The J6 Report four days later.

December 26, 2022

          The January 6th Committee released its final report four days ago. What have we learned? Although commentators and analysts are still digesting the report, there are a few “big” takeaways.

          The January 6th Committee was successful on three levels.

          First, without regard to potential criminal prosecutions or immediate political influence, the Committee has exhaustively documented the attempted coup and insurrection. That is a notable achievement—especially given the lack of enforceable subpoena power. True, there are gaps in the report that will likely be closed by grand juries, historians, and money-grubbing insurrectionists who decide to “tell all” when the applicable statutes of limitations have expired. Despite those limitations, no serious person can dispute that the Committee’s report is one of the most important investigative efforts to emerge from Congress.

          Second, the Committee has changed the narrative on Donald Trump. Although the Committee cannot take sole credit for Trump’s weakened posture, it changed the landscape in which his other failures have unfolded. See Maggie Haberman in NYTimes, A Diminished Trump Meets a Damning Narrative - The New York Times (nytimes.com). After reviewing Trump’s declining fortunes over the last six months, Haberman concludes,

Six months later, Mr. Trump is significantly diminished, a shrunken presence on the political landscape. His fade is partly a function of his own missteps and miscalculations in recent months. But it is also a product of the voluminous evidence assembled by the House committee and its ability to tell the story of his efforts to overturn the election in a compelling and accessible way.

           Third, the Committee’s work—especially its finely crafted public hearings—changed the prosecutorial narrative. It is indisputable that the pace and focus of DOJ investigations into the ringleaders of the coup and insurrection increased after dramatic testimony on June 9, 13, 16, 21, 23, and 28. The last date—June 28th—was devoted to the testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson. Her testimony was a capstone that fit the puzzle pieces together in a relatable, credible, and unassailable way. Her testimony left no doubt that Trump knew he incited an armed mob to attack the Capitol, that he planned to join them on the House floor, and that he became an enraged madman when his plans were foiled.

          But the Committee’s report was more than a summation of dramatic testimony. It is a compendium of evidence that makes sense of a chaotic episode in our nation’s history. Indeed, it weaves the facts in a way that leaves little room for special counsel Jack Smith to avoid a recommendation to indict Trump. For example, the issue of the “fake electors” has been lurking in the background of Trump’s potential criminal exposure. Philip Rotner explains in The Bulwark that the Committee’s work has removed any doubt that Trump should be prosecuted for participation in that scheme. See The Bulwark, What the Jan. 6th Report Says About the Fake Electors Scheme.

          As Rotner explains in his essay,

The path to prosecuting Trump for the fake elector scheme—either as a standalone crime or as a crucial element of a larger conspiracy to overturn the results of a presidential election—became much clearer last week with the publication of the  final report of the House January 6th Committee.

Until the publication of the report, there were arguably two open questions: (1) How high in the levels of Trump world did the scheme go? And (2), could at least some of the perpetrators assert a credible defense that they understood it was just a contingency plan to have electors in place in the event that the courts or state legislatures determined that Trump, not Biden, was the winner in one or more of the five states?

The report answered both questions. (1) The scheme went all the way to the top, right up to Trump himself. And (2), while some of the lower-level participants in the scheme—most likely some of the state-level GOP operatives who actually signed the phony certificates—may have been duped into believing that that it was a contingency plan, the higher ups who created and executed the scheme knew better.

They knew it was an action plan.

So it appears that the previously missing link—the link between the fake elector scheme and Trump himself—is no longer missing. Trump not only “participated” in the fake elector scheme, he orchestrated it.

          There is more detail in Rotner’s article, which I recommend in its entirety. But you get the point. If Merrick Garland was lagging in his investigation of the fake electors’ scheme, the January 6th Committee gave Jack Smith a roadmap. He appears to have taken the hint and has issued a slew of subpoenas to fake electors and state election officials involved in the scheme. See CNN, Special counsel Jack Smith has subpoenaed officials in all 7 states targeted by Trump allies in 2020 election.

          Indeed, the work of the Committee has been so prodigious that it has “flipped the script” on the usual investigative roles of Congress and the DOJ, as explained by Dennis Aftergut and Donald Ayer in The Hill, Jan. 6 Committee’s new report flips a script on history. As explained by Ayer and Aftergut,

The House Select Committee’s just-issued full report is an extraordinary compilation of evidence of Jan. 6 criminality aimed at overturning our republic.

It also represents something more: a testament to the resilience of our system and its ability — thanks to built-in redundant powers within multiple branches — to act when the rule of law is threatened.

Now in 2022, the select Committee has sent a roadmap for prosecution of another one-time president, Donald Trump, in the opposite direction — from Congress to federal prosecutors. The Committee’s report comes with its own marshaling of voluminous evidence — from its exhaustive investigation — in support of the charges the Committee wants filed against Trump: obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, false statements to the government, and insurrection.

          Again, there is more to the argument by Aftergut and Ayer, but the point is that the criminal justice system does not usually proceed in this order. Of course, the Committee was working under political deadlines that do not affect the ongoing work of the DOJ. but it is a marvel that the Committee could accomplish so much despite the limitations on its investigatory power. After four days of reflection, the monumental work of the Committee is coming into clear focus. As we have more time to digest the work of the Committee, we will undoubtedly find additional revelations and insights that will shape the course of our nation for years to come.

Marc Elias’s firm defeats Kari Lake lawsuit.

          Kari Lake’s last-ditch lawsuit went down to ignominious defeat on Friday. She lost so badly that the judge invited Katie Hobbs’ counsel to file a motion for financial sanctions against Lake and her attorneys. See NYTimes, Arizona Judge Rejects Kari Lake’s Effort to Overturn Her Election Loss.

          Katie Hobbs was represented by The Elias Group, an election law firm headed by Marc Elias. You may recall that Elias coordinated the successful defense of five-dozen lawsuits in 2020 challenging Joe Biden’s victory. In a real sense, Marc Elias helped to save democracy in 2020.

          Kari Lake has not taken her loss well. (No surprise there!) Sadly, she and her minions have decided to spread conspiracy theories about Marc Elias. Kari Lake tweeted  (and then deleted) the following:

Legal experts believe the decision [by Judge Thompson] was ghostwritten; they suspect top left-wing attorneys like Marc Elias emailed him what to say.

          Kari Lake quickly figured out that claiming the judge presiding over your trial committed fraud in ruling against you is not a winning strategy as he considers whether to issue hundreds of thousands of dollars in sanctions against you. See Mediate, Kari Lake Deletes Tweet Attacking Judge as County Official File For Sanctions Against Failed GOP Candidate.

          Although Lake deleted the tweet, the attack on Elias had the intended effect: He has been pilloried on social media as the grand architect of a wide-ranging conspiracy theory to force judges to uphold the law.

          I suggest showing Marc Elias some appreciation and respect for his years of service in the trenches of the election fraud wars. He is the founder of Democracy Docket, an information portal for election law updates. You can subscribe to Democracy Docket’s newsletter for free at this link: Join the Fight To Protect Voting Rights - Democracy Docket. The newsletter will help you stay informed. And if you decide to support Democracy Docket after learning about its great work, so much the better!

          After a weekend of being attacked as the newest villain in the right-wing pantheon of conspiracy grandmasters, it would be great for Marc Elias to wake up to 5,000 new subscriptions (or more!) to his newsletter. Let’s see if we can make that happen! The link is in the preceding paragraph.

The George Santos scandal in New York.

          Political newcomer George Santos flipped a New York congressional seat from blue to red in 2022. It turns out that much of Santos’s biography was fabricated. He lied about graduating from college (he did not), about working for two Wall Street investment banks (he did not), about being Jewish (he is not), and about owning thirteen real estate investments (he owns zero real estate investments).

          Any self-respecting person would resign from Congress (or decline to be seated). Not Santos. According to Santos, “I lied, but I am not a criminal.” In today’s GOP, “I am not a criminal” is high praise and sufficient grounds for taking a seat in Congress.

          On Monday, the NYPost attempted a “softball” interview that allowed Santos to admit his lies while claiming he would be a “good” representative in Congress. The Post’s original “fluff” interview was later updated to have a sharper edge after it was met with derision. The Post’s interview is here: Liar Rep.-elect George Santos admits fabricating key details of his bio. Santos (and Rupert Murdoch and Kevin McCarthy) hope the NYPost interview ends the story. It will not.

          Reporting by other outlets raises deeply troubling questions about Santos’s finances and his possible connections to Ponzi schemes under investigation by the SEC. Even more troubling are apparent connections between Santos’s alleged sources of income and entities controlled by disgraced former General Michael Flynn. See Mother Jones, Scandal-Struck George Santos Just Revived the Firm That Netted Him Mystery Millions.

          The details are too complicated for me to explain in this newsletter, but if you read the Post article followed by the Mother Jones article, you will likely conclude that Santos’s biggest problem won’t be retaining his seat in Congress—it will be keeping out of prison.

Governor Greg Abbott’s “anti-Nativity” narrative.

          On Christmas eve, a charter bus from Texas dropped off a dozen migrants in front of the Vice Presidential residence in Washington, D.C. in 15-degree weather. Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s ongoing “stunt” to “own the libs” by trafficking in migrants has been described as “performative cruelty.” I disagree with that description. It is cruelty, plain and simple. The adjective “performative” distracts from the essential evil of the act. See ABC News, White House denounces migrants being bused to VP’s home on freezing Christmas Eve - ABC News.

          I hesitate to mix religion and politics, but this story forces the issue upon us. As Governor Abbott was abandoning migrants in deadly cold weather, he tweeted a lovely Christmas greeting from his family that reads,

May the joy of our Savior’s birth fill your hearts today and every day.

          Abbott invokes the Nativity narrative—“our Savior’s birth”—at the very moment he is forcing migrants to endure an “anti-Nativity narrative.” The traditional account of Christ’s birth in the Gospel of Luke shows Jesus’ parents as temporary migrants seeking shelter from the cold as Mary is about to give birth. “Our Savior’s birth” was facilitated by the generosity and kindness of strangers bestowed upon an infant born into poverty.

          Abbott’s cruel abandonment of migrants in the cold is the antithesis of the founding story of Christianity at every level. Hypocritical Christians like Abbott—and millions of others like him—have perverted and hijacked the real message of Christianity to serve a mean-spirited political agenda. In doing so, they have tainted hundreds of millions of Christians who undoubtedly abhor Abbott’s actions but remain silent as the good news of the Gospel is turned into a message of hate.

          The question for Christians of good faith is this: What will you do about it? The silence from Christian leaders in the face of Abbott’s anti-Christlike behavior speaks volumes. My point is not to condemn the silence but to urge Christians to apply the true message of Christianity to those in need. We can disagree on immigration policy, but we should not disagree on the morality of dumping migrants in 15-degree weather to “score” political points in a policy debate.  

Concluding Thoughts.

          The deaths of dozens of Americans in the freezing cold over the weekend underscored the potentially deadly consequences of Abbott’s cruel actions. To the millions of Americans suffering under the harsh conditions of a “once-in-a-generation freeze,” please take care! Stay at home if you can, and ask for help if you need it. Check on neighbors, especially the elderly and home-bound.

          When nature exerts her dominion over us, it does not take much to remind us how dependent we are on one another to maintain our well-being and security. We take for granted that the power substation serving our community will not fail, that water lines under the street will not freeze, and that phone lines running along the highway will not snap under the weight of ice. That infrastructure exists because we unite in times of peace and tranquility to plan for disaster. But when disaster strikes only “once in a generation,” it is easy to forget the miracle of electricity at the flip of a switch or running water at the twist of a faucet.

          As the nation digs out from this historic storm, let us come together again in common purpose to protect the next generation from disaster they will neither know nor comprehend until it is upon them. We must apply our knowledge and experience to protect them from the next “once-in-a-generation” disaster.

          Stay safe! Talk to you tomorrow!