The House select committee that investigated the attack on the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021, filed a court briefing Wednesday alleging that former President Donald Trump was involved with his associates engaged in a “criminal conspiracy”To reverse the 2020 presidential election.
The filing was made in response to a lawsuit from Trump’s former lawyer John EastmanThe plaintiff claims that he cannot comply under attorney-client privilege with a subpoena. This legal privilege is not recognized by courts as enforceable when attorneys assist their clients in criminal behavior.
This filing is the strongest indication yet by the January 6 Commission that Trump and his aides may have committed crimes within the months after he lost 2020’s presidential election.
“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 [Eastman’s] legal assistance was used in furtherance of those activities,” the filing from the committee says.
The committee also made direct references to The plot to manipulate the outcome by using fake electors, which was facilitated by Trump’s campaign staff, along with his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Trump and his associates “obstructed a lawful governmental function by pressuring the Vice President to violate his duty to count the electoral certificates presented from certain States,” the filing said. “As an alternative, they urged the Vice President to delay the count to allow state legislatures to convene and select alternate electors.”
“The Select Committee is not conducting a criminal investigation,” a joint statement from committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi) and vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) said, but privilege claims from Eastman “raise the question whether the crime-fraud exception to the attorney-client privilege applies in this situation.”
“The facts we’ve gathered strongly suggest that Dr. Eastman’s emails may show that he helped Donald Trump advance a corrupt scheme to obstruct the counting of electoral college ballots and a conspiracy to impede the transfer of power,” they added.
The committee also suggested Trump had publicly claimed election fraud had affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. despite knowingThis was a lie.
Citing an interview with a former Trump associate, the committee writes that campaign data experts “told the President ‘in pretty blunt terms’ that he was going to lose” after the polls closed in 2020. Despite these assessments Trump continued to push lies about his election campaign and pressed on with his plan. The result was a mob attack on the Capitol by his loyalists the day after Congress certified the Electoral College.
The select committee is not empowered to press criminal chargesAny person, including the former president or any of his associates, may be brought to justice. It can however make recommendations to DOJ to bring him or his associates to trial if they are suspected of engaging in federal crimes.
