Misprision is defined as foreknowledge of a crime and failing to take action (such as informing the proper authorities) to prevent it from being carried out. Misprision is defined in the federal criminal code at 18 U.S. Code § 4 - Misprision of felony. It requires someone that has a duty to report a crime, but that almost certainly refers to public officials, including police officers, public officials, and yes, the President, too, to take whatever action they can as quickly as possible to alert authorities so that they can take steps to prevent the crime from being carried out.
Sometimes conspiracy is not easily proven. However, Donald Trump’s action (as published by Don Jr. live at the time of the rally on Wednesday) seems to show foreknowledge of actions that were about to take place. I suspect that evidence will show that not only Donald Trump knew about the attempted insurrection / coup ahead of time, but that several Republican lawmakers knew about it ahead of time, as well. As such, even if they did not participate in the planning or execution of the insurrection, they would still be guilty of failing to take actions to prevent it.
A little bit of my history: My trial team partner from law school, Robert Warren, became one of Timothy McVeigh’s trial attorneys. In the Oklahoma City bombing case, Michael Fortier was convicted of one count of misprision, even though he did not assist in the building of the bomb, or its transport to Oklahoma City. However, he accompanied Timothy McVeigh to Oklahoma City a few months before that and knew of McVeigh’s plans.
I think federal prosecutors should seriously look at charging all of the people who knew about the plot but did not take action with misprision of a felony. In the Oklahoma City bombing case, Michael Fortier agreed to testify against McVeigh and Terry Nichols for a reduced sentence.
I imagine several people knew about the plot and can be proven to have known about it and can identify many others with knowledge, as well. The ones who carried out the mission may be “hardcore” types that won’t talk, but I suspect there is a weak link somewhere. I hope that prosecutors are adept enough to be looking at this statute.
