Former lead House impeachment manager and key member of the Jan. 6 House House Committee showed why he’s too partisan to make any objective statements about former President Donald Trump. Raskin pleaded his case in Trump’s Senate impeachment trial to convict Trump of “incitement of Insurrection,” only to see Trump acquitted Feb. 13, 2021. Raskin now says that Trump should spend the rest of his life behind bars for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots and improper handling of classified docs at Mar-a-Lago. “I do think it’s very important that we establish that it’s not just foot soldiers but kingpins who are prosecuted,” said Raskin, showing not a shred of objectivity or fidelity to the rule of law. “And its just wrong to send hundreds of foot soldiers to jail and leave the very clear kingpins un-prosecuted Raskin said, knowing that the Committee did not establish Trump’s guilt.
Raskin wants Trump in jail because he’s been committed from Day One of the Jan. 6 House Committee to target Trump, whether he was guilty or not of any of the spurious charges made by Democrats and few anti-Trump Republicans. Raskin can’t fathom the fact that under the U.S. Constitution only the actual lawbreaker stand accountable to the U.S. legal system. Saying Trump thought he was a victim of massive voter fraud on Nov. 3, 2020 doesn’t mean that he summoned the Proud Boys, Oathkeepers and other right wing militia groups to attack the Capitol Jan. 6. Raskin’s extreme prejudice against Trump leaves him unable to know how to apply appropriate criminal statutes to Jan. 6 lawbreakers. Anyone who breached the Capitol or attacked Capitol or D.C. police should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, not because they’re foot soldiers but because they’re lawbreakers.
Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans on the House Select Committee lead to errant conclusions that Trump led the mob on Jan. 6 to ransack the Capitol. House Democrats and the press like to call the Jan. 6 lawbreakers “Trump supporters,” because from Day One they’ve spent a year-and-a-half trying to tie Trump to the trespassing and vandalism on Jan. 6. Raskin once told Trump’s Senate impeachment trial that Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021 speech at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. incited the crowd to violence. Raskin ignored FBI report that the Jan. 6 lawbreaker planned the riots for months, had nothing to with Trump’s early morning speech. Raskin likes to change the goal posts, calling Trump guilty of inciting violence by believing he was cheated out of the Nov. 3, 2020 presidential election. Whatever Trump’s personal views, that didn’t cause lawbreakers to attack the Capitol Jan. 6.
Raskin wants 70-year-old Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland to charge Trump with a variety of spurious crimes, none of which were established beyond-a-reasonable doubt by the House Select Committee. It’s one thing to say the Trump supporters attacked the Capitol, it’s another to prove that Trump planned and orchestrated lawbreakers on Jan. 6, 2021. Raskin said the Trump “conspired to defraud the government [and] American people. He traded an honest election for a profoundly corrupt and fraudulent election with counterfeit electors . . . And he aided and assisted and gave and gave aid and comfort to insurrectionists at multiple points . . . I’m very serious about him facing the consequences and paying for the cost of his actions,” Raskin said. Raskin knows the House Committee doesn’t meet its burden of proof, only casts political aspersions against the former president.
Sending various spurious charges against Trump, Raskin and the House Select Committee made any charging decision more difficult for Atty. Gen. Garland. Even his appointed Special Counsel Jack Smith has less chance of charging Trump, largely because of hyperbole by Raskin and other members of the House Select Committee. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wy.) has said repeatedly for months that Trump planned and orchestrated the Jan. 6 insurrection but offers no facts only wild conjecture, based on personal animus. Cheney lost her seat Aug. 15 by a landslide in Congress for spending her time going after Trump with a vengeance. Cheney, like other members of the House Select Committee, don’t think facts matter, only personal animus toward Trump. Raskin said Trump could spend “the remaining days of his misanthropic life behind bars, presumably with Secret Service Agents . . . “Raskin said.
Calling Trump a misanthrope scratches the surface of the extreme prejudice and partisan bias in the House Select Committee, making any charging decision next to impossible. Raskin can’t control his ire toward Trump, thinking the House Select Committee proved its case against Trump. Not one cherry picked witness or testimony showed that Trump was a party to the Jan. 6 lawbreaking. Raskin says the kingpins should be convicted of the same crimes of actual vandals and rabble-rousers on Jan. 6, 2021. Whatever happened on Jan. 6, it’s clear that the Committee did not establish that Trump was involved in the crimes. Calling his inaction for four hours on Jan. 6 dereliction of duty, what makes the Committee think that Trump was in control of the angry mob? Raskin shows why Garland the Smith must toss out any charges against Trump because the Committee didn’t meet its burden of proof.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
