Evidence is accumulating against the former president, and even if he succeeds in evading the verdict of justice, he will not escape the verdict of history.
The public hearings of the Congressional Committee on the events of January 6, 2021 are long overdue.
Crimes were committed in connection with the events of January 6, 2021, and the US Department of Justice has already initiated hundreds of lawsuits against violent protesters on Capitol Hill. They testified that they believed Donald Trump’s lies about the election and acted at his request to keep him in office.
It remains to be seen whether the person most responsible for this assault on democracy will suffer the consequences.
provable crimes
Participation in a conspiracy to interfere with the functioning of democratic institutions is a crime. That’s what Donald Trump did, including putting pressure on his vice-president to thwart the election’s ratification.
Proud Boy Leaders and oath guards were accused of seditious conspiracy against the United States government. It is a crime and the evidence points to Trump’s participation in it.
Pressuring the election official to cancel the votes of thousands of citizens is a crime. That’s what Donald Trump did with Georgia’s Secretary of State.
The commission showed that Donald Trump knew his fraud allegations were false. Yet he used this false pretext to extort $250 million from his gullible supporters. It is also a crime.
Will he move again?
Donald Trump has always been adept at avoiding the consequences of his actions. He might get away with it again this time.
To avoid political consequences, he can count on the blindness of his supporters and disinformation from the right-wing media.
To avoid legal consequences, he can count on the fact that it is very difficult to prove conspiracy charges. Moreover, like the bosses of the mafia, Trump knew how to cover his tracks, especially through the systematic destruction of all documents that passed through his hands in the White House (which, incidentally, is also a crime).
Attorney General Merrick Garland’s warning is understandable, because Trump’s impeachment will be excessively political and the risks of a violent slide are real. So Garland is waiting for concrete evidence before proceeding with criminal proceedings, but it will take time and the wheels of politics spin much faster than those of justice.
History rule
Regardless of the political and legal repercussions of the events of January 6 on Donald Trump, the accumulation of evidence uncovered by the commission already allows us to conclude that in the eyes of history, he will not get away with it.
Donald Trump will be the first president to try to block the peaceful transfer of power in order to retain his office despite the decision of the polls. For the former president, for those who refused to impeach him in February 2021, for those who supported or protected him since, and for those who would vote for him or his apologies in 2022 and 2024, history will judge. Too harsh.
