Supreme Court tackles Jan. 6 obstruction charge with Trump case looming
Trump has been charged with violating the same law, and a conspiracy provision. As such, the Supreme Court ruling could affect his prosecution too.
WASHINGTON — In the weeks before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, Joseph Fischer wrote a text message talking about his desire to take Democratic members of Congress “to the gallows” and predicted politicians would be dragged out of the Capitol and hung after a mob trial, according to the government.
“Can’t vote if they can’t breathe..lol,” Fischer, then a police officer in Pennsylvania, wrote in a message on Dec. 16, 2020, authorities say.
Fischer subsequently joined the mob on Jan. 6 in a bid to block former President Donald Trump’s electoral defeat. He now faces seven criminal charges, one of which is the focus of a Supreme Court case being argued on Tuesday.
Fischer is asking the court to throw out one charge he’s facing: obstruction of an official proceeding.
But it’s not just Fischer’s charge that hangs in the balance.
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