"Trump's rambling response to the J*** 6th committee shows his weakness"
Oct 15, 2022 07:13:26 #
"In response to the J*** 6 c*******e’s v**e on Thursday to issue a subpoena for his testimony, former president Donald Trump released a rambling, seemingly unhinged reply that doesn’t answer whether he intends to testify.
When the committee formally subpoenas Trump, there will be very good reason for him to turn it down, or at least continue blustering to delay answering whether he’ll comply, as his new response does.
The web of illusions Trump has spun around J*** 6 can’t survive contact with a legitimate, fact-based, rules-bound process. But not testifying is also problematic: It admits to fear of facing genuine questioning, which looks weak. So, Trump must try for as long as possible to inhabit a gray area where he blusters about owning his enemies on the committee while avoiding testifying to the committee at all costs.
Trump’s new response, a three-page letter that he plainly dictated while his lawyers cringed in the background, is aimed at fitting this bill. In a stream of delusion and megalomania, it rehashes all kinds of grievances, most prominently the lie of the stolen 2020 e******n. This is supposed to show Trump “owning” the committee while refraining from conceding that he does not plan to answer its direct questions.
If Trump were to testify, he would surely struggle to choose between admitting culpability or perjuring himself — or pleading the Fifth Amendment. He would be pressed on whether he knew well in advance that he lost the e******n, and on whether he decided long before the e******n to cast doubt on the result no matter what the v****g showed, as part of a premeditated scheme to try to overturn an eventual loss.
The committee powerfully demonstrated evidence of premeditation in its final hearing. Trump would be confronted with that evidence.
Similarly, Trump would be cross-examined about evidence that he knew he was pressing his vice president, Mike Pence, to do something illegal in demanding that he scuttle the e*******l count in Congress. The committee convincingly demonstrated evidence that Trump was extensively informed of this.
Trump would also face questioning about evidence amassed by the committee that he actively refused for hours to call on the r****rs to stand down. This illustrated that Trump likely saw the mob as a weapon to intimidate Pence and members of Congress into allowing states to send new e*****rs that would have made him, not Joe Biden, the next president.
Guess who testified to all these things? A lot of people who were close to Trump himself.
“He’s going to have to say, ‘They’re all lying,’ ” former FBI counsel Andrew Weissmann told me. “Even though a lot of these people worked for him.”
Trump would also have to deny he suggested Pence “deserved” to face h*****g by the mob, as a top aide testified to hearing recounted. Trump would have to deny ever suggesting to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) that he approved of the r****rs’ rampage, because they “are more upset about the e******n than you are.”
Trump cannot admit to these things, because they go to the core of whether he showed “corrupt intent,” which would be relevant to whether he violated federal laws. These include obstruction of an official proceeding (the e*******l count) or conspiracy to defraud the United States (by interfering with lawful U.S. e******n processes).
“The key issue in a public corruption case is invariably the intent of the defendant,” Weissmann said.
National security lawyer Bradley P. Moss agrees that Trump would risk self-incrimination. “He can’t substantively admit to what went down without effectively conceding the point of corrupt intent,” Moss told me. “But he can’t misstate facts in his testimony either, lest he be subject to perjury charges.”
Trump must sustain a series of grand illusions in the eyes of the MAGA movement, but embedded in them is a deep tension.
On one hand, these illusions rest on the idea that Trump was gloriously victorious in 2020, the effort to reverse the outcome was a just cause, there was never any c**p attempt, and all efforts at accountability over it are nothing but political persecution.
On the other, Trump must maintain the perception that he’s fearsomely in control of events and wields absolute mastery over his enemies. After the committee v**ed to subpoena him, a “source close to Trump” leaked word to Fox News that he totally wants to testify, to own the committee’s Democrats by rubbing their faces in the “t***h” about the s****n e******n.
But Trump cannot sustain both fantasies forever. Testifying would explode the first and put him in more legal jeopardy. But not testifying would rupture the second. He would need to conjure some way of suggesting he’s owning the committee by cowering from it.
Trump’s escape route requires remaining in the gray area between those two poles for as long as possible. He must try to muddle through to the time when a GOP-controlled Congress might disrupt ongoing Justice Department investigations, and then on to an endgame where the department decides not to prosecute.
As for whether Trump will succeed in this, well, only the department itself can say."
Greg Sargent
When the committee formally subpoenas Trump, there will be very good reason for him to turn it down, or at least continue blustering to delay answering whether he’ll comply, as his new response does.
The web of illusions Trump has spun around J*** 6 can’t survive contact with a legitimate, fact-based, rules-bound process. But not testifying is also problematic: It admits to fear of facing genuine questioning, which looks weak. So, Trump must try for as long as possible to inhabit a gray area where he blusters about owning his enemies on the committee while avoiding testifying to the committee at all costs.
Trump’s new response, a three-page letter that he plainly dictated while his lawyers cringed in the background, is aimed at fitting this bill. In a stream of delusion and megalomania, it rehashes all kinds of grievances, most prominently the lie of the stolen 2020 e******n. This is supposed to show Trump “owning” the committee while refraining from conceding that he does not plan to answer its direct questions.
If Trump were to testify, he would surely struggle to choose between admitting culpability or perjuring himself — or pleading the Fifth Amendment. He would be pressed on whether he knew well in advance that he lost the e******n, and on whether he decided long before the e******n to cast doubt on the result no matter what the v****g showed, as part of a premeditated scheme to try to overturn an eventual loss.
The committee powerfully demonstrated evidence of premeditation in its final hearing. Trump would be confronted with that evidence.
Similarly, Trump would be cross-examined about evidence that he knew he was pressing his vice president, Mike Pence, to do something illegal in demanding that he scuttle the e*******l count in Congress. The committee convincingly demonstrated evidence that Trump was extensively informed of this.
Trump would also face questioning about evidence amassed by the committee that he actively refused for hours to call on the r****rs to stand down. This illustrated that Trump likely saw the mob as a weapon to intimidate Pence and members of Congress into allowing states to send new e*****rs that would have made him, not Joe Biden, the next president.
Guess who testified to all these things? A lot of people who were close to Trump himself.
“He’s going to have to say, ‘They’re all lying,’ ” former FBI counsel Andrew Weissmann told me. “Even though a lot of these people worked for him.”
Trump would also have to deny he suggested Pence “deserved” to face h*****g by the mob, as a top aide testified to hearing recounted. Trump would have to deny ever suggesting to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) that he approved of the r****rs’ rampage, because they “are more upset about the e******n than you are.”
Trump cannot admit to these things, because they go to the core of whether he showed “corrupt intent,” which would be relevant to whether he violated federal laws. These include obstruction of an official proceeding (the e*******l count) or conspiracy to defraud the United States (by interfering with lawful U.S. e******n processes).
“The key issue in a public corruption case is invariably the intent of the defendant,” Weissmann said.
National security lawyer Bradley P. Moss agrees that Trump would risk self-incrimination. “He can’t substantively admit to what went down without effectively conceding the point of corrupt intent,” Moss told me. “But he can’t misstate facts in his testimony either, lest he be subject to perjury charges.”
Trump must sustain a series of grand illusions in the eyes of the MAGA movement, but embedded in them is a deep tension.
On one hand, these illusions rest on the idea that Trump was gloriously victorious in 2020, the effort to reverse the outcome was a just cause, there was never any c**p attempt, and all efforts at accountability over it are nothing but political persecution.
On the other, Trump must maintain the perception that he’s fearsomely in control of events and wields absolute mastery over his enemies. After the committee v**ed to subpoena him, a “source close to Trump” leaked word to Fox News that he totally wants to testify, to own the committee’s Democrats by rubbing their faces in the “t***h” about the s****n e******n.
But Trump cannot sustain both fantasies forever. Testifying would explode the first and put him in more legal jeopardy. But not testifying would rupture the second. He would need to conjure some way of suggesting he’s owning the committee by cowering from it.
Trump’s escape route requires remaining in the gray area between those two poles for as long as possible. He must try to muddle through to the time when a GOP-controlled Congress might disrupt ongoing Justice Department investigations, and then on to an endgame where the department decides not to prosecute.
As for whether Trump will succeed in this, well, only the department itself can say."
Greg Sargent
Oct 15, 2022 09:38:55 #
Sometimes, the uttering of the J*** 6th Committee qualifies it as not much more than a political agent of the Democrat Party. The mouthpieces of the Committee smear former President Trump before he ever gives testimony. This biased conduct inspires a generalized negativity toward President Trump. He cannot receive a fair hearing in this context.
Kmgw9v wrote:
"In response to the J*** 6 c*******e’s v**e o... (show quote)
Oct 15, 2022 10:26:47 #
anotherview wrote:
Sometimes, the uttering of the J*** 6th Committee qualifies it as not much more than a political agent of the Democrat Party. The mouthpieces of the Committee smear former President Trump before he ever gives testimony. This biased conduct inspires a generalized negativity toward President Trump. He cannot receive a fair hearing in this context.
Let's assume that you are correct. Are you also convinced that no factual evidence was presented?
Oct 15, 2022 10:36:35 #
anotherview wrote:
Sometimes, the uttering of the J*** 6th Committee qualifies it as not much more than a political agent of the Democrat Party. The mouthpieces of the Committee smear former President Trump before he ever gives testimony. This biased conduct inspires a generalized negativity toward President Trump. He cannot receive a fair hearing in this context.
Are you aware that many Justice department officials and staff members appointed by Trump, and who enabled Trump with the Big Lie were the primary sources of information through sworn testimony? You have not paid attention. These committee members have uncovered first hand testimony from those who
we’re appointed by Trump, and worked for him and sat with Trump in meetings and often disagreed with his illegal attempts to retain power. It is no longer in dispute that Trump knew he lost the e******n and conspired to circumvent the Constitution, and the Will of the v**ers by disrupting Constitutional process of a free and legal e******n. Trump incited an attempted i**********n when Pence let him dow, and all else failed.
Oct 15, 2022 10:43:25 #
Racmanaz
Loc: Sunny Tucson!
Kmgw9v wrote:
Are you aware that many Justice department officia... (show quote)
Sometimes, you need special intervention.
Oct 15, 2022 12:46:43 #
Interesting that in trumps response he did not comment on congressional subpoena- just his normal rants
Oct 15, 2022 13:02:07 #
Racmanaz
Loc: Sunny Tucson!
DennyT wrote:
Interesting that in trumps response he did not comment on congressional subpoena- just his normal rants
No different than your incoherent blabbering rants.
Oct 15, 2022 21:28:13 #
Good question. The megaphone spewing intense political hatred toward former President Trump I tend to tune out. Overall, I sense a few facts commingled with factoids, half-t***hs, propaganda, deflection, and deliberate lies. So far, the committee-work appears short on verifiable facts and information.
I note that the FBI has arrested hundreds of individuals who stormed the Capitol Building and charged them with crimes. A handful has received sentences. Here we have real wrongdoing addressed under our justice system.
Like most Americans, I await the finale of the J*** 6th Committee. We shall see.
I note that the FBI has arrested hundreds of individuals who stormed the Capitol Building and charged them with crimes. A handful has received sentences. Here we have real wrongdoing addressed under our justice system.
Like most Americans, I await the finale of the J*** 6th Committee. We shall see.
DaveO wrote:
Let's assume that you are correct. Are you also convinced that no factual evidence was presented?
Oct 16, 2022 18:49:07 #
Kmgw9v wrote:
"In response to the J*** 6 c*******e’s v**e o... (show quote)
‘I’m Sorry ... Mr. Snowflake’: Trump Gets Stark Reality Check From Rep. Jamie Raskin
The Maryland Democrat gave no credence to Donald Trump's reply to a subpoena from the House committee probing the 2021 i**********n.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) on Friday dismantled former President Donald Trump’s 14-page response to a subpoena from the House select committee investigating last year’s deadly U.S. Capitol r**t.
Raskin, a member of the committee, told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes that Trump was already “playing his silly games” in the written reply from earlier that day.
“I mean, that letter, including the use of the royal ‘we,’ which was pretty jarring, is just an outrageous distraction from the reality to the extent that there’s anything substance or substantive there,” Raskin said.
The U.S. representative reality-checked Trump over his remark that conservatives “feel” the 2020 e******n was r****d, saying that so-called MAGA Republicans have been unable to pinpoint how the v**e was supposedly stolen. Such claims about a r****d e******n had prompted the J*** 6, 2021, i**********n in Washington.
“They can’t say. They just have a feeling. And in fact, Trump uses that too in this enormously revealing letter, where he says lots of people ‘feel’ that there was fraud,” he added.
“I’m sorry. Your feelings, Mr. Snowflake, cannot dictate the course of the future of the republic. No, your feelings cannot dictate our e******ns.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-snowflake-jamie-raskin_n_634a609ee4b04cf8f378d6cd
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