“A criminal conspiracy to defraud the U.S.”

March 3, 2022

[Audio edition here]

          The House January 6th Committee told a federal judge that Trump “engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States” by illegally obstructing the counting of electoral ballots. The Committee made the statement in a court filing to force Trump’s lawyer, John Eastman, to turn over documents to the Committee. Eastman is the attorney who advised Trump that Vice President Mike Pence could reject the electoral ballots.

          Eastman claims the documents are protected by the attorney-client privilege. The Committee responded that the attorney-client privilege does not apply to documents that were part of an illegal conspiracy to overturn an election. The Committee argued as follows:

[E]vidence and information available to the Committee establishes a good-faith belief that Mr. Trump and others may have engaged in criminal and/or fraudulent acts, and that [Eastman’s] legal assistance was used in furtherance of those activities. [38:9-11]

[I]t would pervert the purpose of the [privilege] to allow Plaintiff to claim protection for his advice aimed at—to put it bluntly—overturning a democratic election. . . .  [33:5-6]

          The assertion that Trump and his campaign aides engaged in a criminal conspiracy is monumental. It removes any excuse for the Department of Justice to delay the indictment of Trump and his aides.

          The Select Committee has limited investigatory powers and meager enforcement tools but has uncovered compelling evidence of a criminal conspiracy by Trump. It did so without the assistance of the FBI to interview witnesses, a grand jury to compel testimony, or the forensic tools available to the DOJ. The Committee was able to arrive at its conclusions in only seven months of existence. The Department of Justice has had thirteen months to investigate the first attempted coup—as a second coup attempt is gathering momentum among Trump’s supporters. The DOJ has no time to waste if it has any hope of defending the Constitution.

          It is time for Merrick Garland to act or get out of the way.

Putin’s war crimes—and his American apologists.

          Putin has ordered his troops to attack civilians to bring Ukraine to its knees. His tactic will fail, but he will inflict human suffering on a massive scale to advance his delusions of grandeur. Thirty-nine countries referred Russia to the International Criminal Court to “immediately launch an investigation into allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide.”  See Axios, International Criminal Court opens Ukraine war crimes investigation.

          The news coverage on networks and social media provides a sufficient basis to convict Putin on each of those charges. No nation, business, world leader, or individual should treat Putin as president of Russia. He is a war criminal; all that remains is for the official declaration after trial.

          What Putin is doing to Ukrainians is a crime—and he deserves the opprobrium of the world for those actions alone. But he is also punishing Russians. Russia’s economy is collapsing, and working-class Russians will suffer the economic consequences. The rouble has crashed, and shares of Russia’s two leading companies have been reduced to penny stocks.

          As Putin’s cruelty descends to unimaginable depths, his former defenders should be condemned for their support for a ruthless dictator. But they have not learned their lesson—and never will. On Wednesday, Tucker Carlson gave a lengthy monologue explaining that it would be bad for the world if Russians removed Putin as their leader. See MSN, “Tucker Carlson Suggests Putin’s Removal Could Destabilize the World: ‘Would the Next Russian President Be an Improvement?’.

          Tucker Carlson’s back-handed effort to convince Americans to allow Putin to commit war crimes at his leisure places Carlson in league with Tokyo Rose and The Georgia Peach. See History.com, World War II Propaganda Broadcasters. And Trump’s continued praise of Putin puts Trump in the shameful company of pre-war Nazi supporters Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh.

          Stopping Putin’s war crimes will require a global effort on many fronts. Until the right-wing media and the Putin-wing of the GOP stop praising a genocidal killer, he will misinterpret American resolve to stop him. Tomorrow, I am calling my cable company to let them know we will be dropping its service unless they drop Fox News from its programming. See also, UnFox My Cable Box (“A typical household pays Fox News almost $2 per month—about $20 per year— via their cable or satellite provider, regardless of whether they actually watch the channel.”)

Defending Biden’s record: a few useful facts to have at hand.

          A reader sent a great link to a report from The Center for Economic and Policy Research, which produced a report entitled, “Assessing the First Year of Biden, in Graphs.”  The titles of the powerful graphs include the following:

• Most workers are being paid more per hour today than before the pandemic, even after inflation;

• The U.S. is the only G7 country back to its pre-pandemic GDP;

• The economic recovery from the COVID-19 recession has been stronger and faster than from the Great Recession;

• The unemployment rate after the end of the COVID-19 recession is now less than half what it was at the same point after the end of the Great Recession;

• Adults in the bottom half of the income distribution had much higher incomes in 2021 than in their prior three years;

• Income poverty was much lower in 2021 than in 2020;  and,

• The share of uninsured low-income people under age 65 appeared to drop in 2021

I could go on, but you get the point. Check out the report!

Adam Schiff fundraiser.

          As I noted last week, Adam Schiff is hosting an online fundraiser and webinar for readers of Today’s Edition newsletter. The webinar / fundraiser will take place on Wednesday, March 16th at 5:00 PM Eastern / 2:00 PM Pacific. The link to sign up is here: Webinar with Chairman Maloney and Congressman Schiff.

          If we needed any additional motivation to ensure that Adam Schiff remains in the majority in the House, the disgraceful display during the State of the Union by Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene should remove all doubt. Both heckled Biden during his speech, but Boebert shouted at Biden as he was recounting the death of his son Beau Biden due to cancer. See WaPo, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) interrupts Biden during SOTU when talking about son Beau Biden. Kevin McCarthy did nothing to rebuke Boebert or Greene.

          Greene has already been removed from committee assignments, and a resolution is pending to remove Boebert. If Kevin McCarthy becomes Speaker, he will place Marjorie Taylor Greene back on committees and remove Adam Schiff from the Intelligence Committee. See CNN, Schiff responds to McCarthy’s vow to remove him from committee.

          Help Adam defend himself and other Democrats in 2022. Join us if you can.

This weekend’s podcast: Students for Justice.

          On Saturday at 2:00 PM EST/ 11:00 AM PST, I will interview the founders of Students for Justice, which leverages the enthusiasm of college students to increase registration and turnout in strategic races. Students for Justice hopes to deploy more than 120 interns in North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida in 2022. SFJ’s efforts will focus on historically Black colleges and universities to promote voting in those communities. To listen live, download the Callin app from the Apple Store or Google Play and subscribe to Today’s Edition Podcast. I will post a link to the recorded podcast on Monday.

Concluding Thoughts.

          Today, I joined a Zoom meeting of The Friday Action Group, founded by Paul Spector. The group holds weekly Zoom meetings of like-minded activists and concerned citizens interested in committing to a weekly action. As always, I was impressed, energized, and buoyed by the sight of so many Americans committed to defending democracy. During the meeting, Paul read an excerpt from one of my newsletters published in October 2021—written during the height of the doomsaying by political pundits. After hearing the passage, I thought it had aged well and was worth repeating. So here it is (again):

         These are anxiety-producing times. Modest victories are achieved at great cost. Gains are temporary, and margins are narrow. Governing is messy, and criticism is easy. Predictions of doom abound. Here’s the thing: Somebody has to have the guts to stare those facts in the face and do something about it. That’s us.

          We must be realistic without being fatalistic. We must be a source of strength, comfort, and inspiration to others. Most importantly, we must never panic, and we must not confuse temporary setbacks with permanent defeat. The forces of democracy, tolerance, and decency will prevail in the end. If our job turns out to be ‘holding the fort’ so that future generations can achieve ultimate victory, that is a noble calling. Do not regret that role. Embrace it.

          Talk to you tomorrow!