January 6 could be last-ditch, last-gasp ‘scam’

 

Bill Knight column for 12-31, 2020, 1-1 or 2, 2021   

 

Now that the drama about Washington’s long-awaited pandemic relief bill and budget resolution seems over, some may focus on the President’s veto of the Defense Authorization Bill (the first in decades), his continuing pardons, and his threats of war with Iran. But Americans shouldn’t overlook next week’s joint session of Congress, when the nation’s Electoral College results are officially tabulated.

Unlike past elections, the Jan. 6 session won’t be normal.

While Trump has been attacking Republicans in Georgia and other states, Senate Republicans, the Supreme Court (where he installed three conservative Justices to cement a conservative majority), plus his own Justice Department and – oh, yeah – the FBI, he and a handful of advisers and House Republicans have devised a three-part plan to overturn November’s election: a final appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, challenges to the Electoral College, and even a military-backed coup.

All that’s easier said than done in the world’s oldest democracy.

For now.

A post-election timeline of Trump’s dangerous shenanigans starts Dec. 14 with the Electoral College setting its official results: Joe Biden got 306 Electoral votes and Donald Trump 232. It continues:

* that same day, adviser Stephen Miller tells Fox News that an “alternate slate of Electors” in contested states will vote for Trump;

* Dec. 18: Trump meets with ex-general and fired national security head Michael Flynn to discuss the possibility of declaring martial law, having troops seize ballots, and re-running the vote in swing states where Trump lost;

* Dec. 20: Trump lawyers petition the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse Pennsylvania Supreme Court rulings on mail-in voting;

* Dec. 21: Trump and Vice President Mike Pence meet with dozens of House Republicans to plot challenges to the Electoral vote certification, a scheme spearheaded by U.S. Rep. Mo Brook, an Alabama Republican, after some 60% of House Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood of Illinois’ 18^th District, joined a legal brief supporting Texas’ doomed lawsuit trying to overturn other states’ results; and

* that same day Trump conferred with attorneys Rudy Guiliani, his personal lawyer, and Sidney Powell, a conspiracy theorist, about appointing a special counsel on voter fraud and other options.

 

Commenting on Miller’s strategy to prop up Electors not actually picked by voters, Ohio State law professor Ned Foley said, “They have no authority if they’re just saying they’re self-appointed. Even if they were appointed by the [state] legislature, it’s too late.”

Regarding the notion of ordering U.S. troops or federalizing the National Guard to seize ballots, military leaders and scholars alike point to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which states that military personnel aren’t required to follow illegal orders and, in fact, must disobey “flagrantly unlawful” orders.

U.S. Army General Mark Milley, Trump’s chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, “There’s no role for the U.S. military in determining the outcome of a U.S. election. Zero.”

Indeed, not all administration officials nor all Republicans agree with Trump’s unprecedented efforts to overturn Americans’ votes. Some White House officials vigorously oppose the various plans and Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger, a Kankakee Republican, on Sunday told CNN the effort is “a scam … to explain to people that somehow Congress can overthrow the certified results of every state, that we can change an election outcome when there was not a single court case that had any legs.”

Elsewhere, conservative Republican John Bolton, a former official with both Trump and George W. Bush, criticized the martial-law idea, saying, “This is appalling.”

Even Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell asked Senate Republicans to avoid House conservatives’ approach (which needs at least one Senator for the challenge to proceed).

Although all these plans are unlikely to succeed, they could spark violence outside the Capitol Jan. 6, when demonstrations Trump is promoting are set, and the weeks of actions could have political consequences for years – not just for Biden’s administration but for future elections.

Richard Painter, White House ethics lawyer for George W. Bush, reacted to Trump invoking martial law with a one-word response: “Treason.”

Stay tuned.