♪ c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more, including midco. ♪ >> midco supports c-span as a public service, along with these other television providers. giving you a front row seat to democracy. this is in usa today. sentenced to 22 years, the harshest penalty yet. mr. janssen joining us via zoom to talk about that article. guest: thank you for having me. host: can you tell us what he

was convicted of and the sentencing? guest: he was convicted of six charges, the most serious of which was seditious conspiracy. wi police and damage torfering federal property. the judge was sentencing a handful of proud boy defendant who were tried in april. four of the five were convicted of seditious conspiracy. he has been handing down -- the district judge, timothy kelly -- has been handing down the longest sentences yet. host: when it comes to the 22 years received, how was that reached? what guidelines were given as far as that number is concerned?

guest: they total up the sentencing guidance for each of those charges and then there were enhancements for terrorism. the actions he took were intended to influence the government through either intimidation or coercion. his lawyers argued he was not a terrorist or using violent means to achieve his ends. he was convicted of seditious conspiracy. the judge said terrorism could be applied. kelly said he understood it was not trying to blow up buildings or kill people but the standards of interfering with the government applied. enhancements to the sentence were applied. host: did mr. tarrio address the

court in any way? guest: he spoke for several minutes. he apologized to law enforcement officers who he said he was not trying to mistreat. he apologized to the citizens of d.c. saying he would not his own city overrun in riot. and he asked for mercy. he knew he was looking at a long sentence. his defense lawyers asked for no more than 15 years. he is 39-years-old and asked the judge not to take away his 40's from him, but judge kelly sentenced him to 22 years. host: did the judge respond to those pleas? what was the judge's tone during this time? guest: equaled with the defense lawyers -- he quibbled with the

defense lawyers saying the jury already convicted you. one of his defenses and an argument his lawyers were making was that he was not at the capitol on january 6. he had been arrested days before and left the city. he was in baltimore and his lawyers said he did not contact people on january 6. he never directed anyone to assault the police or destroy government property. but the judge said he was convicted of leading this conspiracy and organizing 200 people to come to washington -- he would say to protest -- but what became a riot and he should have foreseen that violence could erupt. the judge said he was not buying it. host: with the 22 year sentence

he received, how might that influence further sentencing for those involved? guest: this recent flurry of sentencing were the leaders of the proud boys. we had the 22 year sentence for henrique dario, joseph biggs last week, 17 year sentence -- 18 for ethan nordeen, 17 for zachary reel. the longest before this last week was for the head of the oath keepers who got 18 years. i do not if we have -- i do not know if we have defendants charged in the riot, if there was an they were looking at a longer sentence. host: the cases against those

who participated in january 6, where did the defendants stand? can you break that down? guest: there have been more than 1100 people charged in the january 6 attack. more than 600 have been sentenced so far. many have been misdemeanors and many not including jail time. a lot have been house arrests. as we are getting farther away from the attack, more of these serious cases have made their way through the courts. we are finally getting resolutions and ideas about how the serious cases are playing out. prosecutors have said they may charge nearly a thousand more people from the attack. we will have to keep watching who gets charged, but at this point, the leaders of the oath keepers and proud boys were the leaders of the folks on the ground. host: do any of these charges

and what has been done connect in any way to the potential legal issues president trump faces when it comes to january 6 activities? guest: not yet. trump was indicted on federal charges. four federal charges which were conspiracy to obstruct congress and defraud the united states, which means overturn the vote. but he was not charged with seditious conspiracy. he was not charged with inciting the riot as he had been during the house impeachment action. the house said he did insight the riot -- incite the riot but it fell short of the two thirds majority needed. he has not yet been charged with inciting the riot. but that investigation by the

special counsel jack smith is continuing. we will have to see. his trial and conspiracy charges is scheduled march 4. he would like to move it later. host: bart janssen covers the justice department for usa today and you can see his work on recent events at usatoday.com. -- c-span shop.org. "washington journal" continues. host: this is max cohen of punch will news, reporting on congress and here to talk about important deadlines coming up for congress. thanks for coming on the program. guest: they swear having me. host: in the newsletter this morning, the first line of punch bowl says this, there is a warning siren blaring and speaker kevin mccarthy's direction and the message is even a prime position to -- can get jammed by the senate. what is going on? guest: this is referring to the battle over the supplemental funding request of the white house a $40 billion