Trump-appointed judges reject Capitol riot defendants’ claims they are being treated unfairly compared to left-wing rioters

David Lee Judd and Garrett Miller, two of the defendants facing charges for their roles in the January 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol Building, have been claiming that they are being unfairly treated because of their right-wing Trumpian politics — insisting they are being punished more harshly than left-wing activists who rioted in Portland, Oregon in 2020. But such claims, CNN reports, have been rejected by two federal judges who were appointed by former President Donald Trump: Judge Trevor McFadden and Judge Carl Nichols.

McFadden, on Tuesday, December 28, rejected Judd’s claims of a double standard when he wrote, “Although both Portland and January 6 rioters attacked federal buildings, the Portland defendants primarily attacked at night, meaning that they raged against a largely vacant courthouse. In contrast, the January 6 rioters attacked the Capitol in broad daylight. And many entered it…. Their actions endangered hundreds of federal officials in the Capitol complex. Members of Congress cowered under chairs while staffers blockaded themselves in offices, fearing physical attacks from the rioters.”

According to federal prosecutors, Judd threw a firecracker at police when they were trying to hold back the mob inside the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021. But Judd has pleaded “not guilty.”

Nichols, analyzing the case against Miller, also drew a distinction between the left-wing violence in Portland in 2020 and the right-wing violence during the Capitol insurrection. As Nichols sees it, Miller is comparing apples and oranges.

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On December 21, Nichols wrote, “The Portland rioters' conduct, while obviously serious, did not target a proceeding prescribed by the Constitution and established to ensure a peaceful transition of power. Nor did the Portland rioters, unlike those who assailed America's Capitol in 2021, make it past the buildings' outer defenses."