Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican Presidential candidate wants to pardon Trump and even challenge each of the charges on his indictment. Stating that they can be contested and full of holes! Ramaswamy believes the United States needs to move on and release itself from the past. The underlying behind his statements is he does not feel Trump is guilty! He strongly espouses Trump is a victim of the DOJ and the Biden Administration. In addition, he stated tonight that he would close down the FBI and reallocate half of its 30 thousand employees to other law enforcement agencies like the Federal Marshalls. What Ramaswamy has negated in his beliefs is that Trump attempted to steal a Presidential election. His actions incited an insurrection at the Capitol, the seat of our government. How his public misinformation and straight-out lies motivated others to conduct illegal activities in our election system possibly bringing down our democracy. None of these infractions are to be taken lightly.
Today, Trump appeared in the District of Columbia Federal Court and was charged with the four charges brought against him by a grand jury. Trump was charged with:
- Conspiring to defraud the United States
- Conspiring to disenfranchise voters
- Conspiring and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding
- Conspiracy against rights
Trump and his attorneys have again misled and misinformed the public of the charges. They talk about Trump’s 1st Amendment Rights to free speech. What you hear from Trump is a barrage of insults against the Special Counsel or anyone else that has taken steps against him. His comments carry a sense of dread for those targeted by his words because of some of Trump’s vindictive and destructive followers that hear that dog whistle! You hear a different segway from Trump and his team that the DOJ and the Biden Administration are infringing on Trump’s campaign for the Presidency by pushing these three indictments! That Trump cannot campaign lawfully because of having to answer to the legal system. That is Trump’s choice to run for office when he can be defending himself or developing a realistic strategy to do so. Will Hurd another recent Republican Presidential candidate commented earlier in the week that Trump is only campaigning so that he can stay out of jail! I believe that is the other half of his reason for campaigning and the fact that he has at least 30 percent of US voters under his spell. Should he win before getting convicted he will then go on to pardon himself. The Republicans will find a way for him to do that since it would be precedent.
Another argument by Trump supporters and legal team that has surfaced recently is that he was following legal advice. Trump’s government attorneys told him he had lost the election and that was it. He would not listen and brought in people, attorneys, and businessmen like the ‘My Pillow Guy’ to give him advice on how to proceed and overturn the election! They stoked the fires of election lies. These were people that would tell him what he wanted to hear. Because of his actions as President, several coordinated activities happened at the state level which included illegal activity by trying to tamper with voting machines, representation by people that had no authority to do so as state electoral representatives, and of course threats of state electoral representatives and workers from all levels in government to include Lindsey Graham (R-SC) making calls to the Georgia Governor seeking to get more information on votes. Michigan reports that one of their electoral representatives received a call from Trump to reconsider their numbers! Just sounds like scheming, and a way to try and intimidate the electoral system of another state and persons.
The discussion can go on and on, but the bottom line is that Trump had alluded to his attempt to stay in office a year earlier when he was asked if he would make the transfer of leadership peacefully – “Well, we are going to have to see what happens.” he said. Just to let you know that another enabler AG Barr has said that Trump is guilty and planned to stay in office. His actions are criminal and having taken the advice of his attorneys is not an excuse. I say AG Barr was an enabler because he had acquiesced to many of Trump’s twisted attempts to bring down his opponents, investigations, and actions while in office. AG Barr states Trump knew he had lost the election and resigned only after Trump wanted him to question the election results from various states. Now, he has had a change of heart!