The one thing that must happen with Donald Trump’s 1/6 criminal trial
Don’t forget that many of these Republicans are lawyers. They know exactly what they are doing, who they are carefully misunderstanding, why they are getting it dead wrong and what effect their lies will have on the MAGA cult at large. When they slam the podium with their outraged fists for emphasis and scream that Donald Trump is being prosecuted (and persecuted) for nothing more than exercising his First Amendment right of free speech, they know perfectly well that is a lie. In fact, they know it’s a lie because it’s in the third paragraph of the indictment saying it’s a lie, and they have read the indictment.
These Trump lawyers and apologists are counting on it that the mallet heads they’re telling the lie to haven’t read the indictment, or if they have read it then they didn’t understand it, or if they did understand it then they don’t remember what it said. Or that they love the lie so well that they prefer the lie to the truth. Those Republican lawyers are correct to think so, because they have been proven right time and time again.
Here’s what the indictment actually says on page two paragraph three: “The Defendant had a right, like every American, to speak publicly about the election and even to claim, falsely, that there had been outcome-determinative fraud during the election and that he had won.” In other words Trump was free to yammer about the Big Lie and, egregious as that may be, he had a first amendment right to do so.
But the indictment goes on to say: “He was also entitled to formally challenge the results of the election through lawful and appropriate means, such as by seeking recounts or audits of the popular vote in states or filing lawsuits challenging ballots and procedures. Indeed, in many cases, the Defendant did pursue these methods of contesting the election results. His efforts to change the outcome in any state through recounts, audits, or legal challenges were uniformly unsuccessful.”
In other words, when Donald Trump said the election was stolen he was saying something untrue and irresponsible, but he was not doing something illegal. When he challenged the outcome of the election in numerous courts of law it was his legal right to do so, however misplaced the attempt may have been. He was free to be an idiot all he wanted and the law couldn’t touch him as long as he challenged the election according to the lawful methods open to him.
But the second, the minute, the hour, the day Donald Trump entered into a conspiracy to subvert the election, block the results, disenfranchise the American people and violently interfere with the peaceful Congressional certification of Joe Biden’s indisputable win he was breaking the law. And Donald Trump was and remains lawfully answerable for those despicable crimes.
Those are the facts, and that is how Republicans will try to twist them. It may sound convincing on Fox News to lie and say Jack Smith is depriving Trump of his first amendment right to free speech, it may work on grandpa, your Uncle Max and your Aunt Emily, but it can’t be used in a court of law. No sane defence lawyer will try, and if they do, they will be instantly refuted by the prosecution and rebuked by the judge. If they persist they will be held in contempt and thrown in jail.
That is why the insurrection trial of Donald Trump MUST be telecast. It needs to be made clear to all Americans what is really alleged and what Trump is really being prosecuted for.
I join Congressman Adam Schiff who only just now (as I write this) tweeted the following in support of this demand: “Transparency will be crucial in the trials of the U.S. v. Donald J. Trump. It’s why dozens of my colleagues joined me today in urging that these proceedings be broadcast for the public. If the American people are to accept the outcome, it will be vitally important for them to witness, as directly as possible, the full facts and evidence.” The tweet is followed by numerous signatures of Mr Schiff’s colleagues.
What’s more, while many MAGA Trump idolaters avoided watching the January 6 hearings in Congress, most of them will not be able to stay away from watching the trial itself in real time. They will want to see the Caps Lock Creep himself refuted point by point and lie by lie. It is therefore vital to the preservation of democracy that the trial be telecast. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.