Young, brave, and poised, Cassidy Hutchinson changed everything. She added the element to the real crime that could lead to a charge ranging from obstruction of Congress all the way to seditious conspiracy or even manslaughter. Hutchinson was the one who testified that Trump knew the crowd to be armed and dangerous but not there to hurt him, meaning he knew who they were there to attack, and he told the crowd to follow him up to the unprepared police who were already in a fight. Those key facts changed everything, dismissing all legal defense arguments about freedom of speech.
The testimony spurned two other critical elements. First, it led to a rush of witnesses to get in and get their testimony on paper before someone could pin something on them. And, it kicked DOJ’s ass out of a slumber to the point that Merrick Garland has now gone significantly out of the way to state that the department is ready and willing to charge anyone, including Trump.
And that woke up the Trump team, one that is now scrambling with the full knowledge that this is now “real.”
According to Rolling Stone [1]:
Members of the ex-president’s legal team have already begun brainstorming strategy and potential defenses, according to three people familiar with the matter and written communications reviewed by Rolling Stone. Trump himself has been briefed on potential legal defenses on at least two occasions this summer, two of the sources say.
Members of the ex-president’s legal team have already begun brainstorming strategy and potential defenses, according to three people familiar with the matter and written communications reviewed by Rolling Stone. Trump himself has been briefed on potential legal defenses on at least two occasions this summer, two of the sources say…
… In their preparations, Trump’s team has discussed strategies that involve shifting blame from Trump to his advisors for the efforts to overturn the election, per the three sources, reflecting a broader push to find a fall fall-guy [2] — or fall-guys [3]. “Trump got some terrible advice from attorneys who, some people would argue, should have or must have known better,” says one of the sources with knowledge of recent discussions in Trumpland. “An ‘advice of counsel’ defense would be a big one.”
Bullsh*t.
Trump searched out the terrible advice. He had lawyers around him telling him that he was breaking the law. He had attorneys around him telling him it was time to let it go. Trump sought out advice from third-rate attorneys, ignored the contemporaneous advice he was getting from real attorneys, and went so far as to keep the real attorneys out of the loop on some matters.
Can Trump be successfully prosecuted in a country where one out of every three people believes every word he says? Can this country actually put together an impartial jury? Without regard to the questions above, we can be sure that just like 75% of Republicans believe that Trump won the election (about one-third of the country), that same one-third couldn’t be convinced a verdict was legitimate any more than they could be convinced that the election was legitimate.
We know what they did last time they believed Trump was getting screwed over. That was just practice. Like so many things “Trump,” there simply is no good answer. But the worst answer is just to let him go again, consequence-free, to do it with even more open lawlessness next time.
And that’s why this is now real, and team Trump knows it.
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[email protected], @JasonMiciak, with Nicole Hickman