January 6: judge hints Trump wanted supporters to ‘do more’ than protest

Opinion comes in ruling barring man charged with role in Capitol attack from arguing former president authorized his actions

Donald Trump may have been telling his supporters he wanted them “to do something more” than simply protest his defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race when he told a mob of them to “fight like hell” on the day of the deadly Capitol attack on 6 January 2021, according to findings from a federal judge on Wednesday.

The opinion from judge John Bates came in the form of a ruling barring one man charged with having a hand in staging the Capitol assault that day – Alexander Sheppard – from arguing that Trump, as president at the time, had authorized his actions.