News Roundup: Trump Accountability

This week, the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack released its much-anticipated final report on its findings — and voted to refer former President Trump to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution.

Many of the committee’s conclusions had already been previewed during the months of public hearings. This included its finding that Trump had corruptly pressured state officials, the Justice Department, and Vice President Pence to abet his effort to overturn his election loss — despite being told by several top advisers that his claims of widespread fraud were false. 

• The committee made a number of recommendations in its final report, including that Congress consider barring Trump from holding future office under the 14th Amendment’s ban on insurrectionists.
• An overhaul of the Electoral Count Act to prevent a future Jan. 6 was also recommended. This week, the Senate passed its version as part of the spending bill; the House has already passed its own.

A major focus of the committee’s investigation was the scheme — which the committee said Trump “oversaw” — to submit fake electoral slates to prevent the congressional certification of Biden’s electoral win.

• American Oversight first obtained the fraudulent certificates in March 2021, which drew renewed attention in January of this year. 
• Records we’ve obtained through our investigation of ongoing election denial activism show that several of the false electors have been involved in partisan and problematic election investigations in several states — investigations that have served to perpetuate lies about election integrity and undermine faith in democracy.

The committee also highlighted Trump’s failure to call for an end to the violence on the afternoon of Jan. 6, refusing repeated requests that he tell his supporters to peacefully leave the Capitol, as well as his failure to direct deployment of the National Guard.

• While the committee found no evidence that the Pentagon’s slow mobilization of the National Guard was intentional, there were a number of questions about what accounted for the delay in deployment.
• This summer, we published a comprehensive, minute-by-minute timeline of the events of that day, based on records we obtained, public reporting, and evidence released by the committee.
• You can read more here about what we uncovered in our investigations and how it aligns with the committee’s findings.

In the days before the full report’s publication on Thursday night, new facts came to light when the committee released more than three dozen witness transcripts.

• Many of the transcripts show top Trump allies like lawyer John Eastman and former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark invoking their Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination.
• The transcript of Cassidy Hutchinson, the former aide to Mark Meadows, provided additional context to allegations made by the committee about witness tampering: “The less you remember, the better,” White House ethics lawyer Stefan Passantino told her, according to her testimony.

Trump Taxes
Trump’s attempt to overturn democracy wasn’t the only glaring spotlight on him this week. The House Ways and Means Committee voted to publicly release the former president’s long-obscured tax returns.

• In a report, the committee said that Trump paid $1.1 million in taxes during his presidency, but nothing in 2020. 
• What drew even more attention in the report was the fact that the IRS had failed to audit Trump in 2017 and 2018 — despite a mandate that sitting presidents be audited.
• American Oversight previously sued the IRS for records that could reveal whether Trump or top officials interfered in the audit process, including communications with IRS officials about any Trump audits; IRS political appointees’ communications with Treasury officials about any audits; and more. And last month, we sued the agency for Trump political appointees’ communications about former FBI Director James Comey and his deputy Andrew McCabe, perceived political enemies whom Trump had reportedly wanted to be investigated.

Other Stories We’re Following

Jan. 6 Investigation

• In testimony, Hannity and other Fox employees said they doubted Trump’s fraud claims (New York Times)
• Publix heiress was willing to spend $3 million on Jan. 6 rally, documents show (Washington Post)
• Trump aide testified he saw Trump ‘tearing’ documents; Meadows also once told him, ‘Don’t come into the room’ (CBS News)

Election Denial

• No evidence of misconduct in first day of Kari Lake election-challenge trial (Arizona Republic)
• Mark Finchem’s ‘frivolous’ bid to overturn the election is booted from court (Arizona Mirror)
• As Republicans inch away from election denialism, one activist digs in (Washington Post)

Voting Rights 

• Florida’s effort to charge 20 people with voter fraud has hit some roadblocks (NPR)
• North Carolina court strikes down voter ID as intentional racial discrimination (Washington Post)

Trump Administration Accountability

• Skepticism before a search: Inside the Trump Mar-a-Lago documents investigation (Washington Post)
• While advising Trump on judges, Conway sold her business to a firm with ties to judicial activist Leonard Leo (Politico)
• Inside Mar-a-Lago, where thousands partied near secret files (New York Times)

In the States

• DeSantis lays out ‘blueprint’ to elect more conservatives on school boards (Politico)
• DeSantis appoints ousted Hillsborough judge to new appeals court (Tampa Bay Times)
• Arizona agrees to dismantle border wall made from cargo containers (New York Times)
• Texas green-lit a felon to train school board members. Now education officials are examining their rules (Texas Tribune)

National News

• Postal Service will electrify trucks by 2026 in climate win for Biden (Washington Post)
• Pandemic response gets a permanent new home at the White House (Stat News)
• Report: Intelligence agencies didn’t move fast enough to collect Covid data (Politico)
• Covid-19 and overdose deaths drive U.S. life expectancy to a 25-year low (Politico)
• Chief Justice Roberts briefly halts decision banning border expulsions (New York Times)
• Migrants remain in limbo as border health restriction’s future remains uncertain (Arizona Republic) 
• DHS accidentally informed Cuba that deportees had sought protection in U.S. (Los Angeles Times)