Newly revealed recordings of right-wing attorney Kenneth Chesebro describing the last-minute scramble to block certification of President Joe Biden's election win provides special counsel Jack Smith with powerful new evidence.
The recordings made by Georgia prosecutors and obtained by CNN provide new details into the scheme to get fake elector certificates from two key battleground states to Washington, D.C., just two days before Jan. 6, 2021, and Salon reported on commentary by legal experts explaining the significance of this new evidence.
"It's one thing for a jury to read a transcript or even hear someone talk about things they heard somebody else say, it is another thing to hear voices to have sort of an evocative effect, that is more valuable and powerful," said federal prosecutor Elliot Williams.
Attempts to transport those bogus certificates across state lines could be used to establish state of mind for Donald Trump and his inner circle and show they knew what they were doing by pressing the scheme after weeks of attempting to overturn the former president's election loss, the experts said.
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"The reason those details about the elaborate plan to get all the materials to Washington for Jan. 6 matters so much is they go directly to the intent here," said former impeachment lawyer and CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen.
"This wasn't just, as it started out, a preventive measure in case Trump won court cases," Eisen added. "This was an active alleged conspiracy to have Mike Pence and Congress block the rightful winner of the election from taking office, and Jack Smith has said that that is a criminal conspiracy, and it's hard to understand how lawyers and other professionals couldn't see why that was wrong."
