7 things we’ve learned from the Jan. 6 committee report so far

 

1. What’s in the four criminal referrals

1. Obstruction of an official proceeding (18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)): The committee’s vice chair, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), spotlighted this law a year ago, which makes it a crime to “corruptly” seek to obstruct, influence or impede “any official proceeding,” or to attempt to do so. The official proceeding was Congress’s counting of the electoral votes on Jan. 6, which the committee says Trump tried to thwart through his various schemes and by directing his supporters to the Capitol after riling them up with false voter-fraud claims. The second key part of this charge is doing so “corruptly,” which is why the committee laid out extensive evidence that Trump was told his stolen-election claims were false, that participants knew their plot to overturn the election was illegal and that Trump acknowledged he had in fact lost. The committee also referred attorney John Eastman and others for violations of this statute.
2. Conspiracy to defraud the United States (18 U.S.C. § 371): By citing this law to make a criminal referral of Trump, Eastman and others, the committee says that Trump did not work alone to commit the above offense. The committee did not “attempt to determine all of the potential participants in this conspiracy, as our understanding of the role of many individuals may be incomplete even today because they refuse to answer our questions,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) during Monday’s hearing.
3. Conspiracy to make a false statement (18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 1001): This concerns the so-called “fake electors” plot. The committee alleges that Trump conspired with others to submit to Congress and the National Archives alternate slates of Trump electors from key states, which in some cases involved falsely asserting in a legal document that they had been duly elected. Some of the fake electors themselves have faced legal scrutiny because of this.
4. “Incite,” “assist” or provide “aid and comfort” an insurrection (18 U.S.C. § 2383): Trump was impeached for his alleged incitement of the mob but was later acquitted, despite a historic number of crossover votes by Republicans. The committee suggests Trump and others, through actions before and during the riot, satisfied each of the quoted words.

2. More evidence Trump resisted urging peace — even before Jan. 6

The committee has repeatedly pointed to Trump not only being negligent on Jan. 6, but perhaps approving of the violence that day (or at least perceiving some advantage in it). And the final report adds more details on that front.

Specifically, it says that:

• Longtime Trump aide Hope Hicks texted a campaign aide during the riot that, on Jan. 4 and 5, she’d said Trump should preemptively call on those attending his speech on the Ellipse to be peaceful: “I suggested it several times Monday and Tuesday and he refused.” The request (which she did not make to Trump personally) fell upon deaf ears.
• Hicks also testified that White House lawyer Eric Herschmann made a similar request — in his case, to Trump himself, according to the committee.

Can Trump be prosecuted for keeping national security documents?

As the Justice Department investigates whether the former US president broke the law, he argues it’s ‘political persecution’.

When former US President Donald Trump left the White House, he took boxes full of national security documents to his home/social club in Florida, Mar-a-Lago.

At issue now is whether he is allowed to have them, and whether he obstructed a federal investigation when he told the government earlier this year that he had returned all classified material – only to have the FBI find more when the agency raided his home last month.

Founder of Oath Keepers charged with seditious conspiracy

U.S. prosecutors charged the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, Stewart Rhodes, and 10 alleged members of the group with seditious conspiracy for their role in the deadly attack on the United States Capitol. This is first time the sedition charge has been applied over the deadly riot.

Prosecutors Withdraw From Roger Stone Case After DOJ Walks Back Sentencing

President Donald Trump publicly raged against the proposed prison term for his longtime adviser.

By Nick Robins-Early

The Department of Justice is walking back its sentencing recommendation for President Donald Trump’s longtime adviser Roger Stone, according to a Fox News report citing an unnamed senior DOJ official. Federal prosecutors Aaron S.J. Zelinsky, Adam C. Jed, Jonathan Kravis and Michael Marando withdrew as government counsels in the case following the report.

The more lenient recommendation would be a rapid turnaround after federal prosecutors said on Monday that Stone should face seven to nine years for witness tampering and lying to Congress. But that was before Trump publicly raged against the prosecutors, tweeting that “this miscarriage of justice” cannot be allowed.

After being convicted on seven counts including lying to Congress and threatening a witness with physical harm Donald Trump rage twitting at two o'clock in the morning about the injustice of it all. Thereby putting pressure the DOJ which led to this ridiculous climb down.

The OMB has been hiding emails that explicitly show Trump's motives on Ukraine

From: Daily Kos

A midnight court filing on Friday night revealed that the White House is refusing to release at least two dozen emails directly related to Donald Trump’s withholding of military assistance from Ukraine. The filing, authored by an attorney from the Office of Management and Budget, described the until now hidden documents as communications by Trump or his immediate advisers “regarding Presidential decision-making about the scope, duration, and purpose of the hold on military assistance to Ukraine."

In other words, the idea that Trump withheld military assistance to Ukraine because of concerns over corruption, or the need for more “burden sharing” — as Trump’s defense team has stated throughout hearings in the House and the trial in the Senate — could be directly revealed by an examination of these documents. Which they will not share.

As CNN reports, the Department of Justice withheld the existence of these emails until just hours after the Senate had made it’s vote to not subpoena any further witnesses or documents in Trump’s impeachment trial. This appears to be another staggering example of how Trump has used the full power of the executive branch to paper over his actions, block access to key information, and simply prevent the release of the truth.

The argument from the DOJ is that the collection of emails are privileged because they include “discussions regarding Presidential decision-making.” Which is, of course, exactly the thing that makes them valuable. And exactly the kind of claim that shows how ridiculous it is to suggest that executive privilege can be broadly applied in an impeachment trial.

These documents are directly on the subject of Trump’s impeachment. They obviously speak exactly the the motivation behind Trump’s action — something that Trump’s defense team, including Ukraine plot participant Pat Cipollone have been insisting can not be known. They are collected, available … and hidden for no purpose other than to preserve the lies that have been told to disguise Trump’s actual reasoning.

The nature of these documents, and the timing of their release, speaks more than ever to the point that the entire executive branch is enlisted in support of Trump’s cover-up. Making it impossible to have a fair trial unless the Senate will consider that cover-up worthy of impeachment.

Sessions fires McCabe before he can retire

Trump had repeatedly attacked the veteran FBI official

Attorney General Jeff Sessions late Friday night accepted the recommendation that former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who took the reins of the agency during the turbulent days after the abrupt firing of James Comey, be terminated — two days before he was to retire and become eligible for full pension benefits.

Though McCabe — who has been attacked by President Donald Trump — stepped down as deputy director in late January, he remained on the federal payroll, planning to retire on Sunday. The firing places his federal pension in jeopardy.

Unlike Trump's removal of Comey last year, which produced widespread resentment inside the FBI, McCabe's termination was recommended by the agency he served for 21 years.

Washington Post: Trump lawyers exploring pardoning powers

By Carol D. Leonnig,, Ashley Parker,, Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger

states:

Some of President Trump’s lawyers are exploring ways to limit or undercut special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia investigation, building a case against what they allege are his conflicts of interest and discussing the president’s authority to grant pardons, according to people familiar with the effort.

Trump has asked his advisers about his power to pardon aides, family members and even himself in connection with the probe, according to one of those people. A second person said Trump’s lawyers have been discussing the president’s pardoning powers among themselves.

Trump’s legal team declined to comment on the issue. But one adviser said the president has simply expressed a curiosity in understanding the reach of his pardoning authority, as well as the limits of Mueller’s investigation.

“This is not in the context of, ‘I can’t wait to pardon myself,” a close adviser said.

Washington Post reporter Ashley Parker (live on Rachel Maddow) said that trump has made no decision and is reading about presidential pardoning power.  It is presented to the reporters as trump trying to find out if he can pardon himself.  

Outside legal sources say that if he ever did that, it would go to the Supreme Court immediately.