![]() ![]() ![]() Those expectations tend to dull some of the awe about what just happened. THE STAKES: We’ve known for a while that an indictment related to Jan. While the indictment is brimming with details about how Trump was repeatedly told by the people who were in the best position to know that the election was fairly decided, Trump will likely argue that he genuinely believed there was fraud and therefore he didn’t act “corruptly.” Trump may be on more solid ground with his second defense: Smith can’t prove former Trump really knew there was no election fraud. “Stick ‘em up and give me all your money!”- is routinely used as evidence to establish the predicate of a crime. The argument has already been panned by legal pundits who point out that speech - e.g. First, Trump will argue that anything he said about fraud is protected speech under the First Amendment. THE DEFENSE: Trump’s main defenses against conviction don’t require a defense attorney: Stall the start of any trial, win the 2024 presidential election, and end the case with either a pliable new AG or a self-pardon.īut short of that rather remarkable strategy, two lines of defense have already emerged. Expect to see more on this in the coming days. That person’s identity, despite the reams of public reporting on Trump post-election scheming, remains unconfirmed. ![]() The sixth alleged co-conspirator is described as a political consultant who helped implement a plot to install false slates of electors. KEN CHESEBRO, an architect of key elements of Trump’s fake elector strategy. ![]() Clark, who pressed DOJ leaders to sow doubt about the election results.SIDNEY POWELL, a conservative lawyer who pushed fringe theories about manipulation of voting machines.JOHN EASTMAN, a constitutional lawyer who helped develop the strategy to pressure Pence to overturn the election on Jan.RUDY GIULIANI, Trump’s lawyer and the leader of an effort to pressure state legislators to reverse election results.Five of the people are clearly identifiable, as Josh and Kyle and many other media outlets have reported: THE CO-CONSPIRATORS: The indictment lists six unnamed individuals who allegedly helped Trump advance the plot to subvert the election. 29, 2020, conversation, Trump falsely told Pence that the Justice Department had identified ‘major infractions’ in election integrity, prosecutors say.” MIKE PENCE kept contemporaneous notes as he was pressed by Trump to overturn the election in the weeks leading up to Jan.According to the indictment, Clark responded, ‘That’s why we have an Insurrection Act.’” PAT PHILBIN, Trump’s deputy White House counsel, allegedly “warned Clark that if he and Trump pressed ahead with plans to stay in power past Biden’s scheduled inauguration, there would be ‘riots in the streets’ across the country.6 committee, Josh and Kyle write, found some evidence of the move but “did not confirm that Trump had made the official appointment,” which was later rescinded under threat of mass resignations at DOJ. JEFFREY CLARK, the midlevel DOJ official who is alleged to have played a central role in Trump’s scheme, is said to have been offered and accepted the job of acting attorney general on Jan.But Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney spotted a few new details: WHAT’S NEW? Much of the information in the indictment regarding these three conspiracies was previously uncovered by the Jan. But because it is such an unprecedented set of accusations, it is equally unclear how these charges will hold up in court. The ambitious, sweeping nature of the crimes alleged make it one of the most significant documents of our political era. The crimes that JACK SMITH alleged yesterday against DONALD TRUMP are far grander in scope than the business records fraud case in New York or the classified documents case in Florida.įederal prosecutors are accusing Trump of a broad three-pronged attack on democracy, a trio of conspiracies that each “targeted a bedrock function of the United States federal government: the nation's process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the presidential election.” | Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo DRIVING THE DAY The crimes that Jack Smith alleged yesterday against Donald Trump are far grander in scope than the business records fraud case in New York or the classified documents case in Florida. ![]()
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