In case you need more proof that Donald Trump and his half-dozen co-conspirators had a concrete plan to overturn the 2020 election – as opposed to the Right’s absurd claim that this is a free speech issue – we now have it coming right from one of the horse’s (jackass’s) mouth.
The New York Times published a previously unknown campaign memo, dated Dec. 6, 2020, from Attorney Kenneth Chesebro, whom the Times identifies as one of Trump’s unindicted co-conspirators listed in his indictment.
The memo outlines the fraudulent electors plot explained by Special Counsel Jack Smith in his indictment of Trump. Only in this case, an actual participant explains the plan and its ultimate goal of keeping Trump in office. It’s a chilling recount of the historic behind-the scenes corruption that aimed to thwart our democracy and overturn the will of the people.
The memo is addressed to Attorney James R. Troupis, who was assisting the Trump campaign’s efforts to challenge President Joe Biden’s victory in Wisconsin. The Times reported that prosecutors are portraying the memo “as a crucial link in how Trump team’s efforts evolved into a criminal conspiracy.”
In the memo, Chesboro writes that “… it seems feasible that the Trump campaign can prevent Biden from amassing 270 electoral votes on Jan. 6 …” provided three things happen:
*Trump-Pence electors meet in six contested states, cast their votes, and send them to Washington so that the votes will be present for the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 that will convene to certify the Electoral College results. These are the slates of fraudulent electors central to the plot.
*There is pending in each of the six states at least one lawsuit in either federal or state court that might plausibly lead to either Trump winning the state or Biden being denied the state.
*Vice President Mike Pence takes the position that, as President of the Senate, it’s in his constitutional power and duty alone to both open and count the votes, and that anything in the Electoral Count Act contrary to this is unconstitutional. (As we saw in real time, Pence refused to go along with the scheme.)
Some comments by Chesboro in the memo make it very clear what Trump and his cohorts were trying to accomplish.
*“…It is important that the alternate slates of electors meet and vote on December 14 if we are to create a scenario under which Biden can be prevented from reaching 270 electoral votes, even if Trump has not managed by then to obtain court decisions (or state legislative resolutions) invalidating enough results to push Biden below 270.”
*“I believe that what can be achieved on January 6 is not simply to keep Biden below 270 electoral votes. It seems feasible that the vote count can be conducted so that at no point will Trump be behind in the electoral vote count unless and until Biden can obtain a favorable decision from the Supreme Court upholding the Electoral Count Act as constitutional, or otherwise recognizing the power of Congress (and not the President of the Senate) to count the votes.”
*“I think the count can be managed so that Biden would have to seek Supreme Court review either when he is behind 12-0 in the electoral count or, at the latest, when he is behind 232-227.”
*“Even if, in the end, the Supreme Court would likely end up ruling that the power to count the votes … does not lie with the President of the Senate, but instead lies with Congress … letting matters play out this way would guarantee public attention would be riveted on the evidence of electoral abuses by the Democrats, and would also buy the Trump campaign more time to win litigation that would deprive Biden of electoral votes and/or add to Trump’s column.”
You can read the Times story, which contains a link to the memo, here.
Here’s a direct link to the memo.
Chesebro acknowledged that “What I suggest is a bold, controversial strategy, and that there are many reasons why it might not end up being executed on January 6.”
We all remember that Congress was forced out of session that day by the mob of violent insurrectionists sent to the Capitol by Trump. It eventually reconvened and certified the election for Biden in the early hours of Jan. 7.
But what if Pence has gone along with the plan? What if he had been killed by the mob? What if the Trump-inspired army of insurrectionists did enough damage to keep Congress from reconvening for a significantly longer period of time? Would Trump have then hit the ultimate home run, with the chaos causing the election to be decided not by our votes but by a vote in the House, where Republicans held the advantage to declare their man the winner?
I don’t know how much clearer it can be? Trump and his accomplices wanted to stop the certification of Biden’s election while opening the door for Trump to be returned to office. What the odds of success were is irrelevant. A hail Mary or a short pass is still an attempt. This was a pre-planned effort to throw out the results of a free and fair election
The memo is another irrefutable counter to the Right’s campaign of lies and distortions. That Trump is being punished because he used his First Amendment Right of free speech to challenge the election results. That the former president was operating under the sincere belief that he was the victim of significant voter fraud.
We have to call out the bullshit every chance we get.