The Prosecutor’s Office has called senior White House advisers to testify before a grand jury to testify about the actions of the former president around January 6
Two investigations try to determine responsibilities for the insurrection of January 6: one very public and the other very private. It is the latter that should concern Donald Trump the most.
There is no doubt that he will have followed with indignation the eight public hearings carried out by the bipartisan committee of the Lower House that presents the investigations with television productions. Two of them have occurred in prime time night time, the rating grid that Trump likes the most. In the end, it is a gratifying show for those who had already judged him for those facts and want to know more details with which to endorse his initial conclusion.
The one carried out by the Department of Justice behind the scenes is a very different case. Since April he has been asking the congressional committee for official documents, phone records and transcripts of testimony, but since Tuesday it has also been known by the Washington Post that he is questioning witnesses to present their statements to a grand jury.
According to his sources, the circle tightens around Trump on charges that can range from sedition to electoral fraud. The Prosecutor’s Office would have questioned some of his advisers and senior White House officials for hours about the pressure campaign mounted by the president to alter the outcome of the elections that gave victory to his rival, Joe Biden. Among those questioned would also be two senior members of Vice President Mike Pence’s cabinet, who has decided to wipe the slate clean of what could have ended with his lynching. Pence has his sights set on becoming a presidential candidate by 2024 and returning to the White House as an Oval Office occupant, but the Justice Department has no incentive to bury the case. Nor in advertising it.
No one has managed to get a word from Attorney General Merrick Garland this Wednesday that incriminates him. The Prosecutor’s Office limits itself to saying that he is “looking at his actions” during the critical days that ended in the January 6 insurrection. Garland assured NBC that he will go after “anyone” who is responsible for that dark chapter or tries to alter the peaceful transition of powers. “Anyone,” he insisted when pressed.
Unpublished accusation
Never in US history have charges been brought against a former president. In fact, if they do come forward, there is no doubt that Trump’s lawyers will challenge their legality on the grounds of presidential immunity. A constitutional challenge that could end up in the Supreme Court, with a majority of conservative judges appointed by Trump. Something that doesn’t scare Garland either.
The attorney general could have been one of those judges with lifetime positions who decide the life of the country today, but Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell did not want to put his candidacy, chosen by Barack Obama, to a vote and waited for Trump to be elected president . As a consolation prize, Biden named him attorney general, a position that also includes functions equivalent to justice minister. His fame as a just and politically moderate man made him the perfect man for the moment. That is the bar that he tries to maintain.
Those who have closely followed the hearings on January 6 accused him of not taking legal action against those who remain in evidence, starting with the former president. Garland made it clear Tuesday that he has “hundreds” of men and women working on these investigations.
According to ‘The New York Times’, one of the emails they would have found belongs to one of Trump’s lawyers based in Arizona, a state whose electoral result was disputed. Jack Wilenchik would describe there a “wild/creative” plan to “send false electors” (representatives of the Electoral College) to the plenary session of Congress in Washington in which the election results were to be certified. The plan would be for “someone” in Congress to object when the votes began to be counted, arguing that false votes were being counted. “A better word would be to call them ‘alternative votes,'” he added, with a smiley face emoji.
Vice President Mike Pence was not willing to participate in any strategy to prevent the final certification of the results, something that Trump has not forgiven him for. The president has redoubled this Wednesday his accusations of fraud and has accused the Democrats of going after him under any pretext. “People forget that this is about Corrupt and Stolen Elections,” the former president wrote on social media. “He should go after the people who are looking for the truth and go after the Crime of the Century.”
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