GQP Congressional Coup Plotter Co-Conspirators Identifed In Tuesday’s January 6 Hearing

There has been much reporting about the “craziest Trump meeting of his presidency” on December 18, 2020, involving Rudy Giuliani, Sydney Powell, Ret. Gen. Michael Flynn, and former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne. Inside ‘craziest Trump meeting of his presidency’: Oval Office ‘clash’ over election fraud claims ran past midnight, involved Sidney Powell, Mike Flynn and Giuliani, and led to ‘challenges to physically fight’, January 6 testimony reveals.

But the meeting which has not received nearly enough attention from the media occurred a few days later on December 21, 2020 with the Coup Plotter co-conspirator Republican members of Congress. Here are the 10 GOP members of Congress implicated in Tuesday’s Jan. 6 hearing:

Multiple Republicans currently serving in Congress where named during Tuesday’s televised hearings by the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack at the U.S. Capitol.

(Begins at 2:30 mark into the video)

“Another part of the president’s strategy involves certain members of Congress who amplified his unsupported assertions that the election had been stolen,” Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) said. “In the weeks after the election, the White House coordinated closely with President Trump’s allies in Congress to disseminate his false claims and to encourage members of the public to fight the outcome on Jan 6. We know that the president met with various members to discuss Jan. 6 well before the joint session.”

“The president’s private schedule for Dec. 21, 2020 shows a private meeting with Republican members of Congress,” Murphy said. “We know Vice President Pence, chief of staff Mark Meadows and Rudy Giuliani also attended the meeting.”

She then started naming Republicans currently serving in Congress.

“At this point, you may recall testimony given in our earlier hearing by Richard Donoghue who said that the president asked the Department of Justice to say ‘that the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen,'” Murphy said. “According to White House visitor logs obtained by the committee, members of Congress present at the White House on Dec. 21 included Congressmen Brian Babin (R-TX), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Andy Harris (R-MD), Jody Hice (R-GA), Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Scott Perry (R-PA).”

“And Congresswoman-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) was also there,” she added.

Rep. Murphy referenced testimony from a earlier January 6 Committee hearing in which several of the Republican members of Congress in this meeting later requested  a preemptive pardon from Donald Trump, including Rep. Andy Biggs. Here are all the people who sought preemptive pardons from Donald Trump after the Capitol riot, per January 6 committee witnesses.

The committee has learned that these conversationes centered on the Vice President’s role in certifying the Electoral College vote, in what is known as the Eastman theory, i.e., lawyer John Eastman, the author of the “Coup Memos.”

White House Counsel Pat Cipolline confronted Eastman and said his theory was “nutty.”

Then on January 4, 2021 John Eastman had a meeting in the Oval Office with the president and vice president. White House Counsel Pat Cipolline tried to join the meeting, but was turned away. In deposition testimony he asserted the reason for this is privileged. (He does not identify the privlege).

I’m sorry, but it is the job of White House counsel to be present in this meeting.

Informed speculation here: Cipollone was turned away because he is not the president’s lawyer, but represents the presidency and safeguarding the Constitution. Trump and Eastman were discussing a crime against the Constitution, for which there is no attorney-client privilege under the crime-fraud exception. Cipollone would be required to testify about what transpired in that meeting, and Trump and Eastman both knew this. This is why Trump turned him away. Eastman has invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege. That only leaves Trump and Mike Pence who knows what transpired in that meeting.

Mike Pence must be compelled to testify by the January 6 Committee. While he did the right thing on January 6 and is to be commended for it, his act of patriotism was short-lived. Everything he has done since is an act of cowardice or political calculation, especially his not coming forward to voluntarily testify to the January 6 Committee, and to drive a stake through the heart of Donald Trump’s treasonous treachery.

It should be noted that Mike Pence wanted to get to “yes” in Donald Trump’s seditious conspiracy. But everyone he consulted, multiple lawyers and former Vice President Dan Quayle (yikes!), told him that he could not do what Trump and Eastman wanted him to do.

In the end Pence did the right thing, but Pence has legal exposure for having participated in the earlier Coup Plotting conspiracy. Conspiracy is an inchoate crime because it does not require that the illegal act actually have been completed. For most crimes, except conspiracy, a criminal defendant can establish the abandonment defense. Pence participated in conspiratorial meetings with Republican members of Congress who were Coup Plotter co-conspirators and with Coup Plotters Rudy Giualiani, John Eastman, Sydney Powell, Ret. Gen. Michael Flynn, and former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne. I’m guessing that Mike Lindell was also present at some point (he was at the White House with a plan to declare martial law and have the military seize voting machines).

If Mike Pence testifies, the halo that his aides have painted on him for his actions on January 6 will be tarnished. What did he know, and when did he know it? Why didn’t he notify anyone in law enforcement? Why didn’t he rake any actions to stop it ? (These questions also apply to all the White House lawyers who have testifed to date). There are no saints here, only sinners.