The big news tonight is that federal prosecutors appear to be gathering evidence that Trump acted with corrupt intent when he tried to overturn the 2020 election. (Duh.) Michael S. Schmidt and Maggie Haberman in the New York Times:
Federal prosecutors investigating former President Donald J. Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election have questioned multiple witnesses in recent weeks — including Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner — about whether Mr. Trump had privately acknowledged in the days after the 2020 election that he had lost, according to four people briefed on the matter.
The line of questioning suggests prosecutors are trying to establish whether Mr. Trump was acting with corrupt intent as he sought to remain in power — essentially that his efforts were knowingly based on a lie — evidence that could substantially bolster any case they might decide to bring against him.
There was testimony during the January 6 House committee hearings that Trump admitted privately he had lost. So I don’t think this is in question.
In other news. I’m curious whether Ray Epps has yet figured out how much he was used and who used him. Epps was a Trump supporter who believed the Big Lie and who went to the Capital on January 6. And then he had the misfortune to be chosen as a sacrifice of sorts. He was picked out of the crowd to serve as a scapegoat for why the riot turned into a riot. Philip Bump writes at WaPo,
To hear Ray Epps tell it, it’s Fox News’s fault that his life was ruined in at least two ways.
The first and most obvious is that the right-wing cable news channel repeatedly and energetically insisted over the course of months that Epps must somehow have been involved in triggering the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a function of his purported (and nonexistent) role as a government provocateur. This was mostly driven by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who mentioned him in at least 20 episodes of his prime-time show.
The other way Fox used him, of course, was to sell him on the Big Lie to begin with.
Epps became a central figure in the MAGA fever swamp’s mythology about January 6. Graig Graziosi at The Independent:
After failing to pin the Capitol riot on Antifa, right-wing media outlets refocused their efforts to reshape their narrative around Mr Epps. According to the New York Times, obscure right-wing outlets like Revolver Media began reporting on selectively-edited videos of Mr Epps during the Capitol riot, and later capitalised on the footage from 5 January in which he called for people to enter the Capitol.
The theory claims that Mr Epps, who was not arrested in the wake of the Capitol riot despite apparently encouraging people to enter the building and participating in the event himself, could only have evaded law enforcement if he was working with the government.
To explain this apparent contradiction, outlets and conspiracy theorists decided that Mr Epps had to have been an FBI agent sent into the crowd to stir dissent and set up a “false flag” event meant to justify the incarceration of hundreds of Trump supporters.
According to Philip Bump, back in 2001 when Epps realized the FBI was trying to identify him from videos he called the FBI and identified himself. That’s the major reason he hasn’t faced the criminal justice system yet. But the lawsuit Epps filed against Fox indicates he has been informed he will face some charges.
Naturally Epps and his wife had their lives upended by MAGA thugs. They closed their successful wedding venue business and gave up their home to move into a trailer in another state. Yet the mouth breathers of the Right are still spreading the same lies aboubt Epps. Yesterday when FBI Director Christopher Wray was a guest at the House Judiciary Committee Clown Show, one member brought up Epps. Philip Bump:
“I want to turn my attention now to this fella, this character, Mr. Ray Epps,” Rep. Troy E. Nehls (R-Tex.) said at one point in the hearing. “We’ve all heard of him. We’ve heard of Mr. Ray Epps.”
This is true.
“He was number 16 on your FBI most-wanted list,” Nehls continued. “He was encouraging people the night prior and the day to go into the Capitol. And Mr. Ray Epps can be seen at the first breach of Capitol grounds at approximately 12:50 p.m.”
This is not true.
Bump goes on to explain why this isn’t true. The Epps-was-a-fed story has been debunked any way it can be debunked, but MAGAts like Rep. Troy E. Nehls can’t let go of it.
Speaking of clown shows, some of the more hard-right critters in the House tried to introduce measures to a defense bill to stop money going to Ukraine. But a majority of Republicans disagreed, and of course Democrats disagreed also.
The "RepubliKKKLAN House of Clowns" consists of human-like Albino bugs who are dimmer than fireflies caught in search light beams!
Oh, back to your headline, maha:
tRUMP was BORN with criminal intent.
Bump concludes his piece with: "There is a bright spot. Recent history suggests Epps will get a lucrative payout from his lawsuit against Fox News". I hope so.
E. Jean Carroll is going to get a second shot at Trump in a DC trial. DOJ decided to withdraw so it's certain to go forward. I think after the first of the year. The first payout was five million which Trump has put up in cash while he appeals. The second (IMO) will cost Trump at least ten million more because Trump defamed Carroll again right after he lost the first trial.
Trump just can't shut his mouth.
Knowing there was corrupt intent is not enough. Smith has to PROVE there was corrupt intent. There is (fortunately) some written evidence in two investigations that Trump commissioned after November. Both (they say) reported back to Trump in writing that he lost. Trump will have to prove that he relied on solid information from trusted advisors who told Trump he won and that they could prove it. All those "trusted advisors" are going to be facing charges themselves. If several of them can testify that TRUMP decided on the fraud and he sold it to them, then Trump is in a world of hurt.
Politically, this trial has to put the big lie on trial. The evidence that Trump lost AND HE KNEW IT, is critical to crushing the big lie and ending Trump's chances for reelection. Trump has to defend the big lie and "prove" he actually won the election OR that there was damned good reason to believe he had won.
The fake electors' scheme will hurt Trump if it unfolds with the facts I think are there. I think Trump insiders have already flipped – the testimony re how the plan evolved and who did what, who said what to local GOP leaders to sell the plan, and testimony from the electors themselves will come out. Pence has to come clean or risk a perjury charge himself. This dovetails with the GA charges and testimony we will learn more about soon.
Trump is a slippery SOB. He doesn't put down stuff in writing, email, or memos. I do not see any other way to PROVE Trump intended to flip the results of an election that Trump knew he lost except with multiple high-level sources who were there when Trump handed out orders.
Yeah, but who leaked that they were questioned whether or not Trump knew and why?
I smell a rat.
There is no reason for the investigators to leak.
Team Trump, I’m not so sure.
Intent implies so much. It implies a functioning somewhat normal human mind and a plan. It also implies that the plan has steps and an expected outcome. This outcome is typically seen a being goaded by a motivation. In the process, it is assumed that the intender, has the time and the ability to assess the plan and to make normal estimates. Some of these estimates include ideas like feasibility, cost, other needed resources, moral and ethical considerations, and if any part of the plan might be illegal or contrary to the intender's personal code of conduct.
Back in more mechanical days, this would require one to examine the cogs, and the wheels, turning in the intender's mind. One might contend that the intender had a screw or two loose in their mental works. Now we might be more likely to talk about wiring or algorithms as the mental parts involved. I will not go there. I fear in this case if you got there, you may never get back out. The mind we are talking about seems to be the mental equivalent of a black hole. Once drawn in the only possible exit is a worm hole. I think Pence is still looking for it. Lindsey has no exit possibilities at all.
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I would be remiss if I did not note that while writing my comment on intent, that I was watching an ABC documentary on Charles Manson. Manson was certainly linked to all of the people involved with that string of horrific murders. Using a number of Manson quotes, the documentary attempted to fill in what was happening in Manson's mind and the minds of his followers at the time. It is hard to say that Manson "masterminded" all of those horrors or that his intent was exactly the carnage that occurred. Still, he was linked to the chaos and those involved as I understand. Both he and Trump have/had minds which are atypical in ways I would rather not attempt to try to understand. Both too can be associated with the term helter skelter. Both too have had quite the collection of loyal and nefarious followers.
Every single thing Trump has ever done has been with Corrupt Intent…in the dictionary, under the entry for Corrupt Intent, there should be a picture of Trump.
The prosecutors have to prove corrupt intent because Trump never gives direct orders. There's a many-viewed YouTube of Michael Cohen explaining to Congress how Trump does this. There's a surface message that's explicitly stated, but underneath it is the real intent, implicitly stated. Prosecutors have to be able to strongly rebut Trump's defense that "I never told people to riot" – which on the face of it, is true.
That's why I thought the Manson piece was so relevant. He was insulated from the actions of his minions, yet he was convicted because his markings (some etched in the victim's blood) were left at the scenes. To those who participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection his intent and message was clear to them. Oliver Stone will never crack. Cohen's messaging with other credible support will strongly evidence intent, though no one can read minds. Hick's testimony is strong support. When Trump impeded the weapons searches of the Jan. 6 participants, with his let them in they are my people comment, he could have cooked his own goose. The telephone recording with the Georgia election official is quite clear evidence of his motive, to reverse the election results by coercion. This evidence adds credibility to Cohen's statements as to Trump's methods. Like Manson he manipulated his minions toward helter skelter, and his marks are etched all over the events.
Watched a clip of Pence getting interrogated by Tucker TeeVee Dinner yesterday. Why is Tucker still able to get on tee-vee? Pence had to get defensive about not supporting Putin, had to refute (not very powerfully) the latest lie about Christians targeted in Ukraine by Zelensky. This is where we are, the GOP is lining up behind Putin. Between this, Climate Change, Dobbs, the best economy in decades why haven’t we completely buried these assholes? It’s a good question. If you know why Tucker is still on tee-vee then youjhave the answer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_NrBG0FUWA