Trump likely hoped to create enough chaos on Jan 6th that he could invoke martial law: former DHS official

Two days before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6th insurrection begins televised hearings and testimony on the attack on the nation's Capitol that followed Donald Trump's appearance at a "Stop the Steal" rally, a former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official suggested the former president may have hoped he could declare martial law in the aftermath.

Taking to Twitter, former DHS chief of staff Miles Taylor speculated that Trump possibly saw a way to remain in power if enough chaos was created then he could have declared martial law and halted all the proceedings of the day.

According to Taylor, who authored an anonymous New York Times op-ed in 2018 asserting there was a "resistance" effort within Trump's White House, "I believe Trump intended to incite an insurrection as a pretext for declaring some form of marshal (sic) law. He mused about invoking the Insurrection Act YEARS before Jan 6 — calling it a 'magic power' — in convos I witnessed & was briefed on," later correcting "marshal" to "martial."

By way of explanation about what martial law would have entailed, Yahoo reported, "The Insurrection Act of 1807 gives the president broad powers to deploy the military domestically in response to what he or she deems to be emergency situations."

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The Washington Post previously reported that "Three days before Joe Biden’s inauguration, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greenetexted White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. She told him that some Republican members of Congress believed the only path for President Donald Trump to change the outcome of the 2020 election and stay in power was for him to declare martial law."

Yahoo adds, "Legal experts say using the Insurrection Act to contest an election would a gross violation of precedent, and that the law needs sharpening to prevent abuse."

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