Over the past four years, U.S. courts and state bar associations have taken action to protect the integrity of the U.S. judicial system by penalizing attorneys who filed meritless lawsuits claiming — without evidence — that the 2020 presidential election results were invalid. Despite aggressive litigation by attorneys denying wrongdoing, over time the U.S. legal community has exercised the…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Loyalists of former President Donald Trump attempted to certify the Electoral College in favor of the defeated candidate with forged documents, according to new reporting by MSNBC host Rachel Maddow.
Trump loyalists forged documents in at least five states where Joe Biden had defeated Trump and submitted them for certification, according to Maddow.
The forgeries do not look like the uniquely printed paperwork that states submit, Maddow noted, but they used very specific language purporting that those who signed it were the “duly elected and qualified Electors for President and Vice President of the United States of America” — even though they were not.
“It’s not like they created these documents to like, hold close to their chest and fantasize that this had been the real outcome,” Maddow said. “It’s not like they created these documents just to keep [for] themselves as keepsakes. They sent them into the government, as if they were real documents.”
Maddow also said that the effort to flip the election in Trump’s favor appeared to be coordinated. The faked documents “all match, exactly,” Maddow observed. “Same formatting, same font, same spacing, almost the exact same wording. All of them.”
Later in the program, the MSNBC host connected these documents to a draft letter, written by a Department of Justice (DOJ) official loyal to Trump named Jeffrey Clark, which “explicitly describes these forged slates of electors from multiple states” as part of a plan to keep the former president in office. It was unusual, Maddow said, that Clark was aware that these states had made these types of moves before he suggested the idea to Trump and his allies.
“How did [Clark] know that, two weeks earlier, Republicans in at least five states had in fact created these forged electoral documents?” Maddow asked. “Did the Trump Justice Department know about it because they helped Republicans in those states do it? We don’t know, but somebody helped them do it, because they all filed the exact same document.”
Other documents unearthed in the past year have detailed similar strategies designed by Trump allies to overturn the election. In one such document, Trump’s former lawyer John Eastman devised a six-point plan that relied upon “multiple slates of electors” being used to create confusion in the Electoral College certification process. Former Vice President Mike Pence could then use that confusion to force a vote in the House of Representatives, where Trump would then win the presidency, Eastman said.
Weeks after the election was called for Biden, Trump aide Stephen Miller also said in December that the campaign’s next step to challenging the election’s outcome was to submit false certificates of ascertainment stating that Trump won in states where he hadn’t.
“An alternate slate of electors in contested states is going to vote and we’re going to send those results up to Congress,” Miller said at the time. “This will ensure that all of our legal remedies remain open. That means if we win these cases in the courts, that we can direct that the alternate slate of electors be certified.”
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
The House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol building has asked Trump loyalist Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pennsylvania) to provide documents and sit for testimony regarding the events of that day. This is the first known instance of such a request being made of a sitting member of Congress.
The January 6 commission announced on Monday that it was requesting information from Perry relating to his ties to the events of that day when a mob of loyal followers of President Donald Trump violently breached the Capitol building to disrupt the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
Perry indicated on Tuesday that he would not comply with the commission’s request. In his statement announcing his decision, he made clear that he did not respect the authority that the commission had in examining the events that led up to the Capitol attack.
“I stand with immense respect for our Constitution, the Rule of Law, and the Americans I represent who know that this entity is illegitimate, and not duly constituted under the rules of the US House of Representatives,” Perry said in a tweet.
Perry, himself a staunch devotee of the former president, was also asked to appear before the commission to discuss his involvement in a scheme to replace then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen (who refused to entertain Trump’s false claims of election fraud), with Jeffrey Clark, a Department of Justice (DOJ) official who appeared willing to go along with Trump’s lies.
“We have received evidence from multiple witnesses that you had an important role in the efforts to install Mr. Clark as acting Attorney General,” a letter from the commission’s chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi), said to Perry.
Indeed, Perry was allegedly the one who reportedly helped Trump to connect with Clark in the first place. As The New York Times reported last week, Perry was considered the “de facto sergeant” who coordinated with others on the plan to replace Rosen with Clark. A previous report from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee also noted that Perry’s role in Trump’s attempts to alter the election results was “particularly notable.”
According to The New York Times, Perry had also pressed Richard Donoghue, another high-ranking DOJ official who was skeptical of election fraud claims from Trump’s camp, to allow Clark to investigate the election. Perry told Donogue that he had compiled a dossier allegedly full of evidence of election fraud, which Clark could “do something” with.
Trump himself had tried to use the powers of the DOJ to help disrupt the certification of the Electoral College, messaging Rosen directly about the plot to do so.
“Just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen,” Trump said in a phone call to Rosen in December, according to Rosen’s notes.
In his letter to Perry, Thompson also noted that the commission had received evidence from other witnesses that Perry had sent messages to Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows regarding attempts to keep the former president in office — including some messages that were encrypted. (Meadows was found in contempt of Congress earlier this month for his refusal to testify before the January 6 commission regarding documents he had already shared.)
The commission chair told Perry they had planned to discuss these matters and more with Clark, but that Clark had invoked his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination.
“When Mr. Clark decided to invoke his 5th Amendment rights, he understood that we planned to pose questions addressing his interactions with you, among a host of other topics,” Thompson wrote.
The request from the commission for Perry to provide documents and testify before investigators is not a compulsory one — Perry isn’t currently being subpoenaed, and he can reject the request at this time. However, it indicates that the commission could make similar requests in the future, possibly through subpoenas, to other members of Congress regarding their knowledge and involvement in the attack on the Capitol and the attempts to keep Trump in office, despite his clear loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 elections.
The commission is asking Perry to meet with them sometime in the last week of December or in the first two weeks of January. Investigators can meet with Perry in Washington, D.C., at the Capitol itself or in his home district, whichever he prefers, the letter said.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows is on the verge of joining a growing list of former Trump officials being charged with contempt of Congress, according to multiple reports. Given Meadows’s refusal to testify before the House Select Committee investigating the 1/6 Capitol attack, the committee has confirmed that he will soon join former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and former Trump Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark in being the first people indicted during this query.
Meadows first declared his resistance to the committee scant hours before the Bannon indictment several weeks ago, and for a time it appeared as if the former chief of staff might negotiate his way into cooperation … but then his book came out. An altogether glowing portrait of the Trump years, as befitting one of the more vigorous lickspittles within Trump’s sphere, the book contained one nugget of actual news that had the press buzzing for days: Trump had tested positive days before his first debate with Joe Biden, but barreled forward with all his public plans, including meetings with the families of fallen soldiers.
Trump’s entirely predictable reaction was volcanic; he tore into Meadows, denounced all forms of disloyalty, and concluded that the whole thing was “fake news”… and then, the funny part happened. Desperate to appease his master, Meadows himself went on live television and rubbished his own book. When asked by Newsmax anchor Rob Schmitt about his book getting slapped with the dreaded label, Meadows replied, “Well, the president’s right, it’s fake news.”
Profiles in courage, baby. Give that man a participation trophy and a sugar-free lollipop.
Should they ever be called to testify, Meadows and Clark could be key witnesses explaining Trump’s precise strategy (or lack thereof) on the day of the attack. The operation had two tiers: Vice President Pence had to follow through on the plan to disavow enough Biden Electoral College votes to throw the race to Trump, and Clark had to get the Department of Justice to publicly state there had been criminal disruptions of the vote nationwide, further investigation is warranted, and in the meantime whatever Congress says goes.
The plot may well have worked, but Pence at the last minute refused to follow through on his end despite alleged pressure from Meadows and others, and multiple officials at Justice repeatedly showed Clark the door, to the great fury of Trump. As much as Meadows and Clark can explain what was supposed to happen, their insights on what actually happened, as they happened, would be of immense value.
Another witness for the committee has popped up, one who can explain what 1/6 was like for those trapped in the building when the attack took place, and his inclusion likely has eyebrows wandering all over the foreheads down at Mar-a-Lago. Mike Pence has agreed to allow his former chief of staff, Marc Short, to co-operate with the committee.
“Short remains one of Pence’s closest advisers and is a firsthand witness to many critical events the committee is examining,” reports CNN, “including what happened to Pence at the Capitol on January 6 and how former President Donald Trump pressured the former vice president not to certify the presidential election that day. Short’s assistance signals a greater openness among Pence’s inner circle. One source told CNN the committee is getting ‘significant cooperation with Team Pence,’ even if the committee has not openly discussed that. Another source told CNN that Short’s help is an example of the ‘momentum’ the investigation is enjoying behind the scenes.”
This is potentially fascinating, and not just because we might hear Short explain what it felt like to watch a violent mob of Trump voters chanting for the death of Trump’s own vice president, his immediate boss. Trump himself can only perceive Pence’s co-operation as another betrayal, and a direct threat to himself.
There is also the matter of Pence popping up in places like New Hampshire and Iowa, just like any self-respecting possible presidential contender for 2024. Trump, not yet a declared candidate but leaning hard into fundraising for that endeavor, is already grinding his teeth over the popularity in conservative circles of Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis.
If Pence joins DeSantis on the list of people Trump suspects could challenge him next year, we could soon see a massive MY PARTY MY PARTY tantrum from the former president, even if he decides not to run. In the immortal words of Highlander, so long as Trump is in the picture, there can be only one.
Meanwhile, Meadows should expect to get some important paperwork soon. The work of the committee grinds on.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
The House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack has voted to forward contempt charges for Jeffrey Clark, a former Trump-era Department of Justice (DOJ) official who has refused to comply with the committee’s subpoena requests.
When Clark appeared before the January 6 commission in early November, he refused to answer questions about his role in trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump.
On Wednesday, the commission voted unanimously to forward the consideration to hold Clark in contempt of Congress — but lawmakers added that they will drop their recommendation for charges against him if he decides to comply by this weekend.
Clark has asserted a Fifth Amendment privilege claim in his refusal to testify to the commission. That amendment holds that no person “shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.”
Commission chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi) called the defense a “last-ditch attempt to delay the Select Committee’s proceedings.” He also said that if Clark wants to assert the privilege claim, he can do so in person, in front of the committee.
“I have informed Mr. Clark’s attorney that I am willing to convene another deposition at which Mr. Clark can assert that privilege on a question-by-question basis, which is what the law requires of someone who asserts the privilege against self-incrimination,” Thompson said.
Clark has “agreed to do so,” Thompson added. But if his answers are not sufficient — and if he pleads the Fifth Amendment protections for all questions asked — the commission may move forward with its contempt of Congress charges.
“We need witnesses to cooperate with their legal obligation and provide us with information about what led to the January 6th attack,” Thompson said.
Clark is being asked to testify about what he knows regarding Trump’s attempt to overturn the election, and to hand over documents that detail his communications with Trump, other White House officials, and Trump’s re-election campaign staff.
It was previously revealed that Trump tried to use Clark to get the DOJ to help him overturn the 2020 election. Clark, who has himself pushed false claims of election fraud, was an ally to Trump during his tenure at the department.
Trump developed a plan to replace then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen with Clark, who would then help the former president use the department to falsely allege that there was widespread election fraud that warranted ignoring the election results. That scheme was thwarted after two White House lawyers and Richard Donoghue — then second-in-command at the DOJ — threatened to resign if Trump followed through.
Clark also developed his own schemes to help the former president keep the White House. It was his recommendation to send letters to Georgia state lawmakers in order to delay the certification of election results showing that Biden had won. The former DOJ official also wanted to hold a press conference in which the DOJ would announce that it was investigating fraud claims. Clark hoped that this would encourage lawmakers in Congress to refuse to certify the Electoral College.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
A report released on Thursday by the Senate Judiciary Committee provides further insight into former President Donald Trump’s plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election — a plan which involved members of his administration and at least one member of Congress.
In a nearly 400 page document, the committee reveals that Trump called and met with senior Department of Justice (DOJ) leaders at least nine times in his attempts to pressure them into declaring the election “corrupt,” a move that the report calls a gross abuse of power.
“In attempting to enlist DOJ for personal, political purposes in an effort to maintain his hold on the White House, Trump grossly abused the power of the presidency,” reads one of the report’s key conclusions. “He also arguably violated the criminal provisions of the Hatch Act, which prevent any person — including the President — from commanding federal government employees to engage in political activity.”
The report, which is based on witness interviews with top DOJ officials, found that part of Trump’s strategy was putting repeated pressure on the DOJ in an attempt to get allies within the department.
After numerous conversations between then-acting Attorney General Jeffery Rosen and Trump officials like then-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Trump became frustrated with the results. “One thing we know is you, Rosen, aren’t going to do anything to overturn the election,” he said on January 3.
The former president then enlisted the help of DOJ lawyer Jeffrey Clark, a Trump ally who has peddled false election conspiracy theories, to help him oust Rosen. The plan — though it never came to fruition — was to replace Rosen with Clark just days before the certification of the election results on January 6.
It wasn’t just DOJ officials that Trump teamed up with, however. As first highlighted by Politico, Trump also enlisted the help of Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pennsylvania), a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus, to call DOJ officials with supposed evidence of fraud to make it seem like there was support from Congress to overturn the election. Perry also recommended that Clark be elevated within the Justice Department.
Perry wasn’t the only Freedom Caucus member who played a role in Trump’s plans; the report also details a call between Trump and Rosen on December 27, 2020, in which Trump highlighted officials who were helping him strategize on the election.
One of the officials he mentioned was Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who attended a meeting on December 21, 2020, where Trump and House Freedom Caucus members strategized their plan for January 6. In the call, Trump also mentioned Perry, who helped lead objections to the certification of the election results in the House, and Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Pennsylvania), who had spent thousands of dollars of campaign money on bus rentals to send people to Washington on January 6.
Rosen and Richard Donoghue, the DOJ’s second in command, told the Judiciary Committee that they remember pushing back against Trump, saying that the agency was simply doing its job and wouldn’t “just flip a switch and change the election.”
After DOJ officials learned of the plan to replace Rosen with Clark, Donoghue and two White House lawyers threatened to resign in a meeting with Trump, which appeared to get the president to retire the idea.
The report also details a litany of conspiratorial claims that Trump allies presented as supposed “proof” that the election was being stolen, even though there has never been any evidence to suggest that fraud took place. For instance, Meadows and other Trump sympathizers sent DOJ officials a number of false assertions about Dominion voting machines switching votes en masse from Trump to Biden.
Though the Judiciary Committee says that it’s too early in the investigation process to recommend potential criminal claims, Judiciary Chair Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) has asked the D.C. Bar to investigate Clark for potential misconduct.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.