Author of the article: Washington Post Aaron Blake Date of publication: June 10, 2022 • 1 day ago • 4 minutes of reading • 434 comments It is possible that Trump committed a crime even without knowing that what his critics call a “big lie” was in fact a lie. Photo by Gary Clement / National Post
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WASHINGTON – One of the biggest questions facing the Jan. 6 commission is whether it can prove that President Donald Trump knew better.
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It is possible that Trump committed a crime even without knowing that what his critics call a “big lie” was, in fact, a lie. But the crime the commission has identified – obstruction of the formal process – requires us to act “corruptly”. It would be extremely important to show that Trump was informed that his allegations were false, or that he understood that, and that he was still trying to overthrow democracy independently. Early in the first public hearing on Thursday, January 6, the commission began making this case. He did this by giving us some of our first glimpses of testimonies from people close to Trump, including his daughter. But how exciting were those glances – and what does this show about how much more people around Trump knew? What we have seen so far is worth analyzing.
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The first clip played was by former Attorney General William Barr. It has been recorded in the past as he described Trump’s allegations as “real time” and confirmed in a clip that was played on Thursday that he resigned in part because of it. He also called the proposals of Trump and his allies that the voting machines were reversing the votes “complete nonsense” – saying that he rejected them recklessly. “I told them it was crazy and they were wasting their time on it,” Barr said. It is not clear who “they” were or when this comment was made. However, Trump announced Barr’s impending resignation on December 14, and the very next day, Trump reportedly urged incoming Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to appoint a special adviser to investigate issues, including conspiracy theories. Days later, Trump will meet with allies to discuss the seizure of voting machines.
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Trump’s eldest daughter and White House adviser, Ivanka Trump, soon made her own video appearance. In it, he recalled when Barr had publicly stated on December 1 that there was no evidence of fraud on a scale that would change the outcome of the election. When asked how it affected her, she replied: “It affected my perspective. I respect Attorney General Bar. “So I accepted what he was saying.” Liz Cheney’s opening statement, R-Wyo. he accepted what he was saying ”- they were not so direct. He certainly showed that he found Barr’s prospect fascinating.
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Similarly, the committee played a clip of a Trump campaign lawyer, Alex Cannon. He said he had been tasked with examining allegations of voter fraud and that by mid-to-late November he had been largely empty. He said he conveyed a message similar to Barr’s – that there was not enough to change the outcome – to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. When asked how Meadows responded, Cannon said, “I think the words he used were, ‘So he’s not there.’” Again, it’s worth learning more. In the way Cannon described it, Meadows could have summarized the information they had just been given – or perhaps asked a question. It remains very important that a Trump lawyer delivered this message. it is simply not clear that Meadows necessarily agreed.
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The latest clip on this front is from Trump’s longtime campaign aide Jason Miller. Matt Ockowski testified about information given to Trump himself shortly after the election by an internal affairs expert: MILLER: I remember saying a few harsh words to the president that he would miss. Q: And that was based, Mr. Miller, on Matt and the data set assessment of the kind of results by county, by state, as mentioned? MILLER: Right. Miller responded on Twitter on Thursday night to the clip that was being played, suggesting that the frame was missing. He said he had testified shortly afterwards that Trump had rejected the verdict and that Ockowski had focused on the total number of votes and not necessarily on legal challenges involving “electoral integrity”.
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Which is reasonable. This came shortly after the November 3 election, and President Joe Biden was declared the winner by November 7. Again, the question is whether this is intended to show that many people internally agreed that there was nothing to these election allegations – and that they shared it with Trump repeatedly – or simply that people did research and that, at certain times, some of them admitted that there was not enough there. Obviously it was never enough there, but to show that people understood that would be huge for the committee. The panel’s snapshots on Thursday night seemed to suggest that even Trump’s child and chief of staff knew better. But so far, the evidence is fragmentary, with Barr’s testimony being the most convincing and the committee should rely on it.
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