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By: Real America News Updated 29 Sea 2022, 23: 23 pm EDT
A federal judge determined that it was “more likely” that former President Donald Trump violated the law when “corruptly tried to obstruct” Congress in their attempts to overturn the election results of 2020, in a noticeable failure of 44 pages,.
The court’s ruling narrowly focuses on a set of documents requested by the congressional committee investigating the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol. and has no direct legal consequences for Trump himself.
The finding could be rejected on appeal or contradicted by other judges hearing cases related to the Capitol riots.
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Even so, the ruling is consistent with a legal theory put forward by the House select committee that investigated on January 6 that Trump and others may have broken the law in their attempts to nullify the election.
“It’s hugely significant,” Jonathan Shaub, an assistant professor at the University of Kentucky School of Law, told NPR. “This is a thorough judicial analysis that I think is hard to ignore, and will lend some credence to the committee’s claims that there have been crimes.”
Shaub noted that the charge of obstructing an official proceeding, which the judge found Trump “probably” committed, was brought against many accused of the Jan. 6 riots.
The ruling arose from a dispute between pro-Trump lawyer John Eastman and the congressional committee. After the 2020 election, Eastman strategized legally and advised the Trump team on how to overturn the Trump election victory. President Biden, and met with Trump, then-Vice President Mike Pence and others at the White House.
Since then, the congressional select committee of January 6 has sought documents and testimony from Eastman related to this work, including issuing subpoenas. Eastman sued to block his release and claimed that some of his communications were protected by attorney-client privilege.
The judge in the case, Judge David Carter District Court of California largely rejected Eastman’s arguments and ordered that 100 of the 111 Documents in dispute will be delivered to the committee.
In one case, Carter, who was nominated for the position by former President Bill Clinton, found that attorney work product protection (which is similar to attorney-client privilege) did not protect a document from disclosure, due to what is known as the “law exception.” crime-fraud”. According to the law, that protection does not apply to communications made to promote a crime or current or future fraudulent activity,
in this case, the alleged attempts to obstruct Congress and nullify the election.
Carter described the Trump-Eastman plan as “a coup in search of a legal theory,” which “prompted violent attacks on our nation’s seat of government, led to the deaths of multiple law enforcement officers, and deepened public distrust in our political process ”. “
Even so, Carter made it clear that his ruling it would only directly affect these disputed documents.
“More than a year after the attack on our Capitol , the public still looks for responsibilities. This case cannot provide them,” Carter wrote. “This is not a criminal proceeding, it is not even a lawsuit for civil liability.”
The judge’s ruling concluded with a warning that the investigators must continue their examination of the January 6 attack to protect the rule of law in the United States.
It may interest you:
– Judge warns that Trump could have committed a crime by trying to block Biden’s victory
– Emails reveal Trump attorney knew plan to delay Biden certification was illegal
– Panel of the assault on the Capitol accuses Trump and his allies of possible “criminal conspiracy”