“Not indicting Mr. Trump in this context would mean that a president — who cannot be indicted during his tenure — literally finds himself above the law,” he wrote recently in the pages of the New York Times.
This could encourage a sense of impunity among future US presidents, including Donald Trump if he were to be re-elected in the next election. »
Concordance of times.
As the Watergate scandal — which brought down Richard Nixon — is now celebrating its 50th anniversary, one of the prosecutors who worked on this spectacular court case targeting an American president believes that another president of the United States should now be prosecuted and thrown in jail: Donald Trump.
According to Nick Akerman — that’s his name — the parliamentary committee tasked with investigating the attack on the Capitol has brought to light, for more than two weeks of public hearings, “enough” evidence for the populist to be prosecuted in court, particularly in relation to his attempt to appropriate Georgia’s Democratic vote to remain in power illegally.
“If I had to bet on one cause that could take Donald Trump to jail, it would be this one,” the former lawyer, a member of the Watergate Special Prosecution Force in the 1970s, said a few days ago on MSNBC.
On Tuesday, on the fourth day of its public hearings, the commission of inquiry into the January 6, 2021 uprising and the conspiracy that stoked this unprecedented attack on American democracy recalled the existence of the compromising phone call at the base of this whole affair.
Donald Trump then sought to convince Brad Raffensperger, Secretary of State of Georgia, to “find” 11,780 votes in favor of the populist to “reverse” the counting of the ballot boxes, which has confirmed Joe Biden’s victory for several weeks.
A blatant incitement to commit electoral fraud, formulated by a president in office, but to which the local elected official has never yielded. Despite relentless pressure from the ex-president and his entourage.
“The numbers are the numbers, and we couldn’t recount [the ballots] because we made sure we had verified every allegation” of fraud made without evidence by the Republican camp, Raffensperger told the committee.
“There were no ballots to find, the account was accurate, and it was certified.”
“Trump committed a crime punishable by three years in prison in Georgia,” Akerman said, recalling that “prosecutors love evidence recorded on magnetic tape because you can’t cross-examine it.”
During the Watergate era, Republicans stopped supporting Nixon after the discovery of audio recordings, the famous “White House tapes”, making it difficult to cover up the crime.
“Donald Trump has no defense in Georgia,” the former prosecutor added.