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--:-- John Bickley: Hundreds of January 6 cases hang in the balance as the Supreme Court hears arguments about the DOJ's controversial use of the obstruction charge. C2 does not refer just to obstruct. It says obstructs, influences, or impedes. Impedes is something less than obstructs. I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. Georgia Howe is out this week. It's Wednesday, April 17th, and this is Morning Wire. Trump is accused of intimidating witnesses while the Manhattan DA comes under even more scrutiny for alleged prosecutorial persecution and outrage in Europe as the mayor of Brussels clamps down on a high-profile conservative event. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- John Bickley: The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday on a case related to January 6th that could have sweeping implications for hundreds of detained and sentenced rioters and could even impact President Trump. Here with more is Daily Wire Senior Editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, this is a big one. The case will ultimately decide whether January 6th defendants can be charged with 1512C2. That is a statute that applies to obstruction of an official proceeding for their role in the Capitol riot. Now, historically, the government has only used that statute to go after those accused of evidence tampering, think shredding documents or wiping hard drives. But since the riot, the charge has been levied against roughly 350 people who allegedly took part. Now, it's worth noting under the law, this obstruction charge is a felony that carries up to 20 years in prison.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, the crux of this case hinges on the court's opinion over whether the electoral certification on January 6th qualified as an official government proceeding, and then if the government's definition of obstruction is applicable to those at the Capitol that day. Now, how did we get to this point? How did this case make its way to the Supreme Court? Well, as the federal government began rounding up J6 attendees, prosecutors relied heavily on that obstruction charge. And for the most part, judges nationwide agreed with them that it was applicable. But in the D.C. Circuit Court, Judge Carl Nichols dismissed a charge last year of obstruction for a J6 defendant, saying it was not applicable. In response, the DOJ filed an appeal of that ruling, saying it should apply.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, if the Supreme Court rejects the government's interpretation of that law, it means hundreds of J6 defendants will have those obstruction charges dropped, and that would also apply to President Trump, who himself faces two charges related to obstruction. All right, so hundreds of people impacted here. What are the arguments we hearing from both sides? The DOJ and federal prosecutors have argued that obstruction is a quote catch that can be applied to those trying to block official government proceedings including Congress counting of electoral college votes.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, skeptics of that line of thinking, mostly Republicans, argue that the federal government's interpretation of the law is just too broad and say if the charges are allowed to stand, the definition of obstruction will inevitably be expanded in the future to target political dissenters. They say the statute is already being weaponized to target supporters of Trump and argue the DOJ has refrained from using it in the past against other forms of protest. To that point, 23 Republican lawmakers in Congress, including Senator Tom Cotton and Rep. Jim Jordan, filed a brief arguing that, quote, advocacy groups throughout history have organized trips to Washington timed to congressional or executive consideration of favorite items.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: They went on to reference civil rights protesters disrupting government proceedings, as well as protesters attempting to shut down the confirmation hearing of Justice Kavanaugh back in 2018. Yeah, we all remember that. And how did this play out? What did we hear in court yesterday? Well, the three liberal justices made pretty clear throughout the day that they support the DOJ in their interpretation. But the court's six remaining conservative justices displayed quite a bit of skepticism with the government's argument.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Here's Gorsuch, for example, asking if the DOJ's same logic for J6 defendants also applies to other cases of political protest. Would a sit-in that disrupts a trial or access to a federal courthouse qualify? Would a heckler in today's audience qualify or at the State of the Union address? Would pulling a fire alarm before a vote qualify for 20 years in federal prison? That last point is a clear reference to Democrat Congressman Jamal Bowman, who famously pulled a fire alarm in the Capitol last year to delay a vote on government funding.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Bowman faced nothing more than a misdemeanor charge, but Republicans say, according to the DOJ's own argument, he obstructed an official proceeding and should face the same treatment as J6 participants. To that point, Justice Alito asked why the DOJ had never sought to imprison protesters over the years who had disrupted official Supreme Court hearings. He also brought up anti-Israel protesters this week who shut down the Golden Gate Bridge. What if something similar to that happened all around the Capitol so that all the bridges from Virginia were blocked and members from Virginia who needed to appear at a hearing couldn't get there or were delayed in getting there?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Would that be a violation of this provision? Now, for their part, the DOJ says January 6th was a uniquely violent riot and not protected under the First Amendment the way other forms of protest would be. And while some of the court's conservative justices did agree there might be a distinction, they made pretty clear with their questioning that they thought the DOJ was applying the obstruction law unevenly.
--:-- John Bickley: Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
--:-- John Bickley: Six jurors were selected for Donald Trump's hush money trial in Manhattan on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Alvin Bragg, the district attorney behind the case, is coming under even more scrutiny. His aggressive prosecution of the former president has been contrasted with his past record of downgrading crimes. Here to discuss is Daily Wire contributor David Marcus.
--:-- David Marcus: Morning, John. Yeah, let's be clear. If you look up tough on crime in the dictionary, you're not going to find a picture of Alvin Bragg. This is a district attorney who in 2022 downgraded over 50% of felony charges to misdemeanors, including even violent offenses. Obviously, crime has been a pressing issue in Gotham, with Governor Kathy Hochul recently bringing in the National Guard to protect the subways all but one of which course below Bragg borough of Manhattan.
--:-- David Marcus: So it has raised eyebrows that suddenly when it comes to Donald Trump Bragg turns into Elliot Ness, not just in the sense of choosing to elevate this alleged crime from a misdemeanor to a felony, but also, according to many legal scholars, for essentially inventing a novel financial crime that isn't actually a crime at all. Meanwhile, Bragg filed a motion to hold Trump in contempt of court, for posts he made on his truth social platform criticizing witnesses in the case.
--:-- David Marcus: And of course, for Trump and his supporters, all of this fuels their argument that this is a politically motivated prosecution. Now, in terms of the alleged crime itself, what is it that critics point to to suggest that it really isn't, in fact, a crime? So Trump is basically being charged with violating campaign finance laws by not disclosing the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels. Here's how Alan Dershowitz described Bragg's approach to this charge.
--:-- David Marcus: What the prosecution did is they cobbled together federal crime, which wasn't really a crime, state crime, which isn't a crime. Nobody in American history has ever been charged with failing to disclose hush money payments on a corporate or even a government form. And the idea that you can have a criminal prosecution based on that is so dangerous and so preposterous.
--:-- John Bickley: David, thanks for reporting.
--:-- David Marcus: Thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: The police are being encouraged to come in and shut down this conference. They have told this Tunisian owner, who believes in free speech, that if he carries on with this conference, they'll make sure he goes out of business. His wife is being threatened. This is what we're up against. That was former British politician Nigel Farage condemning efforts by Belgian authorities to shut down a conservative conference in Brussels Tuesday. Three European prime ministers are accusing Brussels mayor of trying to censor free speech. Here with more is Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- Megan Basham: So this was the third National Conservatism Europe conference, and it's been scheduled to take place in Belgium yesterday and today for really months now, ahead of the big elections that will be taking place across Europe in June. Even before the police arrived, two different venues canceled their contracts with conference organizers at really the very last minute under pressure from local authorities.
--:-- Megan Basham: So conference organizers managed to find a third venue the night before the event started and video showed that it been packed. Everything I've seen has shown standing room only. Now, I spoke to Saurabh Sharma, who is the executive director of NatCon, and he told me that as he was moderating a panel on Monday, his phone started going off with notifications that police were closing down the event. By the end, there was about 15 law enforcement officers standing arm in arm, basically preventing anyone from walking in.
--:-- Megan Basham: That includes our attorneys. They wouldn't allow members of the European Parliament to come in. Cardinal Mueller wasn't allowed in. Cardinal Gerard Mueller, at one point, was the third highest ranking Catholic priest in the world. It was crazy. Around that time, police entered and told attendees that they had 15 minutes to leave the venue. But speakers and attendees refused. So police set up outside and were allowing people to leave, but they weren't allowing anyone to go back in.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, the mayor has said that he had to take this action because of threats from Antifa, but he also said in a press release that he was concerned the event could display, quoting from him, racist and homophobic views. And he wrote on X that the far right is not welcome in Brussels. And is far right an accurate description of this conference?
--:-- Megan Basham: I've seen a couple of media outlets even describing it as quote-unquote fascist? Well, the organizers and speakers certainly don't think that it's accurate, though they obviously acknowledge that they are on the political right. And, you know, to their point, a lot of well-known names in European conservatism and speakers have been at this event in the past and are there right now. Nigel Farage, as you said, former British MP and Home Office Secretary Suella Braverman, Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, the former prime minister of Poland, French presidential candidate Eric Zemmour.
--:-- Megan Basham: This was what Sharma told me. No, this was not a fascist conference. This was a meeting of national conservatives, center-right people who believe that the future of Europe should be independent nations working in concert towards common ends. In Brussels, anything that's not actively communist is considered far-right. So speech topics included things like immigration, gender theory, and national autonomy. Pretty typical conservative topics.
--:-- John Bickley: Megan, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Megan Basham: Anytime. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news you need to know.
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