Federal Judge Ominously Warns That Trump Won’t Accept Defeat In 2024

A federal judge on Thursday said the United States was “in trouble” if Americans don’t accept the results of legitimate elections, as was the case with Donald Trump and many of his supporters following the 2020 election.

Separately, U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said he was sure “there won’t be an acceptance of a defeat” if Trump loses again in 2024.

Speaking during a sentencing hearing for a Capitol attack defendant who’d previously pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer and civil disorder, Walton also said that unlike Trump, former Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore “was a man about it” when he conceded the contested 2000 election.

Gore, then the incumbent vice president, conceded the 2000 election to George W. Bush after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Bush camp’s favor, ending a recount of the vote in Florida.

Walton sentenced Jacob Zerkle, an Arizona pistachio farmer, to 24 months in prison for the two felonies to which Zerkle previously agreed to plead guilty: assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers, as well as civil disorder. Zerkle and prosecutors reached a plea agreement in October. In addition to the prison time, Zerkle will pay a $2,000 restitution to the architect of the Capitol and serve supervised release and community service following his imprisonment.

Zerkle shoved police officers, called them “traitors,” and separately chanted “hang ‘em high!” during Trump supporters’ attack on the Capitol. He was not accused of entering the building, but assistant U.S. attorney Joseph Hutton Marshall referred to him as a “consequential member of the mob” in court Thursday, disputing the defense’s argument that Zerkle came into contact with police during an attempt to aid his