- I. Factual Background
The events surrounding the impeachable conduct occurred in plain sight, unfolded in real time, and demonstrate unequivocally that President Trump incited an insurrection that did harm to our national interest. President’s Trump conduct on January 6, 2021 was not an isolated event. It spanned months, escalating after it became clear that he lost his bid for re-election, and culminating in the final rallying cry immediately preceding the insurrection that occurred. President Trump continued this course of conduct while the violence was ongoing and has, since that time, shown no remorse.
On the basis of these facts, it is indisputable that President Trump committed “high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” The evidentiary record available to date bearing on this conduct is set forth in the Appendix.
- A. Conduct Leading Up to January 6, 2021
In the months leading up to January 6, 2021 President Trump engaged in a course of conduct designed to encourage and provoke his supporters to gather in Washington, D.C. and obstruct the process of the electoral votes that would confirm his defeat. That conduct spanned months and included frivolous and harassing lawsuits, direct threats to state and local officials, and false public statements to his supporters, all in an effort to incite his supporters into believing it was their patriotic duty to attack Congress and prevent the peaceful transition of power.
In the aftermath of the 2020 election, President Trump took aggressive steps to overturn its outcome and undermine public confidence in the results. The President and his allies filed sixty-two separate lawsuits across federal and state courts contesting every aspect of the election.[1] Every single lawsuit was dismissed, with the exception of one in Pennsylvania regarding ballot curing, and, even there, the court ruling did not in any way change the outcome of the election results in that state.[2] The President and those associated with him continue to press their increasingly baseless claims long after their factual and legal contentions had been repeatedly dismissed. These frivolous lawsuits were used by President Trump and his allies, not to identify legitimate concerns, but to undermine confidence in the results of the election, spread dangerous disinformation, and stoke false and wild conspiracy theories.
President Trump also asked his own Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate allegations of election fraud in an effort to change the outcome. At his direction, Attorney General William P. Barr authorized prosecutors “‘to pursue substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities prior to the certification of elections in your jurisdictions in certain cases,’ particularly where the outcome of an election could be affected.”[3]
- ↑ William Cummings, et al., By the numbers: President Donald Trump's failed efforts to overturn the election, USA Today (Jan. 6, 2021).
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ Matt Zapotosky & Tom Hamburger, Federal prosecutors assigned to monitor election malfeasance tell Barr they see no evidence of substantial irregularities, Wash. Post (Nov. 13, 2020).
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