Trump Looking at Plans Drawing
Washington (CNN)A conservative lawyer working with so-President Donald Trump'south legal team tried to convince and so-Vice President Mike Pence that he could overturn the election results on January half-dozen when Congress counted the Electoral Higher votes by throwing out electors from seven states, co-ordinate to the new volume "Peril" from Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.
The scheme put forward by controversial lawyer John Eastman was outlined in a 2-page memo obtained by the authors for "Peril," and which was afterward obtained by CNN. The memo, which has not previously been made public, provides new particular showing how Trump and his team tried to persuade Pence to subvert the Constitution and throw out the ballot results on Jan vi.
The endeavour to sway Pence was just ane of several behind-the-scenes attempts that Trump's team undertook ahead of January six in a desperate bid to overturn the 2020 election loss, later dozens of lawsuits were thrown out of the courts. "Peril," which will exist released Tuesday, details how Eastman's memo was sent to GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and how Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani tried to convince young man Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of Due south Carolina of election fraud. Merely both Lee and Graham scoffed at the arguments and found they had no merit.
"You might as well make your instance to Queen Elizabeth Ii. Congress can't do this. You're wasting your time," Lee said to Trump'southward lawyers trying to overturn the results in Georgia, according to the book.
The Eastman memo laid out a six-step plan for Pence to overturn the election for Trump, which included throwing out the results in seven states considering they allegedly had competing electors. In fact, no land had really put forward an alternate slate of electors -- there were but Trump allies challenge without any dominance to be electors.
Nether Eastman's scheme, Pence would have declared Trump the winner with more Electoral Higher votes after the seven states were thrown out, at 232 votes to 222. Anticipating "howls" from Democrats protesting the overturning of the election, the memo proposes, Pence would instead say that no candidate had reached 270 votes in the Electoral College. That would throw the ballot to the House of Representatives, where each state would become one vote. Since Republicans controlled 26 state delegations, a majority could vote for Trump to win the ballot.
The plan was start proposed to Pence when Eastman was with Trump in the Oval Office on Jan four, during one of Trump'south attempts to convince Pence that he had the authority to terminate the certification of the election.
"You really need to heed to John. He'due south a respected constitutional scholar. Hear him out," Trump said to Pence at that meeting, Woodward and Costa write in "Peril."
In the memo, Eastman went and so far equally to suggest Pence should have action without warning.
"The chief affair here is that Pence should do this without asking for permission -- either from a vote of the joint session or from the Court," Eastman wrote. "The fact is that the Constitution assigns this power to the Vice President as the ultimate arbiter. We should have all of our actions with that in mind."
In the cease, Pence didn't go along with Eastman'due south scheme, last that the Constitution did not give him any power beyond counting the Balloter College votes. He did his own consultations before January 6, co-ordinate to the book, reaching out to one-time Vice President Dan Quayle and the Senate parliamentarian, who were both clear in telling him he had no potency beyond counting the votes.
When Pence refused to intervene, Trump turned on his vice president, attacking him on Twitter fifty-fifty every bit the insurrection at the Capitol was unfolding on January 6.
The memo could be of interest to the House select commission now investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol, which recently requested documents from the National Archives that specifically included communications involving Eastman.
"Information technology shows intent, a sophisticated plan, a design to illegally and unconstitutionally overturn and steal the election" by Trump and his squad based on imitation and misleading information and legal arguments, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN.
'Lee's head was spinning'
Eastman spoke at the Jan 6 rally that preceded the assault on the Capitol. He retired from his position every bit a professor at Chapman University a week after January vi, which occurred amid protests from faculty at the Southern California academy over his participation in Trump'south efforts to overturn the ballot.
Eastman told the Washington Postal service that his memo only "explored all options that had been proposed." In an interview on Tuesday, Eastman told CNN that the two-page memo had been only a preliminary draft. He provided CNN with a longer half-dozen-folio memo laying out numerous other scenarios for Pence to follow on January 6. Eastman told CNN that during the January 4 meeting he'd had in the Oval Office with Trump and Pence, he had told Pence he should but delay certifying votes in the 7 states, not attempt to throw the election to Trump.
The reality, withal, is that a filibuster was simply another avenue to terminate Biden from taking part.
Eastman said he had told Pence it was an open question whether he had the say-so to unilaterally set aside slates of electors, only that it would be "foolish" to practice that power because state legislatures had not certified the alternate slates put frontward by Trump allies.
Every bit role of the efforts of Trump'south team to convince Congress not to certify the election, the initial two-page Eastman memo was given to Lee, one of the Senate's top Republican constitutional regime. At the same time, Giuliani sent multiple memos to Graham trying to convince him that the claims of election fraud coming from Trump's squad were legitimate.
The memos show how fifty-fifty some of Trump's closest allies balked at the measures Trump'south team was taking behind the scenes to try to overturn his loss to Biden. But while Lee and Graham heard out the cases from Trump's lawyers, they soundly rejected their claims, Woodward and Costa write.
Lee was shocked past the claims the memo was making, since no state had considered, let solitary put forrard, whatever alternating slates of electors. "Lee's head was spinning," the authors write. "No such procedure existed in the Constitution, any constabulary or past exercise. Eastman had apparently fatigued it out of thin air."
Lee also dismissed the Trump team'southward arguments that it had a case to overturn the ballot results in Georgia, saying they had to exist made in courtroom.
'Tertiary grade'
Woodward and Costa also obtained several memos Giuliani sent to Graham to try to convince him of ballot fraud in Georgia and other states. CNN has likewise obtained those memos.
The authors write that on January 2, Giuliani briefed Graham at the White Firm. Giuliani presented a statistical analysis arguing Biden'southward win was impossible, simply Graham dismissed Giuliani's evidence every bit besides abstruse. "Give me some names. Y'all demand to put it in writing. You need to evidence me the prove," Graham said, according to the book.
Giuliani then sent Graham several memos and affidavits claiming fraud. Only when Graham's master Judiciary Committee counsel Lee Holmes went over the claims, he establish they were sloppy, overbearing and "added upward to nothing," Woodward and Costa write. "Holmes reported to Graham that the data in the memos were a batter, with a bullying tone and eighth grade writing."
"Third grade," Graham responded, according to the volume. "I tin can get an affidavit tomorrow saying the world is flat."
Giuliani did not respond to a asking for comment.
Trump has connected to button groundless claims that the ballot was stolen from him. Last week, he sent a new letter to Georgia Secretarial assistant of State Brad Raffensperger claiming he should start the process of decertifying the 2020 election.
Criminal investigators in the country have been investigating Trump's efforts to overturn Georgia'due south 2020 election results, including an infamous telephone call Trump made to Raffensperger in which Trump urged the secretary of state to "detect" more than eleven,000 votes that Trump needed to win.
Graham as well made a phone telephone call to Raffensperger, which is function of the Fulton Canton district attorney's probe. Graham has said his call was to sympathize the process of verifying signatures on mail-in ballots.
This story has been updated with a full version of the memo from Eastman.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/20/politics/trump-pence-election-memo/index.html
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