Federal judge: Trump and Eastman likely committed crimes in attempt to overturn election results
Category: News & Politics
Via: john-russell • 2 years ago • 21 commentsBy: David Knowles·Senior EditorMarch 28, 2022, 3:02 PM·4 min read (YahooNews)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A federal judge ruled Monday that then-President Donald Trump and lawyer John Eastman "more likely than not" committed crimes in their efforts to obstruct the certification of Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election.
The extraordinary ruling by U.S. District Court Judge David Carter ordered Eastman to turn over 101 emails to the House's Jan. 6 select committee. Eastman, who had argued that the emails were protected by attorney-client privilege, formulated a legal strategy to keep Trump in office and pressured then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject the Electoral College count showing Trump had lost to Biden.
In a blistering 44-page ruling, Carter laid out a meticulous timeline of Trump's efforts to convince elected officials and the public of his bogus claim that his loss to Biden was attributable to election fraud. The ruling, which can be appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court, will no doubt raise expectations on Attorney General Merrick Garland to launch a Justice Department investigation of the former president that could result in criminal charges.
"President Trump and Dr. Eastman justified the plan with allegations of election fraud — but President Trump likely knew the justification was baseless, and therefore that the entire plan was unlawful," Carter wrote.
Carter was especially critical of the legal justification used by Trump and Eastman to challenge the 2020 election results, and noted the mountain of evidence that showed the election had not been marred by fraud that had any bearing on the outcome.
"In the months following the election, numerous credible sources — from the President's inner circle to agency leadership to statisticians — informed President Trump and Dr. Eastman that there was no evidence of election fraud," Carter wrote, adding, "An internal Trump Campaign memo concluded in November that fraud claims related to Dominion voting machines were baseless."
Carter continued: "In early December, Attorney General [William] Barr publicly stated there was no evidence of fraud, and on December 27, Deputy Attorney General [Richard] Donoghue privately told President Trump that after 'dozens of investigations, hundreds of interviews,' the Department of Justice had concluded that 'the major allegations [of election fraud] are not supported by the evidence developed.' Still, President Trump repeatedly urged that 'the Department [of Justice] should publicly say that the election is corrupt or suspect or not reliable.' By early January, more than sixty court cases alleging fraud had been dismissed for lack of evidence or lack of standing."
The Jan. 6 select committee, which is investigating the riot at the U.S. Capitol that was carried out in an attempt to disrupt the certification of Biden's win over Trump, had sought the emails Eastman had sent laying out the plan he and Trump knew to be illegal, Carter said.
"Based on the evidence, the Court finds that it is more likely than not that President Trump and Dr. Eastman dishonestly conspired to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021," the judge wrote.
Trump and Eastman, a former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, have fought to keep their records from being turned over to the Jan. 6 panel. In January, however, the Supreme Court rejected arguments made by Trump's lawyers that the National Archives could withhold hundreds of pages of documents from the committee.
The sole dissenter in that 8-1 ruling was Thomas, whose wife, Ginni, has been revealed to have encouraged then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to fight to keep Trump in office.
It appears likely that the case deciding the fate of Eastman's emails will also head to the Supreme Court, which could set up a dilemma for Chief Justice John Roberts. Democrats, citing Ginni Thomas's communications with Meadows, are demanding that her husband recuse himself on any further cases regarding the 2020 election.
"This is a textbook case for removing him, recusing him from those decisions," Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said Sunday of Thomas on ABC's "This Week." "All I hear is silence from the Supreme Court right now. That better change in the coming week."
Citing the need for ethics reform at the highest court in the nation, Klobuchar criticized the current system in which it is left to individual justices to recuse themselves in cases.
"I would hope Justice Roberts, who I respect, will stand up and get those ethics rules in place," she said.
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Its about time that this snowball started rolling down hill and picking up steam.
It’s past time for that. It’s getting tiresome having the collective intelligence of this country continuously insulted over whether there’s still a question of whether Donald Trump and co. were trying to steal the election.
This is starting to sound like a broken record...broken record...broken record...broken........
Starting?
Any chance a federal judge knows more about this than you two do ?
John, you have believed anything and everything Trump has been accused of over the past 5-6 years. Absolutely none of your accusations have come true, but yet, you persist. Your infatuation with the man is nauseating.
In the world of liberalism, Trump is guilty of everything that has happened in this country the past century. Hell, there are even dumb ass liberals blaming Trump for Will Smith smacking Chris Rock last night.
This judge made his opinion. It's not up to him whether someone is guilty or not.
You are literally incapable of responding to the facts associated with this article. Every single person on this forum knows that.
Also...
Judge Carter, a Bill Clinton appointee, recently made headlines by ordering the city and county of Los Angeles to house every homeless person, citing “systemic racism” in his ruling. He took the unusual step of going to homeless sites himself to investigate. His order was overturned by the liberal Ninth Circuit, citing “extensive error.”
Probably will happen here too.
Says the one that has never provided any.
I have it on good authority that Trump was responsible for the sacking of Rome in 410 AD.
Indeed. I believe I saw a bronze sculpture of Trump selling MRGA fiddles from that time.
A leftist liberal federal judge from California appointed by Bill Clinton. Go figure...
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2022/03/28/its-over-manhattan-da-indefinitely-suspends-investigation-into-donald-trump-n2605075?utm_campaign=rightrailsticky1
5 straight years of investigating every aspect of the former POTUS and they have ALL come up empty.
Just face it. He hurt the feelings of the liberals and 5 years later they STILL haven't gotten over it. Their infatuation with the man is nauseating at best. Even a 4 year old will realize when they've lost an argument and move on.
That is, what is the word ? , oh yeah, a lie.
I already know you aren't going to do it but - prove me wrong. Prove the cited article wrong.
5 years of investigation into virtually every aspect of his life since he handed the Democrats their asses should have something to charge him with.
How many "smoking guns" are they going to present and have it blow up in their face? This is just another one. YOU even quoted it:
That's not proof. That's opinion.
How many more times do we, as a country, have listen to you all on the left chirp about somebody you all want to go away but can't seem to let go of?
It is beyond hope to try and dialogue with someone like you on these issues. Do you know why the judge concluded that trump (and eastman) likely committed crimes related to wanting to overturn the election? Its because they have a memo , approved of by Trump , that details exactly that. Eastman laid out a plan to have Mike Pence declare Trump had won the election based on disqualifying seven swing states votes because they were allegedly "in dispute" (in reality nothing was in dispute). On the morning of Jan 6, in his speech that day, Trump made yet another appeal to Pence to carry out Eastman's advice.
This is not conjecture, it is fact. Evidently you dont know enough about these issues to discuss them.
I ask you to do one thing. And you failed miserably. The only issue is that YOU CAN'T BACK UP A SINGLE FUCKING CLAIM. Yet here you are day in and day out blathering on senselessly with claim after claim. Aren't you tired of failing day in and day out?
The only fact is that this judge gave his OPINION (linked definition in 3.1.2 so you don't have to work too hard) and you ran with it as fact in a TDS driven rage, again.
You are in over your head, as usual.
Obviously you cannot discuss the facts of the case because you dont know any of them because you've never been interested enough to read anything about it.
Trump may appreciate people like you burying their heads in the sand, but I wouldnt run around bragging about it.
Is that your new catch phrase? When all your attempts fail spew that little line out in hopes the other person will capitulate?
Come talk to me when you can prove my link in 3.1 wrong.