It Doesn't Matter What White House Conspirators Believed About Election Fraud. They're Still Guilty.

[Nevilledog]

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Jay Kuo
@nycjayjay
I had an “aha!” moment this morning as I reviewed the legal memos filed in Eastman’s lawsuit before Judge David Carter. It tied disparate but troubling facts and themes together for me around alternate electors, Mike Pence, and the day of the insurrection.

statuskuo.substack.com
It Doesn’t Matter What White House Conspirators Believed About Election Fraud. They’re Still Guilty.
On March 28, U.S. District Court Judge David Carter issued an extraordinary ruling, finding that it was “likely” that Donald Trump and John Eastman committed at least two federal crimes in their...
8:33 AM · Jun 2, 2022

https://statuskuo.substack.com/p/it-doesnt-matter-what-white-house?sd=fs&s=r

On March 28, U.S. District Court Judge David Carter issued an extraordinary ruling, finding that it was “likely” that Donald Trump and John Eastman committed at least two federal crimes in their attempts to hold onto the White House: 1) corruptly obstructing Congress in its electoral vote count, and 2) entering into a conspiracy to defraud the United States by interfering with the election process. Both carry heavy penalties, but both are also tricky to prove because the guilty state of mind of the defendants is an element of each crime.

In arguing against guilty intent, Eastman has sought to demonstrate that he and the former president had good faith reasons to believe that the election was tainted with fraud, and therefore what they did by pressuring former Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election results on January 6 was not “corrupt” but somehow in service of the Republic.

This tactic has always bothered me. But after reviewing the parties’ latest filings before Judge Carter, two things clicked.

Their Claims of Election Fraud Are a Red Herring

First, it doesn’t matter if Trump or Eastman genuinely thought there was election fraud despite all the evidence to the contrary. They’re still guilty of the crimes cited by Judge Carter because it was their intent to illegally obstruct and interfere with the electoral counting. Why they chose to do it isn’t relevant to these crimes.

In fact, these election fraud claims can be a huge distraction and can muddy the waters considerably. This is because disproving them is to prove a negative, namely that election fraud did not happen. Trump and Eastman can point to dozens of already debunked claims of alleged fraud, wasting everyone’s time (and the jury’s and public’s attention spans) while these are relitigated and methodically disposed of one by one. But this is precisely how conspiracies gain traction: string together enough baseless claims, and it starts to feel like something is amiss. We can’t win factual arguments against conspiracy theorists because facts aren’t persuasive against feelings.

*snip*

[Effete Snob]

1. "string together enough baseless claims, and it starts to feel like something is amiss"

Yep.

Some years ago, I was chatting with a friend about a particular set of CT beliefs she held. It didn't matter that any individual "proof" fell apart on a deeper look because "but there are so many things wrong!"

[Karadeniz]

2. Trump and WH personnel were told the legal truths and the election count truths. They chose to not

abide by truth because truth interfered with the outcome they wanted. So they pulled out the reliable ace up their sleeve, riling up public support and confusion among the people whose minds work like theirs, people who can't assimilate facts that would force them to accept a reality they don't want.

[relayerbob]

3. Just because you think robbing a bank is OK

doesn't make you any less guilty of the crime.