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Who would have been able to stop Trump and his armed mob if he had been able to get to the Capitol? [1]
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Date: 2022-07-15
Trump’s Armed Militia Attacking the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
On January 6, 2021 Trump was still the President of the United States, he was the Commander and Chief, he oversaw the Department of Justice and the FBI.
Who would have had the authority under the law to stop him and his mob if they had reached the Capitol? No one, he was still the President. That is how close we came to a violent overthrow of our Government.
We are all familiar with the damning evidence released by the Jan 6, Select Committee. Trump knew the election had not been stolen. He knew his claims of election fraud were bogus. And most importantly, he knew the only way he could stay in power was to overthrow the government, so he orchestrated a violent coup to keep his hold on the Presidency. He texted his followers and told them to come to a mass rally at the Ellipse on January 6. They dutifully obeyed their President, and Commander and Chief.
Trump planned and intended to march to the Capitol with his armed militia who believed he was their Commander in Chief. He was told the mob was armed and instructed the Secret Service to let them through the metal detectors without removing their weapons. He wanted to have more armed warriors join him. Fortunately, the Secret Service refused.
He had made plans with Mark Meadows to arrange for him to go to the Capitol with his army when his speech at the Ellipse was complete. When the speech was over and the Secrete Service refused to let him go due to security reasons he became furious and screamed take me to the Capitol, “I am the President,” and reportedly reached over to grab the steering wheel of the Presidential limousine, then grabbed the neck of one of the security team. Fortunately, the Secret Service prevented him from reaching the Capitol..
Later the armed mob at the Capitol had a gallows erected and were chanting “hang Mike Pence.” Would Trump have allowed them to hang Mike Pence? After all, he called Pence a whimp for not complying with his demands to refuse to certify the election results, which would have sent the election to the House of Representatives for vote. In this situation the vote is not decided by the votes of each individual member, which would have given the Democrats the majority, but instead, each state gets 1 vote for that State, which gives the Republicans the majority. Because there are 30 heavily gerrymandered Republican States, and only 20 democratically elected Democratic States, the Republican States would control the outcome of the election and could have anointed Trump as President. Thus, ignoring the 81 million votes for Biden, and favoring the 74 million votes Trump received, the election would have been “stolen,” by the Republicans.
In Trump’s mind VP Pence denied him the Presidency, and deserved hanging. The mob was also chanting kill Nancy Pelosi, would he have let them kill Pelosi?
With all of this information many Republicans are still supporting Trump. It is almost unbelievable that Republicans could be so blind, is party loyalty that important. It has been reported in the media that most Republicans would vote for Trump if he were the Republican nominee in 2024, and there are media reports that Trump may announce, before the midterms,that he is running for President in 2024.
The January 6, Select Committee should issue a report declaring that Trump and his co- conspirators committed serious crimes, including the attempted overthrow of the Government of the United States, and a finding that pursuant to the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause that Trump is prohibited from holding any future office, including the office of President. The House should also make a criminal referral to the Department of Justice. The DOJ must conduct their own investigation, and submit the evidence to a Grand Jury, and seek an indictment. Under the circumstances this is a Constitutional duty, not an exercise of prosecutorial discretion.
Hopefully, Fani Willis, District Attorney, Fulton County Georgia, will have already completed her investigation into Trump’s attempt to overturn the Georgia voters expressed will when the majority voted for Joe Biden. Today it was reported in the media that DA Willis has issued Target letters to 3 Republican officials who were at a 12/16/20 meeting in the State Legislative offices when the fake electors signed their fraudulent elector forms. Looks like her investigation is proceeding quickly. As soon as Trump is indicted under Georgia Law all argument that a former President should not be criminally prosecuted after he leaves office because it will set a dangerous political precedent will be meaningless. Attorney General Garland will be free to indict and prosecute Trump without fear of potential political consequences.
Recent reports in the media indicate that Donald J Trump intends to be a candidate for President in 2024. In order to secure the votes of his supporters he has announced that if elected in 2024 he would issue pardons to everyone who participated in the January 6, 2021 insurrection. Imagine that, pardoning all the rioters who stormed the Capitol on 1/6/21, in addition, his pardons would include all of his co-conspirators who planned and assisted in the attempted overthrow of the government. A finding by the Select Committee that he engaged in a violent insurrection to overthrow the Government would prevent another violent attempt to overthrow our Government because he would be prohibited from being re-elected in 2024.
In addition, Congress must enact legislation to prevent Republican controlled State Governors and other elected State Officers from throwing out the electors selected by the voters in their State and replacing them with electors who would vote for the Republican candidates for President and Vice President. The procedure that permits the individual States, not a majority of elected Representatives, to control the outcome, if a Presidential election is sent to the House for vote, must be changed.
A conservative Judge, Michael Luttig, testified before the House Select Committee that Trump and his Republican supporters are preparing:
“an attempt to overturn the 2024 election in the same way they attempted to overthrow the 2022 election, but (to) succeed.”
Trump and his Republican supporters remain “a clear and present danger” to our democratic form of government. Criminal prosecution by Merrick Garland and the DOJ is an absolute necessity if we are to remain a democratic nation.
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