From the developments made known regarding the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, reports revealed how far former President Donald Trump and his allies were willing to go in order to stay in power. Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of the congressional committee probing the riots said that Trump was conspiring to stage a coup, noting that the DOJ also likely has the evidence to prove it.
Speaking with CNN, Raskin revealed that the committee had found evidence that the former president’s plot to stay in power even after losing the 2020 elections was a lot more wide-ranging than previously believed. This was also compared to the public statements Trump made before and after the Capitol riots. Raskin also said that it is impossible that the DOJ would not have evidence to prove this at this point.
“We have filled in a lot more evidence that he wasn’t just inciting an insurrection, he was working to organize a coup against democracy,” said Raskin. “I can’t imagine that the Department of Justice would not have evidence at this point to that effect.”
Raskin’s comments were echoed by legal expert Daniel Goldman, who served as House impeachment counsel along with Raskin during Trump’s first impeachment trial. Goldman agreed that federal investigators do not need a go signal from Congress to charge the former president with criminal violations related to the insurrection.
“This is exactly right from Rep. Raskin. There should be no need for a referral from the states or from Congress in order to investigate a clear effort to overturn the election results through fraudulent means (and ultimately, by force on Jan. 6),” tweeted Goldman.
Among the recent developments in the attempts by Trump and his allies to overturn the elections was to submit an alternative list of electors in the states that actually went to Joe Biden saying that Trump won in those states. But according to Huffington Post reporter S.V. Date, it was now-former vice president Mike Pence who actively thwarted the attempt to use an alternate slate of electors.
Date cited that on Jan. 6, during the joint session of Congress, Pence changed the traditional script during the roll call of electors, leaving out the alternate slate of electors Trump allies submitted.
“Not only did he not go along with Trump’s scheme to use ‘alternate’ slates of electors to give Trump a second term, he actively sabotaged it,” said Date on Twitter.