It is not a crime to challenge the results of an election
I’ve made the point repeatedly that both the D.C. and Georgia indictments of Donald Trump start from a premise that isn’t true – that an attempt to “overturn” an election in and of itself is criminal. The means by which an election is overturned may be criminal, but the end goal is not.
With regard to the D.C. indictment, I questioned Where is the crime?
The indictment may make out a persuasive case that Trump lied in the post-election period about election fraud, and disregarded the warnings of his most trusted and most loyal confidants that what he was saying was not true, but that doesn’t equate to a crime. The core of the alleged crime is disruption of the electoral count, but that took place because of the riot, and Trump has not been indicted (yet) for inciting the riot. What the indictment purports to prove may be a reason not to vote for Trump, but it’s far from clear it’s a reason to criminally charge him.
I raised similar questions with regard to the RICO and other charges against Trump in the Georgia state case, during an interview on NTD’s Capitol Report on August 15. The issue is that the allegedly illegal acts in the indictment (impersonating an official, attempting to gain improper access to a computer system) could have and should have been charged separately. But the RICO and conspiracy counts allege as a purpose overturning the election, but that’s not in itself illegal depending on how it’s done.
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That is what’s so strange about DA Willis’s indictment. She alleges that the 19 people named in her indictment are guilty of conspiracy because they agreed to try to keep Donald Trump in power as president — specifically, to “change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump.” Maybe they shared such an aim, maybe their 19 minds met regarding that objective, but in and of itself, trying to reverse the result of an election is not a crime. You may have noticed that neither Al Gore nor Stacey Abrams was ever led away in handcuffs.
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These indictments should be dismissed by the courts. They are faulty in the extreme. They appear to be the product of an irrational hatred of Donald Trump.
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