With the revelation that a Danish camera crew filming Roger Stone for a documentary over the course of the 2020 election and beyond captured Stone on camera as he scurried out of DC on 6 January 2021, more pieces are falling into place about the extent and structure of Donald Trump's attempted coup.
It isn't as though most of the public does not already know this, but as with any crime family, getting to the evidence and public confessions has been particularly tough, made tougher by Trump's pre-emptive pardoning of some of the people most deeply involved in the conspiracy.
Nevertheless.
Trump ally, John Eastman |
We know John Eastman, Trump's lawyer, was in communication with Mike Pence, pressing Trump's demand that Pence ignore the legitimate results of the election and instead re-install Trump. Eastman is currently citing attorney-client privilege in refusing to turn over the details of those discussion, because he says that, at the time, he was representing Donald Trump. But there is a crime/fraud exception to the confidentially accorded attorneys and their clients which holds that communications need not be considered confidential if an attorney is found to be assisting his client in the commission of a crime. Defrauding the United States by attempting to do an end run around legitimate elections is a crime.
The House Committee states it baldly: "The facts we’ve gathered strongly suggest that Dr. Eastman’s emails may show that he helped Donald Trump advance a corrupt scheme to obstruct the counting of electoral college ballots and a conspiracy to impede the transfer of power."
We already have strong evidence that Eastman was one of the architects of the plan. Bob Woodward and Robert Costa obtained back in September of 2021 a now infamous 2-page memo in which Eastman outlined the scheme--
- Have Pence violate the law by setting aside the electoral votes of states whose Republican parties had submitted sham "electors" on the basis of unproved and non-existent election fraud
- Declare at the conclusion of vote counting for states which were not complicit in the scheme that the legitimate and sham electors were equally valid, thus leaving no electors to be counted from these states
- Gavel Trump as re-elected on the basis of the results from 43 states only.
- If Democrats object, send it to the House, where the Republican majority will reinstall Trump
- Pence should take these steps irrespective of the actual outcome of the election or the absence of any clearly assigned constitutional power to do so
As late as January 4th, Eastman continued to counsel violating the law. The House Committee has already obtained a legal memo written by Greg Jacob, an aide to Pence, after a meeting Eastman took with Trump on January 4th. In this Oval Office meeting, Eastman continued to tell Trump that Pence was not bound by law to recognize electoral votes for Biden. Jacob's conclusion in his memo to Pense was that Eastman was counseling the vice president to violate the law.
How does Roger Stone fit into it? The film crew following him has captured miles of footage of Stone privately coordinating post-election protests promoting the scheme and the lie of election fraud upon which it was based. They have gootage of Stone communicating via text message with leaders of the far right groups deeply involved in the insurrection. And while they did not capture any conversations between Stone and Trump, they DID capture on several occasions Stone asserting to them or to his associates that he remained in close contact with Trump regarding the effort.
As the backdrop to THAT information, consider Stone in a recorded conversation with an aide who proposed driving trucks into crowds of racial justice protesters: "Once there's no more election, there's no reason why we can't mix it up. These people are going to get what they've been asking for." As well, as early as July 2020, Stone is already on footage telling his staffer that Trump should use the powers of his office to reject official election result and secure victory with the help of federal judges who owed Trump. “If the electors show up at the electoral college, armed guards will throw them out.”
Imagining Trump's remarks, Stone continued, "I'm the president. Fuck you. You're not stealing Florida, you're not stealing Ohio. I'm challenging all of it, and the judges we're going to are judges I appointed."
The House Committee has leveled particular focus on events that took place even before Election Day, questioning those who have appeared before them on the roles of former chief of staff Mark Meadows and Trump attorney Cleta Mitchell in casting doubt on the election before the vote even began, probing extensive text messages between the two.
On November 5th, Trump having lost the election, Stone drew up a Stop the Steal action plan that was captured by the filmmakers: As protesters are mobilized, lobby state lawmakers to reject the official results." That same day, Trump's sons began using the hashtag #StopTheSteal on Twitter. Subsequently, Stone denied any involvement in the initiative, claiming in a blog post on November 30th that he "was not a participant" in any of the organizations using the Stop the Steal name.
In fact, there was never any legitimate question that Trump had lost the election. The contention that fraud played any part in the outcome was simply a lie, concocted by Stone, utilized for the purpose of promoting Eastman's plan. The Trump campaign's own data expert had already specifically and bluntly told Trump that he was going to lose the election, shortly after polls closed. In the weeks that followed, multiple top officials at the Justice Department repeatedly informed Trump that they had closely examined allegations of fraud that Trump and his allies were circulating and found no basis for any of it.
And in lawsuit after lawsuit that handed Trump defeat after defeat, judges repeatedly pressed Trump lawyers and lawyers for Trump proxies for evidence of ANY of their allegations. Understandably, given that lying to a judge would be reasons for disbarment, all of them walked back statements they had made publicly about the "overwhelming evidence" and admitted, in fact, that they had none.
In the weeks after the elections, nearly a dozen aides and close confidants of Trump told him that there was no fraud and no legal way to overturn the results. It should be noted, although it may simply be a case of a rat deserting a sinking ship, even William Barr appears to have made an effort to ensure Trump knew he was attempting to sell a baseless lie. In Barr's upcoming effort to recover his reputation via biography, to be published in a few days, Barr asserts that he confronted Trump.
"I've told you that the fraud claims are not supported... And others have also told you this. But your legal team continues to shovel this bullshit out to the American people. And it is wrong."
And yet Trump has persisted in attempting to sell the story, and framing the events in a way that led to the January 6th rally and a concerted, violent effort to overthrow the government.
Subsequent to Stone's December 19th pardon by Trump, Stone-ally Ali Alexander who created a website WildProtest.com to promote plans for the January 6th rally publicly posted "We’ve taken the leash off the pit bull. So, this is something Roger and I have been planning for a long time. And, finally, he’s off the leash. So, you know, it’s a knife fight, and your two knife fighters are Ali Alexander and Roger Stone. And you either fight with us or you get slashed."
And in the foreground? Per WaPo, "A few hours before the Jan. 6 attack, the video shows, a member of the far-right Oath Keepers group — who has since pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy — was in Stone’s suite at the Willard. Other rooms in the same hotel were used as a “command center” by Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and other advisers involved in the fractious battle to overturn the election."
The Danish footage also shows Stone using an encrypted messaging app later in January to communicate with Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, who is charged with seditious conspiracy, and Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio. Subsequently, just prior to his arrest by the FBI, Rhodes erased messages from his phone. And Stone is on camera being transported and guarded by multiple Oath Keepers on January 5th.
Again, per WaPo: "Two of the Oath Keepers who were with Stone, Joshua James and Brian Ulrich, were later charged with seditious conspiracy after allegedly storming the Capitol. James pleaded guilty this week and agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors. A third, Mark Grods, admitted in a plea deal that he traveled to the D.C. area from Alabama with two guns and joined fellow members in the Capitol riot."
As the insurrection unfolded, Jacob penned perhaps the most astute assignment of blame yet uncovered, even as Trump supporters were beating policemen with metal poles at the doors of the Capitol: "[your] advice provided has, whether intended to or not, functioned as a serpent in the ear of the President of the United States. Respectfully, it was gravely, gravely irresponsible for you to entice the President with an academic theory that had no legal viability, and that you well knew we would lose before any judge who heard and decided the case. And if the courts declined to hear it, I suppose it could only be decided in the streets."
It is already well established that DURING the insurrection, the President was nowhere near the Oval Office, instead glued to the television, gleefully watching the violence unfold. As they hid from rioters in a secret location away from the Capitol, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was on the phone appealing to Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Simultaneously, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) had Ivanka Trump on the phone. Kellyanne Conway, longtime Trump confidante and former WH senior adviser, called an aide she knew was standing near the president.
But as they begged for Trump to do something, anything, Trump was too busy watching live television of the unfolding crisis to act or even to hear their pleas. At one point, Trump worried that the violence was frightening GOP lawmakers from doing his bidding and rejecting the election results, according to an administration official.
According to a close Trump adviser, "He was hard to reach, and you know why? Because it was live TV. If it's TiVo, he just hits pause and takes the calls. If it's live TV, he watches it, and he was just watching it all unfold." While it may be believable that the then-Commander-in-Chief has the attention span of a gnat, it is no excuse, and the only reasonable explanation for his inaction is that he WANTED the assault to continue. This explanation is, in fact, supported by evidence.
Republican Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash) has publicly revealed her conversation with McCarthy about his phone conversation with Trump, once Trump was eventually reached. "...according to McCarthy, the president said: 'Well, Kevin, I guess these people are mor upset about the election than you are.'"
Of course, there are also the tweets. There are ALWAYS the tweets.
00:43:42-- Get smart, Republicans. FIGHT!"
1:00:50-- If Vice President @Mike_Pence comes through for us, we will win the Presidency... Mike can send it back!
08:17:22-- States want to correct their votes, which they now know were based on irregularities and fraud, plus corrupt process never received legislative approval. All Mike Pence has to do is send them back to the States, AND WE WIN. Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!
09:15:07--The States want to redo their votes. They found out they voted on a FRAUD. Legislatures never approved. Let them do it. BE STRONG!
10:44:31--...Rigged Election!
14:24:22-- Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!
And, of course, Trump's own circle and GOP lackeys understood that the President was responsible. In addition to McCarthy, Graham, and Conway
- Chris Chistie went on national television to try to get the message directly to Trump: "The president caused this protest to occur; he's the only one who can make it stop."
- Sean Hannity texted Mark Meadows to try to get Trump to make a statement asking his people "to peacefully leave the Capitol."
- Laura Ingraham also texted Meadows: "Mark, the President needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy." Publicly, she called on Trump to "order U.S. troops to secure the Capitol immediately."
- Fox Host Brian Kilmeade: "Please get him on TV. Destroying everything you have accomplished."
- Trump's own son, Don Jr.: "He's got to condemn this shit ASAP. The Capitol Police tweet is not enough. We need an Oval office address. He has to lead now. It has gone too far and gotten out of hand."
And Trump? Eventually badgered into making an on-camera statement to his followers, the best of three separate takes shows a clearly agitated Trump sending mixed messages, still trying to flog the "stolen election" story: "This was a fraudulent election, but we can’t play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace. So go home. We love you. You’re very special. You’ve seen what happens. You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel. But go home, and go home in peace."
Then, less than two hours later, he returned to Twitter:
18:01:04--These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!
Post-insurrection, Stone lobbied Trump to give himself and all his allies in Congress and "the America First movement" a presidential pardon to protect them all from prosecution for trying to overturn the election, all captured on film. The only thing which prevented this from happening, according to Stone himself, was White House counsel Pat Cipollone.
Hell, Pardon not only Gaetz, Brooks, Biggs, Gosar, Jordan, Cruz, and Hawley, but every Republican remember [sic] of either House or Senate who voted for you. Pardon a movement. Give the Deep State the finger. Among those who could be targeted for... prosecution are prominent Trump supporters such as former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump, Jr.-- and others in your circle. Yes, I would pardon them all.
Denied pardons for himself and the others for whom he was lobbying, including former Colombo crime family members who were vocal Trump supporters, Stone was incensed. His ire was widespread, but particularly intense for Jared Kushner. "In two weeks he’s moving to Miami,” Stone told his staffer Enrique Alejandro, on camera, before whispering: “He’s going to get a beating. He needs to have a beating. And needs to be told, ‘This time we’re just beating you. Next time we’re killing you.’ ” Aware the filmmakers were nearby, Alejandro urged Stone to say he was joking. “No, no, it isn’t joking. Not joking. It’s not a joke,” Stone replied.
Trump has continued, with the support of his friends at Fox and his allies in Congress, to maintain the lie that there was election fraud and that he is the rightful President. There continues to be the undercurrent of incipient violence in America's political discourse, poisoned by a charlatan and the organizations and structure which supports him, in order to regain political power at the expense of democracy itself.
Perhaps the best summation of where America currently stands, strange as it may seem, comes from Greg Jacob in his response to John Eastman the day of the insurrection.
I have run down every legal trail placed before me to its conclusion, and I respectfully conclude that as a legal framework, it is a results oriented position that [Republicans] would never support if attempted by the opposition, and essentially entirely made up.And thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.
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