"... Smith’s brief spells out in much greater detail than we have seen elsewhere—including in the report of the special House of Representatives committee investigating the events of Jan. 6—evidence of Trump’s attempts to subvert the election, and especially of Trump’s mental state. It tells us that Trump was warned by his campaign officials that there likely would not be enough ballots counted on election night to know who won, but that he decided beforehand that he would declare victory either way. Trump repeatedly claimed there was fraud in the election and directed the campaign and his lawyers to look for it. They all told him after investigation, as did his Vice President Mike Pence, that there was no evidence of significant fraud and that he lost the election. Pence told Trump to 'take a bow' and think about running in 2024, which Trump thought was too long to wait.
"Trump continued his plot to try to overturn the election, including with a notorious call with Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, pressuring him to 'find' 11,780 votes to overturn the results of the election. Trump and his allies tried to twist the arms of legislators to appoint fake electors that could be counted by Congress. (Smith includes bonkers new details about this scheme, including the fact that one potential participant referred to its ringleaders as being like characters in the infamous Star Wars cantina, otherwise known as the most 'wretched hive of scum and villainy' in the galaxy.) Trump directly caused fake electors to meet in various states. He publicly berated Pence for not going along with his plot to overturn the results of the election, and whipped up the Jan. 6 crowd against Pence when they stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an attempt to stop Congress’ confirmation of Biden’s Electoral College victory. Over 140 law enforcement officers were injured in the Trump-inspired melee.
"Trump’s detailed plot to overturn the results of the election was brazen and a major threat to American democracy. Because of it, even today, millions of Trump supporters believe the last election was stolen, and that primes the public for new attempts at subversion. Trump’s new running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, had to go along with the lie at Tuesday’s vice presidential debate, refusing to admit the incontrovertible truth that Trump lost the 2020 election..." -- Rich Hasen, writing in Slate, on yesterday's filing by Special Counsel Jack Smith in the election subversion case against the Malignant Loser. Hasen's article rightly focuses on how we got here, specifically the legal delay tactics by the Malignant Loser, Attorney General Garland's foot dragging over appointing a Special Counsel and, most of all, the Republican Supreme Court's connivance in allowing the Malignant Loser to claim immunity for criminality deemed "official acts."
The pre- election tactics employed by the Malignant Loser and his gang of co- conspirators are being played out in this year's election -- undermining confidence in the legitimacy of the vote, throwing up legal obstacles for certifying votes, and other voter suppression actions -- while whitewashing the January 6 insurrection and ignoring the will of the voters by questioning the results of the 2020 election. As we keep saying, the best way to counter this is for the Harris-Walz ticket to put a serious drubbing on the anti- democracy Republican cult/ party, both at the top of the ticket and in down- ballot races.
You can read the Special Counsel's filing for yourself here (pdf).
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