No. of Recommendations: 6
The mens rea requirement for 1512(c) requires an intent to achieve specific results. For those who keeps laughing and saying the prosecution will never be able to prove former president Trump's intent, here you go (courtesy Teri Kanefield)...
First, his reason for interfering with the counting of the electoral votes is immaterial. "Why" doesn't matter. That is, even if he sincerely believed the election was stolen and pinkie swore 'hand to God' that Joe Biden lost the election, it wouldn't matter.
What matters is that he intended to disrupt the business of Congress.There is lots of evidence offered in the indictment that Trump intended to interrupt the workings of Congress. The DOJ secured text messages, emails, and the contents of private phone calls demonstrating that Trump knew Congress was poised to certify the election and declare Biden the winner -- and at the very least, Trump wanted to interrupt and delay the proceedings. Without this direct evidence, we would have to make assumptions from his behavior. But the DOJ has secured private correspondence that amounts to confessions and contemporaneous statements by eyewitnesses.Trump's own lawyer and other witnesses have stated that Trump wanted to pause the electoral counting for ten days to send the electors back to the states (well, only in the states he lost).
And even if Trump genuinely believed it was his job as president to correct the errors of the election, it still doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter why he approved the memo to appoint an alternate slate of electors. It only matters that he did these things with the intention to disrupt the January 6 proceeding.Teri Kanefield explains 18 USC 1512(k), the conspiracy statute, 18 U.S. Code § 241, Conspiracy against rights statute, and 18 USC 371, the Conspiracy to defraud the United States statute, and why Trump wasn't charged with inciting the insurrection here as well, with examples and good humor:
https://terikanefield.com/criminal-law-101-trumps-...Chesebro alternate electors memo:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/02/02/us/... 