Shocker: Congress Has Evidence Trump May Have Engaged in a “Criminal Conspiracy” to Steal the Election

Say you’re a person with eyes and ears, who has been conscious for the last 18 months and didn’t receive a lobotomy at the MAGA Institute of Medicine from a “doctor” who looked suspiciously like Don Jr. If we asked you, “Hey, do you think Donald Trump (1) tried to overturn the 2020 election and (2) broke any laws in doing so,” you probably wouldn‘t need to consult an attorney or a legal textbook before answering, “Uh, yeah? Isn’t it pretty obvious?” You’d likely be confident in stating as much because of all the groundwork Trump laid in the run up to the election wherein he was already claiming fraud; the time in September 2020 he refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power; the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the violent insurrection in which he told his supporters to “fight” for him; and the endless articles detailing his attempts to stop Joe Biden from becoming president.

Unfortunately, courts of law have a different set of standards, and despite millions of people being able to say they saw what looked a lot like a crime being committed with their own eyes, Trump and his cronies can’t just be indicted based on that. Which is why it’s nice to hear that, according to the House’s January 6 committee, they have actual evidence—which could conceivably be turned over to the Department of Justice and brought as charges.

Per CNN:

Former President Donald Trump and a right-wing lawyer were part of a “criminal conspiracy” to overturn the 2020 presidential election, the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot alleges in a court filing Wednesday. The filing is part of an attempt to convince a judge to allow the panel access to emails from lawyer John Eastman, who is claiming attorney-client privilege. The committee said he helped to orchestrate the plot.

The filing is the most extensive release to date from the House’s January 6 investigators as they try to obtain Eastman’s emails—and comes well before the House select committee releases its final report on its findings on Trump. House members have also signaled they may make a criminal referral to the Justice Department about Trump, depending on their findings, and the House’s arguments Wednesday could be seen as a preview of a case that could be made by federal prosecutors.

While Eastman and Trump have not been accused of any crimes, House members have suggested they may make a criminal referral to the Justice Department (the House itself does not have the ability to bring criminal charges). “The evidence is mounting that there was a concerted effort to overturn the results of the election in so many different ways. And there’s, in my view, a lot of information that President Trump knew about it — and more,” Senator Mazie Hirono said Thursday.

In the 61-page court filing, attorneys for the House panel wrote: “Evidence and information available to the Committee establishes a good-faith belief that Mr. Trump and others may have engaged in criminal and/or fraudulent acts, and that Plaintiff’s legal assistance was used in furtherance of those activities…. The evidence supports an inference that President Trump and members of his campaign knew he had not won enough legitimate state electoral votes to be declared the winner of the 2020 Presidential election during the January 6 Joint Session of Congress, but the President nevertheless sought to use the Vice President to manipulate the results in his favor.”

The panel cited Trump calling and meeting with state and federal officials as well as tweeting and rallying to persuade the public that the election was stolen.

The committee also noted the immense pressure Trump put on Mike Pence to block the certification of Biden’s win, writing that he urged the vice president to “delay the count to allow state legislatures to convene and select alternate electors.” As we know, Trump’s pressure campaign included calling Pence a “pussy” and saying the two wouldn’t be “friends” anymore if the V.P. didn’t pull through. At the rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol, Trump told the crowd, “I hope Mike is going to do the right thing,” and “All Vice President Pence has to do is send it back to the states to recertify and we become president and you are the happiest people,” and “Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us, and if he doesn’t, that will be [a] sad day for our country because you’re sworn to uphold our Constitution,” and “Mike Pence, I hope you’re going to stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country. And if you’re not, I’m going to be very disappointed in you. I will tell you right now. I’m not hearing good stories.”