The most damning evidence against Trump

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:
Jennifer 'pro-voting' Rubin
@JRubinBlogger
Dan Goldman tells me, “Trump’s statements to Rosen, Donoghue — and likely others — demonstrate that he knew he did not have true concerns about the legitimacy of the election but he simply wanted to corruptly overturn it without any factual basis.”

Opinion | The most damning evidence against Trump
Evidence of intent to overthrow the government.
washingtonpost.com
8:24 AM · Aug 2, 2021

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/02/most-damning-evidence-against-trump/

*snip*

Justice Department officials told him there is no widespread fraud. “You guys may not be following the Internet the way I do,” Trump insisted. Still, the department’s lawyers, according to Donoghue’s notes, “Told him flat out that much of the info he is getting is false, +/or just not supported by the evidence — we look at allegations but they do not pan out.”

Former House Intelligence Committee counsel Dan Goldman tells me, “Trump’s statements to Rosen, Donoghue — and likely others — demonstrate that he knew he did not have true concerns about the legitimacy of the election but he simply wanted to corruptly overturn it without any factual basis.” Goldman explains, “By asking DOJ to lie so he and the Republican congressmen can use the lie to reverse the outcome of the election, Trump plainly intended to corruptly overturn the election. Any state or federal prosecutor can use these statements against him.”

The phone call took place 10 days before the Jan. 6 “stop the steal” rally, when Trump implored the mob, whom he had already convinced that the election was stolen, to march on the Capitol just as Congress was tabulating electoral college votes. Goldman points out, “[One] of the open questions after Impeachment 2.0 was whether and to what extent Trump was aware of the plans to violently storm the Capitol that existed online before January 6.” However, through his admission in his conversation with the Justice Department attorneys “that he’s very familiar with what is on the Internet, Trump helps prosecutors show that he knew of those plans when he incited the crowd to ‘fight’ and go to the Capitol on January 6. This is powerful proof that he conspired with the rioters to interfere in the lawful functioning of Congress.”

Trump knew there was zero evidence of fraud, both when he pressured Raffensperger and when he incited the crowd. Just as he did when he demanded the Ukrainian president announce an investigation into then-candidate Joe Biden or his son, he was asking the Justice Department not for evidence, but a pretext. He did not even expect the department to change the results; he just wanted it to promulgate his lie so he could finagle a way to reverse the results. He was looking for a pretense to force the reversal of the election.

*snip*

[CrispyQ]

1. What happened to the Fulton County DA election fraud investigation into Trump?

There is audio of Trump asking Raffensperger to alter the outcome. I haven't found anything more current on this story since May. If the DA dropped the investigation, can't the DOJ pick it up?

There's a recording of the call at the link below. Sorry it's behind a paywall.

‘I just want to find 11,780 votes’: In extraordinary hour-long call, Trump pressures Georgia secretary of state to recalculate the vote in his favor

By Amy Gardner
January 3, 2021 at 9:59 p.m. EST

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-raffensperger-call-georgia-vote/2021/01/03/d45acb92-4dc4-11eb-bda4-615aaefd0555_story.html

snip...

President Trump urged fellow Republican Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, to “find” enough votes to overturn his defeat in an extraordinary one-hour phone call Saturday that legal scholars described as a flagrant abuse of power and a potential criminal act.

The Washington Post obtained a recording of the conversation in which Trump alternately berated Raffensperger, tried to flatter him, begged him to act and threatened him with vague criminal consequences if the secretary of state refused to pursue his false claims, at one point warning that Raffensperger was taking “a big risk.”

Throughout the call, Raffensperger and his office’s general counsel rejected Trump’s assertions, explaining that the president is relying on debunked conspiracy theories and that President-elect Joe Biden’s 11,779-vote victory in Georgia was fair and accurate.

~more at link

[RANDYWILDMAN]

2. What happened to New York investigation ? His TaX returns ??

Audit the F out of this loser.

Bankrupt this corrupt loser, if we CAN"T put him in jail, since it seems nobody in power want to do that !!!!

[lindysalsagal]

3. I hope she's got security detail....

Hurdles in proving intent arise in many criminal cases, yet juries often accept circumstantial evidence that is far less damning than the recording of the Trump-Raffensperger call and the Justice Department notes. It’s almost as if this once-in-a-lifetime incriminating evidence has been served on a platter for prosecutors. Moreover, since the Justice Department has already held that overthrowing an election is outside the scope of “any” official’s duties, Trump has no special protection for his actions. If “no one is above the law” is to have any meaning, he must be subject to vigorous federal investigation.

[Martin Eden]

4. "Trump knew there was zero evidence of fraud"

Taken out of this specific context, how many here at DU would agree that Trump has a grasp of facts and is not delusional?

My assessment of TFG is that factual evidence and what might be deemed "truth" simply do not enter into his words and actions. The only thing that matters to his lizard brain is satisfying the bottomless pit of his ego and greed. What he actually "believes" is hard to pin down and pretty much beside the point.

The question is how that would translate into a legal defense against serious felony charges of conspiracy and inciting a violent mob in an attempted coup.

Arguing that he was mentally incapable of evaluating factual evidence and therefore not responsible for his actions might get him off the hook but wouldn't play well as the narrative for a Party which elevated him as their leader.

[ShazzieB]

15. I think you're absolutely right about how TFG's lizard brain works.

I really don't think he perceives reality the way most people do, as something that exists independently of him and operates according to its own rules. As a malignant narcissist, he is the center of his own universe, and everything else revolves around him. His personal wants and desires are the only "reality" he recognizes, and the extent to which someone or something does or does not fulfill his wants and desires is the only yardstick that matters to him. Concepts like truth, lies, or even good vs. evil or ethical vs. unethical have no meaning to him.

It's s very disordered view of the world, but I'm actually not too worried about him being able to use an insanity plea to avoid justice. The legal definition of "insanity" is a very high bar, and I think he'd like have a very hard time surmounting it. Plus, entering a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity implies a tacit acknowledgment of one's
imperfections, something he may not be capable of.

[Martin Eden]

17. Spot-on assessment

TFG doesn't let facts or rules get in his way; those obstacles are more difficult if you care about them.

I wonder if his lawyers might try to mount a Sidney Powell defense -- "No reasonable person" would have believed his lies.

[Baked Potato]

5. I think T***p visualizes a "happy ending" for any situation, and

the way he gets there doesn’t matter to him.

T***p won’t stop until he is stopped. He deserves it, he craves it. He wants to be punished. IMO.

[C Moon]

6. Your description of him sounds like a serial killer.

[Mr.Bill]

7. Yeah, so far

over 600,000 victims.

[C Moon]

12. Truth.

[ShazzieB]

16. He meets all the criteria for antisocial personality disorder.

He meets all the criteria for antisocial personality disorder, so he's not all that much different than a serial killer.

Imo, the main difference between him and say, Ted Bundy, is that he doesn't like physical exertion or getting his hands dirty.

[Mr. Ected]

8. "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters"

Or get prosecuted or convicted.

America, real nice justice system you have. Overpunish the petty criminals and let the traitors live as lavish a lifestyle as they desire.

[Duppers]

14. Your last paragraph says it ALL!

America, real nice justice system you have. Overpunish the petty criminals and let the traitors live as lavish a lifestyle as they desire.

Especially when you have a huge conglomerate of RW media 100% behind you. This has resulted in too many feeling threatened too threatened to seek real justice.

[world wide wally]

9. Trump doesn't have an honest or noble bone in his oversized body

[rickyhall]

10. I am tired of waiting. Arrest the sorry son of a bitch, dammit, now. And his sorry-ass brats.

[masonkee]

11. Trump is a fool

I agree. Trump is a fool!

[FakeNoose]

13. Bill Barr knows the same thing as Dan Goldman

Get them both under oath, and then compare notes. I'll bet the two of them together could get Chump convicted.