{"id":932155,"date":"2022-12-22T10:45:16","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T10:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/views\/2022\/12\/22\/big-news-not-doj-referrals-overwhelming-evidence-trumps-crimes"},"modified":"2022-12-22T10:45:16","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T10:45:16","slug":"the-big-news-is-not-the-doj-referrals-but-the-overwhelming-evidence-of-trumps-crimes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/12\/22\/the-big-news-is-not-the-doj-referrals-but-the-overwhelming-evidence-of-trumps-crimes\/","title":{"rendered":"The Big News Is Not the DOJ Referrals But the Overwhelming Evidence of Trump’s Crimes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Congress's January 6 select committee has referred former president Donald Trump to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution on the grounds that he incited an insurrection, conspired to defraud the United States, obstructed an act of Congress, and conspired to make a false statement.<\/p>\n
The big news is that the committee has compiled overwhelming evidence that the former president has committed serious crimes.<\/p>\n
What is the significance of this referral? Almost none, directly. It has no legal effect. The Justice Department's own investigation will not be swayed by the fact that a committee of Congress believes Trump guilty. And unless you happen to be one of the few people in America who hasn't already made up your mind about Trump's guilt or innocence, the committee's criminal referral will have no effect on you, or on public opinion in general, or on Trump's political fortunes.<\/p>\n
But the specific evidence of Trump's guilt that the committee will be turning over to the Justice Department will be hugely significant. They have built a powerful case.<\/p>\n
So I urge you not to be distracted by the coverage over the fact that the committee made a criminal referral to the Justice Department, and focus instead on the substance of what the committee has established through direct testimony, videos, memos, and other data.<\/p>\n
Among other things, the committee has established that:<\/p>\n
Before Election Day, Trump planned to give a false election victory speech. On Election Day, even though the networks were starting to call the race for Biden, Trump declared victory and demanded that voting counts stop. \"This is a fraud on the American public, an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election, we did win this election.\"<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Trump knew he lost. He also knew that there was no evidence of fraud or irregularities sufficient to change the outcome. His Attorney General told him there had been no fraud. His advisors repeatedly told him there was no evidence of fraud sufficient to change the outcome. The Supreme Court rejected his case on December 11. Electors voted on December 14. His senior staff advised him to concede.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Nonetheless, Trump's intended to ignore the rule of law to stay in power. He conducted an Oval Office meeting on December 18, during which Trump lawyer Sidney Powell and former national security adviser Michael Flynn proposed that the U.S. military seize state election machines.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
On December 19, just hours after the meeting ended, Trump sent a tweet urging his followers to come to Washington on January 6, and it \"will be wild.\" The evidence presented made clear that the far-right militia and other figures understood that tweet as a call to violence.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n