Why Trump can't use the 'idiot' defense other Jan. 6 defendants often lean on
While other Jan. 6 defendants and their lawyers have argued that they participated in the Capitol riot due to stupidity, Donald Trump would have a hard time succeeding with that argument in court.
WASHINGTON — For the past three years, defense lawyers seeking leniency for Jan. 6 rioters have often struck a similar theme in trying to explain to federal judges and Washington juries how their clients fell for thoroughly debunked lies about the 2020 presidential election.
They argued that their clients weren’t very smart or that they had conditions that made them vulnerable to disinformation.
In court filings and sentencing memos, lawyers defending Jan. 6 rioters have argued that their clients were duped and manipulated, that they were poorly educated, had low IQs and lacked critical thinking skills. They wanted former President Donald Trump’s “respect” and “approval” and thought they were “following presidential orders,” lawyers argued. Some Jan. 6 defendants have even called themselves idiots, lamenting that they were credulous enough to have fallen for what they now see as obvious lies.
The strategy appears to have had an impact in some cases, with judges agreeing to more lenient sentences, particularly in cases in which defendants appear genuinely remorseful for their conduct and regret that they were so gullible.
But it’s hard to see the same approach working for Trump, who famously called himself a “very stable genius,” as his own Jan. 6 trial nears.
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