  Friday, June 17, 2022

TODD ZWILLICH

Deputy Bureau Chief, VICE News

Washington, D.C. Bureau

toddzwillich

John Eastman, speaks about his plans to sue CU Boulder at a news conference outside of the university on Thursday, April 29, 2021. CU relieved Eastman of his public duties after he spoke at President Donald Trump's rally preceding the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6. (Andy Cross/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

You're gonna need it

"Fifth."

Over and over again, Trump lawyer John Eastman was seen on video invoking his constitutional rights and refusing to answer the January 6 committee's questions about his role in the attempted coup. In the end, he took the Fifth more than 140 times. Eastman, like all of us, has the right not to incriminate himself. But taken with Thursday's revelation that Eastman's final act in the plot was to ask for a presidential pardon, the video now plays like a Zapruder film of conscious guilt.

Greg Jacob, former Veep Mike Pence's counsel, recounted all the times when Eastman was told his scheme to have Pence reject electors or delay the Jan. 6 count was illegal. The most important came on Jan. 4, in the Oval Office, when Eastman acknowledged, in front of President Trump, that his plan violated the law. But that didn't matter, Eastman suggested, because the courts would likely never touch it.

Jacob and others warned Eastman that his pursuit would likely lead to violence in the streets. As White House lawyer Eric Herschmann put it, this was just fine with Eastman, who shrugged it off, saying, "There's been violence in the history of our country."

Eastman's client, meanwhile, had no time for any of these arguments. Informed for the final time, on the morning of Jan. 6, that Pence would not go along with this violence-sowing plan, Trump called Pence "a pussy." Later, after Trump was informed his supporters were rioting and invading the Capitol, he spurred them on by attacking Pence on Twitter.

Thursday was a tale of Trumpism distilled to its essence: a sneering contempt for the law when self-interest is at stake; the trashing of the Constitution up until the moment it offers a self-serving shield; a blasé, even curious attitude about what a little violence might accomplish.

Before Thursday's hearing, the committee leaked some of the emails Eastman had fought for months to conceal. On Dec. 24, 2020, pro-Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro advised Eastman that the threat of "wild chaos" before Jan. 6 might scare Supreme Court justices into intervening.

That sure brings a new perspective to the violence Trump built up, then unleashed on the Capitol on Jan. 6. That Trump thought the violence served his interests has been obvious all along. Now we know his legal acolytes knew it too. That Trump has never cared whether his actions broke the law is hardly a surprise. Now we know his dead-end lawyers didn't care either.

Eastman had reports of a "heated debate" among the SCOTUS justices. (How was Eastman, a former clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas, aware of the inner deliberations of the court? Ginni Thomas, a right-wing activist, fervent coup supporter, and spouse to Justice Thomas, also emailed with Eastman. She now says she looks forward to answering the committee's questions about that.)

The committee has those emails because U.S. District Judge David Carter ruled that Eastman and Trump together likely committed crimes during this plot, so there's no attorney-client privilege.

Eastman appears to know he's guilty, or at least chargeable. (The lawyers around him told him so, and most innocent people don't scurry for pardons. Fewer still do it in writing.) After the hearing Thursday, Rudy Giuliani was asked if he also knew the Jan. 6 obstruction plot was illegal. "I shouldn't really talk about that," said Rudy, flashing a vestige of the federal prosecutor who once knew when it was best to be quiet.

As several former federal prosecutors who are NOT Rudy Giuliani have pointed out to BtV readers, the most likely place for Trump to face criminal accountability may not be at the Justice Department. Look to Georgia, they say, where a special grand jury in Fulton County is investigating whether Trump broke the law when he tried to interfere in the election there. The prosecutor, Fani Willis, specializes in wielding Georgia's racketeering statute and has hired other specialists who do too.

Watch the committee next week for testimony from Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who's expected to begin the tale of how Trump unleashed his coup plot on the states. Happy Juneteenth weekend!

Conservative retired federal judge L. Michael Luttig warned the country that Trump is actively plotting to steal 2024. That judge is right! Be ready. Sign up your friends for Breaking the Vote.

CSI: Democracy

Dr. Leon Kelly is the coroner of El Paso County, Colorado. He's a board-certified forensic pathologist, which is a good thing to be when you've been elected to competently investigate homicides, suicides, and overdoses.

But El Paso County is in the throes of a Trumpist insurgency, where every office from senator on down is under challenge from conspiracy-spouting candidates, some of them backed by local militias. Don't miss Liz Landers' recent trip to Colorado for VICE News Tonight, where she and producer Izzie Mendez found a GOP primary so poisoned by Trumpism that even the somber and vital job of county coroner is facing attempted takeover by election deniers.

Liz and Izzie crossed paths with Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow (not available in Walmart stores everywhere), as well as GOP Colorado secretary of state candidate and BtV favorite Tina Peters. The Mesa County clerk was supposed to be arraigned this week on multiple charges of election tampering and fraud. But a judge pushed Peters' arraignment to early August, meaning she'll get to run in her June 28 primary without any distracting headlines about her plea to six felony and five misdemeanor charges. Peters is already banned by the courts from administering the 2022 elections.

Coup and the gang

Another striking takeaway when you step back from the January 6 hearings is GOP voters' deep buy-in for Trump's destruction. Even while hearings earlier this week showed Trump's top advisers, however opportunistically, denouncing him as "completely nuts" and "detached from reality," on Tuesday primary voters turned around and rewarded the lies.

Reno 9-1-1

One of the key goals of the January 6 committee (in addition to making Trump's evident criminality clear) is to warn Americans that Trump's direct assault on the 2020 election is set to repeat. In that sense, by far the most important—and troubling—result of primary night came from Nevada, where former state Rep. Jim Marchant easily won the GOP nomination for secretary of state.

BtV readers are well-acquainted with Marchant's links to QAnon, his conspiracies flavored with an unmistakable accent of antisemitism, and his deep immersion in Trump's stolen-election cult.

As VICE News' Cam Joseph and David Gilbert reported, Marchant is the third QAnon-backed candidate who will be running to control elections in swing states in 2022. He also joined Nevada GOP Senate primary winner Adam Laxalt in the ranks of election deniers who are climbing toward power.

QAnon scored a victory in Texas, too, where Republican Mayra Flores won a special election to replace a retiring congressman. VICE News' David Gilbert reported that Flores regularly trafficked in QAnon hashtags in her social media posts, though she tried to disavow the movement when asked. Redistricting means Flores might not be in Congress for long, and right now the economy is way more salient to voters than attacks on democracy are. But the lesson here is how little Trump's (possibly criminal, we'll see) election conspiracy is an impediment to candidates who support him.

Undoin' the Charleston

In South Carolina, Rep. Tom Rice lost his primary after crossing Trump on the very events the committee's been airing out on TV. Rice voted to impeach Trump for his actions on Jan. 6–then, unlike so many other Republicans, refused to back down from his view that Trump is a unique constitutional threat. His opponent, and Trump, made the race about MAGA loyalty.

Trump's election-undermining power was evident even in races he lost. He failed to knock Rep. Nancy Mace off the enemies list despite launching a very Trump-like campaign against her. Still, Mace hung on only after following a now-familiar pattern in the GOP: revulsion and criticism for Trump after Jan. 6, followed by a fawning and embarrassing attempt to regain his good graces.

Remember when GOP leader Kevin McCarthy publicly denounced Trump for Jan. 6, privately said he'd urge Trump to resign the presidency, then days later rushed to Mar-a-Lago to demonstrate his fealty? Kinda like that.

A dry run in the desert

Far more important than promoting election deniers to Congress is installing them in positions of authority over local voting and state results. Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, and the other Trumpist apparatchiks of authoritarianism preach it all the time. And here's why:

David Gilbert has the story of Otero County, New Mexico, where an all-GOP, three-member county commission (headed by a guy who's about to be sentenced for his role in Jan. 6) has refused to certify results from this month's primary. The pretext is vague "concerns" over Dominion voting machines. But the truth is an ongoing campaign by a prolific election denier named David Clements to leverage local authorities to sow election chaos.

The state Supreme Court has ordered the county to certify the results. Even if they comply, the game plan is clear, especially when Republicans in swing states like Wisconsin implement it for 2024 (see below). Create enough chaos and uncertainty around local voting to give Trumpist state officials the pretext to refuse to certify results if Republicans lose.

"Now I'm going to give you the best free legal advice you're ever going to get in your life. Get a great f'ing criminal defense lawyer. You're gonna need it.' Then I hung up on him."

— Trump lawyer Eric Herschmann, describing what he told lawyer John Eastman about Eastman's plan to use fake electors to overturn the 2020 election.

Innuendo Wi. — Former Wisconsin Supreme Court judge David Gableman got slapped with a $2,000-a-day fine for refusing to turn over records of his monthslong, taxpayer-funded GOP investigation of the 2020 election. A judge ordered the fines to put a stop to Gableman's foot-dragging in disclosing the records as part of a lawsuit by the group American Oversight.

But Gableman isn't just insulting to elections and democracy. He's also insulting to women! During the proceedings, Gableman got caught on a hot mic mocking American Oversight attorney Christa Westerberg, suggesting she couldn't litigate without the help of the judge. That earned him a dressing-down from Judge Frank Remington for "sophomoric innuendo" and "misogynistic" comments, along with a referral to the Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation for discipline.

Badger of dishonor — Right on cue, the Republican National Committee used Wisconsin to launch its effort to recruit poll workers, poll watchers, and others to influence the 2024 election. What's called an "election integrity tour" is actually an attempt to replicate the spirit of Otero County, New Mexico, nationwide. If that feels far-fetched, it won't when you learn the RNC's campaign is rolling out in nine of Wisconsin's most liberal cities, where, you guessed it, Democrats vote.

One down, thousands to go — Meet Travis Ford, 42, of Lincoln, Nebraska. Ford posted threats to Instagram like "Do you feel safe? You shouldn't," and "Your security detail is far too thin and incompetent to protect you." Travis is like many many thousands of people who've threatened election workers since the 2020 election. But unlike them, he's now guilty of federal charges. DOJ announced that Ford pleaded guilty to making the threats against an unnamed election worker, making him the feds' first conviction. He faces up to two years.

Bannon rolls on — Coup plotter and pardoned scammer Steve Bannon won't get to squirm out of his two contempt charges for refusing to honor January 6 committee subpoenas. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols rejected Bannon's attempt to dismiss the charges, for which he faces up to a year in jail and $100,000 in fines.

Bannon's testimony isn't academic. He was present as Trump lieutenants met about coup strategy in the days and hours before Jan. 6. And investigators want to know what he knew when he told his podcast audience on Jan. 5 that "all hell is going to break loose tomorrow."

As predicted, Bannon is doing his best to turn the trial into a propaganda sideshow: His lawyer announced he's subpoenaed all the members of the January 6 committee and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.