Former Federal Prosecutor Says Ex-Staffers’ Testimony Is ‘A Nail in the Coffin’ for Trump
A former federal prosecutor said that reported testimony from former White House aides to Donald Trump is a devastating blow to the former president.
ABC News reported on Sunday that former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino told Special Counsel Jack Smith that Trump “was just not interested” in stopping the Jan. 6 Capitol riot as it unfolded. Scavino is now an adviser for Trump’s 2024 campaign.
Smith is prosecuting Trump over his failed efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. In the two months after that contest, Trump falsely claimed the election was rigged against him, he pressured officials in states he lost to change their results, and he told then-Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to certify the results in Congress. When Pence refused, a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol and delayed certification for several hours.
ABC News also reported that former White House aide Nick Luna told Trump that Pence had to be quickly escorted to a secure location, to which Trump reportedly replied, “So what?”
MSNBC legal analyst and former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman said the testimony clearly shows Trump’s intent.
“[I]f you think of it through the vantage point of the prosecution, the one thing that Trump could maybe try through surrogates to claim at trial is, ‘It took him by surprise. He never knew this would happen.’ You’ve heard claims of that. It seems dubious,” Litman said on Monday.
Litman concluded, “It is very, very powerful evidence if you look at it through the prism of what Jack Smith has to prove at trial. It pretty much is a nail in the coffin of Trump’s intent.”
Watch above via MSNBC.
