AP

Jan. 6 panel claims Trump engaged in ‘criminal conspiracy’

Mar 2, 2022, 9:42 PM

Former President Donald J. Trump speaking and making hand gestures...

FILE - President Donald Trump speaks at the Trump campaign headquarters on Election Day, Nov. 3, 2020, in Arlington, Va. Former President Donald Trump sought to "defraud the United States" by interfering with the presidential election, spreading false information about it and pressuring state officials to overturn the results, the congressional committee investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection alleged in a federal court filing on March 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House committee investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection said Wednesday night that its evidence shows former President Donald Trump and his associates engaged in a “criminal conspiracy” to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the presidential election, spread false information about the outcome and pressured state officials to overturn it.

The committee made the claims in a filing in response to a lawsuit by Trump adviser John Eastman. Eastman, a lawyer who was consulting with Trump as he attempted to overturn the election, is trying to withhold documents from the committee as it investigates the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. The committee argued there is a legal exception to attorney-client privilege allowing the disclosure of communications regarding ongoing or future crimes.

“The Select Committee also has a good-faith basis for concluding that the President and members of his Campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States,” the committee wrote in a filing submitted in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California.

The 221-page filing marks the committee’s most formal effort to link the former president to a federal crime, though the actual import of the filing is not clear since lawmakers do not have the power to bring charges on their own and can only make a referral to the Justice Department. The department has been investigating last year’s riot, but has not given any indication that it is considering seeking charges against Trump.

“The evidence supports an inference that President Trump and members of his campaign knew he had not won enough legitimate state electoral votes to be declared the winner of the 2020 Presidential election during the January 6 Joint Session of Congress, but the President nevertheless sought to use the Vice President to manipulate the results in his favor,” the filing states.

The brief filed Wednesday was in an effort by the committee to refute attorney-client privilege claims made by Eastman in order to withhold records from congressional investigators.

“The Select Committee is not conducting a criminal investigation,” Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the committee’s Democratic chairman, said in a statement. “But, as the judge noted at a previous hearing, Dr. Eastman’s privilege claims raise the question whether the crime-fraud exception to the attorney-client privilege applies in this situation.”

A request for comment from Eastman’s lawyer was not immediately returned.

The filing also details excerpts from the committee’s interviews with several top Trump aides and members of former Vice President Mike Pence’s team, including chief of staff Marc Short and chief counsel Greg Jacob.

The committee said it found evidence that Trump sought to obstruct an official proceeding — in this case, the certification of the election results — by trying to strongarm Pence to delay the proceedings so there would be additional time to “manipulate” the results.

In a Jan. 6, 2021, email exchange between Eastman and Jacob, Eastman pushes for Pence to intervene in his ceremonial role of overseeing the certification of the electoral votes.

Jacob replies: “I respect your heart here. I share your concerns about what Democrats will do once in power. I want election integrity fixed. But I have run down every legal trail placed before me to its conclusion, and I respectfully conclude that as a legal framework, it is a results-oriented position that you would never support if attempted by the opposition, and essentially entirely made up.”

He added, “And thanks to your bulls—-, we are now under siege.”

In other transcripts released as part of the filing, former senior Justice Department official Richard Donoghue described trying to convince Trump that claims of election fraud were pure fiction. “I told the President myself that several times, in several conversations, that these allegations about ballots being smuggled in a suitcase and run through the machines several times, it was not true, that we had looked at it, we looked at the video, we interviewed the witnesses, and it was not true.”

At one point, Donoghue said, he had to reassure Trump that the Justice Department had investigated a report that someone has transported a tractor-trailer full of ballots from New York to Pennsylvania. The department found no evidence to support the allegations, Donoghue said.

The transcripts shed colorful detail on a contentious Jan. 3, 2021, meeting at which Trump contemplated replacing his acting attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, with an assistant who promised to get to the bottom of the president’s bogus claims of election fraud.

That assistant, Jeffrey Clark, had been the department’s top environmental enforcement lawyer for a period, a fact that led to some derision from colleagues at the meeting when it was pointed out that Clark had not been a criminal prosecutor.

“And he kind of retorted by saying, ‘Well, I’ve done a lot of very complicated appeals and civil litigation, environmental litigation, and things like that,’” Donoghue said. “And I said, ‘That’s right. You’re an environmental lawyer. How about you go back to your office, and we’ll call you when there’s an oil spill.’”

The filing was the most comprehensive preview yet of the findings of the committee, which is investigating the violent insurrection of Trump’s supporters in an effort to ensure that nothing like it happens again. While the panel can’t pursue criminal charges, members say that they want the public to have a thorough account of the attack, in which hundreds of people brutally beat police, pushed through windows and doors and interrupted the certification of President Joe Biden’s win.

So far, lawmakers and investigators have interviewed hundreds of people, including members of Trump’s family and his chief of staff as well as his allies in the seven swing states where the former president tried and failed to prove he won. The panel has also sought out information from members of Congress and subpoenaed records and testimony from top social media platforms they believe had a hand in the spreading of election misinformation.

The committee is expected to fully release its findings in a lengthy report or series of reports later this year, ahead of the midterm elections. The panel is planning days or weeks of hearings starting in April with some of the witnesses who testified.

We want to hear from you.

Have a story idea or tip? Send it to the KSL NewsRadio team here.

AP

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 4: A view of the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday morning January 4, 2024 in...

MARK SHERMAN

Supreme Court again confronts the issue of abortion, this time over access to widely used pill

Two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and cleared the way for bans or severe restrictions on abortion in many Republican-led states, abortion opponents on Tuesday will ask the high court to ratify a ruling from a conservative federal appeals court that would limit access to the medication mifepristone, which was used in nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the United States last year.

3 days ago

File - The Instagram logo is seen on a cell phone in Boston, USA, Oct. 14, 2022. Instagram has star...

Associated Press

New Instagram feature limits display of political content

Instagram has started an automatic clamp down on the amount of political content appearing in its users' feeds.

3 days ago

ghost army Congressional gold medal ceremony...

JAMIE STENGLE Associated Press

Ghost Army members who staged secret WWII battlefield deceptions awarded Congressional Gold Medal

Three of the seven known surviving members attended the ceremony at the U.S. Capitol.

7 days ago

Brigham Young Cougars center Aly Khalifa (50) shoots against the UCF Knights at the Marriott Center...

DAVE SKRETTA AP Basketball Writer

BYU’s Aly Khalifa heads into March Madness without food or water while observing Ramadan

It is a fast Khalifa is embarking on willingly, yet one that carries with it unusual challenges during the NCAA Tournament.

8 days ago

A JetBlue airplane is seen, March 16, 2017, at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York....

The Associated Press 

JetBlue will drop some cities and reduce LA flights to focus on more profitable routes

JetBlue Airways will end service at several cities and reduce flying out of Los Angeles in a move to focus on stronger markets.

8 days ago

Two shades of purple tulips combine with a spring garden of emerging red-leafed lettuce. (Netherlan...

Mike Corder

AI robots are spotting sick tulips in Dutch bulb fields

As part of efforts to tackle the virus, there are 45 robots patrolling tulip fields across the Netherlands as the weather warms up.

9 days ago

Sponsored Articles

Mother and cute toddler child in a little fancy wooden cottage, reading a book, drinking tea and en...

Visit Bear Lake

How to find the best winter lodging in Bear Lake, Utah

Winter lodging in Bear Lake can be more limited than in the summer, but with some careful planning you can easily book your next winter trip.

Happy family in winter clothing at the ski resort, winter time, watching at mountains in front of t...

Visit Bear Lake

Ski more for less: Affordable ski resorts near Bear Lake, Utah

Plan your perfect ski getaway in Bear Lake this winter, with pristine slopes, affordable tickets, and breathtaking scenery.

front of the Butch Cassidy museum with a man in a cowboy hat standing in the doorway...

Bear Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau

Looking Back: The History of Bear Lake

The history of Bear Lake is full of fascinating stories. At over 250,000 years old, the lake has seen generations of people visit its shores.

silhouette of a family looking over a lake with a bird in the top corner flying...

Bear Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau

8 Fun Activities To Do in Bear Lake Without Getting in the Water

Bear Lake offers plenty of activities for the whole family to enjoy without having to get in the water. Catch 8 of our favorite activities.

Wellsville Mountains in the spring with a pond in the foreground...

Wasatch Property Management

Advantages of Renting Over Owning a Home

Renting allows you to enjoy luxury amenities and low maintenance without the long-term commitment and responsibilities of owning a home.

Clouds over a red rock vista in Hurricane, Utah...

Wasatch Property Management

Why Southern Utah is a Retirement Paradise

Retirement in southern Utah offers plenty of cultural and recreational opportunities. Find out all that this region has to offer.

Jan. 6 panel claims Trump engaged in ‘criminal conspiracy’