On January 6, 2021, just as he was about to supervise the counting of Electoral votes, our Vice President Mike Pence had to flee the Senate suddenly. He had to flee for his life. As donald trump’s attackers were threatening to hang him, Pence’s secret service protectors ushered him to a secure location where he remained, steadfast in his duty, until the danger had passed.
During those fateful January 6 hours of peril and uncertainty, our Vice President sought counsel from friends whose opinions he knew he could trust.
He called former Vice President Day Quayle for advice. He also called another good friend, one of our country’s most esteemed conservative jurists, Judge J. Michael Luttig. Both of them urged Vice President Pence to stay the course, which had already been Constitutionally set: the course of counting Electoral votes that had already been delivered to Congress by the fifty state legislatures.
Last year, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Select Committee, investigating the January6 insurrection, questioned former Judge Michael Luttig about the events surrounding that fateful day.
I remember, vividly, watching Judge Luttig’s testimony on that day. Among his many statements, was this one:
“ Today, almost two years after that fateful day in January 2021, still, donald trump and his allies and supporters are a clear and present danger to American democracy.”
Now, just this week, Washington Post editor David Shipley interviewed Judge Luttig. I watched and listened on Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecjvi8XtM00
Here are few notable words of experienced judicial wisdom from Judge Luttig:
“ The former president forced this indictment, this prosecution, this trial, on the nation for his own personal and political ambitions.”
“ Had Jack Smith charged the former president with . . . insurrection against the United States, he would have been met with a President defense under the first amendment. As it was, Jack Smith scrupulously wrote the indictment around any possible 1st amendment defence that the former President could have. In the language of the Law, . . . the former President now stands charged only with conduct that offends federal criminal statutes. The indictment makes crystal clear in its opening paragraph that the President was not being charged in any way whatsoever with regard to his 1st amendment rights to speak.”
(I added the bold type for emphasis.)
Sure enough, if you read the Introduction in the indictment document, you will read that paragraph 3 states:”
3. The Defendant had a right, like every American, to speak publicly about the election and even to claim, falsely, that there had been outcome-determinative fraud during the election and that he had won. He was also entitled to formally challenge the results of the election through lawful and appropriate means.”
Furthermore, we see in the Justice Department’s indictment: donald trump’s speeches and public announcements are not the basis for his criminality. Rather, trump’s rebellious criminality will be exposed by prosecutors presenting evidence of his criminal actions, not his rebellion-inciting public speeches.
It's plain to see, donald trump acted rebelliously. He instigated a criminal conspiracy against us, the voters of the United States. This treason will be proven, even without presenting all the evidence of his verbal poison.
Furthermore, in the big picture, looking ahead, we read in our US Constitution, Amendment XIV, Section 3:
"No person shall . . .hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, who . . . having previously taken an oath, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion . . ."
donald's lawyers won't be calling in an insurrection, but that's what it was. People died at our Capitol on that day. Even so, Vice President Pence was able to complete his Constitutional duty in spite of being issued a death sentence by the trumpian mob.
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