Fishersville man wants court case tossed after Biden's speech targeted 'MAGA Republicans'
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President Joe Biden’s primetime television speech earlier this month, where he disparaged “MAGA Republicans,” has prompted a Fishersville man and Capitol riot defendant to file a motion seeking to dismiss all of his charges based on the president’s rhetoric.
The defendant, Jeffery McKellop, 56, is one of more than 860 people charged in connection with the attacks on Jan. 6, 2021. About 90 of those defendants, including McKellop, are charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.
McKellop, of Fishersville, has been held since his arrest in March 2021.
In the president’s Sept. 1 speech, Biden referenced MAGA Republicans numerous times and made it clear he feels this particular segment of the Republican Party contains extremists who are a threat to the republic. “MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people,” Biden said in the speech.
Later in the speech, the president added, “MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards — backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love.”
During the speech, Biden said Americans are at an inflection point and said it was time to halt what he described as an assault on democracy. “MAGA Republicans have made their choice. They embrace anger. They thrive on chaos. They live not in the light of truth but in the shadow of lies,” Biden said.
There were several more mentions concerning “MAGA” in the president’s televised remarks. The nation’s major networks declined to show Biden’s speech, although it was picked up by CNN and MSNBC, according to The Washington Post, and widely reported on by national media.
About a week after Biden spoke, McKellop’s attorney, John C. Kiyonaga, filed a motion to dismiss all of his client’s charges because the speech “intentionally and irreparably poisoned the entire nation as a jury pool.”
In his motion, Kiyonaga pointed to a portion early in the speech where Biden said MAGA forces promote authoritarian figures and fan the flames of political violence.
“They look at the mob that stormed the United States Capitol on January 6th — brutally attacking law enforcement — not as insurrectionists who placed a dagger to the throat of our democracy, but they look at them as patriots,” the president said.
Kiyonaga claims Biden’s speech urged the “hatred of the January 6th defendants as a patriotic duty,” thus harming his client’s ability to receive a fair trial. Citing the United States v. Thomas, Kiyonaga said the president is depriving “the accused of his right to a forum where impartiality is not impaired.”
Based on online federal court files, no ruling has been made on the motion.
According to an affidavit from the FBI, two witnesses identified McKellop as being part of the mob in the attacks at the U.S. Capitol some twenty months ago.
Federal authorities accuse McKellop — a retired U.S. Army Special Forces soldier who reportedly donned a helmet, tactical vest, protective eye wear and a gas mask that day — of assaulting officers, throwing bottles at police and allegedly picking up a flagpole and striking an officer in the face, injuring the officer. McKellop then reportedly threw the flagpole at the same officer like a spear, documents allege. He faces 17 federal counts.
McKellop, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, is not accused of breaching the Capitol Building.
He will be tried in February 2023, according to his court file.
Brad Zinn is the cops, courts and breaking news reporter at The News Leader. Have a news tip? Or something that needs investigating? You can email reporter Brad Zinn (he/him) at bzinn@newsleader.com. You can also follow him on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Fishersville man wants case tossed after president's 'MAGA' speech
