'Trump is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt': Watergate lawyer Nick Akerman on J6 report
Watergate lawyer Nick Akerman told CNN that what he's read so far of the full report from the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on Congress outlines the guilt of former President Donald Trump.
He explained to CNN's Laura Coates that the report walks through the evidence that is admissible in court (either federal court in Washington or in a Georgia state court) "that proves that Donald Trump is guilty of these crimes, beyond a reasonable doubt."
The piece that he cited is the email from John Eastman which was sent on Dec. 31, 2020, "where he writes to the other lawyers on the team, saying that they are about to file a federal lawsuit in Georgia, but they are concerned, now because they initially filed a lawsuit in Georgia state court. And Donald Trump had submitted a declaration there, basically stating that so many dead people voting, that so many felons voted, and that a certain number of people that don't even live in the state of Georgia."
The problem, Akerman explained, is that Trump knew it was all false. The only way they could file a federal suit, however, was by citing the same lies. The Georgia piece of the report is something that at least one Georgia NPR reporter and a Georgia law professor said could be enough for criminal charges.
"And the concern was, this would come back to bite Donald Trump, because he knew it was false," he continued. "But what did they do? They still filed that federal lawsuit. Donald Trump swore under oath, that the same facts occurred, but then on top of it all, two days, later Jan. 2, Donald Trump makes this call to Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state in Georgia, which has, it turns out, Mr. Raffensperger tape-recorded, unbeknownst to Donald Trump. During that call, Donald Trump raised those specific issues. He said to Raffensperger, X number of dead people voted, X number of felons voted, X number of people who didn't vote in Georgia voted. And Brad Raffensperger took them through point by point, and told him exactly that none of this was true."
Still, Trump made the same public pronouncements the following day, knowing he was lying. Again, he was told that what he said wasn't true.
"So, you've got this evidence, and the same lies that were repeated, in Arizona, then repeated in Wisconsin," Akerman explained. "When you start to put together this web of evidence, the details, the minute new details that are sprinkled throughout this report, it's from a case that can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt."
Read more coverage of Jan. 6 here.
See Akerman's full comments below or at the link here:
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