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Defend Our Country Digest

Defend Our Country Digest — December 20, 2022

By December 20, 2022No Comments

Driving the Day: 

Must Read Stories

January 6 Committee Names Donald Trump As “Central Cause” Of The Insurrection And Refers Him To Justice Department For Criminal Prosecution 

  • New York Times: Jan. 6 Panel Accuses Trump of Insurrection and Refers Him to Justice Dept: The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol accused former President Donald J. Trump on Monday of inciting insurrection, conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of an act of Congress and one other federal crime as it referred him to the Justice Department for potential prosecution. The action, the first time in American history that Congress has referred a former president for criminal prosecution, is the coda to the committee’s 18-month investigation into Mr. Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election that culminated in a violent mob of the former president’s supporters laying siege to the Capitol. The criminal referrals were a major escalation for a congressional investigation that is the most significant in a generation. The panel named five other Trump allies — Mark Meadows, his final chief of staff, and the lawyers Rudolph W. Giuliani, John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark and Kenneth Chesebro — as potential co-conspirators with Mr. Trump in actions the committee said warranted Justice Department investigation. The charges, including a fourth for Mr. Trump of conspiracy to make a false statement, would carry prison sentences, some of them lengthy, if federal prosecutors chose to pursue them.
  • ABC: Jan. 6 Committee Condemns Trump As ‘Central Cause’ Of Insurrection In Sweeping Report: In a sweeping 160-page summary released by the committee to explain its findings, the committee labeled Trump as the “central cause” of the attack “That evidence has led to an overriding and straight-forward conclusion: the central cause of January 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump, who many others followed. None of the events of January 6th would have happened without him,” the summary said. The committee’s full final report is expected to be released later this week.
  • Bloomberg: Trump Risks Ban From Elected Office With Insurrection Evidence: A special House committee’s vote to refer former President Donald Trump for potential criminal charges in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol brings fresh attention to a Constitutional ban on insurrectionists holding office. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment states that no one can “hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State” if they took an oath to support the Constitution and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same.”  Ratified in 1868, the language was drafted to address former Confederate officeholders. But the text doesn’t spell out exactly how to disqualify someone from running or holding office again. The House Jan. 6 committee urged the Justice Department on Monday to consider charging Trump with inciting or aiding an insurrection. Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin, who announced the insurrection referral, described it as “a grave federal offense anchored in the Constitution itself” and noted that it was “automatic grounds” for disqualifying someone from holding state or federal office.

January 6 Committee Refers Kevin McCarthy, Scott Perry, Andy Biggs, And Jim Jordan For Ethics Violations 

  • Politico: Jan. 6 Panel Refers Mccarthy, 3 Other Republicans For Ethics Violations: The Jan. 6 select committee said on Monday that four House Republicans, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, violated congressional ethics rules by defying subpoenas for testimony and documents. The panel referred the lawmakers for a review by the bipartisan House Ethics Committee, which is seen as unlikely to take action against the members. The ethics panel declined to comment.In addition to McCarthy, three other lawmakers were referred for defying subpoenas: Reps. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.). Another GOP member who ignored the summons, Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama, is leaving Congress after this year and will be out of the ethics panel’s reach. He has issued public statements about his contact with former President Donald Trump, including about Trump’s floating of an idea to rescind the results of the 2020 election and reinstall him as president. The select panel subpoenaed the five lawmakers in May. None of them complied with the summonses, generally citing concerns about the committee’s composition and legitimacy.

Electoral Count Act Included In Omnibus Government Spending Bill

  • Washington Post: Electoral Count Act, Crafted As Response To Jan. 6, Will Be In Omnibus Bill: A bipartisan bill that would make changes to how members of Congress could object to electoral will be included in the omnibus spending bill lawmakers need to approve in the coming days, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Monday night. The Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act, sponsored by Collins and Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), would amend the Electoral Count Act of 1887 and reaffirm that the vice president has only a ministerial role at the joint session of Congress where electoral college votes are counted. The measure would also raise the threshold necessary for members of Congress to object to a state’s electors.

In The States 

ARIZONA:  Judge Dismisses Most Of Kari Lake’s Lawsuit, Allows Two Day Trial On Some Narrow Claims 

  • Arizona Republic: Judge Orders 2-Day Trial In Kari Lake’s Lawsuit, But Dismisses Some Claims:  A judge declined Monday to dismiss Kari Lake’s election challenge after oral arguments by attorneys, giving her a chance to try to prove her claims of misconduct by election officials. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson tossed eight of the claims in Lake’s lawsuit, but allowed two to remain that alleged an intentional plot by officials to manipulate the election in favor of Lake’s Democratic opponent, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs. In two separate orders, he ruled that a two-day trial will take place before Jan. 2, and that Hobbs and County Recorder Stephen Richer would be required to testify as Lake wished. Lake has “alleged intentional misconduct sufficient to affect the outcome of the election and thus has stated an issue of fact that requires going beyond the pleadings,” the ruling stated. It continued that Lake must show at trial that the county’s printer malfunctions were intentionally rigged to affect the election results, and that the actions “did actually affect the outcome.”

What Experts Are Saying

Norman Eisen, senior fellow at Brookings, E. Danya Perry, former deputy chief criminal division, SDNY, and Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21: “[F]or now the referrals are the main event. By focusing on a short list of potential defendants and charges, and substantiating them, the committee has provided the public, the press and above all federal prosecutors with a powerful aid. A well-reasoned outside opinion is rare and valuable as prosecutors make these highly consequential decisions. Still, these are largely unprecedented cases. They will not be easy to bring or to win. Ultimately, that is why the committee’s referrals are so meaningful. Prosecutors need all the help they can get, and the Jan. 6 committee just gave it to them.” NYT Op-Ed: The Jan. 6 Committee Just Made History. Here’s What That Means for Prosecutors.

Harry Litman, former US attorney: “Raskin was the headline.  And headline of his statement was the explanation of 2383 and reference to 14th Am sec 3 to disable future service.” Tweet 

Heather Cox Richardson, American historian at Boston College: “The committee establishes that Trump fully intended to go with his supporters to the Capitol. This is a very big deal indeed: the president traditionally cannot go to the chambers of Congress without a formal invitation. Trump confidant Rudy Giuliani told Cassidy Hutchinson, top aide to Mark Meadows, that Trump intended to be with the members of Congress and to ‘look powerful.’…The committee generously attributes this plan to be part of Trump’s hope to pressure Pence, but historian of authoritarians Ruth Ben-Ghiat noted that a leader launching a new regime needs to be present at the front of his cheering troops to mark his success.” Letters from an American

Headlines

Trump 2024

Breitbart: Exclusive – Trump on Elections: Republicans ‘Have No Choice,’ ‘We Have to Fight’ Like Democrats to Outdo Them with Mail Voting, Ballot Harvesting

January 6 And The 2020 Election

Axios: Jan. 6 committee chair says he has “no doubt” DOJ will charge Trump

NBC: Jan. 6 committee avoids criticizing law enforcement in report summary

Politico: DOJ cares about the evidence, not the criminal referrals

Other Trump Investigations

New York Times: Release of Trump Tax Returns Could Herald New Era for Taxpayer Privacy