Written By: Kayla Sleeper
Edited By: Sean Tonra
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“I think that it is absolutely the case, it’s absolutely clear that what President Trump was doing, what a number of people around him were doing, that they knew it was unlawful. They did it anyway.”
- Elizabeth Cheney, Vice Chairwoman of Jan. 6th House committee
The nation is still reeling from the aftermath of the January 6th attack on the Capitol, and the government is continuing investigations even still over a year later. Over 770 civilians involved in the rush into the federal building have been charged with crimes, and the Department of Justice and a House committee are now running concurrent investigations into anyone who might have been involved in preceding events, including VIP attendees to the Ellipse rally that occurred prior, security, and public officials close to outgoing president Donald Trump.
Prominent people being investigated include Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife, Virginia Thomas, who sent texts to Mark Meadows, Trump’s White House chief of staff, House representative Kevin McCarthy of California who was seen to have taken a “very heated” phone call with Trump while the riot progressed, and other members of Congress, such as Ohio Representative Jim Jordan and Pennsylvania Representative Scott Perry. Other people of potential interest for the committee include Republican representative for North Carolina, Madison Cawthorn, who advocated for people to “lightly threaten” members of Congress to support Trump’s rejection of election results and Mark Meadows, who was with Trump at the time of the riot.
Investigations into events prior to the riot are centered around the Ellipse rally, from which rioters marched to the Capitol, and those involved with the planning of the rally. This includes leaders of far-right organizations present at the event, such as Amy Kremer of Women for America, Enrique Tarrio of the Proud Boys, and Stewart Rhodes of the Oath Keepers militia, who was charged with seditious conspiracy in January.
As of April 8th, Ali Alexander, a key player in the “Stop the Seal” movement has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury upon grounds of being in contact with White House officials, rally organizers, and right-wing groups, such as the Oathkeepers and 1st Amendment Praetorian, in the events following the presidential election.Though he casts doubt upon the utility of the information he can provide, he is known to have previously admitted to helping set up the events of January 6th, as seen in a video he posted online that has since been deleted. In the video, Alexander says, “We four schemed up of putting maximum pressure on Congress while they were voting,” referencing House Representatives, Mo Brooks of Alabama, Paul Gosar of Arizona, and Andy Briggs of Arizona, “so that who we couldn’t lobby, we could change the hearts and the minds of Republicans who were in that body, hearing our loud roar from outside.” In another video taken on January 6th, at which point rioters had entered the Capitol Building, he says, “I don’t disavow this,” and that he does “not denounce this.”
In even more recent news, it is clear the House committee is nearing the ability to recommend charges of criminal conspiracy to the Department of Justice. Liz Cheney, Wyoming Republican and House committee vice chairwoman, has now declared, “It’s absolutely clear that what President Trump was doing, what a number of people around him were doing, that they knew it was unlawful. They did it anyway.” Information new to the public concerns exactly what evidence containing more serious criminal implications the committee has found thus far. One fact being that Trump began sending texts to Meadows about circumventing election results as early as two days following Election Day, before all votes were counted and Joseph Biden yet was declared president. Additionally, the committee has heard the testimony of Keith Kellogg, national security aide, that has given insight into Trump’s contributions to a call that took place in the late morning of January 6th with Pence, in which Trump seems to have made a last-ditch effort to convince Pence to discount electoral votes made in Biden’s favor.
Evidence that has come to light as of February includes PowerPoint presentations and drafts of unsigned executive orders, demonstrating a considered plan by Trump and staff to make use of the military to take control of ballots in the hopes of collecting evidence of election fraud. If not evidence of criminal conduct, evidence of misconduct with concerning implications continues to amass as Trump, Giuliani, and another Trump lawyer, John Eastman, are also know to have held a conference call on January 2nd with 300 state legislators, advocating for them to appoint new electors to instead declare Trump as the presidential victor. Trump even held a promotion of attorney general over Jeffrey Clark, who at the time was a mid-level Justice Department official; to this, other Justice Department officials in turn threatened to “resign en masse” if he did so.
Following the committee’s potential report, expected to be released as late as October, the Department of Justice will have the ultimate say in whether a criminal investigation into Trump will be conducted, but federal district Judge David O. Carter of California’s assessment in March that Trump “more likely than not” committed felonies is a start. Evidence brought forth to Judge Carter includes an email with a draft of a memo written for Rudolph Giuliani, one of Trump’s lawyers, with a recommendation that Pence “reject electors from contested states.” The committee is still searching for more evidence in Eastman’s involvement via email in pressure on Pence to prevent the declaration of Biden’s win. Yet to come is how the committee will vote on whether they will bring forth their evidence for criminal conspiracy charges to the Justice Department and if they can convince Attorney General Merrick Garland to lead an indictment.
While the assessment of criminality is still to be completed, in light of the increasingly alarming measures taken by Trump and company to prevent the institution of Biden’s presidency revealed thus far, Trump’s misconduct as acting president can be nothing but certain. Over 50 lawsuits presented by Trump have been discounted by state and federal courts since the 2020 election; he lacks legal standing for the actions taken by him and his staff, and in fact evidence suggests legal wrongdoing. A precedent must be set and those involved must be held accountable if we are to have hope in the future of our national government.
[The views expressed in this article are those of the author and the author alone; they do not necessarily represent the views of all members of the first RULR Editorial Board and Rutgers University.]
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