Silence Is Not Golden
One of the major takeaways from the January 6 Committee hearings is that those around Trump furiously tried to stop him from overturning the election -- and kept it to themselves.
I’m Michael A. Cohen, and this is Truth and Consequences: A no-holds-barred look at the absurdities, hypocrisies, and surreality of American politics. If you received this email - or you are a free subscriber - and you’d like to subscribe: you can sign up below.
My apologies for the lack of a Zoom Chat today. Sometimes life interferes with the best-laid plans, and that was certainly the case this week. But I will be back next Friday.
I was hoping to send out my latest MSNBC piece on the January 6 hearings, but it has not been published yet. But I’ll summarize the main points below. Bottom line: Donald Trump and John Eastman look like they are in increasing legal jeopardy.
John Eastman: Call Your Lawyer
I’ll focus on Eastman first because his culpability seems most apparent. Eastman pushed a hare-brained legal theory that Vice President Mike Pence could stop the electoral college certification even after virtually every member of the White House staff, including Pence’s chief of staff and counsel, told him it was a no-go.
But what was most striking about the testimony on Thursday is that Eastman didn’t believe his theory. For example, he acknowledged to Pence’s staff that it would be illegal if the Vice President did what he demanded — and rejected the electoral count. According to Pence’s legal counsel, Greg Jacob, Eastman said this to Trump directly: what he was proposing would violate the Electoral Count Act and thus break the law.
Eastman admitted to Jacob that the Supreme Court would reject his legal reasoning (likely voting 9-0 in the process). When told by a Trump aide that “you’re going to cause riots in the streets” if Pence declared Trump the election winner, Eastman shrugged that America had witnessed such violence before. Most amazingly, after the insurrection, after Trump’s supporters had trashed the Capitol, and after Pence and his staff were forced to huddle 30-40 feet away from protesters chanting “Hang Mike Pence,” Eastman was still lobbying Pence’s staff to have the Vice President stop the certification.
And in what is perhaps the most telling piece of evidence, Eastman sent an email asking to be placed on a list of individuals that the president would pardon. ProTip for readers: requesting a presidential pardon makes you look guilty as hell.
Just a few months ago, a federal judge concluded that Eastman, in concert with Trump, had “more likely than not” committed two federal crimes: obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
To be sure, Trump’s legal and moral culpability is undoubtedly greater than Eastman's. We found out Thursday that Trump aides told him multiple times that his effort to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to stop the certification of electoral votes on January 6 would not fly. Pence not only had no constitutional standing to hand the election to Trump — but doing so would break the law. Pence told Trump this directly and repeatedly.
Yet, Trump continued to privately and publicly pressure Pence. On the morning of the certification, he had a heated phone call with Pence in which he called him a “wimp” and a “pussy” for refusing to do what the president asked. Trump went to the Ellipse that afternoon and publicly admonished Pence again.
Trump even sought to coax Pence with a tweet as the insurrection was unfolding — an electronic communication that, from all appearances, appeared to have further spurred on the rioters attacking the Capitol.
But as I noted a few days ago, prosecuting a president is hardly a consequence-free activity. The political backlash and the potential for violence are significant. I don’t think there’s any question that Trump should be held accountable for his actions — and prosecuted. But as I noted the other day, it’s a fraught decision.
That is not the case with little old John Eastman. The Department of Justice seemingly has more than enough evidence to indict him, which could solidify the case against Trump. Get Eastman to plead guilty and testify against the president. So if I was John Eastman, I’d be very concerned about what comes next.
No Hero
One more point on Thursday. Members of the January 6 Committee went to great lengths to praise Pence and his staff for their courage in standing up to President Trump’s demands. I’m sympathetic — up to a point. Democrats on the Committee want to praise Pence because, by comparison, it makes Trump look worse.
But Pence’s “courage” — like the supposed courage of many of Trump’s aides has been rather limited. For example, how many of Pence’s aides spoke out against the president in real-time — or in the 18 months since January 6. It took Pence more than a year to publicly acknowledge that he did the right thing in rejecting Trump’s demands.
At one point in Thursday’s hearing, the committee showed Trump aide Jason Miller privately dismissing Eastman’s legal theories as crazy. Then the day before January 6, he appeared on Fox News and demanded that Pence stop the certification.
Those around Trump either told him what he wanted to hear or enabled his fantasies. They said nothing even as he continued spreading misinformation and telling his supporters that the 2020 election was stolen. Only the threat of a congressional subpoena got them to talk.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that the White House was overwhelmingly focused on thwarting Trump’s illegal, anti-democratic efforts to overthrow the 2020 election. There were multiple meetings, emails, and phone calls on the topic. There is a voluminous paper trail. So how are we only hearing about it now? Would Trump’s second impeachment have worked out differently if Pence and others had spoken publicly about what Trump tried to do?
The cowardice of Trump’s enablers has allowed a cancer to grow within the Republican Party.
In Republican-dominated state legislatures around the country, new laws are being enacted that make voting more difficult (based on the president’s false claims about electoral fraud). More than 100 Republicans have won GOP primaries in which they’ve repeated the president’s lies about the 2020 election. Even this week, Republican election officials in New Mexico refused to certify a local election over bogus concerns about Dominion voting machines. Over and over, Republicans have acted as though Trump is a problem they can manage — and that the former president and his lunacy can be humored. Over and over, they’ve been proven wrong. The 2020 election lie is yet one more example.
As a conservative judge, J. Michael Luttig, said at Thursday’s hearing, "Donald Trump, his allies, and his supporters are a clear and present danger to our democracy.” None of that was inevitable. It’s the result of weak men who remained silent.
Musical Interlude
Happy 31st Anniversary of one of the best 90s-era Grateful Dead shows — 6.17.91 at Giants Stadium. Or, as my good friend Mary calls it, “the one with the Eyes opener.” This is also the most “Dark Star” show ever, even though the band never played the song. One of my all-time favorite shows, and my only regret is that I wasn’t there.
Silence isn't always golden, sometimes it's just yellow. (Anonymous)
Eyes of the world one of my favorite Grateful Dead songs ever. It seems to get even more relevant now thanks for sharing