Outstanding article and rundown on the Trump criminal cabal with a focus on
two key players close to him who are well-documented liars just like Trump: Rudy
Giuliani and Mark Meadows as outlined in this excellent article from SALON
with this headline:
“These people are admitting
they lied to you: Trump’s own men undermine his delusional defense”
“For those that still believe there was widespread voter fraud, these people are admitting they lied to you.” These are not the words of a Democratic politician or an MSNBC anchor but of a Republican.
First watch this
short 9-minute video clip on this subject – worth your time:
Now key extracts from
the SALON article (formatted to fit the blog):
Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer of the GA Secretary of
State, has long been one of the few Republicans brave enough
to defend democracy in the face of Trump's 2020 efforts to destroy it.
Sterling was responding to reports that former New York City mayor-turned-Trump accomplice Rudy Giuliani has conceded that his accusations against two Georgia election workers, Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss, were “false and defamatory.”
The two women are suing Giuliani for a ridiculous
conspiracy theory he and Trump spread, claiming a video showing the two
women sharing candy (a ginger mint) was actually evidence they were somehow stealing votes for
Biden on a USB drive.
For everyone outside the MAGA bubble sound like a no duh statement, however, it's obvious to reality-based people that everyone involved in the Trump “Big Lie” knew it was a lie, and that Joe Biden was the true winner of the 2020 election.
It's important to remember, however, that this
fact is still hotly disputed by the vast majority of Republican leadership.
Most GOP leaders — who are all also lying through their
teeth — like to pretend that Trump and his followers really believed the “Big
Lie.”
The bad faith of Trump's election claims increasingly
matters in another arena: The court of law. We are now over a week into this
round of Trump indictment watching after Special Prosecutor Jack Smith
sent a letter letting Trump know he's under investigation
for leading an attempted coup that resulted in the insurrection of January 6,
2021.
Such a letter nearly guarantees charges are coming. Further
reporting suggests the specific charges will depend on Smith and his team arguing
that Trump was deliberately trying to steal an election.
Trump, like most
Republicans, still cling to the defense that he can't have committed a
crime because he supposedly believed that the 2020 election was stolen.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social recently: “We'll have fun
on the stand with all of these people that say the Presidential Election wasn't
Rigged and Stollen [sic]. THE TRIAL OF THE CENTURY!!!”
Trump then posted a video on Truth Social and whined: “They don't
go after the people who cheated in the election, they only go after the people
who report on, or question the cheating.”
The good news is there is already plenty of evidence that
Trump and his co-conspirators knew they were attempting a coup, and that,
contrary to their public statements, they did not think they were simply try
right a grievous wrong.
The House Select Committee
that investigated January 6 released evidence that Trump knew he was lying,
most notably from White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson who said in her testimony
recalling she heard Trump say to Mark Meadows on December 11,
2020: “I don't want people to know we lost, Mark. This is
embarrassing.”
Temidayo Aganga-Williams, former senior investigative counsel for the January 6 committee, told Salon: “The special counsel appears to be investigating what President Trump said and did in private to further show that Trump's public statements and actions about election fraud were not borne out of good faith or [an] honest mistake.”
But for the Trump indictment watchers, this story has even
bigger implications, especially in light of reports that Giuliani sat for hours of interviews with Smith's team under
a proffer agreement, which is where witnesses exchange information for limited
immunity.
FYI: Proffer agreements usually means someone has flipped.
Giuliani's lawyers deny that he is throwing Trump under the bus to save his own
skin.
But this new filing in the
defamation case suggests his team has abandoned all efforts to spin their
client as a well-meaning dupe who really believed the “Big Lie,” and instead
are in damage mitigation mode.
One of the most promising
signs comes to us via the Washington Post, which reports that
Smith's team has obtained text messages of Meadows joking with White House
lawyers in a way that shows they knew full well Trump's claims of voter fraud
were lies.
The Post reporters wrote: “This is one of many exchanges from the
time in which Trump aides and other Republican officials expressed deep
skepticism or even openly mocked the election claims being made publicly by
Trump.”
The rest of the article focuses on outward signs suggesting
that Meadows may be cooperating, to one extent or another, with Smith's team.
After all, he faces serious legal jeopardy himself, and may be boxed into a
deal in exchange for cooperation.
Despite this, Republicans
are still clinging to the dumb-as-rocks talking point that Trump is innocent
because he was just so gosh-darned convinced he won the election.
FL Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is supposedly running against Trump for the
Republican presidential nomination, told reporters last week that while he wished Trump
had done more to stop the Capitol riot while it was happening, he was skeptical there was real criminal
intent.
Former vice president Mike Pence, supposedly running against Trump, told CNN: “While his words were reckless, based on what
I know, I am not yet convinced that they were criminal.”
There is little doubt that
these men are being deliberately dishonest, and not just because they know full
well Trump was knowingly lying about the 2020 election.
The reported leaks of what
the investigation letter to Trump said make it quite clear that the likely
charges aren't focused on what he said to the crowd on January 6, so much as
the nearly two months he spent before that day pressuring government officials
to fabricate votes for him or assist in his “fake electors” scheme (in 7
states).
Most Republicans are well-practiced at sticking to a lie, even in the face of glaring evidence contradicting the falsehood.
That pose will be a harder sell once court documents are public and especially if the trial happens before the election. But even if it doesn't change the GOP's relationship to Trump, the wannabe-dictator will have to face down a jury.
And “the
by golly, Trump thought he was doing the right thing” excuse is not an argument
that holds up in court.
My 2 Cents: What an
excellent SALON article and spot on … now we wait on the third and possible
fourth indictments to fall on Trump from S/C Smith and from GA with Fulton
Country DA Willis in her detailed investigation now before a grand jury as
well. That case is a huge multi-layered case, too.
Stay tuned the legal gavel
is going to fall soon and fall hard on Trump.
Thanks for stopping by.
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