'CRIMINAL INTENT'
‘Planning to Foment a Coup’: Legal Experts Say Trump Pressuring DOJ Shows ‘Intent to Overthrow Government’
Legal experts are cautiously weighing in on the bombshell news out of the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee and The New York Times revealing how the former president, Donald Trump, pressured top DOJ officials to declare the election “corrupt” and help him overturn it.
NBC News and MSNBC Legal Analyst Glenn Kirschner, a former fed prosecutor, calls Trump pressuring the DOJ “evidence of an intent to overthrow the government,” and asks what more will it take for him to be indicted.
And this statement constitutes evidence of an intent to overthrow the government/stop the lawfully elected incoming president from assuming power. How much additional evidence of Trump’s crimes will DOJ require before indicting him? JusticeMatters https://t.co/oMOzDwjwT8
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) July 30, 2021
Constitutional law scholar, University Professor Emeritus at Harvard University Laurence Tribe says this is “part of a pattern showing Trump’s criminal planning to foment a coup”:
“‘Just say the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me’ & to congressional allies, [Deputy Acting AG Richard] Donoghue wrote in summarizing Mr. Trump’s response.” That’s part of a pattern showing Trump’s criminal planning to foment a coup:https://t.co/FqiPglOelm
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) July 30, 2021
Noted attorney George Conway, who turned down a position of solicitor general in the Trump administration says Trump “should be prosecuted”:
It’s difficult to overstate how much this reeks of criminal intent on the part of the former guy. https://t.co/xD3WkYfDoh
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) July 30, 2021
It literally would have been a crime for Trump merely to have ordered the acting attorney general to march down Pennsylvania Avenue with a “Trump 2020” flag. See 18 U.S.C. § 610.
This is way beyond the pale and should be prosecuted. https://t.co/xD3WkYfDoh
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) July 30, 2021
Law Professor and former Bush chief White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter:
Put this together with the November 2020 White House meeting with General Flynn and Trump would have had DOJ clearance for a military coup.
Trump Pressed Justice Dept. to Declare Election Results Corrupt, Notes Show https://t.co/In0k67z086
— Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) July 30, 2021
Now we know that they were just waiting for DOJ to declare the election illegal so they could move the troops into Pennsylvania, Georgia Michigan…
It’s called a coup.Invoking Martial Law to Reverse the 2020 Election Could be Criminal Sedition https://t.co/T0fnu1VV0S
— Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) July 30, 2021
Condé Nast Legal Affairs Editor Luke Zaleski sums it all up and concludes: “Trump is guilty. He tried to overthrow the government.”
Trump is guilty. He tried to overthrow the government. It’s a simple case. He stood to benefit. He lied for months. Gathered violent militias and hate groups and confederates in DC. Whipped them up with violent rhetoric and sent them to the Capitol to attack. And they did-for him https://t.co/bHvPyC7xwd
— Luke Zaleski (@ZaleskiLuke) July 30, 2021
That Trump incited the insurrection to stop his loss is undeniable. It’s self evident. We all watched it happen over months and on January 6th. It’s like arguing he won the election or the chiefs won the super bowl. Anyone who defends trump is lying to you or themselves or both.
— Luke Zaleski (@ZaleskiLuke) July 30, 2021
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