Legal expert: Liz Cheney just provided 'key evidence' for another charge against Trump

At the top of the third day of public hearings for the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on Congress, Vice-Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) made a short statement that might provide evidence that could be used against former president Donald Trump.

Ryan Goodman, former special counsel to the Department of Defense, cited 18 US §1512, which makes it illegal to corruptly obstruct an official congressional proceeding.

Former general counsel to the vice president, Greg Jacob, testified under oath that on Jan. 4, John Eastman admitted in front of Trump that he knew it would be illegal for Pence to try and stop the certification of the election. Goodman described it as "key evidence" in a tweet.

"It's not required to establish criminal liability under 18 USC § 1512," Goodman added. "President Trump could have thought Pence had legal authority, and could be liable being aware he'd lost the election (@BarbMcQuade analysis) or by using rioters to obstruct (@KPNatsFan analysis)."

Eastman, who authored the so-called "coup memo" outlined the legal argument for Pence to oppose the certification of the 2020 election. Yet, Cheney pointed to emails that Eastman sent, saying that the plot wasn't legal. His admission to that fact in front of the president ensures that Trump knew that his effort to stop the count on Jan. 6 was an illegal one, but he pushed forward anyway.

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The committee has already revealed testimony from many of Trump's closest allies who said he was told repeatedly he'd lost a fair fight to Biden but declared victory and pushed his election fraud narrative anyway.

As dozens of legal challenges dismissed as inept and ethically suspect failed in courts across the land, a desperate Trump turned to Pence for illegal help.

Trump used rally speeches and Twitter to exert intense pressure on Pence to abuse his position as president of the Senate to reject the election results as they were being ratified on January 6.

"We're going to show that that pressure campaign directly contributed to the attack on the Capitol, and it puts the vice president's life in danger," a select committee aide said.

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During his "Stop the Steal" rally ahead of the joint session of the House and Senate to ratify the election, Trump mentioned Pence numerous times as he told his supporters to march on the Capitol and "fight like hell."

But Pence wrote to Congress that the Founding Fathers never intended the vice president to have "unilateral authority" to overturn election counts, adding that "no vice president in American history has ever asserted such authority."

The mob whipped up by Trump threatened to hang Pence for failing to cooperate as they stormed the Capitol, and even erected a gallows in front of the building.

Cheney said last week that when the subject of the "hang Mike Pence" chants came up at the White House, Trump responded: "Maybe our supporters have the right idea" and that Pence "deserves" it.

Watch video below or at this link.

Watch Rep. Liz Cheney’s opening statement at day 3 of the January 6 hearingwww.youtube.com

With additional reporting by AFP