Jeff Clark: Trump not guilty of insurrection because 'he left office on time'

Jeff Clark: Trump not guilty of insurrection because 'he left office on time'
Real America's Voice/screen grab

Former United States Assistant Attorney General Jeff Clark argued that Donald Trump could not be guilty of an insurrection because his efforts to stay in office ultimately failed.

During a Thursday interview with right-wing podcaster Steve Bannon, Clark disagreed with a Colorado Supreme Court decision that bars Trump from the state's primary ballot based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

Clark said the 14th Amendment did not apply to Trump because the president and vice president were not explicitly named in the text.

"MSNBC, CNN, they try to portray it as some kind of technicality," he scoffed. "And the trial judge was willing to obey it, but not four out of the seven justices of the Colorado Supreme Court."

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"Their next argument is that, you know, they conclude President Trump committed an insurrection," he continued, noting "dozens and dozens" of pages backing up the court's ruling.

But Clark, who was one of 18 co-defendants charged alongside Trump in the Fulton County racketeering case, insisted that Trump did not meet the qualifications for an insurrectionist.

"But whether someone engaged in an insurrection requires scienter, which is the fancy legal term for the intent, you need to have the intent to try to overthrow the government," Clark opined. "And it's ridiculous to say that President Trump had that intent, because he specifically said — first of all, he left office on time, right?"

"But second, he told people to march peacefully and patriotically down to the Capitol, let their voices be heard," he added. "And so it's ludicrous to imagine that he could ever be found guilty of insurrection, which is why Jack Smith didn't charge him with it."

Watch the video below from Real America's Voice.

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President Donald Trump is making Democratic strategists' jobs easier and creating a major headache for Republicans seeking election this November, according to a report Tuesday.

Just two weeks ago, the 79-year-old president framed his party's message around his economic record — specifically touting $2.30 gasoline in most states — but his decision to join Israel in war against Iran threatens to undermine that pitch to voters as surging oil prices provoked pain at the pump, reported the Washington Post.

"Oil prices Monday spiked to levels not seen since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, while prices at the pump jumped nearly 50 cents higher than a week ago," the Post reported. "The price per barrel jumped to almost $120 at one point Monday before dropping to under $90 by the end of the day as Trump suggested the war with Iran could end soon. But the roller coaster still left some in his party anxious about the political and economic fallout, particularly as Iran has vowed to continue retaliatory strikes."

The White House insists the price hikes will be temporary, but lingering increases would present another challenge for Republicans in a less-than-favorable political environment, the report stated.

“Gas was one thing that they have been touting as an economic win,” said GOP pollster Mitchell Brown. “A reversal on that obviously makes the message harder.”

Trump's response to the increase – calling the hikes a "small price to pay" for security and blithely commenting "if they rise, they rise" – has alarmed some of his MAGA allies, with right-wing influencer Matt Walsh warning those comments "aren't helping anything," and many Republicans are hoping the military operation ends quickly.

“As we saw the last 24 hours, it’s a very volatile [situation]," said Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT). "This will start to calm down as this conflict is resolved I’m confident it will be resolved.”

Trump won re-election in 2024 by campaigning against soaring inflation under President Joe Biden, but his approval rating had drooped dramatically since returning to office — which Democratic strategists say gives them an "easy story" to tell voters heading into the midterm election.

"They only have one person to blame and that is the president of the United States," said Neera Tanden, a senior White House official under Biden who now leads the left-leaning Center for American Progress.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio was singled out on MS NOW on Tuesday morning for spending more time hyping up US military members and not doing his job and bringing the war on Iran to a halt.

During an appearance on “Morning Joe,” retired United States Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling was asked by co-host Joe Scarborough if Donald Trump’s war can be considered a success so far.

Drawing upon his military career that spanned 38 years, Hertling became indignant at the mention of Trump appointee Rubio as part of the conversation.

“What I will say is I'll make a recommendation to all politicians: quit starting your sentences with, ’We've got the greatest military in the world,” he bluntly stated. “The military knows what they can and can't do, and what they can't do is end a war that's up to the politicians, and to continue to open your sentences like Secretary Rubio just did with how great the military is, is a waste of time.”

“You know, the military, for the most part, is pretty humble,” he observed. “There's no hubris involved. We don't need other people telling folks how good we are; we know what we can do. But we also know what we can't do and that's the ground we're in right now.”

He added, “So I can say that I make that recommendation to all politicians: knock it off. Worry about what you've got to do to end wars.”

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President Donald Trump was hammered by two of his own officials after making “one of the biggest tactical miscalculations since the bombing of Iran began,” Axios reported on Tuesday.

Trump authorized strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, kicking off what Axios described Tuesday as a “world at war” as nations across the globe have joined in on the conflict. Among the largest challenges the United States has faced thus far has been Iran’s inexpensive drones, which have posed a “bigger problem than anticipated” to Trump’s war effort and are connected to the deaths of seven U.S. service members.

But last August, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy personally offered Trump a potential solution – a package of interceptor drones to “show his thanks” for U.S. support in Ukraine’s war with Russia, according to a PowerPoint presentation obtained exclusively by Axios. Trump, Axios learned, had declined the offer, only to reverse course last week.

"If there's a tactical error or a mistake we made leading up to this [war in Iran], this was it," a U.S. official told Axios, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

A Ukrainian official told Axios that the offer included the creation of “drone combat hubs” at U.S. military bases in the Middle East to directly combat Iran’s drone capabilities.

“We wanted to build the 'drone walls' and all the things necessary like the radar, et cetera," the Ukrainian official told Axios, also speaking on the condition of anonymity. “At that meeting... in August, Trump asked his team to work on it, but they have done nothing.”

Trump’s decision to turn down Zelenskyy’s offer, a U.S. official said, was potentially made due to the Ukrainian president being perceived as “too much of a self-promoter,” Axios wrote.

“We figured it was Zelenskyy being Zelenskyy. Somebody decided not to buy it," the U.S. official told Axios.

When asked for comment, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly shot down Axios’ reporting, calling the anonymous U.S. and Ukrainian officials “cowardly" and their claims “not accurate.”

“This characterization made by these cowardly unnamed sources is not accurate and proves that they are simply outside looking in,” Kelly told Axios. “[Defense] Secretary [Pete] Hegseth and the armed forces did an incredible job planning for all possible responses by the Iranian regime, and the undisputed success of Operation Epic Fury speaks for itself."

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