Here's why one judge who oversees Jan. 6 cases is afraid for American democracy

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., issued a warning about the risk of future political violence and the dangers of ongoing misinformation and denialism regarding the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.  

At a sentencing hearing for 21-year-old Aiden Bilyard, a North Carolina man who admitted deploying bear spray against police during the Jan. 6 insurrection — and smashing open a Capitol window with a metal bat — Judge Reggie Walton said that the U.S. is in a "scary moment" in which democracy remains endangered.

"It's scary going forward as a country where we end up," said Walton, who has handled a series of Jan. 6 cases. "Because what happened on Jan. 6 is not something that's just in the past. It, unfortunately, is something that still haunts us because the individuals who instigated what occurred are still engaging in the same rhetoric that resulted in the frenzy that took place on that day. This is a very serious situation because it goes to the root of what we are supposed to be as a democracy."