Posted on 12/20/2022 7:44:15 PM PST by bitt
This week the January 6th Committee voted to make criminal referrals to the Justice Department, including the proposed indictment of former President Donald Trump. However, the Committee’s splashy finale lacked any substantial new evidence to make a compelling criminal case against former President Donald Trump. The Committee repackaged largely the same evidence that it has previously put forward over the past year. That is not enough. Indeed, the reliance on a new videotape of former Trump aide Hope Hicks seems a case of putting “hope over experience” in the criminal Justice system.
While still based largely on the failure to act, Rep. Adam Schiff (D., Cal.) insisted that “if that’s not criminal, nothing is.” The opposite may be true from a First Amendment perspective. If the failure to act is criminal, it is hard to see what would not be criminal under this standard.
After members like Schiff, again, promised new evidence to support criminal charges, the Committee continued its pattern of rehashing previously known evidence with network-quality videotapes.
The failure of the Committee to offer any new and direct evidence of criminal conduct was obvious at the outset. Vice Chair Liz Cheney began her remarks by again detailing what Trump failed to do. It was a repeat of the prior hearings and for some likely left the impression of actors who are refusing to leave the stage long after the audience departed.
The one new piece of evidence was largely duplicative. It shows former aide Hope Hicks saying that she also called upon Trump to make a public statement calling for peace and telling him that there is no evidence of systemic fraud. Nevertheless, the videotape has been heralded by figures like former acting Solicitor General Neil Katyal on MSNBC as “evidence I’ve never seen before from Hope Hicks.” Katyal bizarrely claims “I think that tells you all you need to know about premeditation. Call it criminal intent. The House committees evidence here is very strong.”
So all you need for premeditation is the failure to accept the weight of evidence or to act promptly after the start of a riot. Katyal might “call it criminal intent” but many judges would likely call it something else.
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You were right the first time, or, maybe not. The FBI might be worse.
Bump
Trump has as much to do with inciting an insurrection as the rooster’s crowing (cock-a-doodle-do!) does in making the sun come up.
I hate that term is even used. It didn’t even rise to riot level.
If he doesn’t, and prosecutes Trump for allegedly not doing anything to stop the riot, shouldn’t Mayorkas be charged criminally for doing nothing about the border?
It is smoke and mirrors everywhere but it is succeeding at dividing support for either Trump or Desantis. It is turning into a typical republican circular firing squad.
President Trump’s J6 speech wasn’t inciteful at all. I listened to at home and didn’t get inspired to do anything at all.
And it wasn’t a riot. It was a protest, and only those blinded by extreme partisanship use the insurrection word. If that was an insurrection then so is every high school football game in the nation.
A few hours of fan behavior.
These people are ruthless.
Trump was/is naïve.
His presidency was doomed from the start.
It was riddled at all levels with Obamanoids and liberal sycophants, working in concert to destroy Trump.
They still are.....................
Nonetheless, his accomplishments make him a George Washington when compared to Biden.
Yes, it is amazing that he was able to accomplish as much as he did with all of DC against him.
Imagine what he could do with a fully Republican controlled Congress that is actually on his side!............
If all were conservatives, I agree.
Is half or third of republicans who are democrats in sheep’s clothing?
I’d say at least 25%.............................
And I would agree.
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