Donald Trump’s release in Senate impeachment lawsuit on “terrorist incitement” charge for his role in U.S. Capitol violence does not end potential accountability – or legal troubles – for the former president.
Trump’s actions and words led up to the deadly violence Jan. 6, in which protesters stormed the U.S. legislature as Congress met to test the impact of President Joe Biden’s election, which ‘get more bipartisan support for conviction than any previous Senate impeachment trial.
Since then legislators from both parties have quickly called on Congress to establish an independent commission, the same as the one created after the 9/11 attacks.
In particular, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, long regarded as one of Trump’s closest allies, suggested that such a commission is needed “to find out what happened and make sure it doesn’t happen. it again ”.
“His behavior after the election was over the top,” Graham, who voted to get Trump, told Fox News Sunday.
An independent commission, which must be created through legislation, could prove “what was known, who knew it and when they knew it, everything, because that builds the foundation so that this does not happen again ”, while taking away party political politics. , Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who voted to condemn Trump and was criticized by the party in Louisiana, told ABC News.
Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had already sent such a commission to colleagues before Trump was ousted, with several prominent Democrats in the Senate updating the putt as a result of the lawsuit.
In an interview with ABC News, Democratic Representative Madeleine Dean called for “an impartial, politically-led commission filled with people who would stand up to the confidence of conviction”.
Seen as time to reverse this call for a commission similar to 9/11 to study and tell the story of Jan 6. The rush impeachment test did nothing but scratch the surface. https://t.co/E13QfqPan7
– Richard N. Haass (@RichardHaass) February 15, 2021
The Democratic and Republican Democrats at two Senate committees – the Homeland Security Committee and Government Affairs and the Rules Committee – had previously announced plans to investigate the event.
In the House, where several committees are investigating the violence, Pelosi has also called on retired Lieutenant General Russel Honore to immediately review Capitol’s security process.
Criminal and civil woes
Trump could also be in serious trouble in any criminal cases that have been filed against him as local and federal authorities continue to investigate the violence, as well as civil cases that are brought against him. they were filed by those affected by the riot.
As a private citizen, Trump is no longer protected from legal liability, as he was when he was in office, and could be accused of inciting the riot. Such a federal prosecution would require prosecutors to prove that Trump knew that his words and actions would lead to violence – a high status established in a Supreme Court ruling in 1969 which overturned the conviction of leader Ku Klux Klan.
A Columbia District attorney general has also said his office was looking into whether Trump violated a local law that prohibits statements that incite people to violence. The charge is misconduct and will take up to six months in prison.
Working against Trump could be an impeachment test revelation when Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called on Trump in a media-mongered phone conversation to silence his supporters, Trump replied: “Well, Kevin, I think those people are more confused about the election than you are. “
Such an idea could be interpreted to show that Trump understood and determined the intent of the protesters. Statements from protesters themselves, some who have blamed Trump for what they did, could also work against the president.
Trump’s vulnerability to future condemnation was not recognized by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who delivered a blistering speech after voting to get Trump.
Pro-Trump protesters stormed the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, DC on Jan. 6 [File: Leah Millis/Reuters]
McConnell accused protesters of “hitting and bleeding our own police”, threatening to hunt down House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and “singing about the the assassination of the vice-president “because” they had been fed up with wild food by the most powerful man on Earth – because he was angry that he had lost an election “.
The Republican prime minister said he voted to get Trump solely because he believed in holding an impeachment lawsuit for president after they left office illegally. However, he added: “President Trump remains accountable for everything he has done while in office, as an ordinary citizen, unless the border legislation has passed.”
“He hasn’t gotten away with anything yet,” he said.
Past the capitol
Outside of Capitol violence, Trump continues with a bevy of potential legal troubles.
Prosecutors in Georgia recently opened a criminal investigation into Trump’s attempts to reverse election results in the state. That includes a Jan. 2 call in which Trump urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger “to find the votes needed to reverse Biden’s influence.
New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance has also led a year-long investigation that focuses, in part, on Trump’s money-laundering allegation payments to two women, and whether or not his businesses handled the funds to obtain favorable loan terms and tax benefits.
A decision is expected soon with the Supreme Court on whether Vance will receive eight years of Trump tax records and other financial information from the accounting firm Mazars.
Trump’s financial records – which have long been the subject of profiteering – could lead to further scrutiny and potential costs, depending on what they contain.
State Attorney General Letitia James has also launched a civil investigation into whether Trump’s businesses are fraudulently reducing property values.
Trump is also opposed to legal proceedings related to allegations of sexual misconduct and rape. Writer E Jean Carroll, who accuses Trump of raping her at a department store in New York in the 1990s, is currently facing a notorious lawsuit. She says Trump accused him of lying about the event to sell books. Trump has denied the allegations.
Summer Zervos, a former contestant on the Trump-hosted TV show The Apprentice, also accuses Trump of sexual misconduct, unwanted kissing and groping in a defamation lawsuit.