The House of Representatives election commission, which has been investigating the Capitol since Jan. 6, believes Donald Trump has violated a number of federal laws to undo the 2020 election, including congressional obstruction and United States fraud.
The revelations came as part of documentation aimed at forcing John Eastman to hand over thousands of emails and recordings, arguing that Trump’s involvement in potential crimes destroyed his argument that the material was protected by the privilege of a client’s attorney.
House of Representatives attorney Douglas Letter said in the 61-page document that the committee elected had reason to conclude that Trump had violated the law by obstructing or attempting to obstruct a formal procedure and deceiving the United States by interfering with the law. government functions.
The former president knew he did not win enough votes in the Electoral College to win the 2020 election, but he still sought out then-Vice President Mike Pence to manipulate the results in his favor, according to documents blocking Trump’s obstruction.
If Pence’s attempt to pressure Trump to return to power was successful, Joe Biden’s victory would be thwarted. “There is no real doubt that the president and the plaintiff have tried to achieve this particular illegal result,” the document said.
The committee said in a statement that it believed Trump had deceived the United States by interfering in the certification process, spreading false information about election fraud and pressuring government officials to change the state’s election results.
Chamber investigators also said there was evidence that the conspiracy to defraud had spread to the Capitol attack, saying it was plausible to claim that Trump conspired with the rebels to violate certification. Biden on January 6.
The Guardian first revealed the news earlier this year that the elected committee was investigating whether Trump had witnessed a criminal conspiracy linking the “political elements” of his scheme to return to power with violence by far-right militias.
The letter also said the elected committee believes Trump and his aides appear to have broken the law by engaging in common law fraud while trying to overturn the 2020 election results.
The committee’s findings came as part of a 16-part court order to persuade a federal judge to force Eastman, a key figure in Trump’s scheme, to return to office to allow at least the commission to confidentially review his records.
Eastman helped lead a team of lawyers in Trump’s “military room” at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., whom Trump called from the White House the night before the Capitol attack to discuss ways to halt Biden’s certification, the Guardian reported.
So far, he has submitted about 8,000 pages of emails and documents from January 4-7 to the commission, but has seized an additional 11,000 documents on the grounds that they are protected by the privilege of a client lawyer or are a confidential product for a lawyer.
The panel also said in the documents that Eastman’s claims to the privilege of a lawyer and a client were undermined by his inability to show that he was officially retained as Trump’s lawyer. The engagement letter Eastman presented last week was unsigned.
By submitting the letter, the committee added that Eastman could not claim to be defending the privilege of a client lawyer over the emails he sends to his email server at Chapman University, and that these messages are not protected by product protection for a lawyer.
Chamber investigators said the evidence against Trump – and Eastman’s role in advising Trump to engage in potentially criminal activity – meant that Eastman’s claims to the client-lawyer privilege had been shattered by the so-called “criminal fraud exception.” with other arguments.
“The attorney-client privilege does not protect offenders from investigating a crime,” committee member Jamie Ruskin told the Guardian. “If so, then all you have to do to rob a bank is take a lawyer with you and ask for advice.”
The elected committee said it first wanted to examine Eastman’s “behind-the-scenes” records, a process that takes place when a reasonable person agrees that a review of the materials can help determine whether the criminal exception applies. fraud.
Lanterns on the steps of the US Capitol building during a prayer vigil in honor of the anniversary of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 in Washington. A year ago, supporters of President Donald Trump, believing the election had been stolen, stormed the US Capitol building in a bid to stop Congressional voting to confirm the victory of the Electoral College for Joe Biden. Photo: Paul Morigi / REX / Shutterstock