Where do we go from here?
While former “president” Donald Trump wonders how he’s going to endorse Mo Brooks after un-endorsing him since he’s in a runoff, legal experts believe he should be thinking about what size orange jumpsuit he’ll be needing. When you think of all the things Trump did leading up to and on January 6, a criminal indictment doesn’t seem impossible.
New York Times reported last week that Mike Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, warned Secret Service that Trump was going to turn on Pence and that he saw that as a security risk from Trump’s supporters. He was right. Screaming “Hang Mike Pence,” they obviously went in to do more than just vandalize the place. Even though it was blatantly obvious that Trump’s supporters felt they had some score to settle with Pence, Trump continued to angrily tweet his disappointment in and criticisms of Pence, egging on his supporters. Trump knew what he was doing, which is evidence of his intent, a necessary element in any criminal charges.
Trump’s failures on January 6 were numerous and even his allies knew it as they frantically texted Mark Meadows, asking Trump to put a stop to the violence happening in the Capitol. Did Trump do that? Of course not. He was enjoying it. Now, all of Trump’s unacceptable behavior may well come back to haunt him. RawStory spoke with Ryan Goodman, a law professor at New York University and former special counsel to the Department of Defense. According to Goodman: “the reporting about Short’s concerns for Pence’s safety adds to the criminal case in at least two ways.”
Goodman believes that Trump’s behavior toward Pence “had the-foreseeable and likely-result of threatening Pence’s safety” and that Pence’s team “felt the pressure.” Harry Litman, a former U.S. attorney, takes it even farther, stating that “Trump must at least have known about the threat in advance,” and former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner said that Trump’s failure to stop the riot should be considered treason. So, when is someone going to charge and arrest Trump? It appears that they may well be getting closer.
Former Attorney General Eric Holder appeared on HBO’s “Real Time.” He told host Bill Maher that “there is a wealth of evidence” that could well lead to indictments not only against members of Trump’s administration but against Trump himself. Holder told Maher that he might have been reluctant to go after Trump initially because of how divided the country was, but the evidence that has come out to date leads Holder believe that if the evidence shows intent (and it does), “he has to be indicted.”
Holder thinks we must look to what happened in Georgia, where Trump is on tape, which Holder said is “close to a layup,” and those same charges can be used in a federal case. The committee is slated to go live next week. Hopefully, we will hear additional evidence that will lead to Donald Trump’s indictment, arrest, and conviction.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years