The United States came very close to having the military used against the people following the attempted election coup, thanks to Donald Trump and his co-conspirators.
The District of Columbia Grand Jury’s indictment against former president Donald Trump resulting from his efforts to overturn the 2020 election highlights the moment when Trump and his co-conspirators planned to seize power and use the Insurrection Act against the American people.
First, it establishes again that there was no substantive election fraud found. “The next morning, on January 3, despite having uncovered no additional evidence of election fraud, Co-Conspirator 4 sent to a Justice Department colleague an edited version of his draft letter to the states, which included a change from its previous claim that the Justice Department had “concerns” to a stronger false claim that “[a]s of today, there is evidence of significant irregularities that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple States.”
Then, Co-Conspirator 4, former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, met with Trump at the White House and accepted “offer” to become Acting Attorney General, without telling senior Justice Department officials.
“80. Also on the morning of January 3, Co-Conspirator 4 met with the Defendant at the
White House—again without having informed senior Justice Department officials—and accepted
the Defendant’s offer that he become Acting Attorney General.”
The indictment goes on to remind the reader that the previous month, the Deputy White House Counsel had told Trump, “there is no world, there is no option in which you do not leave the White House [o]n January 20th.”
Cut back to January 3rd, 2021 and the same Deputy White House Counsel tried to talk former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, Co-Conspirator 4, out of taking the role of Acting Attorney General by reminding him that there had not been “outcome-determinative fraud” found in the election and that if Trump remained in office, there would be riots in every major city in the United States. (The indictment does not say this, but it’s important to remind readers that Trump and his co-conspirators tried to steal votes from many major cities that are predominantly Black, an effort that sought to steal the right to vote and have it counted from people whose ancestors died to get that right.)
Jeffrey Clark responded, “Well, [Deputy White House Counsel], that’s why
there’s an Insurrection Act.”
” On the afternoon of January 3, Co-Conspirator 4 spoke with a Deputy White House
Counsel. The previous month, the Deputy White House Counsel had informed the Defendant that
“there is no world, there is no option in which you do not leave the White House [o]n
January 20th.” Now, the same Deputy White House Counsel tried to dissuade Co-Conspirator 4
from assuming the role of Acting Attorney General. The Deputy White House Counsel reiterated
to Co-Conspirator 4 that there had not been outcome-determinative fraud in the election and that
if the Defendant remained in office nonetheless, there would be “riots in every major city in the
United States.” Co-Conspirator 4 responded, ‘Well, [Deputy White House Counsel], that’s why
there’s an Insurrection Act.’”
Clark then announced to the actual Acting Attorney General that Trump had given the job to him and the Acting AG was fired, to which the Acting AG replied that he didn’t accept being fired by a subordinate.
“82. Also that afternoon, Co-Conspirator 4 met with the Acting Attorney General and
told him that the Defendant had decided to put Co-Conspirator 4 in charge of the Justice
Department. The Acting Attorney General responded that he would not accept being fired by a
subordinate and immediately scheduled a meeting with the Defendant for that evening.”
So Clark is saying that Trump et al were planning to implement the Insurrection Act of 1807 against The People of the United States, after stealing their fundamental basic right to vote and have it counted.
The Insurrection Act vaguely gives the president the power to deploy the military and National Guard troops within the borders of the U.S. in order to suppress an insurrection or other uprising. It needs to be reformed, clearly.
In summary, while staging an insurrection, these people, who are all innocent until proven guilty, were plotting to use the Insurrection Act to protect the power they seized. The Insurrectionists were going to use the Insurrection Act against the people and government they were rising up against. The insurrectionists were going to use the Insurrection Act against not only the people, but essentially, the U.S government.
This is the nightmare scenario of what can happen when a wannabe dictator comes into power. This is why there are supposed to be speed bumps and checks and balances along the way. Far too many Republicans ceded their duty to check Trump and his co-conspirators – even voting against impeaching him for this attack on his own country, and they are responsible for their betrayal of the American people.
While these are just charging documents and no one has been found guilty, it has already been established that Donald Trump did try to steal the 2020 election from the people and we all watched him incite the insurrection on January 6th, which Director Wray labeled a domestic terrorist attack.
The question now is can the government prove these charges to a jury, which is a different question than what did we all witness happen to our country and our votes.
It’s way past time for U.S. media to stop pandering to Team Trump by pretending this wasn’t what we all watched. It was. It was horrifying. And while the DOJ is rather late with the indictment, Trump is finally going to be held accountable for at least part of it.
Enough with the gaslighting: Team Trump planned to use the military against the American people to keep power they were planning to steal. This man is currently the 2024 presidential front-runner for the Republican Party.
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Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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