On CNN’s State of the Union this weekend, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) — a member of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot — insisted the committee can, in fact, prove that Trump knew he actually lost while claiming otherwise. Proving such a thing might help establish that the then-president acted with corrupt intent in nonetheless trying to secure a second term in office.
There’s another public hearing of Raskin’s panel planned for Monday morning, and Chris Stirewalt — who was a Fox News political editor when the network controversially but correctly called Arizona for Biden after Election Day — is set to testify. Asked if the riot committee can prove Trump knew he lost the presidential election despite claiming the opposite in public rants, Raskin said: “I think we can prove to any reasonable, open-minded person that Donald Trump absolutely knew. Because he was surrounded by lawyers, including the Attorney General of the United States, William Barr, telling him in no uncertain terms, in terms that Donald Trump could understand, this is BS. He heard it from the White House counsel. He heard it from all of the lawyers who threatened to resign if he staged his little mini-coup against the Department of Justice by installing someone that would go along with his fairy tale” regarding imaginary fraud. Check out Raskin’s remarks below:
Jamie Raskin on CNN says he thinks the January 6 committee can prove that Trump knew he lost the 2020 election while he was lying about it and trying to overturn the result pic.twitter.com/eeZG1q7r8n
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 12, 2022
On CNN, Raskin also addressed the question of the potential criminality of Trump’s actions. “There’s not a specific, statutory provision for [Congress] just referring [any] crimes to the Department of Justice. I suppose our entire investigation is a referral of crimes both to the Department of Justice and to the American people,” Raskin commented. Asked more directly if he believed Trump should, in fact, be charged, the Congressman indicated he didn’t want to put political pressure on interests at the Justice Department. “I think that [Attorney General Merrick Garland] knows, his staff knows, the U.S. Attorneys know what’s at stake here,” Raskin said. “They know the importance of it. But I think they are rightfully paying close attention to precedent and history as well as the facts of this case.” Raskin also referenced how the committee has already outlined its belief that specific criminal acts were committed amid Trump’s push to undo the election results. Check out those comments below:
"Do you believe the Justice Department should indict the former president?"@DanaBashCNN questions member of the House Select Committee investigating January 6 @RepRaskin about potential criminal charges against former President Trump over the Capitol attack. @CNNSotu #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/c14NvhGC8E
— CNN (@CNN) June 12, 2022
Trump, meanwhile, is himself paying close attention to what’s going on with the committee’s work. He continues to maintain that the 2020 presidential election was stolen — and he also continues to essentially provide excuses for what happened at the Capitol. Threats along these lines would be inherent in another Trump presidency. “The so-called “Rush on the Capitol” was not caused by me, it was caused by a Rigged and Stolen Election!” Trump said — so it sounds like he thinks the rioters had a point. “Why aren’t the Unselects bringing in the experts, of which there are many, to show how the Election was Rigged & Stolen?” Trump ranted in another post. “The reason can only be that the “Committee” knows it is unable to respond to the facts.” In other words, he’s pretty much as out of touch with reality as ever.