During his testimony last week at the Jan. 6th Committee hearing, retired conservative appeals court judge Michael Luttig referred to Donald Trump and his allies as ” a clear and present danger to the American democracy.” Luttig is a legendary, highly renowned conservative judge revered by his party. John Eastman, the Trump attorney who developed the plan to overturn Biden’s presidential victory, once clerked for judge Luttig. In a June 16 article by NPR, the former judge called Eastman’s legal opinion on the election “wrong at every turn.” The article also cites Judge Luttig’s criticism of another former clerk, Senator Ted Cruz, for his support of Trump’s plot to refuse to have the election certified. Judge Luttig is known for being a super- conservative and his opposition to Trump has many Republicans listening to his warnings about the ” big lie” and MAGA politics. The NPR article cited the two reasons why Luttig broke with his party’s supportive stance on Trump and the lie of a stolen election. They are:
- the Republican National Committee’s resolution calling people associated with fake electors as engaging in “legitimate political discourse” and its censuring Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for their roles on the House panel;
- and Trump’s public attacks on Pence for saying he couldn’t overturn the election and on Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell over his criticism of the RNC.
The hearings continue to reveal evidence of the crimes Trump committed during and leading up to Jan. 6th. They include:
- oversaw and coordinated” an unlawful plan to overturn the 2020 election
- Defrauded his voters to donate to the Election Defense Fund which doesn’t exist
- Perpetuated a fraud against the United States by knowingly lying about the election being stolen from him
- Asked election officials in Georgia to find him enough votes to overturn the Georgia election in his favor
The witnesses in the Committee hearings are all distinguished career Republicans who recognize that Trump is corrupt and dangerous. This investigation is not a democratic witchhunt. Instead, it is a bipartisan attempt to stop the scam and to neuter the power of Trump and his base of voters who have turned against democracy and support the transformation of America to an autocracy (as long as the dictator is Trump). Thankfully, we are watching the slow but inevitable fall of Trump at the hands of his former political allies.
