I remember arguments that the DOJ was running a classic ‘roll them up’ case: go after the small guys, lean on them to get information about the higher up, rinse, wash, repeat until you get to the top.
This legitimately made no sense to me as there were no levels to J6: Trump rallied a mob to attack the capital all by himself. All 300+ million of us watched him prepare for J6 through December 2020, I even predicted it 6 days after the 2020 election, and we ended up watching him do what he said he was going to do… and the DOJ thought they had to roll him up like a mob boss?
Made no sense at the time, makes no sense now. But at least the standards were held! When ICE starts rolling up entire neighborhoods in 2027, I’m sure Garland and his supporters can comfort themselves knowing that, at least, the book was followed.