The House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack’s second hearing, televised live Monday, made the case that Donald Trump knew his claims of election fraud were false after many of his closest advisors on his campaign and even in his administration repeatedly told him Joe Biden fairly won the 2020 presidential election, that he definitely lost, and that any possible fraud was minimal and would not change the results.
Even Trump’s hand-picked Attorney General Bill Barr, who for years had been accused of acting like his personal lawyer and not the top law enforcement official in the federal government, told Trump he lost, and labeled him “detached from reality” for supporting the conspiracy theories put before him by people like Rudy Giuliani.
The Committee on Monday also made the case the Trump campaign “was a complete grift,” as The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell notes:
“Interesting theory today — the big fraud was also the big ripoff,” observes former federal prosecutor Barb McQuade. “Trump’s lie was used as a fundraising ploy. Could be a basis for wire fraud claims.”
Law & Crime reports the former president “and his allies raised $250 million on bogus election fraud claims through ads that misled donors about where the money was going, the Jan. 6 Committee found in a video presentation ending their second public hearing on Monday.”
Legal experts, like former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner, are saying the January 6 Committee is making its case.
Others are suggesting if not stating outright that Attorney General Merrick Garland must have Donald Trump charged with crimes against the United States.
Noted legal scholar and Professor Emeritus at Harvard University, Laurence Tribe, citing federal law, suggests – if charged –Trump or someone in his orbit might face up to 20 years:
Tribe actually lists five crimes DOJ could charge Trump with:
Former Asst. U.S. Attorney at SDNY, Richard Signorelli, is urging Attorney General Merrick Garland, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, and the Dept. of Justice in general to do their jobs and prosecute:
Signorelli did not stop there.
He called on top DOJ officials to charge someone, presumably Trump or a “higherup”: “Do your job or resign.”
He directed his remarks to the Dept. of Justice’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney of Washington, D.C. Matthew Graves, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) Damian Williams, along with Garland, Monaco, and DOJ.