How can Donald Trump and his allies not realize that running away from transparency and cooperation with the investigation into the Capitol attack on Jan. 6th makes them look like a mob family thats covering-up their crimes? In a 2018 article, the Washington Post quoted Trump as saying, “The mob takes the Fifth,” after Hillary Clinton aides invoked their right against self-incrimination. “If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” At his first debate with Clinton he declared pleading the Fifth is “disgraceful.” The former president has always operated with one set of rules for himself, and a different set of rules for others. He defies subpoenas, abuses the court system by filing excessive, frivolous lawsuits to delay complying with justified investigations of his criminal behaviors, and spreads disinformation to promote political self-interests. When his opponents attempt the same behaviors, he whines, sues, threatens, and re-labels the behaviors as ” horrible”, “wrong” and “illegal.”
Trump has changed his position through the years on claiming the fifth amendment. In a Dec. 2021 article, Snopes reported Trump pled the first “in a divorce proceeding with former wife Ivana Trump to avoid answering over 100 questions.” In 1998 Trump said Bill Clinton “would have been better off if he had taken the fifth.” However, in 2014, in regards to Bill Cosby’s accusations of sexual abuse, Trump expressed a reversal of opinion. He said, “I am no fan of Bill Cosby but never-the-less some free advice — if you are innocent, do not remain silent. You look guilty as hell!” Anyone willing to research positions Trump has held through the years on a variety of issues will discover his opinions change based on what is most advantageous for himself. This fact is a reminder of a statement President Obama made about Trump in 2016 where he said “Trump is not an ideologue.” That is a diplomatic way of saying Trump doesn’t strongly care about any issue as much as he cares about his power, popularity, and money.
Why wouldn’t any former president fully cooperate to help learn everything about the how, why, and who answers to an invasion of the Capitol by rioters attempting to stop the certification of a legitimately elected U.S. president? Why wouldn’t Trump want to turn over records that could help the Jan. 6th committee discover how the insurrection was organized and funded? The pervasive opposition by Trump and his acolytes to cooperate with the investigation make them look guilty of having engaged in wrongdoing regarding the insurrection. The theatrics of defying subpoenas or pleading the fifth by a parade of Trump’s loyalists looks like a coordinated conspiracy to hide crimes possibly committed by Trump or members congress related to the Capitol attack.
Steve Bannon, a dangerous, admitted enemy of the American democracy has been criminally indicted by the DOJ for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena. Attorney John Eastman, a Trump attorney who penned a memo outlining a plan to use Vice President Mike Pence to legally overturn the electoral college vote and reinstate Donald Trump, the loser in the election, as president. Former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has reversed his decision to answer questions posed by the Jan. 6th Commission. The House has made a referral to the DOJ to consider criminally indicting Meadows for contempt of Congress. The number of men keeping silent and resisting transparency about what they know about the planning and funding of the insurrection is growing and their behaviors indicate, a Nixon- like Watergate scandal and cover-up is occurring in plain view. In Trump’s own words,”If you’re innocent, why are you taking the fifth amendment.”
Trump, if you’re innocent, why are you ordering your aides not to talk to the Jan. 6th Commission?” If you’re innocent, why are you desperately using the courts to block the release of White House records on and leading up to the insurrection?” Do you support future violent attacks on the Capitol as a method for your voters to support your wishes? Why haven’t you come out in full support of and compassion for the Capitol and DC police, who your supporters brutalized during the attack on the Capitol? As you said about Bill Cosby, ” your silence makes you look guilty.” What information are you desperately trying to hide because it suggests you have committed crimes against the United States?
