On November 16, 2024, Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith said in a new brief filed that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump bears responsibility for the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. He made the allegation in a 9 page filing responding to Trump’s attempt to dismiss the case.
Smith’s team wrote that it “is incorrect” for Trump’s defense lawyers to assert that the superseding indictment returned against Trump in August does not show that Trump bears responsibility for the events of January 6 when thousands of angry Trump supporters stormed the United States Capital after Trump’s speech where he inflamed his supporters to march to the US capitol to stop the certification vote of President Joe Biden.
The link to read the 9 page “GOVERNMENT’S RESPONSE IN OPPOSITION TO THE DEFENDANT’S SUPPLEMENT TO HIS MOTION TO DISMISS ON STATUTORY GROUNDS” is here:
Click to access gov.uscourts.dcd.258149.262.0.pdf
Smith’s team alleges in the new brief that Trump “willfully caused others” to obstruct the certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory by repeating his false claims of election fraud and giving “false hope” to his supporters who believed that then-Vice President Mike Pence could overturn the election, and by “pressuring” Pence and congress to accept fraudulent certificates as part of the fake electors scheme.
Smith’s team wrote in part:
“Those allegations link the defendant’s actions on January 6 directly to his efforts to corruptly obstruct the certification proceeding. Contrary to the defendant’s claim … that he bears no factual or legal responsibility for the ‘events on January 6,’ the superseding indictment plainly alleges that the defendant willfully caused his supporters to obstruct and attempt to obstruct the proceeding by summoning them to Washington, D.C., and then directing them to march to the Capitol to pressure the Vice President and legislators to reject the legitimate certificates and instead rely on the fraudulent electoral certificates.”
Trump’s lawyers previously argued the indictment “stretches generally applicable statutes beyond their breaking point based on false claims that President Trump is somehow responsible for events at the Capitol on January 6, 2021,” and sought to “assign blame for events President Trump did not control and took action to protect against.”
Smith’s latest brief says Trump’s dismissal filing “fails to identify any pleading flaw in the superseding indictment warranting its dismissal” and that Trumps pleading “ignores entirely that the case against him includes allegations that he and his co-conspirators sought to create and use false evidence — fraudulent electoral certificates — as a means of obstructing the certification proceeding.”
The indictment alleged that Trump exploited the violence and chaos at the Capitol, and in the recent pleading Smith’s team said that Trump, when he heard that Pence had to be rushed to a secure location shortly after Trump attacked him on Twitter, responded by saying, “So what?”
Smith and Trump’s lawyers have continued to exchange legal filings in the case with less than three weeks left until Election Day, when Trump hopes to return to power after his 2020 loss. He has denied wrongdoing in the case and asserts the indictment was politically fueled.
The latest filing comes after the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity completely gutted a large part of Smith’s case against Trump. The superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury alleges that Trump knowingly spread lies about the 2020 election that were “unsupported, objectively unreasonable, and ever-changing“ in his bid to overturn his loss and remain in power.
Smith’s team said in a filing earlier this month that Trump “resorted to crimes“ to stay in office after his loss and that he was fundamentally acting as a private candidate for office, not as president, when he engaged in much of the conduct at the heart of their case.
Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the case, gave Trump’s team an extension that moved the due date of a filing a response until after the election. Trump’s Motion to Dismiss based on his claims of presidential immunity is now due Nov. 7, while the government’s reply is due on Nov. 21. Whether the case ultimately goes to trial depends on the outcome of the election.
The links to the quoted and relied upon news sources are here:
TRUMP CALLS JANUARY 6 “A DAY OF LOVE”
On October 16, a former Trump supporter confronted him during at a televised town hall and said he would not vote for Trump because of his conduct on January 6, 2021. Trump simply shrugged off the criticism but distanced himself from the attack on the Capitol while minimizing the damage done by the mob of his supporters. In his response, Trump said “Nothing done wrong at all. ”
The voter also questioned why he should support Trump when so many people who held high positions in his administration, including former Vice President Mike Pence, weren’t backing him. Trump said only “a very small portion” don’t support him. “But because it’s me, somebody doesn’t support they get a little publicity. … The vice president, I disagree with him on what he did. I totally disagreed with him on what he did [by not certifying the election.]”
Trump argued that the thousands of supporters who went to Washington for January 6 were not there because of him, even though he tweeted on December 19, 2020: “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild.” Trump said this:
“They didn’t come because of me. …They came because of the election. They thought the election was a rigged election, and that’s why they came.”
In 2020, and in the years since then, Trump has falsely claimed that the election was stolen. Many of those charged in the Janyary 6 riot have cited his election lies. On October 16 during his townhall, Trump described how some of the people who went to hear him speak outside the White House on January 6 and then “went down to the Capitol.” Trump did not mention that he had asked them to do so and that he would join them. Trump said this in his speech:
“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women. And we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them, because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong. … We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated. … I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
Trump repeatedly leaned into his reference “to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard” at the town hall. “I said ‘peacefully and patriotically.’ Nothing done wrong at all,” he told the town hall audience.
Trump’s attorneys have highlighted the “peacefully and patriotically” line from Trunp’s fiery speech in federal court filings in Washington, where he is defending himself against charges that he tried to illegally overturn the election results, including by provoking the assault on the Capitol. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him in Washington and in the Georgia election interference case.
At the town hall, Trump also called January 6, when rioters who delayed the electoral vote count for hours injured over 140 police officers, as “a day of love”. Trump told the audience this:
“There were no guns down there. We didn’t have guns. The others had guns, but we didn’t have guns. And when I say we, these are people that walked down’, this was a tiny percentage of the overall which nobody sees and nobody, nobody shows. But that was a day of love.”
Testimony before the House January 6 committee alleged Trump was aware that many in the crowd were armed with an array of hand guns and rifles before they made their assault on the Capitol. Among rioters who were proven to have carried firearms are Christopher Alberts, who was sentenced to seven years in prison; Mark Mazza, who carried two guns and was sentenced to five years in federal prison; and Guy Reffitt, who was sentenced to seven years behind bars. Another defendant awaiting trial fired his weapon into the air twice at the start of the assault, according to prosecutors.
In an October 15 interview with Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwait, Trump said the number of people who went to the Capitol was “very, very small,” putting the total number at 500 to 700. “Not one of those people had a gun” Trump boldly proclaimed which is simply a lie. He also described the scene at his speech that day as “love and peace, and some people went to the Capitol, and a lot of strange things happened there.”
According to the Justice Department more than 1,500 people have been charged in connection with the storming of the US Capitol. About 1,100 have been convicted, with sentences ranging from a few days of incarceration to 22 years in federal prison.
Trump has referred to the January 6 rioters as “political prisoners,” “hostages,” and “unbelievable patriots” and said he would pardon at least “Sen of them as one of his first acts in office if he is elected on November 5.
RECALLING WHAT SENATOR MITCH MCCONNEL SAID ABOUT JANUARY 6
Anyone that has even a scintilla of a doubt that it was Donald Trump that organized and encouraged the January 6, 2021 capitol riot and the bloody insurrection that day need to be reminded of what his staunch ally and Republican United State Senator Mitch McConnel said of the events of that day. Following are portions of the speech Senator Mitch McConnell gave on February 13, 2021, after Trump left office, on the US Senate Floor:
“January 6th was a disgrace.
“American citizens attacked their own government. They used terrorism to try to stop a specific piece of democratic business they did not like.”
“Fellow Americans beat and bloodied our own police. They stormed the Senate floor. They tried to hunt down the Speaker of the House. They built a gallows and chanted about murdering the Vice President.”
“They did this because they had been fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on Earth — because he was angry he’d lost an election.”
“Former President Trump’s actions preceding the riot were a disgraceful dereliction of duty.”
“The House accused the former President of, quote, ‘incitement.’ That is a specific term from the criminal law.”
“Let me put that to the side for one moment and reiterate something I said weeks ago: There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day.”
“The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their President.”
“And their having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories, and reckless hyperbole which the defeated President kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet Earth.”
“The issue is not only the President’s intemperate language on January 6th.”
“It is not just his endorsement of remarks in which an associate urged ‘trial by combat.’ ”
“It was also the entire manufactured atmosphere of looming catastrophe; the increasingly wild myths about a reverse landslide election that was being stolen in some secret coup by our now-President.”
“I defended the President’s right to bring any complaints to our legal system. The legal system spoke. The Electoral College spoke. As I stood up and said clearly at the time, the election was settled.”
“But that reality just opened a new chapter of even wilder and more unfounded claims.”
“The leader of the free world cannot spend weeks thundering that shadowy forces are stealing our country and then feign surprise when people believe him and do reckless things.”
“Sadly, many politicians sometimes make overheated comments or use metaphors that unhinged listeners might take literally.”
“This was different.”
“This was an intensifying crescendo of conspiracy theories, orchestrated by an outgoing president who seemed determined to either overturn the voters’ decision or else torch our institutions on the way out.”
“The unconscionable behavior did not end when the violence began.”
“Whatever our ex-President claims he thought might happen that day… whatever reaction he says he meant to produce… by that afternoon, he was watching the same live television as the rest of the world.”
“A mob was assaulting the Capitol in his name. These criminals were carrying his banners, hanging his flags, and screaming their loyalty to him.”
“It was obvious that only President Trump could end this.”
“Former aides publicly begged him to do so. Loyal allies frantically called the Administration.”
“But the President did not act swiftly. He did not do his job. He didn’t take steps so federal law could be faithfully executed, and order restored.”
“Instead, according to public reports, he watched television happily as the chaos unfolded. He kept pressing his scheme to overturn the election!”
“Even after it was clear to any reasonable observer that Vice President Pence was in danger… even as the mob carrying Trump banners was beating cops and breaching perimeters… the President sent a further tweet attacking his Vice President.”
“Predictably and foreseeably under the circumstances, members of the mob seemed to interpret this as further inspiration to lawlessness and violence.”
“Later, even when the President did halfheartedly begin calling for peace, he did not call right away for the riot to end. He did not tell the mob to depart until even later.”
“And even then, with police officers bleeding and broken glass covering Capitol floors, he kept repeating election lies and praising the criminals.”
“In recent weeks, our ex-President’s associates have tried to use the 74 million Americans who voted to re-elect him as a kind of human shield against criticism.”
“Anyone who decries his awful behavior is accused of insulting millions of voters.”
“That is an absurd deflection.”
“74 million Americans did not invade the Capitol. Several hundred rioters did.”
“And 74 million Americans did not engineer the campaign of disinformation and rage that provoked it.”
“One person did.”
“I have made my view of this episode very plain.”
… . “
At this point in his speech, Senator McConnell goes to great lengths to explain the process of impeachment and conviction and how it is a narrow tool for a narrow purpose. McConnell concludes that Trump could not be impeached and convicted for his actions on January 6 because the mandatory sentence of removal from office cannot be applied to somebody who has already left office. McConnell goes on to say “We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation. And former Presidents are not immune from being held accountable by either one.” Little did McConnel realize that the US Supreme Court would rule that Trump has immunity for“official acts.”
Senator McConnell concludes his remarks by saying this:
“This has been a dispiriting time. But the Senate has done our duty. The framers’ firewall held up again.”
“On January 6th, we returned to our posts and certified the election, uncowed.”
“And since then, we resisted the clamor to defy our own constitutional guardrails in hot pursuit of a particular outcome.”
“We refused to continue a cycle of recklessness by straining our own constitutional boundaries in response.”
“The Senate’s decision does not condone anything that happened on or before that terrible day.”
“It simply shows that Senators did what the former President failed to do:
We put our constitutional duty first.”
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/13/politics/mcconnell-remarks-trump-acquittal/index.html
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
With the landmark presidential immunity decision by the United States Supreme Court, the Trump 6 Supreme Court disciples of John G. Roberts, Jr., Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito, Jr. Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, the United State Supreme Court have done whatever they could do to undermine our federal criminal justice system and attempt to ensure that former President Trump returns to power. The 6 do so at the expense of our democracy.
All six Supreme Court Justices know full well that no one is above the law, yet they carved out a special exception to benefit Donald Trump claiming the decision is for the benefit of all future Presidents. They know if the two federal criminal cases against Trump proceed to trial after the election, and he is elected, he will order the Justice Department to simply dismiss the cases or simply pardon himself. They also know if Trump is not elected, he will likely be tried, convicted and do jail time on the Federal charges.
The 6 appointed Republican Justices have already made a profound difference with their right wing Republican Judicial Activism. The 6 Republican United State Supreme Court Justices have issued 6 major decisions that confirm it has become a far right wing activist court. The 1st was the court’s considering an attempt to empower legislatures with exclusive authority to redraw congressional districts without court intervention. The 2nd struct down decades of affirmative action in college admissions. The 3rd ruled that a Christian business owners can discriminate and withhold services to the LGBTQ+ community based on religious grounds. The 4th invalidated President Joe Biden’s student loan debt relief plan. The 5th strips federal government agencies of all regulatory power and mandates court approval of rules and regulations. The 6th and most controversial is the Supreme Court reversing Roe v. Wade and 50 years of precedent and denying a woman’s right to choose an abortion and leaving it up to the state’s.
As the saying goes, elections have consequences. The 2024 presidential election is again shaping up to be one of the most consequential elections in our history where Supreme Court decisions will be on the ballot as well as the control of congress, not to mention our basic right to vote in an election and the Presidency.
A story has been told and retold about founding father Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was walking out of Independence Hall after the Constitutional Convention in 1787, when someone shouted out, “Doctor, what have we got? A republic or a monarchy?” To which Franklin supposedly responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.”
It’s truly amazing that the 2024 Presidential election appears to be on track to be the closest election in United States history. Polls indicate that the economy and boarder security are dominating upper most in voters minds when it is our very democracy that is at stake in this election.