QOTD -- Trump's Criminal Plots

 

"... 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).

BREAKING: Special Counsel Details Trump's "Increasingly Desperate" Attempts To Overturn 2020 Election

 

From ABC News:

Special counsel Jack Smith has outlined new details of former President Donald Trump and his allies' sweeping and "increasingly desperate" efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, in a blockbuster court filing Wednesday aimed at defending Smith's prosecution of Trump following the Supreme Court's July immunity ruling.

Trump intentionally lied to the public, state election officials, and his own vice president in an effort to cling to power after losing the election, while privately describing some of the claims of election fraud as "crazy," prosecutors alleged in the 165-page filing.

"When the defendant lost the 2020 presidential election, he resorted to crimes to try to stay in office," the filing said. "With private co-conspirators, the defendant launched a series of increasingly desperate plans to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states that he had lost."

When Trump's effort to overturn the election through lawsuits and fraudulent electors failed to change the outcome of the election, prosecutors allege that the former president fomented violence, with prosecutors describing Trump as directly responsible for "the tinderbox that he purposely ignited on January 6."

"The defendant also knew that he had only one last hope to prevent Biden's certification as President: the large and angry crowd standing in front of him. So for more than an hour, the defendant delivered a speech designed to inflame his supporters and motivate them to march to the Capitol," Smith wrote.

The lengthy filing -- which includes an 80-page summary of the evidence gathered by investigators -- outlines multiple instances in which Trump allegedly heard from advisers who disproved his allegations, yet continued to spread his claims of outcome-determinative voter fraud, prosecutors said.

"It doesn't matter if you won or lost the election. You still have to fight like hell," Trump allegedly told members of his family following the 2020 election, the filing said.

According to prosecutors, Trump "laid the groundwork for his crimes well before" Election Day, including by sowing doubt among his supporters and planning to declare victory immediately, despite multiple advisers telling him that the results were unlikely to be finalized on Election Day.

Prosecutors allege that Trump and his allies "sought to create chaos" at polling places -- including one instance when a campaign employee encouraged a colleague to "make them riot" at an ongoing vote count in Detroit -- which the former president later used to support his claims of voter fraud.

"The throughline of these efforts was deceit: the defendant's and co-conspirators' knowingly false claims of election fraud," the filing said.

In addition to outlining the instances when Trump was directly corrected about his allegations of voter fraud, the filing said Trump privately called allegations of voter fraud made by his lawyer Sidney Powell as "crazy" -- despite employing similar arguments to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election, prosecutors allege... (our emphasis)

From all indications, Trump's intending to follow the same gameplan, with variations based on experience.   He needed to be stopped then, he needs to be stopped now.

Read the full filing here (pdf), for new details on the conspiracy that haven't been previously known.

More to follow.

BONUS:  from the Factual Proffer (p. 3 of the filing) --

When the defendant lost the 2020 presidential election, he resorted to crimes to try to stay in office. With private co-conspirators, the defendant launched a series of increasingly desperate plans to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states that he had lost—Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin (the “targeted states”). His efforts included lying to state officials in order to induce them to ignore true vote counts; manufacturing fraudulent electoral votes in the targeted states; attempting to enlist Vice President Michael R.Pence, in his role as President of the Senate, to obstruct Congress’s certification of the election by using the defendant’s fraudulent electoral votes; and when all else had failed, on January 6, 2021, directing an angry crowd of supporters to the United States Capitol to obstruct the congressional certification. The throughline of these efforts was deceit: the defendant’s and co-conspirators’ knowingly false claims of election fraud. They used these lies in furtherance of three conspiracies: 1) a conspiracy to interfere with the federal government function by which the nation collects and counts election results, which is set forth in the Constitution and the Electoral Count Act (ECA); 2) a conspiracy to obstruct the official proceeding in which Congress certifies the legitimate results of the presidential election; and 3) a conspiracy against millions of Americans to vote and have their votes counted.

That just about sums it up, with details following.

(Image:  via CNN)

A "Mini-Trial" For Trump?

 

As we await the illegitimate Republican Supreme Court's purposefully- delayed decision Monday on convicted felon Malignant Loser's expansive claim of presidential immunity, some are gaming out how Special Counsel Jack Smith might proceed in the election interference case, should the Court instruct Judge Chutkan to define which actions in the indictment are protected presidential acts and which are not.  One expert believes there could be a "mini-trial" that will allow the evidence against the Malignant Loser to be laid out for the public before the election:

[NBC legal expert Katie] Phang suggested Chutkan would jump into the case with both feet immediately after all of the delays.

'"I believe, as do others, that Judge Chutkan will be told she needs to make a determination as to what conduct that is alleged in the indictment is quote 'official acts as president' and what conduct is quote 'unofficial acts.' The unofficial acts do not get the immunity."

"I'm a believer and I've been pushing this idea you will see an evidentiary hearing that Judge Chutkan will do and I think very quickly, she's going to put the pedal to the metal on this," she added.

"And the evidence you'll be hearing will be an opportunity for special counsel Jack Smith to present the entirety of the indictment because I believe the indictment against Donald Trump is all unofficial acts; none of that was kosher, none of it was supposed to happen, it was all illegal."

"You will see special counsel Jack Smith put on what I'm going to call a mini-trial through the course of the evidentiary hearing so Americans can hear what Donald Trump did." (our emphasis)

We may not have the full trial and verdict before the election, but the public may well get to see the mountains of evidence of the Malignant Loser's role at the center of the plot to overthrow the results of the 2020 election.  If the Court rules as expected Monday, it will be up to Judge Chutkan and Jack Smith to sort out how to proceed in the most expedited manner possible in order for the public to be reminded of the existential threat posed by the Malignant Loser. 

(Photo:  Trump between a rock and a hard place? / Jim Watson, Saul Loeb, U.S. District Court, AFP via Getty Images) 

 

Rebutting Trump's Trial Delaying Tactics

 

As you are likely aware, Special Counsel Jack Smith had a quick response yesterday to the Malignant Loser's request to the Republican Supreme Court for a stay in the January 6 coup trial while it decides whether to review the February 6 unanimous appeals court decision that "Citizen Trump" didn't have immunity from prosecution.  (Smith's blistering 39-page response is here.)

MSNBC's legal analyst Lisa Rubin highlights a few initial rebuttals Smith made to the Malignant Loser's attempts to delay, delay, delay:

 

BONUS:  The Malignant Loser's delaying tactics didn't hold water in his Manhattan hush- money- to- porn- stars 34- felony- count business fraud trial.  It's just been scheduled to begin March 25.