Category: January 6

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Capitol Insurrection Ivanka Trump January 6 Jared Kushner

Jared Kushner Testified Before The 1/6 Committee Today – That Could Be Big Trouble For Ivanka

Earlier today, former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner testified under oath to the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection.

Politico notes that Kushner “did not play a visible role in the former president’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election, though he was a top adviser during much of Trump’s presidency. According to a recent book by ABC’s Jonathan Karl, Kushner was involved in multiple conversations about how to delicately explain to Trump that he had lost the election and interacted with other senior administration officials who were exasperated by Trump’s refusal to concede. Kushner had reportedly steered clear of Trump in the chaotic final weeks of his presidency and was out of town until the afternoon on Jan. 6.”

Despite that, committee member Elaine Luria (D-VA) told MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace:

“He was able to voluntarily provide information to us to verify, substantiate, provide his own take on this different reporting, so it was really valuable.”

 

Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman also weighed in on Kushner’s testimony, noting that Jared was mentioned in the text messages between Ginni Thomas and former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

But perhaps most troubling, Litman explained, is that Kushner’s testimony makes it almost certain that Ivanka will have no choice but to sit and testify under oath to the committee, which could put her in serious legal jeopardy:

“But the most important, I think, is Ivanka. They can ask him things about her and we know that she figures centrally, she’s the person that people tried to prevail on repeatedly to have Trump call off the dogs. Just his testifying, I think, makes it more likely — or puts more pressure on her to testify. She’s in voluntary negotiations now.”

Ivanka is neck deep in what transpired on Jan. 6, and even if she isn’t charged with a crime, what she has to say about how the failed, one-term former president acted as the Capitol was under siege could provide all the evidence the Justice Department needs to indict Donald Trump for obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy, and fraud.

 

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Capitol Insurrection Donald Trump Elections GOP January 6

Ted Cruz Under Investigation For Coordinating January 6 Coup Attempt With Trump: Report

On the evening of December 8, 2021, Sen. Ted Cruz received an urgent call from then-President Donald Trump.

Trump notified Cruz that a lawsuit had been filed with the U.S. Supreme Court that would overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, and the president wanted to know if Cruz would agree to argue the case before the high court.

Cruz responded:

“Sure, I’d be happy to.”

For the next two months, according to Michael Kranish of The Washington Post, Cruz began “leading the charge” to try and guarantee that Joe Biden was never certified as the 46th President of the United States:

An examination by The Washington Post of Cruz’s actions between Election Day and Jan. 6, 2021, shows just how deeply he was involved, working directly with Trump to concoct a plan that came closer than widely realized to keeping him in power. As Cruz went to extraordinary lengths to court Trump’s base and lay the groundwork for his own potential 2024 presidential bid, he also alienated close allies and longtime friends who accused him of abandoning his principles.

Cruz’s actions — especially his coordination with Trump attorney John Eastman — have drawn the attention of the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, and could result in the Texas Republican being referred to the Justice Department for criminal charges.

While the committee knew about Eastman’s attempts to interfere in certification of the 2020 vote, Cruz’s role has only recently come to light:

On Jan. 2, 2021, Cruz unveiled his plan for states to start an “emergency 10-day audit,”backed by 10 other senators. The idea was met with ridicule even from some of Trump’s most vociferous supporters. “Proposing a commission at this late date — which has zero chance of becoming reality — is not effectively fighting for President Trump,” Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said on Twitter. The conservative magazine National Review lambasted the idea in an article headlined: “The Folly of the Cruz Eleven.”

All of this has put Cruz squarely in the center of the Jan. 6 committee’s recent efforts to better understand the actions of various people who were hellbent on making sure Trump remained in office no matter what the final ballot totals showed.

The Jan. 6 committee has asked a number of people about the senator’s actions in the lead-up to the insurrection. Among the questions the committee may address is whether Cruz talked with Trump or the president’s lawyers and aides as the events unfolded on Jan. 6.

Cruz, who initially agreed to answer questions from The Post about his role in the events leading up to the Capitol riots, later refused to comment:

Cruz, after initially agreeing to an interview with The Post at his Senate office, canceled shortly before it was to begin and declined to speak to a reporter. The Post then submitted a lengthy set of written questions, only some of which were addressed directly by Cruz’s spokeswoman.

Asked whether Cruz had communicated in any way with Eastman about challenging the election, the senator’s spokeswoman, Maria Jeffrey Reynolds, did not respond directly.

Only guilty people refuse to answer questions about their actions. And it certainly sounds like Sen. Cruz has enough guilt in the failed election coup to merit him being required to answer questions under oath.

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Capitol Insurrection Crime Donald Trump January 6 The Trump Adminstration

Security Expert: DOJ May Have Already Charged Trump’s Associates For Their Role In January 6

Considering what we already know about what transpired on January 6 and the revelations we’ve had from the House Select Committee on the Capitol insurrection, some have suggested that the Justice Department should have begun arresting top Trump administration officials and associates for their role in riots.

Recently, Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe noted that he believes Attorney General Merrick Garland is moving far too slowly:

But what if people have already been arrested and charged without any announcement? Could that have taken place in secret?

Security expert and journalist Marcy Wheeler notes on Twitter that arrests may have been made and the DOJ is now using those people to work their way up the food chain for even bigger fish.

Wheeler, who publishes on her own highly-acclaimed web site, Emptywheel.net, laid out a fascinating premise:

Think about it: Former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Trump’s so-called “attorney,” Rudy Giuliani, could already have been arrested, booked, and charged with all sorts of crimes related to Jan. 6. Now DOJ prosecutors are getting them to cooperate in exchange for sentencing consideration.

That’s the way the FBI and Justice Department has worked when going after the mafia: They get lower level soldiers in the organization to tell what they know about the capos and bosses. It’s a bottom-up way of dealing with criminal acts that’s been used for decades by law enforcement.

Now that the House Select Committee is about to hold public hearings, it’s not a stretch to suggest we may start seeing who has been charged and some of the court filings that could still be under seal.

Stay tuned.