WASHINGTON — The speeches given by President Donald Trump, his family members, his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and others to supporters on the morning of January 6 are being investigated by the Attorney General of the District of Columbia.
Karl Racine said his office is looking into whether comments made at the "Save America" rally shortly before at least part of the crowd marched toward the U.S. Capitol and violently stormed the building, meet the threshold of an inciting violence charge.
“The inciting violence charge is a difficult charge to bring because there is a First Amendment right of free speech. However speech that incites violence, speech that appears to be close to (comments made by speakers on January 6), certainly deserves the full scrutiny of the law. And that is what we’re doing in my office,” Attorney General Racine told CNN Friday.
“They’re talking about combat justice, not showing weakness, and fight on and fight on. Those words seem to be closer to words asking for violence,” Racine continued.
Racine said they are currently reviewing all of the law and legal precedence related to incitement and to Free Speech, and applying it to the words said at the January 6 rally.
He did have a piece of advice for the outgoing president in regards to his choice of words. Racine told CNN the president should stop referencing false allegations about voter fraud.
“He needs to stop it,” Racine said, bluntly. “The disinformation needs to stop, and the incitement needs to stop as well.”
Racine referenced the multiple court rulings and statements from Trump’s own administration and cabinet officials who have shown there was no widespread voter fraud and it was a fair election.
Karl A. Racine, attorney general of the District of Columbia, says an incitement charge is difficult to bring because of First Amendment rights.
— New Day (@NewDay) January 15, 2021
“However, speech that incites violence ... certainly deserves the full scrutiny of the law.” pic.twitter.com/vedwqjNlaF
