Thread by @NormEisen

What to make of the 1/6 committee report that dropped last night?

I was live on CNN for real-time reaction about the takeaways & surprises

A thread

1. First, last, and foremost, Trump committed crimes…

2. Take for example the contrast b/w one of the new things we learned:

The national guard commander wanted to deploy on his own & Trump’s 187 minutes of inaction

3. Here's a screenshot of Major General Walker's statements

4. Trump couldn’t count on the military on 1/6--instead, we had an attempted coup by lawyers

The 1/6 comm.'s report gave us new details about those individuals, including about lesser-known lawyer Ken Cheseboro

5. Here's a screenshot the report's discussion of those Cheseboro communications

6. Reading the full report w/ the ES, it’s clear that the main focus of the criminal referrals are 4 lawyers—Eastman, Clark, Giuliani & Cheseboro—plus 2 “client" coup plotters—Trump & Meadows

That disciplined, short list is what the comm. is encouraging a prosecutorial focus on

7. By the way the potential lawyer liability didn't stop on 1/6

The comm. also unearthed extremely disturbing details of Passantino's representation

@waltshaub had a good thread on this pointing out some troubling similarities to how mob lawyers operate

https://twitter.com/waltshaub/status/1606330345137348612?s=20&t=Os2N-oJcslLUTy3BhWrEpA

8. Besides possible criminal referrals/investigations

The report also talks about a number of OTHER accountability measures

I discussed w/ @thelauracoates @harrylitman

9. First, when you put the new recommendations section together w/ the criminal referrals, it’s clear they’re saying Trump should be disqualified under Section 3 of the 14A

I've written about disqualification extensively @POGOwatchdog 👉 pogo.org/report/2022/11…

10. & also in multiple pieces for @nytopinion nytimes.com/2022/10/14/opi…

nytimes.com/2022/12/19/opi…

11. Also, @CREWcrew, which I am proud to say I co-founded, my former colleagues WON one of these disqualification cases this year citizensforethics.org/news/press-rel…

12. As I explained to @thelauracoates on @CNNTonight, I think we’re going to see disqualification efforts against Trump from coast to coast

The committee seems to invite it 👇

13. Next?

Bar referrals

The comm. writes that lawyers shouldn't "use their law licenses to undermine the constitutional & statutory process for peacefully transferring power in our gov't."

We’ve urged the same @statesunited👇
statesuniteddemocracy.org/wp-content/upl…

14.H/t @tribelaw for noting critical email from our Chesebro ethics complaint not in the report, his email that SCOTUS intervention would “become more favorable if the justices start to fear that there will be ‘wild’ chaos on 1/6 unless they rule by then…”ldad.org/wp-content/upl…

15. That 12/24/20 Cheseboro email and much else will undoubtedly be released in the days ahead as the committee follows through on posting all of its transcripts & evidence for posterity.

But...

16. Here are some things that are not in the report just b/c the committee didn’t have the investigative powers to get them

DOJ does & must probe—Trump confidant Roger Stone’s connection w/ the militias & whether he was a conduit to Trump or Trump World?

17. Exactly what went on in the Willard War Room & exactly how did it connect w/ Trump and Meadows?

18. What was the full extent of involvement of members of Congress in the insurrection, such as what were those papers that Meadows burned in his fireplace after Rep. Scott Perry (whose phone has been seized by the feds!) visited him?

19. Next, to lift us some notable (& fast!) analyses from today, @rgoodlaw & @justinhendrix had this great assessment in @justsecurity.

Of its many good points, I thought emphasizing the racist aspects of the insurrections & its run-up was striking justsecurity.org/84551/importan…

20. Meanwhile, @JRubinBlogger was at her usual incisive best in pointing out that “the most alarming information…cover[s] the right wing extremists" & Trump enabling them washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…

21. Other good rundowns of new material were by @kyledcheney politico.com/news/2022/12/2… AND …

22. @AaronBlake washingtonpost.com/politics/inter… …AND

23. @BillKristol commenting on the very good @lukebroadwater & Robert Draper behind the scenes look at the Committee’s operations

https://twitter.com/billkristol/status/1606308161723539460

24. But wait, there’s more! @JoyceWhiteVance Substack offers one of the more comprehensive analyses I’ve read, going chapter by chapter, including with a federal prosecutorial eye. She cautions that…

https://twitter.com/JoyceWhiteVance/status/1606236185054978048

25. “We get potential charges and the evidence for them, but we don’t get the arguments the defense would make. And we don’t know what different evidence…DOJ has in its possession. All that to say, it’s still difficult to assess whether we should expect a federal prosecution…”

26. Then there’s @harrylitman with what he tongue in cheek terms the “new art form” of a long Twitter thread ala yours truly (@renato_mariotti is my inspiration!). But Harry does me 1 better…no, 10 better by giving us a Top 10 list of new revelations (+2 points about the recs)

https://twitter.com/harrylitman/status/1606521830549983232