators, and more unnamed participants. A critical potential witness is former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. According to his assistant, Cassidy Hutchinson, Meadows was the nexus of communications to and from Trump on the days before and during January 6th, including connections to the “War-Room” at the Willard Hotel.
The ultimate burning question of January 6th is: did the President simply stoke the crowd and set them onto the Congress, or were his actions part of a defined plan to incite violence, and disrupt and delay the Electoral vote count? There are only a handful of people who know the definitive answer to that question; the men in the Willard “War Room”, Mark Meadows, and the former President himself.
The Federal indictment named Meadows, but only as a “witness”. Has he “flipped” and gotten an immunity deal with Federal prosecutors? Meadows was also indicted in the Georgia state RICO case, for many of the same events. If he is required to testify in the Federal case, the Georgia charges require him to “Take the Fifth”.
So – will Meadows hold fast and take his chances in Georgia? Or, will there be additional indictments from Jack Smith? Will the Federal prosecutors arrange for immunity in Georgia for Meadows, so that he can testify in both matters? Or, will Meadows, like Tarreo, wait (and pray) for a Trump win in 2024, and a Presidential Pardon?
Hard Time
Federal prison time is “hard” time. Most Federal sentences are 85% served, unlike state sentences which are closer to 50%. A twenty year Federal sentence is at least seventeen years actual time behind bars. But the charges in Georgia are no less serious. The felony RICO conviction can carry a five-to-twenty year sentence, and very likely will result in a decade of incarceration. It might be in a place like the Washington State Prison in Davisboro, a minimum security facility far out in the Georgia countryside. Serve time in a “country-club” or a “real” prison, either way for men like Meadows, Clark, Eastman, et al., not only will their careers be over, but they will be old men when they emerge from imprisonment.
Their dilemma: admit guilt, “rat out” their co-conspirators, and cut their future time in prison in half or more. Or “hang tough”, loyal to the ex-President, and end their lives as an asterisk in the Wikipedia article like Howard Hunt (3 years), Attorney General John Mitchell (a year and a half), or Gordon Liddy (four and a half years) of Watergate infamy.
Of course maybe Trump will win in 2024. That thought bring shudders of disbelief. I guess if that happens, the least thing we’ll have to worry about, is a few “country-club” prisoners getting back on the streets.
The Nation will be in a whole lot more trouble than that.
