OFM Breaking News: August Issue Edition

January 6 Investigation Committee Releases New Evidence Against Trump Administration

The investigative committee charged with looking into last year’s Capitol riot conducted more than 1,000 interviews, collected more than 125,000 documents, wrangled uncooperative Trump allies, and found “previously unseen material” which they released during a series of televised hearings in June. 

In the first hearing on June 9, the panel delivered on its promise to shed light on Trump’s “coordinated, multi-step effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and prevent the transfer of power.” 

The two most pieces of evidence from that day were former Attorney General Bill Barr’s recollection, telling Trump that his election fraud case was “bullshit,” and a quote from a witness who says Trump responded to the mob’s “hang Mike Pence” chant by saying, “Maybe our supporters have the right idea. Mike Pence deserves it.”

The panel also released parts of Ivanka Trump’s testimony, in which she admita she believed Bill Barr’s claim that there was no voting fraud in the 2020 election. In addition, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was also told that there was no evidence of voting fraud.

In the months and weeks leading up to January 6, 2021, hundreds of republican officials, from Ivanka Trump to My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, sent messages to Meadows, urged the White House to ignore the will of American voters and overturn the election results. 

Thousands of messages to Meadows were turned over to the investigative committee. Of those revealed, the most shocking were from Ginni Thomas, republican activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Records show that Thomas texted Meadows 21 times, repeatedly pressuring him to work on overturning the 2020 election results.

“Sounds like Sidney (Powell) and her team are getting inundated with evidence of fraud. Make a plan. Release the Kraken, and save us from the Left taking America down,” Thomas says in one message.

Messages also suggests that Thomas spoke with her husband regarding their plans, who went on to make judgements in 2020 election-related cases.

If the deep-seated corruption throughout the republican party was not enough, the January 6 Committee also confirmed reports that Trump and his advisors pursued plans to seize voting machines after Election Day. 

On December 18, 2020, four conspiracy theorists, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn and lawyer Sidney Powell, met with Trump, according to Axios. They urged him to have the Pentagon seize voting machines and appoint Powell as special counsel to investigate voter fraud. However, Rudy Giuliani is said to have shot the idea down. But, at Trump’s direction, Giuliani then asked the Department of Homeland Security’s acting deputy director if his agency could seize the machines, to which the deputy director said no. 

In January, Politico published a never-issued draft executive order consistent with the Powell-Flynn plan. The outlet notes that the order would have given the defense secretary 60 days to write the assessment, which “suggests it could have been a gambit to keep Trump in power until at least mid-February of 2021.”

Other incriminating evidence presented by the committee included a seven-hour-and-37-minute blank in Trump’s call log during the Capital riot. The gap from 11:17 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. means that the committee does not know exactly who Trump was speaking to during these hours. 

The panel is now investigating whether Trump was using back channels of communication, such as phones of White House aides or even personal burner phones. One lawmaker on the panel says the committee is investigating a “possible coverup” of the official White House record from that day.

Other possible coverup methods brought to light were Meadows burning sensitive documents in a White House fireplace located in his personal office, as well as a story of Trump himself tearing up or even flushing documents down a White House toilet. 

All this culminated in the January 6 Committee wishing to subpoena the Trump-allied lawyer, John Eastman, who has yet to comply with previous subpoenas on the basis of attorney-client privilege.

“The Select Committee… has a good-faith basis for concluding that the President and members of his Campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States,” they write in a legal brief. 

The panel says in its filing that the court should reject Eastman’s claims of attorney-client privilege, citing an exception for when a client is involved in criminal activities.

“The Select Committee has responded to Dr. Eastman’s efforts to discharge this responsibility by accusing him of criminal activity,” they say, adding they will respond in due course.

OFM will continue to monitor the investigation into the January 6 riots and update readers in the coming months. 

Rogue Supreme Court Continues to Rule Against America’s Best Interests

Just as Denver was gearing up to celebrate this year’s PrideFest, the Supreme Court made good on their leaked decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark case protecting abortion rights. As legal experts and politicians warn of what could come next, the Supreme Court continues to make decisions against the desires of most American voters.

Just before overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court passed sweeping gun regulation allowing Americans the right to carry in public spaces. The ruling, pushed through by its conservative majority, struck down New York state’s limits on carrying concealed handguns outside the home.

The Court found that the law, originally enacted in 1913, violated a person’s constitutional right to “keep and bear arms,” per the Second Amendment. At the same time, Congress began to pass a bipartisan bill that would tighten background checks for would-be gun owners.

“This bipartisan legislation will help protect Americans. Kids in schools and communities will be safer because of it,” President Joe Biden says following the vote. “The House of Representatives should promptly vote on this bipartisan bill and send it to my desk.”

According to a recent Gallup poll, 66% of Americans want stricter gun laws, specifically surrounding the purchasing of a firearm. As a democrat-majority Congress passes stricter laws, the republican-led Supreme Court simultaneously made carrying a concealed weapon a constitutional right, illustrating the deep political divide facing our country today.

Another wildly unpopular decision from the Supreme Court was their overturning of the 50-year-old right to abortion. According to Gallup, 58% of Americans did not support the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. In addition, 56% of Americans are opposed to banning abortions after 18 weeks, and 58% are opposed to banning once a “fetal heartbeat” can be detected.

The Supreme Court made two hugely unpopular decisions in less than a week, but they didn’t stop there. On June 28, the Supreme Court ruled to block the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating greenhouse gasses from power plants.

The ruling effectively hinders America’s ability to combat climate change in a meaningful way. Beyond climate change, the ruling has far-reaching ramifications for the power of federal agencies to make policy decisions.

“The opinion is likely to severely restrict many federal agencies’ ability to issue health and safety regulations on issues involving the marketplace, involving consumer financial products, as well as issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which is ongoing,” says Blake Emerson, a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law.

Gallup again shows us that 53% of Americans believe that protecting the environment should be made priority over economic growth, highlighting the SCOTUS’s disfavorable decision streak.

Though the previous administration has been replaced by a marginally more liberal one, the ghost of Trump’s presidency continues to send ripple effects throughout the country through his appointment of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who gave the Court a republican majority.

Conservatives have lost the public debate on abortion, gun control, climate change, and marriage equality. Time and time again, voters have come out to make their voices heard on these issues; however, the Supreme Court does not have to campaign nor appeal to voters. The conservative-led Court can continue to pass laws and strip away rights that would never make it past the ballot box.

But not all hope is lost. The Constitution, of which the Supreme Court is the prime interpreter and guardian, gives Congress the power to decide how many justices sit on the SCOTUS. Adding justices, who would be appointed by President Biden, could level the Court to be more evenly split, and hopefully result in decisions that more closely reflect the average American’s opinions.

Whether the democrat-led Congress will do so, or continue to drag its feet while fundraising and campaigning on these issues as they’ve done for the last 50 years, remains to be seen.