Welcome to the lead. I'm Casey Hunt in for Jake Tapper. We do start today with our

politics lead. Moments ago, Attorney General Merrick Arlin spoke about the landmark verdict

in the Oath Keepers trial, calling the decision a significant victory for the American people.

His remarks come after a jury found the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers and his deputy

guilty of seditious conspiracy for their role in the capital insurrection. Those two and

three others were also found guilty of obstructing an official proceeding, a charge that carries

up to 20 years in prison. As a verdict of this case makes clear, the department will work

tirelessly to hold accountable those responsible for crimes related to the attack on our democracy

on January 6, 2021. Let's get straight to CNN, senior legal affairs correspondent Paula Reed.

Paula, what was your biggest takeaway from the Attorney General's remarks today?

Okay, so here we see the Attorney General seizing the spotlight and really taking a victory lap

for these two significant but also very unique victories for the Justice Department over the past

24 hours. The first being those convictions on seditious conspiracy, a significant victory for

these prosecutors. These have been the most serious charges filed in the over 900 cases brought

related to January 6. Here a jury found that this violence was not spontaneous but the product

of an organized conspiracy. This is really expected to embolden prosecutors as they continue to work on

cases already in the pipeline and then as they contemplate other cases to potentially bring.

The Attorney General also wanted to highlight the Justice Department's work in Jackson, Mississippi

to try to protect and defend safe drinking water there. He said this is really important

civil rights work and he noted this is the kind of thing that they're working on every day that

does not get that much attention. In case I can tell you over the past decade or so of covering

the Justice Department, they do get frustrated that a lot of times what gets the most attention

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