Right-wing lawyer advised Trump to use 'martial law' in effort to overturn election

According to a bombshell report from the New York Times, around Christmas day in 2020 Donald Trump spoke on the phone with a right-wing lawyer for advice on using martial law as a mechanism to overturn the presidential election results.

The reports note that the new evidence Trump conspired to steal the election comes from notes made by attorney William J. Olson about his conversation with the former president who was at Mar-a-Lago at the time.

According to the Times' Maggie Haberman and Luke Broadwater, "The lawyer, William J. Olson, was promoting extreme ideas to the president that Mr. Olson later conceded could be regarded as tantamount to declaring 'martial law' and could even invite comparisons with Watergate. They included tampering with the Justice Department and firing the acting attorney general, according to the Dec. 28 memo by Mr. Olson, titled 'Preserving Constitutional Order,' describing their discussions."

According to the report, Olson wrote, "Our little band of lawyers is working on a memorandum that explains exactly what you can do,” with the Times adding he marked his notes, "privileged and confidential” and also added "The media will call this martial law. That is ‘fake news.’”

"The document highlights the previously unreported role of Mr. Olson in advising Mr. Trump as the president was increasingly turning to extreme, far-right figures outside the White House to pursue options that many of his official advisers had told him were impossible or unlawful, in an effort to cling to power," the Times is reporting. "The involvement of a person like Mr. Olson, who now represents the conspiracy theorist and MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindell, underscores how the system that would normally insulate a president from rogue actors operating outside of official channels had broken down within weeks after the 2020 election."

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