As a new trove of evidence and revelations come to light in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s January 6th election interference case against Donald Trump, legal experts have already begun to come forward and publicly note that things have gotten a whole lot worse for the ex-president, from a legal standpoint, as it seems the DOJ Special Counsel officially has everything he needs against the former US president.
But according to additional experts, things are still slated to get even worse for Donald Trump, as the “dramatic new proof” in this case will likely serve to be so “overwhelming” that it could force reluctant witnesses to turn against the former president.
The majority of the new information in this case hails from testimony given to investigators with the Department of Justice from long-time Trump associate Dan Scavino. Most notable in that testimony was Scavino’s admission that the then-president “was just not interested” in doing much of anything to stop the onslaught of violence and mayhem in the midst of the Capitol attack. In fact, sources familiar with Scavino’s testimony revealed that the long-time associate had to present Trump with drafts of tweets calling for his supporters to be peaceful at the Capitol building because Trump wouldn’t even pen his own social media post. It seems it Trump had it his way, the violence never would have ended.
In addition to Scavino’s reluctant testimony to DOJ investigators — following a battle over executive privilege that saved him from testifying before the J6 House Select Committee last year but he lost with the Justice Department — Smith and his team were also able to secure testimonies and additional new details from multiple other Trump White House advisors and top attorneys who all spoke to Donald’s public statements and overall demeanor on January 6th, 2021.
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Sources told ABC News that “Trump was ‘very angry’ that day – not angry at what his supporters were doing to a pillar of American democracy, but steaming that the election was allegedly stolen from him and his supporters, who were ‘angry on his behalf.’ Scavino described it all as ‘very unsettling.'”
At one point, Scavino recalled speaking to Trump on the phone, on the night of January 6th, and telling the then-president, “This is all your legacy here, and there’s smoke coming out of the Capitol.” Sources said the long-time Trump aide hoped that this would inspire Donald to call for an end to the violence and facilitate a peaceful transfer of power to Joe Biden.
However, that did not happen.
“Indeed, Trump’s angry response to Scavino’s comment to him that there’s smoke coming out of the Capitol in effect was, ‘Let it Burn,'” former New York prosecutor and law professor at Pace University Bennett Gershman told Salon. “And his nonchalant indifference to Vice President Pence’s safety and welfare offers chilling proof that Trump’s conscious purpose, namely, his intent, was first to incite an insurrection and then by his inaction to demonstrate his intent that the insurrection effectively stop Congress from doing its constitutional duty to certify the election results.”
According to white-collar partner at Selendy Gay Elsberg and former senior investigative counsel for the J6 House Select Committee, Temidayo Aganga-Williams, this “overwhelming” and “dramatic” new proof could be the smoking gun Jack Smith needs to turn several reluctant or scared witnesses against Donald Trump.
“It seems that as Smith’s prosecution team keeps building its case with dramatic new proof, the case appears to be so gaining momentum and appears to be so overwhelming that reluctant or scared witnesses might decide to cooperate and avoid getting themselves entangled in the case as defendants,” Aganga-Williams said.
It’s pretty safe to say that Donald Trump’s house of cards is beginning to crumble all around him.
Read the full report from Salon here.
Featured image via Flickr/Gage Skidmore, under Creative Commons license 2.0
