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Tim Bakken

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    Threats to democracy

    Why Donald Trump can’t be prosecuted for ‘dereliction of duty’ for his inaction on Jan. 6

    Tim Bakken
    July 22, 2022
    Donald Trump, Jan. 6 committee

    A video of President Donald Trump is shown during a hearing held Thursday night by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

    Pool/Getty Images

    Bakken is a professor of law at the United States Military Academy West Point.

    During the prime-time hearing on July 21 of the House Jan. 6 committee, the two panel members leading the hearing used the phrase “dereliction of duty” to describe the conduct of then-President Donald Trump.

    Trump “was told by everyone to halt the violence,” Rep. Elaine Luria, a Democrat from Virginia, said. “But he refused to do anything. ... It was a dereliction of duty.”

    GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois also described Trump’s inaction as a “dereliction of duty.”

    “President Trump did not fail to act,” Kinzinger said. “He chose not to act.”

    They echoed the media pundits, politicians and others who are using the same term, “dereliction of duty” to describe Trump’s inaction on Jan. 6, 2021.

    The justification for using that term is that Trump encouraged attendees at a rally to march on the Capitol and then failed to do anything to stop the violence once they had invaded the U.S. Capitol building, despite the pleas of his staff, political leaders and his family to do so.

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