Trump’s indictment proceedings on August 1 were one of the many criminal investigations on the former president. Earlier this month, Donald Trump posted on the Truth Social media that he had received a Target Letter from the Department of Justice, informing him of an indictment hearing before the federal grand jury.
Jack Smith was appointed as the Special Counsel to investigate the charges of the instigation of capitol riots on January 6. These charges included lying about the fraud level in the election, pressuring officers to reverse his loss, bringing fraudulent electors to Congress, and disrupting the certification of President Biden’s win.
While presenting the indictment case, Smith revealed that Donald Trump was not the only person responsible for escalating the J6 riots. Trump being a sore loser, was not supported by his own administration staff.
Vice President Mike Pence, the director of national intelligence, Republican state officials and legislators, senior White House lawyers, senior members of his campaign staff, the Department of Homeland Security, and top Department of Justice leaders advised Trump not to proceed with his retaliation since there was no evidence of any election fraud.
But Jack Smith revealed in his indictment speech that a few yes-men co-conspired with the former president. Although no names were exposed directly, a few inferences can be made based on the vague descriptions.
Co-Conspirator 1: Rudy Guiliani
Description: “An attorney who was willing to spread knowingly false claims and pursue strategies that the Defendant’s 2020 re-election campaign attorneys would not.”
Conclusion: Rudy Guiliani was the former mayor of New York City and was later designated as the chief attorney for the Trump administration. He deliberately supported Trump’s claims of election fraud even though they were not backed by any evidence.
The indictment states, “When the Arizona House Speaker again asked Co-Conspirator 1 for evidence of the outcome-determinative election fraud he and the Defendant had been claiming, Co-Conspirator 1 responded with words to the effect of, ‘We don’t have the evidence, but we have lots of theories.'”
Allegedly, Guiliani pressured lawmakers in multiple states to overturn the election results on false fraud claims.
Co-Conspirator 2: John Eastman
Description: “An attorney who devised and attempted to implement a strategy to leverage the Vice President’s ceremonial role overseeing the certification proceeding to obstruct the certification of the presidential election.”
Conclusion: The Department of Justice alleged that Eastman was involved in forwarding memos. These acted as an accessory to pressure campaigns on Mike Pence.
The indictment highlights Eastman’s role in the January 6: “Though in the days after the election, Eastman advocated for Pence to defy his ceremonial duties, just two months earlier, he had written that neither the Constitution nor the Electoral Count Act permitted Pence any ability to decide the results of an election or ‘make that determination on his own.'”
Eastman’s attorney, Harvey Silverglate, defends his client with the statement.
“If you look closely at what Eastman did, it is not a crime,”
“He acted as a lawyer coming up with far-out theories. That’s our duty. The Constitution gives people a right to effective representation of counsel.”
Co-Conspirator 3: Sidney Powell
Description: “An attorney whose unfounded claims of election fraud the Defendant privately acknowledged to others sounded ‘crazy.’ Nonetheless, the defendant embraced and publicly Amplified Co-Conspirator 3’s disinformation.”
Conclusion: The indictment states, “Before the lawsuit was even filed, the Defendant retweeted a post promoting it.”
“The Defendant did this despite the fact that when he had discussed Co-Conspirator 3’s far-fetched public claims regarding the voting machine company in private with advisors, the Defendant had conceded that they were unsupported and that Co-Conspirator 3 sounded ‘crazy.'”
According to the investigation, Powell was alleged: “with the intention of misleading state senators into blocking the ascertainment of legitimate electors.”
Co-Conspirator 4: Jeffrey Clark
Description: “A Justice Department official who worked on civil matters and who, with the defendant, attempted to use the Justice Department to open sham election crime investigations and influence state legislatures with knowingly false claims of election fraud.”
Conclusion: The description matches Jeffrey Clark, the former Justice Department attorney. He aided Trump as attorney general to forward investigations into his unsubstantiated election fraud claims.
Co-Conspirator 5: Kenneth Chesebro
Description: “An attorney who assisted in devising and attempting to implement a plan to submit fraudulent slates of presidential elections to obstruct the certification proceeding.”
Conclusion: as per the description, it can be inferred that the fifth co-conspirator is Kenneth Chesebro, who was also involved in coordinating the fake elector scheme.
An Arizona attorney attested to his conversation with Chesebro in an email with–
“Kind of wild/creative – I’m happy to discuss. My comment to him was that I guess there’s no harm in it, (legally at least).”
He allegedly gave ideas on how fake electors could mimic legitimate electors.
Co-Conspirator 6: Unnamed political consultant
Description: “Co-Conspirator 6, a political consultant who helped implement a plan to submit fraudulent slates of presidential electors to obstruct the certification proceeding.”
Conclusion: Prosecutors stated on December 7, 2020, that Co-Conspirator 1 told Co-Conspirator 6 about attorneys “who could assist in the fraudulent elector effort in the targeted states, and he received from Co Conspirator 6 an email identifying attorneys in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.”
The indictment alleges that the political consultant has conspired to–
“Exploit the violence and chaos at the Capitol by calling lawmakers” and trying to convince them to delay the certification.
“Co-Conspirator 6 attempted to confirm phone numbers for six United States Senators whom Defendant had directed Co-Conspirator 1 to call and attempt to enlist in further delaying the certification.”
What is your take on these co-conspirators? Do you think they are involved in the J6 incident? Let us know in the comments section below.
