Ketchup Dripping Down The Wall or Blood On His Hands?

At the beginning of the Jan. 6th hearings, I questioned whether the panel was laying the roadmap to an indictment of former President Trump. At the time, about a month and a half ago, there was certainly speculation, but more prominent was the overwhelming sense of just how difficult prosecuting a former president would be. Now, with the conclusion of the first half of the hearings, the idea isn’t really all that unrealistic. The latest polling even indicates that half the country thinks the former president should be indicted. According to the Manila Times, legal analysts say Trump could potentially face at least two charges: “conspiracy to defraud the United States” for seeking to overturn election results and “obstruction of an official proceeding” for the Capitol attack.

Let’s take a quick look back as to how we got here. And folks, I would suggest you grab your popcorn. 

We started off strong, learning that former Attorney General Bill Barr told Trump multiple times that his stolen election claims were “bullsh*t.” When Barr publicly dismissed Trump’s election fraud claims, the president threw his lunch in the White House dining room, leaving ketchup dripping down a wall. I mean, you know, the same way all of us adults react when we don’t get our way. 

Let’s keep going. We learned that Alex Cannon, a Trump campaign lawyer, told Mark Meadows, former White House chief of staff, that there was no evidence of fraud, to which Meadows responded, “So there’s no there there?” Ah yes, I also like to see just how many times I can fit the same word into a single sentence. 

I don’t even think I have the brainpower on this Sunday evening to get into how a Supreme Court justice’s wife— I want to emphasize that again: A Supreme Court justice’s wife— was completely hellbent on overturning a presidential election to save us from Satan-worshipping leaders taking America down. Obviously. 

Thanks to text messages from Don Jr., we have evidence that Trump’s inner circle actually implemented plans to keep Trump in office before the election was even called. Sounds legal to me!

Eric Herschmann, a Trump White House lawyer, and Michael Flynn, quite literally a convicted felon and conspiracy theorist, almost got into a physical fight in the Oval Office. Trump tried to seize voting machines, as well as he called Mike Pence a p*ssy, and best of all, allegedly lunged toward the throat of his head of security after learning he would not be able to go to the Capitol with his supporters. 

Now, I hate to change the tone from laughing at this absolute clown show of an administration to a more serious one, but it’s necessary. January 6th was a dark day in American history. Our democracy was inches away from crashing down. An officer lost his life and others were severely injured fighting to ward off that threat. Our lawmakers inside the Capitol feared for their lives— Congresswoman Sara Jacobs prepared to use her high heels as a weapon and an officer grabbed Senator Chuck Schumer by the collar to essentially save him from the rioters. 

While his supporters were breaking into the Capitol building and flaunting their weapons, Trump did nothing. He refused pleas to call off the rioters and when he finally agreed, he told the insurrectionists he loved them. How absolutely repulsive is that? The next day, Trump found every which way to get around bluntly stating that the election was over. Meadows burned sensitive documents in a fireplace, Trump flushed sensitive documents down a toilet, members of Congress sought pardons for their role in trying to overturn election results, and the list goes on, most of which screams criminal to me. 

So, where are we now? Well, two Trump advisors, Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, were indicted for criminal contempt of Congress after refusing to cooperate with the committee— Bannon being found guilty this past week.  

And where do we go from here? I guess we wait. If an unprecedented prosecution of the former president does take place, it would likely be a “cataclysmic event from which the nation would not soon recover,” according to Jack Goldsmith, assistant attorney general in the George W. Bush administration. However, as Laurence Tribe, Attorney General Merrick Garland’s former law professor at Harvard, notes, not holding Trump accountable would be equally harmful. Attorney General Garland is quoted saying, “We have to hold accountable every person who is criminally responsible for trying to overturn a legitimate election,” emphasizing that “no person is above the law.” Tribe believes that the attorney general will ultimately indict Trump. So, like I said, I guess we wait and see.

This blog post is part of the CIMA Law Group blog. If you are located in Arizona and are seeking legal services, CIMA Law Group specializes in Immigration Law, Criminal Defense, Personal Injury, and Government Relations.