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In a court filing Wednesday, the legislative panel investigating the assault on the US Capitol by a mob of then-President Donald Trump supporters claimed that he and his allies were involved in a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election.
The House Select Committee’s filing requests documents from rightwing lawyer John Eastman, who has refused to testify citing attorney-client privilege.
In their brief, the panel wrote, “The Select Committee…has a good-faith basis for concluding that the President and participants of his Campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States.”
The committee’s comments are not its final conclusion, as the investigation is ongoing. However, they were viewed as the most extensive and damning statement yet about Trump’s behavior as he fought to retain power after losing to Joe Biden.
Eastman, a Trump ally, wrote the now-famous memo outlining how Vice President Mike Pence could prevent lawmakers from certifying Biden’s election victory over Trump during what would have been a routine session of Congress on January 6, 2021. Pence eventually declined to do so.
The committee stated in its filing released Wednesday night that Eastman’s claims of attorney-client privilege do not apply because he and others, including Trump, “may have engaged in criminal and/or fraudulent acts” in their efforts to overturn the election.
According to lawmakers, their evidence provides “a reasonable basis for concluding that President Trump violated section 18 U.S.C.1512(c)(2).”
According to the Justice Department, it is a crime to “conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof, in any manner or for any purpose.”
After a fiery statement near the White House in which Trump repeated his false claim of electoral fraud and urged the assembled crowd to “fight like hell,” the mob marched to the Capitol and overran it in breathtaking scenes of violence and mayhem on January 6.
After the Capitol riot, Trump was impeached for the second time in history; he was charged with inciting an insurgency, but the Senate acquitted him.
