Donald Trump’s excursion into witness tampering
Donald Trump’s recent excursion into witness tampering is nothing new. Back in November of 2019, when Marie Yovanovitch testified on Capitol Hill during the second day of impeachment hearings against Trump, it didn’t take the president long to send a tweet attacking her. Trump’s menacing message back then was clear: anyone who testified against him was going to get savagely attacked in a tweet. And by 2019 everyone who wasn’t in a coma knew that a disparaging tweet from Donald Trump would mean instant enmity from MAGAland — and numerous death threats.
That was not an isolated example. Trump is notorious for self-serving meddlings in due process. From trying to get former FBI director James Comey to shut down investigations into Trump-Russia to begging Rudy Giuliani to seize voting machines during the 2020 presidential elections, Trump is forever trying to tilt the game in his favor.
So few were shocked when a member of the House panel investigating the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol on Wednesday accused former president Donald Trump of tampering with witnesses by vowing to pardon those involved in the riots if reelected in 2024. Of course, such promises are like a recipe for Dragon Stew. First you need a dragon. But many of the January 6 insurrectionists are dumb enough to believe him, and his promise may color their willingness to cooperate with federal prosecutors or the January 6 Committee.
During another post-presidential Nuremberg-style rally on Saturday, Trump complained that those charged in connection with the January 6 attack at the US Capitol are being treated “unfairly.” Trump said, “If I run and if I win, we will treat those people from January 6 fairly.” Trump then added, “And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons. Because they are being treated so unfairly.” Trump reinforced his pledge when, during a Newsmax interview Tuesday night, he said, “I would absolutely give them [the January 6 rioters] a pardon if things don’t work out fairly.”
Witness tampering, according to Wikipedia, “is the act of attempting to improperly influence, alter or prevent the testimony of witnesses within criminal or civil proceedings.” Since January 6 rioters are both defendants and potential witnesses, Trump’s promise of a pardon may be construed as offering something of value (a pardon) for their testimony. Thus Trump may be said to be improperly influencing the quality of their testimony and their willingness to turn state’s evidence, that is, again from Wikipedia, “by admitting guilt and testifying as a witness for the state against their associate(s) or accomplice(s).”
This, of course, is just one example of a crime out of the annals of a staggeringly long list of crimes committed b this archest of criminals. Donald Trump has committed murder, rape (including at least one credible instance of child rape), treason, money laundering, theft, fraud, blackmail, bribery, reckless endangerment, purgery, assault, embezzlement, conspiracy and indecent exposure. So what is a little witness tampering in the midst of all that? In any case, Trump makes Nixon look like the amateur that he truly was.
It’s unclear at this point whether or not Trump will actually be charged with witness tampering. Given the ocean of potential criminal charges against him it hardly matters. The point of charging and convicting Al Capone with tax evasion wasn’t to snare him for his worst crime, but to get him off the streets. It’s time to get Donald Trump off the streets with any legal means possible. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.