Shiny penny: Trump issues 12-page statement whining about immigrants and the economy during Jan. 6 hearings
Former President Donald Trump sent out a 12-page statement, with footnotes, attacking the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on Congress by saying that "millions and millions of illegals are invading the border."
The statement is a hodge-podge of allegations and attacks reminiscent of those Trump is known to use like "fake news," "perfect call," "no collusion," and "witch hunt." He also used his signature sarcasm to lodge nicknames against the body like "unselect committee," and "pseudo-committee."
He went on to demand that the committee reveal every witness and all testimony that they've obtained over the course of the 1,000-plus statements. It's unclear what Trump knows about the committee testimony and what was said that he thinks would exonerate him but for the past two public hearings, even his daughter and son-in-law contradict his 2020 election lies. He attacked Ivanka Trump, saying she had "checked out" by the time the attacks took place.
In his statement, Trump went on to repeat that, due to COVID-19, election laws were changed to increase drive-through voting and ballot drop-boxes for vote-by-mail ballots, which many Americans took advantage of. As a result, Trump says, more people were allowed to vote, which means more people voted against him.
He went on to repeat claims like "inflated voter rolls" and "stuffed ballots" with no proof nor ability to substantiate the claim. The House Committee questioned Trump's own appointees on Monday, who contradicted the former president's claims. Judges hearing the claims also made it clear that they were false. After more than a year, Trump has never been able to provide evidence of widespread voter fraud.
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The former president also recycled his claim, that because the timing of when the votes were reported came the following day, that they were false. Several states are not allowed to count ballots ahead of election day, even if they get them in the mail weeks before that. Republican election lawyer, Ben Ginsberg, explained that, as a result, the count is such that the precincts report their results and then the county begins to open the mail-in-ballots.
Many more people voted by mail, particularly Democrats. So, counting those well after the election meant that the numbers drastically changed due to those mail-in-ballots that weren't previously counted. If states were allowed to count those votes prior to the election and keep a tally this wouldn't happen, but in Pennsylvania, for example, it is illegal.
Among the footnotes were citations from the far-right film created to justify some of the lies that Trump uses to claim that he won the election. Former Attorney General Bill Barr made it clear that he saw the film and he found it absurd.
The final comments from the former president were that the whole committee was an attempt to ensure that he could never run for president again. However, the Senate has already voted to acquit Trump in the impeachment involving the Jan. 6 incident and his election conspiracy. Even if Trump was arrested, convicted and put in jail, he could still run for president because there is no law barring it. The only way he could be prevented from running is by convicting him of treason or sedition, and the 14th Amendment would stop him from being able to take office.
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