The Republican lickspittles on the House Judiciary Committee tried to bury the deposition and testimony on the January 6 insurrection of former Special Counsel Jack Smith in the New Year's Eve news dead zone. Others are here to make sure it doesn't stay buried. Anyone who's lived through the events up to and including January 6, 2021, will be familiar with the points made by Smith, and the conclusions he addresses are without question true to all but residents in the MAGA bubble. But now it's been added to the historical record of that shameful day. Here's an edited summary by The Independent:
Donald Trump was “most culpable” for the January 6 riot and would have been convicted in court had the case gone to trial, according to explosive testimony from former special counsel Jack Smith, released Wednesday afternoon by the House Judiciary Committee.
Smith led both Justice Department prosecutions of Trump: the first over the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters after he lost the 2020 election, and the second over his alleged concealment of classified materials at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. He testified before the Judiciary panel in a closed-door session earlier in December as the committee investigates whether Trump was politically targeted by the Justice Department under Attorney General Merrick Garland and President Joe Biden. [snip]
The release of the testimony by House Republicans on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve, with Congress out of session and Washington still largely emptied out for the holidays, comes as they largely failed to prove any links between Smith’s prosecutions and the Biden White House. The president’s accusations of political weaponization have largely been overshadowed by his own very public efforts in that same vein against the likes of James Comey and Letitia James. [snip]
Smith told the committee that he believed he could have obtained a conviction in what was seen by many as the most serious of the charges: Conspiring to deny Americans a free and fair election by pushing to overturn the 2020 election.
“Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power,” said Smith.
The former special counsel said he relied heavily on the testimony of Republican state officials for his case, similar to the investigation headed up by the bipartisan House January 6 committee in 2021.
“President Trump was by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy. These crimes were committed for his benefit. The attack that happened at the Capitol, part of this case, does not happen without him,” Smith told the lawmakers.
Asked about the violence that day, Smith said: “Our view of the evidence was that he caused it and that he exploited it and that it was forseeable to him.” [snip]
Pressed by Republicans to accept that the president’s statements were merely voicings of opinions protected by the First Amendment, Smith insisted in turn that Trump crossed a line by reaching out to public officials and asking them to do his bidding, as was the case in the infamous call between Trump and Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, who was asked by the president to “find” more than 11,000 votes necessary to change the results in that state.
“As we said in the indictment, he was free to say that he thought he won the election. He was even free to falsely say he won the election,” said Smith. “But what he was not free to do was violate federal law and use knowingly false statements about election fraud to target a lawful government function.” [snip]
Even in the hours after the attack, the president was actively trying to convince members of the U.S. Senate to delay certification of the election, according to Smith. He cited testimony from Trump ally Boris Epshteyn, who told the DOJ that the White House was working to contact senators such as Lindsey Graham throughout the evening.
Smith went on to say that he was still considering charging other co-conspirators in the election conspiracy case when Trump won the election, making it a moot point... (our emphasis)
Here is a link to Smith's 255- page deposition (pdf).
Smith also stated that he fully expected to be targeted for retribution by the felonious, lying, seditionist psychopath. We have to wonder how willing future prosecutors will be in bringing the powerful to justice.
Americans have now twice failed a basic test of democracy by electing an unfit democracy- destroyer to the presidency. What he failed to accomplish in 2021, as Smith has re-established, he's still engaged in, with a craven party willing to do his bidding no matter the consequences. But he's getting weaker, and we're getting stronger, so the next chapters are waiting to be written.
Here's hoping the cracks in the cowardly blowhard's armor continue, and he starts running out of supporters to throw into the breech. Maybe once that happens, he'll stroke out, and die as he lived, choking on his own phlegm. But seriously, keep up the good work, thanks for another year of supplying us with good news on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Seafury. And thank you for staying with us over the years. We appreciate you!
ReplyDelete