(PS) Trump is pardoning Bannon for an unrelated offense—i.e., not insurrection-related—but remember how Trump operates: he buys loyalty, silence, and stories to law enforcement that are favorable to him via official actions like this one. And that's not the worst of it, either.
(PS2) If you've read the Mueller and SSCI reports, you know Bannon likely lied to federal investigators about how his—and Prince's—cells came to be so synchronously wiped. And lied about his contact with Prince. So Trump *knows* he can bribe Bannon to lie about the insurrection.
(PS3) Those who haven't made a study of Trump's history of bribery—I wrote a book on the subject in 2020—will think this is "Trump being loyal to someone who was loyal to him." No. Trump doesn't work that way. This was a *transaction*, period. Bannon is a potential co-defendant.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Graham just told Hannity that if the Senate GOP has the votes to dismiss the new impeachment article, House managers shouldn't be allowed to make their case and the article should be dismissed. If they *don't* have the votes, he says Trump gets weeks to prepare. See how it works?
Graham also—though he's a former prosecutor—said it was astonishing that in America a man would be indicted before he has a lawyer.
Fun fact: almost everyone in America who gets indicted gets indicted before they have a lawyer.
So why is a lawyer lying to America about the law?
I normally wouldn't mention this because I don't really care, but I have to say that Graham looked manifestly unwell during his appearance on Hannity just now. He looked pale and withdrawn and honestly a little bit like a vampire. I just don't know what is going on with that man.
I think some people are under the impression that Trump's pardons/commutations weren't that bad. Look again:
Flynn
Stone
Manafort
Bannon
Broidy
Kushner's dad
Jeanine Pirro's ex-husband
Rep Cunningham (R)
Rep Renzi (R)
Rep Hunter (R)
Rep Hayes (R)
Rep Collins (R)
Rep Stockman (R)
(PS) My research indicates Eric and Ivanka had no clear need for a pardon. Don had reason to think he didn't need one due to the Mueller Report. Trump was convinced a self-pardon would be invalidated. The only surprise omissions were Giuliani and Prince—and they can be explained.
(PS2) Trump was, by mid-January, livid at Giuliani for failing to overturn the election, and was refusing to pay Rudy's legal bills. Prince is—for now—only facing a referral for lying to Congress that DOJ hasn't acted upon. His other crimes Trump doesn't want to list in a pardon.
(PROOF) As a Trump presidential biographer, I published three bestselling books about the Trump administration. Now I'm taking a look forward at what comes next for Trump. This article is for full subscribers to PROOF—so I hope you'll consider subscribing! sethabramson.substack.com/p/four-possibl…
PS/ Some wonder, should we care what Trump does next? Answer: yes. He's the head of the GOP. He'll decide who the 2024 GOP candidate is. He may end the GOP via a third party. He may run for POTUS in 2024. He may continue to foment insurrection. He could start a political dynasty.
PS2/ Moreover, everyone agrees that Trumpism will continue; will define the GOP; and that Trump is its fount. So as much as we'd like to say he'll never again be relevant to us, the extraordinarily sad truth is that he remains more relevant than any ex-president of our lifetimes.
1/ I'm not sure how to think through writing about this. On the one hand, the video is secretly recorded; on the other hand, potential abuse should never be treated as a "private matter." On a third hand, Conway daily enabled a man I consider to have killed hundreds of thousands.
2/ This is the video I was reacting to when I said "yikes." I know there are other videos.
What the ProPublica videos establish is that the crowd descended on the Capitol on the northwest side. That's the part of the building closest to where Trump spoke. Alex Jones told people to go to the front, as Trump would be there. That's where the first major breaches occurred.
Watching these videos, it's increasingly hard for me to see how Alex Jones avoids getting arrested by federal law enforcement. That's significant, given that not only was Jones *directing traffic* during the insurrection but claimed on video to be *in touch with the White House*.
In a video, Jones claimed the Secret Service escorted him from the Trump speech so that he could lead the march to the Capitol. We now know that when he got there he told the crowd that Trump was coming, and directed where they should march. Breaches then occurred at those spots.