LOS ANGELES.–President Donald Trump, 77, looks like he gets an indefinite reprieve from a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals taking its time to decide whether he has immunity to prosecution for alleged crimes for the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection happening while president. House Jan. 6 Select Committee spent a year-and-a-half concluding that Trump interfered with the Electoral College certification of the 2020 presidential vote, fomenting a riot in the Capitol. Co-chairs of the Jan. 6 House Select Committee 57-year-old former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wy.) and 45-year-old former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Il.) concluded that Trump planned and orchestrated the Capitol riots to interfere with the government’s lawful action to certify the Electoral College Vote. D.C. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkin, 61, removed Trump’s upcoming trial from her calendar pending a ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court or any further challenge in the Supreme Court
Charges of election interference were brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, alleging that Trump, based on the Jan. 6 House Select Committee, interfered with normal government business of vote certification. Despite conclusions by the Jan. 6 House Select Committee, there are no real facts that Trump was in any way involved or responsible for the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) impeached Trump for “incitement of insurrection,” a similar charge for which he was acquitted Feb. 13, 2021 in the U.S. Senate. But shortly after his acquittal, Pelosi formed the Jan. 6 House Select Committee to do what House Democrats couldn’t do to convict Trump of high-crimes-and-misdemeanors in the U.S. Senate. Chutkan showed her extreme prejudice Dec. 2, 2023 writing, Trump’s action Jan. 6 “does not confer a lifelong ‘get-out-of-jail free pass.’” Trump filed for injunctive relief in the D.C. 4th Circuit court of Appeals.
Colorado’s Supreme Court followed through with Chutkan’s statements banning him Dec. 19, 2023 from the Colorado ballot for violating Section 3 or the 14th Amendment, precluding anyone from running for office having participated in insurrection. Pelosi’s original article of impeachment “incitement of insurrection” blamed Trump for whipping up an angry mob on Jan. 6, 2021 to attack the Capitol with the intent of stopping the Electoral College Vote certification. Colorado’s High Court jumped the gun on many counts, not knowing what Section 3 of the 14th Amendment meant excluding anyone from running for president or any other office or, most importantly, whether or not Trump participated in the insurrection. Special Counsel Jack Smith insists Trump knew he lost the 2020 election fair-and-square but deliberately gaslighted his audiences to think he was cheated by Democrats. Smith knows he has no real facts to prove the Trump participated in the riots.
So Judge Tanya Chutkan finally gave up on trying to railroad Trump’s trial for interfering with the Jan. 6, 2021 Electoral College certification. Whether or not any of the Jan. 6 rabble rousers thought they’d stop the certification or not, doesn’t mean Trump participated or directed any of the mayhem. Special Counsel Jack Smith concludes that because Trump didn’t’ wave a magic wand to stop the riots on Jan. 6, he somehow planned and orchestrated the riots. FBI officials confirmed that whatever happened on Jan. 6, it was planned for months, giving authorities plenty of time to prepare for possible violence. Yet the D.C. and Capitol police couldn’t contain rioters from breaking in and vandalizing the Capitol. How the Colorado Supreme Court concludes that Trump ordered the insurrection is the same twisted logic as the Jan. 6 House Select Committee, concluding that Trump planned-and-orchestrated the Jan. 6 riots for the purpose to interfering with the Electoral College vote certification.
Trump told 64-year-old former Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to certify the Electoral College vote, wrongly concluding that Pence played anything but a ceremonial role. Trump’s misinformation about the VP’s rule in the Electoral College vote certification does not mean that Trump played any role in the Jan. 6 mayhem. Trump’s detractors, trying to use Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, don’t have the facts to prove their case. So, when Trump says he’s immune to prosecution, there’s nothing Chutkan can do now to try Trump on her schedule. However the Circuit Court rules, Trump will surely appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, further delaying the trial. Smith told the Supreme Court to intervene without letting the case go to the Circuit Court. When the Supreme Court refused to hear Smith’s urgent request for review, Chutkan knew the Peoples’ case against Trump could be delayed until after the Nov. 3 presidential election.
Asking for his emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to bypass the Circuit Court, Smith knew that his political agenda of stopping Trump’s run against 81-year-old President Joe Biden was now in jeopardy. Smith sensed the urgency because he feared Trump could delay the trials indefinitely, especially if he beat Biden in November. Whatever problems Smith has with Chutkan, he faces even bigger challenges sticking to a calendar on his case of Mar-a-Lago classified documents. Smith showed egregious Democrat bias against Trump, saying in filing the case against Trump that he endangered U.S. national security retaining old, worthless classified docs in White House moving boxes in Trump Mar-a-Lago basement. No one with any sense of fairness believes that Trump endangered anything in his Mar-a-Lago basement. Judge Eileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, has no intent to letting Smith railroad her in her South Florida federal court.
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.
