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**JUNE 10, 2022**
Kuttner on TAP
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**** The Dance of the Committee and the
AG
The January 6th hearings should move us closer to a prosecution of
Trump.
The most important thing to appreciate about the January 6th Committee
hearings is the tandem act with Attorney General Merrick Garland. The
hearings will succeed to the extent that they stiffen the attorney
general's spine to indict Trump.
Seemingly, there is already enough evidence on the record to charge
Trump with a criminal conspiracy to overthrow a lawfully elected
government. Specifically, Trump violated the provision of the U.S.
criminal code
that makes it a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison for anyone
who "corruptly obstructs, influences, or impedes an official proceeding,
or attempts to do so." The January 6th Joint Session of Congress
presided over by Vice President Pence was such a proceeding, and Trump
tried to obstruct it in multiple ways.
Trump pressured Georgia officials to find over 11,000 nonexistent votes.
Trump conspired with John Eastman, in a multipart plot to have states
send Congress competing slates of electors. He tried and failed to
appoint a new attorney general, Jeffrey Clark, to send an official
Justice Department request to key states to discredit the election
results, based on claims the Justice Department had already rejected.
Most importantly, Trump repeatedly pressured Pence, publicly and
privately, to go along with this plot. And of course, he egged on the
Capitol's invaders.
According to Justice Department veterans, a few concerns explain
Garland's temporizing; and the hearings should move Garland closer to
a decision to prosecute. One nuance is that to obtain a conviction,
it's necessary not just to prove corrupt behavior. You also have to
prove corrupt intent.
Trump's lawyers might argue that he really believed he had won the
election, so there was no corrupt intent. To defeat that argument and
reassure Garland, the committee yesterday played one clip after another
of Trump's closest advisers telling Trump that his beliefs had no
basis in fact. This should help prove corrupt intent. (Delusion is not a
serviceable defense.)
A second concern of Justice Department officials is that a prosecution
of Trump might be seen as political. Here again, the committee's work,
especially the magnificent opening statements by Chair Bennie Thompson
and ranking Republican Liz Cheney, made clear that this is not about
politics-it's about Trump trying to overthrow the Constitution and
defying the peaceful transition of power in a democracy. This should
move the needle of public opinion-and also strengthen Garland's
resolve.
Recent prosecutions of smaller fry suggest that the Justice Department
is moving the way you'd move in a prosecution of a Mafia don (not a
bad analogy to Don Trump)-flip the lesser players, and gradually
obtain their cooperation for your indictment of the kingpin.
Garland has moved with agonizing slowness, but he doesn't seem to be
stalling for the sake of stalling. After these hearings, it will be
harder for the Justice Department not to prosecute Trump.
~ ROBERT KUTTNER
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All Roads Lead to Trump
We already knew he was at best indifferent to the January 6th violence.
The committee that convened last night seeks to prove he was directly
responsible for it. BY HAROLD MEYERSON
Proposed Federal Drug Testing Changes Could Imperil Transportation
Workers
Union officials argue rules would inject chaos into the sector and
mistakenly label non-drug users as users. BY GABRIELLE GURLEY
Altercation: What the Death of Newspapers Really Means
What fills the void is what's threatening democracy. BY ERIC ALTERMAN
The GOP's Great Replacement
The truth behind the overturning of 'Roe' BY FRANCESCA FIORENTINI
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