Attorney General Bill Barr told federal prosecutors to charge rioters aggressively in a recent conference call.
According to the Wall Street Journal:
Attorney General William Barr told the nation’s federal prosecutors to be aggressive when charging violent demonstrators with crimes, including potentially prosecuting protesters for plotting to overthrow the U.S. government. [….]
Barr warned that sometimes violent demonstrations across the U.S. could worsen as the November presidential election approaches. He encouraged the prosecutors to seek a number federal charges, including under a rarely used sedition law, even when state charges could apply.
As of now, there are around 200 cases pending related to the rioting around the country. And as has been shown, there’s an organized driving force behind the violence.
There are some, on the left of course, who think the additional penalties brought by federal charges are excessive. Buzzfeed wrote an entire article about it. Their complaint? The pair of NYC lawyers that got caught throwing firebombs at police vehicles are facing a potential life sentence. The authors tried to excuse the firebombing by saying the vehicles had already been damaged and were unoccupied.
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So far this year, the riots have caused upwards of $2 Billion in damages according to an insurance industry report.