Jan. 6 wouldn’t have happened without these Trump allies. Will they get away with it? | Opinion

In the two years since the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, hundreds of participants have been charged with or sentenced for federal crimes. Twenty-five North Carolinians are among them, including several individuals closely linked to the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys.

What happened on Jan. 6 was despicable, and those who engaged directly in the violence must be brought to justice. But perhaps even more significant than the list of people facing charges is the list of people who aren’t — people who knowingly spread falsehoods about the 2020 election, and who helped devise a plot to overturn it. That list, too, features several North Carolinians.

The central cause of the insurrection may have been Donald Trump, but he most certainly did not act alone. Key allies and advisers like Mark Meadows and Cleta Mitchell promoted demonstrably absurd and even illegal theories, fueling Trump’s dangerous narrative of a stolen election. It was that narrative that drove thousands of Trump supporters to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Unlike the hundreds of rioters awaiting trial or sentencing, these individuals have faced few, if any, consequences for their behavior.

Mark Meadows

Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who represented western North Carolina in Congress for seven years, wrote in his 2021 memoir that a critically important duty of any chief of staff is to “tell the most powerful man in the world when you believed he was wrong.”

Unfortunately, Meadows didn’t appear to do that often, if at all. And because of that, we got Jan. 6. In a series of public hearings, the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack revealed how Meadows knew of the potential for violence on Jan. 6 and did nothing about it. At times, he even did Trump’s bidding for him, personally placing pressure on the Justice Department and Georgia election officials to investigate nonexistent voter fraud and invalidate election results.

The Jan. 6 committee stated in its final report that it believed there was sufficient evidence to refer Meadows for criminal prosecution to the Justice Department for his involvement in a conspiracy to obstruct the certification of the election.

Sidney Powell

UNC-Chapel Hill graduate and Raleigh native Sidney Powell was part of a team of lawyers assembled to challenge election results in key swing states by falsely claiming voter fraud.

Perhaps most notorious for her promise to “release the Kraken,” Powell publicly floated a number of conspiracy theories in the wake of Trump’s loss. One included the baseless accusation that voting machines were rigged as part of a wide-ranging plot hatched by deceased Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, among others. The companies behind those voting machines have sued Powell for defamation.

Apparently, Powell’s theories were too absurd even for Trump, because he cut her from his legal team, and reportedly laughed at how she sounded “crazy.”

Mark Martin

Former N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Martin served as an informal legal adviser to Trump in the wake of the 2020 election.

Per The New York Times, Martin was the one to tell Trump that Vice President Mike Pence had the power to stop the electoral certification on Jan. 6 by throwing out any results he considered “fraudulent.” Martin also reportedly helped write the Texas lawsuit attempting to overturn Joe Biden’s electoral victories in Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Seven Republicans representing North Carolina in Congress signed onto that lawsuit in December 2020.

Martin’s career has fared well since Jan. 6 — he was named the founding dean of High Point University’s new law school.

Cleta Mitchell

Another lawyer who aided Trump’s scheme to overturn the 2020 election is Cleta Mitchell. Mitchell joined Trump on the infamous January 2021 phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which Trump demanded Raffensperger “find 11,780 votes” to sway the outcome of the election in his favor.

Mitchell also peddled falsehoods about election “irregularities,” including absurd claims of voting by dead people and noncitizens. She continues to lead insidious “election integrity” efforts across the country. Mitchell owns a home in Pinehurst, where she hosted a fundraiser for now-Sen. Ted Budd last August.

Failing to hold these people accountable for their behavior threatens to normalize it. If there are no consequences, how can we stop something like Jan. 6 from happening again?

“Our nation cannot only punish the foot soldiers who stormed our Capitol,” Rep. Liz Cheney said at one of the Jan. 6 hearings. “Those who planned to overturn our election, and brought us to the point of violence, must also be held accountable.”

It’s the people with the most power, the most money and the most influence who pose the greatest threat to our democracy. Unfortunately, they may also be the least likely to be punished.

This story was originally published January 6, 2023 at 6:00 AM.