Trump will be charged as 'leader' of Jan. 6 conspiracy: J6 investigator
Former President Donald Trump is likely to be accused of being the leader of a conspiracy to obstruct the government from certifying the votes in the 2020 presidential election, argued Timothy Heaphy, former lead investigator for the House January 6 Committee.
This comes as the former president announced on Tuesday that he has received a target letter from special counsel Jack Smith — a clear sign he is likely to be indicted in the investigation.
"Tim, when you listen to the criminal referrals that Congressman [Jamie] Raskin listed off there, that sort of was the climatic final work and the breadcrumbs left by Jack Smith, the fact that (Mike) Pence and (Mark) Meadows have been in before the grand jury investigating January 6th, does any one of those the crimes referred to leap out for you?" asked anchor Nicolle Wallace.
"The order Raskin used is exactly the order that I think we'll see in the indictment," said Heaphy. "The lead charge here, in my view, is 1512(c), the evidence that the president and his co-conspirators specifically intended to obstruct, impede, or interfere with an official proceeding, a joint session in which President Biden's election was certified, is the lead count. I think the others are important too."
"I think the least likely is the aid and comfort to an insurrection. That is a statute that has not been used by federal prosecutors, not been brought against any of the January 6th rioters. It's unclear what aid and comfort means, what's the intent level. So I think that is the one of the four, is the most obscure or least likely. But 1512, from our investigation, we headlined with that statute, I think that is likely the operating assumption, the approach that the special counsel has taken. That's the lead count. Unless they have additional evidence. That's how I would expect an indictment to read."
"Congressman Raskin named Eastman," said Wallace. "Is that a conspiracy that you would imagine Jack Smith would charge, a conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding?"
"Yes," said Heaphy. "I think you'll see an indictment that will charge the former president, the leader of a group. Conspiracy is an agreement, a group of people that agree to commit additional crime, obstruction of the proceedings. So you could see four, five, six people. Unclear how far he will stretch it. Will it go all the way out to the Republican National Committee operatives that were suggesting the submission of the fake elector schemes? Or will it be a ... more tightly held inner circle? Eastman, Giuliani, Jeff Clark, Mark Meadows, although it sounds like he may have testified and may be cooperating. All the inner circle who were helping the president essentially execute that multipart plan that the select committee laid out could have exposure."
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