Eric Trump’s burner phone just blew the January 6th scandal wide open
If it often seems that Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are in a perpetual race to see which one can prove he’s the dumbest son, the two of them rang true to form this past week. First it was reported that Donald Trump Jr.’s girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle bragged in text messages that she raised millions of dollars to fund January 6th. Now Rolling Stone is reporting that January 6th organizers used burner phones – no really, burner phones – to communicate in advance with Eric Trump and his wife Lara Trump.
Suffice it to say that Eric and Lara Trump are now in a bit of a tough spot. The point of using a burner phone is so that no one knows you were involved to begin with, and therefore doesn’t know what to look for. But once you’ve been outed for using a burner phone – particularly by the people on the other end, which appears to be the case here – it means investigators can potentially find and seize your burner phone records and text messages just the same as any other phone.
Keep in mind that even if the Department of Justice and the January 6th Committee didn’t already know about Eric Trump’s burner phone scandal, they do now. If they haven’t already moved to seize those phone records, they will now. This will be investigated on both a criminal and congressional level.
There’s no way for us to know if there is going to be enough for the DOJ to bring federal criminal charges over this. The mere act of using a burner phone is behavior consistent with that of someone who’s trying to conceal a criminal plot, but it alone doesn’t prove a criminal plot. That’ll depend on the specifics of the evidence and witnesses involved. Did Eric and Lara Trump instruct January 6th organizers to commit crimes? Did Eric and Lara Trump know that others were planning to commit crimes? These are questions prosecutors will have to answer based on the evidence.
In the meantime, things are much more straightforward for the January 6th Committee. The Rolling Stone expose alone should be enough of a legal basis to subpoena Eric and Lara Trump for documents and testimony – and to have the DOJ criminally indict them for contempt if they fail to comply.
So we’re already looking at Donald Trump’s son and daughter-in-law either having to give cooperative testimony about January 6th on live national television, or having to plead the fifth on live national television, or being indicted and arrested. Take your pick, one of these will happen. And that’s just based on what’s been uncovered by Rolling Stone. There will be other shoes that drop. The January 6th scandal is now at the point where Eric Trump and the organizers used a burner phone to coordinate things. There’s no turning back now. It’s all going to come out, and it’s all going to land on the Trumps’ doorstep.
