1/6
Committee Digest
Country First presents the next
edition of The Digest to highlight the important work of the 1/6
Committee. Our aim is to make this
available to our members within 24 hours after each
hearing.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR THE NEXT HEARING:
THURSDAY, JUNE 16 AT 1 PM ET
In Case You Missed
It:
Who Gave Testimony in Hearing
#2:
- Bill Stepien, former White
House Political Director and Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, pulled out
at the last minute after his wife went into labor.
- Al
Schmidt, Philadelphia City Commissioner
-
Genjamin Ginsberg,
a top Republican election attorney.
- B.J. Pak, former
Trump-appointed federal prosecutor.
Here are the major
developments from the committee:
(Drunken?) Guiliani Sets Up
"A Coup in Search of a Legal Theory"
Monday’s hearing by the 1/6
Committee focused on former President Trump's refusal to accept both
his own campaign's legal counsel as well as court decisions that his
crafted narrative of voter fraud and a wrongful outcome were glaringly
false.
Instead, a "definitely intoxicated"
Rudy Guiliani, as testified yesterday by senior campaign advisor,
Jason Miller, gave Trump his plan: Just
say we won.
According to recorded testimony
from former Attorney General Bill Barr, Trump 2020 campaign attorney
Matt Morgan, and campaign manager Bill Stepien, Mr. Trump was
repeatedly advised that there was no evidence of any fraud or other
activity that would change the election results. These conversations
only angered the former President, who was determined to take "a
different direction."
Toward the end of the hearing, a
screen of scrolling text displayed quotes by many of the judges who
presided over court motions and arguments. In their rulings, none
found any legal standing for overturning the 2020 election.
Committee member Representative Zoe
Lofgren (D-CA) added a quote by U.S. District Court Judge David Carter
from a related ruling, saying that this is "a coup in search of a
legal theory."
Notably, many of the 61 cases that
were dismissed or went against the Trump campaign were decided by
Republican judges, including 10 appointed by the former President
himself.
Guiliani’s New York law license has
since been suspended and over 100 other attorneys are currently
under or subject to investigation for bad faith and baseless efforts
to undermine the outcome of the election.
Additional Testimony Alleges
Trump Knew Voter Fraud Claims Were False
In a videotaped interview played at
Monday’s special committee session, the former President’s Attorney
General testified that he told the president repeatedly his claims of fraud were unfounded, but
that there was "never an indication of interest in what the actual
facts are."
Barr thought the president had grown delusional when Trump
insisted on investigating false claims. Barr later stated that he
became increasingly worried about the former president’s state of mind
and emphasized this in his quote: "I was somewhat demoralized, because
I thought, 'Boy, if he really believes this stuff, he has lost contact
with — he's become detached from reality if he really believes this
stuff'."
The committee has played Barr’s
video testimony more than any other witness and these clips have
established Barr as the highest ranking official in the Trump
administration to disapprove of the President’s voter fraud
allegations. Barr also said that Trump had zero interest in what the
actual facts were and told the former President "the Justice
Department is not an extension of your legal team."
Despite the highest ranking legal
official’s stance on election fraud, the former President continued to
seek answers from others. Former acting Deputy Attorney General,
Richard Donoghue, claimed in a deposition played during today’s
hearing that he told the former President the allegations of voter
fraud during the 2020 presidential election were false and "pure
insanity."
In a pre-recorded testimony, Trump
Campaign lawyer Alex Cannon, revealed that White House Chief of Staff
Mark Meadows said, "so there’s no there there" when told there was no
evidence of voter fraud.
Former Philadelphia City
Commissioner Al Schmidt Recounts the Events and Trump Tweet That Led
to MAGA Threats Directed toward Him and His Family
Al Schmidt, the former Philadelphia
city commissioner, addressed the former President's claims about voter
fraud in Philadelphia in his testimony at the second 1/6 Committee
hearing. Such allegations consisted of ballots being cast by dead
people, which Schmidt called "absolute rubbish."
In further disproving claims of
election fraud, Schmidt challenged Rudy Guiliani's insistence that
"8,000 dead people voted in Pennsylvania'' by asserting that "there
wasn't evidence of eight."
With further questioning by the
committee, Schmidt explains that, due to a Trump tweet mentioning him by name, he received
disturbingly "graphic" threats from Trump supporters that included the names of his family and
home address, as well as photos of his home. One read, "Heads on spikes. Treasonous
Schmidts."
Former Federal Prosecutor
B.J. Pak Confirms His Investigation Found No Evidence of Voter Fraud
in Georgia
At the second 1/6 Committee
hearing, former United States Attorney B.J. Pak detailed the
investigation into a supposed suitcase full of ballots cast for
President Joe Biden. The investigation was tasked to him by former
Attorney General Bill Barr after Rudy Giuliani, the now-suspended
personal lawyer for the former President, presented a snipped video
clip of vote counting to a Georgia state Senate Committee.
Pak offered the investigation
findings, which completely disproved the idea of there being a "suitcase" with
ballots cast for Biden and confirmed that the object of interest was
an official voter lockbox. In doing so, Pak asserted that the snippet
Giuliani presented to the Georgia state Senate Committee consisted
only of the part where the box was pulled out, excluding the parts of
the video that confirmed it was a lockbox and not a
suitcase.
Republican Election Attorney
Benjamin Ginsberg’s Analysis of Election Lawsuits Reveals No
Abnormalities
Prominent Republican election
attorney, Benjamin Ginsberg, best known for his role in the 2000
Florida recount, testified regarding his analysis of Trump’s election lawsuits across the
country.
Of the 62 cases, 22 judges were
appointed by Republican presidents, ten of which were appointed by
Trump. Additionally, all three of Trump’s Supreme Court appointees
rejected his fraud claims. Ginsberg stated that only half of the cases
were dismissed, so roughly half of Trump’s cases "did have their day
in court." The former President and his supporters often falsely
claim their cases were never heard, or else they'd have been
successful.
"Team Normal vs. Team Crazy"
Split the Trump White House Post-Election
A previously unknown fissure of the
Trump White House was exposed during Monday’s 1/6 Committee hearing. A
series of the former President’s once-close aides testified of the
split in the White House: Team Normal and Team Crazy.
On "Team Normal," Bill Stepien,
former Attorney General Bill Barr, and others who saw no path for a
Trump second term. In a past deposition, Bill Stepien, testified, "I didn’t mind
being characterized as part of 'Team Normal'."
After the election, the former
President surrounded himself with Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and
others who believed the election was stolen. Instead of accepting
defeat, the former President and his new inner circle spun
conspiracies, dug in their heels, and promoted the Big
Lie.
Trump and His Allies Conned
the Public out of $250 Million Dollars
The first week following the 2020
election, $100 million was raised by Trump, supposedly going towards
"defending America" and fighting the alleged election fraud in court.
The Trump Campaign ultimately raised over $250 million, rallying supporters
around the idea that their hard-earned money was going toward winning
back a "stolen" election.
Instead, most of the money went to a PAC, some went toward
Trump’s hotel group, and more still to other pro-Trump organizations.
Very little, if any, went towards litigation of the 2020 election in
key swing states.
Rep. Lofgren detailed the many
places the money went. Instead of being truthful about where the money
was going, the former President and his allies lined their pockets off
of a known and debunked lie that the election was stolen.
"Not only was there the Big Lie,"
Lofgren said, "there was the Big Rip-Off."
MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR THE NEXT HEARING:
THURSDAY, JUNE 16 AT 1 PM ET
Country First is proud to release The Weekly Digest with important
updates on the 1/6 Committee's investigation of the Capitol attack. If
you would like to help contribute content to this newsletter, please
e-mail [email protected].
|
