Federal Judge Finds Trump Most Likely to Have Committed Crimes During 2020 Election
Judge Carter noted that Mr. Trump had continued to press Mr. Pence until Jan. 6. He also mentioned that the former president had made numerous last-minute appeals on Twitter to Mr. Pence. Judge Carter said that Mr. Trump called Mr. Pence via phone and “once more urged him to make the call” and implement the plan.
Although the House committee does not have the authority to bring Mr. Trump to trial, and Mr. Trump is not a party in the Eastman civil case against Eastman, Judge Carter’s Monday ruling highlighted the questions about whether Mr. Trump could be charged with criminal culpability both for his business dealings as well as his attempts to reverse the election outcome.
The New York Times reported last week that a New York City prosecutor was investigating Mr. Trump’s financial transactions and believed the former president was guilty of “numerous felonies” in his handling of real estate and business transactions before he took office. Mark F. Pomerantz, the Manhattan district attorney, made the assessment of Trump in a letter last month. In it, Mr. Pomerantz stated that he would be resigning from his position.
The Atlanta district attorney is also investigating Mr. Trump’s efforts to reverse the 2020 election results in Georgia. A special grand jury was recently formed to investigate the allegations.
This inquiry focuses on Trump’s actions during the period between his election loss, and Congress’s certification. It includes a call to Brad Raffensperger (Georgia’s secretary to state) to press him to “find 11,780 voters” — the margin that Mr. Trump lost the state.
The House committee is trying to compile a complete account of Donald Trump’s attempts to keep the White House, and how it led to the attack on the Capitol. Judge Carter wrote that the email sketching “a series of events for the days leading to and following Jan. 6” was one of the documents the House committee will receive from Mr. Eastman.
If Mr. Pence were to adopt the plan, the email would “map out potential Supreme Court lawsuits and the impact of various judicial outcomes”.
The committee will also be able to obtain documents relating to state legislators involved in the attempt to persuade Mr. Pence to not certify some electoral ballots. Judge Carter wrote that one of them is a letter from Republican members of Arizona’s legislature to Mr. Pence. Two other letters are from a Georgia state senator and Mr. Trump.
More than 750 witnesses have been heard by the committee. John McEntee was the former president’s staff chief. Anthony Ornato, who was the former White House chief for operations, was due to testify Tuesday. Matthew Pottinger (ex-deputy national security adviser) will testify at a later date.
Both Mr. Navarro, Mr. Scavino argue they can’t testify because of Mr. Trump’s assertions about executive privilege. President Biden, who waived executive privilege for both men, doesn’t have the authority over testimony from a former president’s senior aide.
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