February 15, 2021 – So what’s in an acquittal? Well first, the House Managers did a thorough and meticulous job of documenting the siege upon the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. They painstakingly detailed the events leading up to, and including, the 3.5 million dollar, Take Back America – Stop the Steal rally funded by the Trump Campaign beginning outside the White House on what will now be known as “insurrection day.”
What is remarkable about the House Manager’s case and the events of January 6, – is that every minute was documented with a birds-eye view of the insurrection on video footage as the siege unfolded. Like clockwork, it began at the exact date and time of the certification of the electoral college votes for president – as prescribed by law on January 6, at 1pm. There can be no guessing about what transpired, it’s all there for the world – and every American to see. The siege began to stop the counting of the electoral college votes for the new president – Biden.
Yet, the question remains, if the majority of the American people could comprehend and acknowledge the sequence of events that unfolded on January 6th and the reason it became so deadly, Then why couldn’t Congress?
First, the Senate wants to have it both ways. They want to keep Trump as their GOP mascot as long as he can get them more votes and keep the GOP campaign donations flowing. Remarkably, they seem to not comprehend that Trump’s embrace caused them the loss of two Senate seats in Georgia as well as the presidency itself. Yet at the same time they embrace him, they simultaneously want to distance themselves from the fanatical QAnon faction – comprised of predominantly Trump supporters.
Whatever their reasoning, Mitch McConnell did manage to have it both ways. He voted to acquit Trump of impeachment to keep his place as the leader of the party by voting for acquittal, yet, shortly thereafter, denounced the incitement of the insurrection and laid it squarely at the feet of Trump as its cause. And, the reason he voted to acquit was because he claimed that there was no Congressional jurisdiction to hear an impeachment of a now “former” president – despite their being ample precedent in history for impeachments after leaving office. In addition to that fact, McConnell himself as the Senate Majority leader – he was the reason, the barrier to why the impeachment was not heard during Trump’s final days in office. He blocked it.
The Beginning of the Final Chapter for Trump
One thing that is certain, the work of the House Managers will not be in vain. It will be earnestly used by every person lining up to sue the former president. Whether it be for wrongful death, incitement of a riot resulting in death, reckless disregard for human life, accessory to murder, conspiracy to commit murder, or perhaps even depraved heart murder. Family members and perhaps even organizations that were harmed or put in harms way by the president’s action will most assuredly be lining up.
In addition to the claims stemming from the insurrection – felonies, and Trump will still face financial crimes – claims of tax evasion and tax fraud in undervaluing his properties and under-reporting his income, and misreporting income and payments made to family members – notably paying his daughter in excess of $700k for her “consulting” services, when at the same time, she was on the books as an employee of the Trump corporation.
So if it looks like he got a way with murder – it “ain’t” over. So sit back and relax – the best and final chapters are yet to come!
Mary Kay Elloian, MBA, JD, Esq.
The Legal Edition-Legal, Business & Policy News
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