In the widely publicized court case in Colorado in which Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and others have been hoping to apply restrictions on holding elected office from the Constitution’s 14th Amendment to Trump, trial Judge Sarah Wallace has rebuffed claims from Trump’s corner that he actually mass authorized troops for protection in D.C. before January 6. She found it not believable.
The insistence, if taken at face value, could be considered exculpatory for Trump… but there’s no apparent evidence for it! “His testimony regarding Trump authorizing 10,000-20,000 National Guardsmen is not only illogical (because Trump only had authority over about 2,000 National Guardsmen) but completely devoid of any evidence in the record,” Wallace wrote, discussing Trump ally Kash Patel, who appeared at the trial. Notably, she also rejected Patel’s characterizations of his interactions with the House committee that investigated the Capitol riot and preceding circumstances, finding a former lead investigator from that committee who also spoke at trial to be more credible.
“Further, his testimony regarding the January 6th Committee refusing to
release his deposition and refusing his request to speak at a public hearing was refuted
by Mr. Heaphy who was a far more credible witness,” Wallace said. She’s referring to Tim Heaphy, also a former U.S. Attorney.
The claims, which Trump himself has propagated, of a mass authorization for troops around January 6 by the then-president has also fallen apart in other manners. Trump has repeatedly pointed to supposed refusals to go along with his plans from leaders including Nancy Pelosi… but there’s evidently no clear legal pathway by which the Speaker of the House, the mayor of D.C., or any other governmental figure could just block the president from following through on plans to deploy the D.C. National Guard troops that did report more directly to him.
In his federal criminal case alleging conspiracies targeting the 2020 election, prosecutors have previewed evidence they say they have of what Trump was really doing in the Capitol as violence raged, including a span of television-watching.
