What Do We Do About People Who Act On A Belief In Trump's Lies?

Sometimes God Takes Care Of It For Us

Writing at Crooks and Liars today, Ed Scarce reported that Dick Farrel, a far-right West Palm Beach Hate Talk radio host who described vaccines as "poison" just over a month ago croaked after catching COVID. He used to brag "I am not vaccinated. I am not a sheep... I know I don’t need it nor ever will." Last month Farrel combined a number of far right conspiracy theories on his Facebook page to rant and rave: "Fauci, the power tripping lying freak named in the Trump lawsuit... Why take a vax promoted by people who lied 2 u all along about masks, where the virus came from, and the death toll?" Our country and the world are better off now without this loud-mouthed brainless Trumpist on the air spreading his-- and Trump's-- lies.

After Trump fired Attorney General Barr for not helping him steal the election, he appointed Jeffrey Rosen acting Attorney General, a way of circumventing the normal Senate constitutionally-mandated vetting and approval process. Trump was soon very disappointed that Rosen also refused to help him steal the election. This afternoon, the NY Times reported that on Friday, Rosen had a sudden two-hour meeting with the Justice Department inspector general and that today he provided closed-door testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Rosen, wrote Katie Benner, told the Justice Department and the congressional investigators that Jeffrey Clark, "one of his deputies tried to help Trump subvert the results of the 2020 election, according to a person familiar with the interviews."

Trump got so excited on finding someone who believed his Big Lie that he floated the idea of ousting Rosen and appointing Clark acting AG, specifically to steal the election. "[T]he plot, wrote Benner, "highlights the former president’s desire to batter the Justice Department into advancing his personal agenda... [Rosen] discovered that Clark "had been engaging in unauthorized conversations with Trump about ways to have the Justice Department publicly cast doubt on President Biden’s victory, particularly in battleground states that Trump was fixated on, like Georgia. Clark drafted a letter that he asked Rosen to send to Georgia state legislators, wrongly asserting that they should void Biden’s victory because the Justice Department was investigating accusations of voter fraud in the state. Such a letter would effectively undermine efforts by Clark’s colleagues to prevent the White House from overturning the election results, and Rosen and his top deputy, Richard Donoghue, rejected the proposal."

As details of Mr. Clark’s actions emerge, it is unclear what, if any, consequences he could face. The Justice Department’s inspector general could make a determination about whether Mr. Clark crossed the line into potentially criminal behavior. In that case, the inspector general could refer the matter to federal prosecutors.

Rosen has spent much of the year in discussions with the Justice Department over what information he could provide to investigators, given that decision-making conversations between administration officials are usually kept confidential.

Douglas Collins, a lawyer for Trump, said last week that the former president would not seek to bar former Justice Department officials from speaking with investigators. But Collins said he might take some undisclosed legal action if congressional investigators sought 'privileged information.'

Rosen quickly scheduled interviews with Congressional investigators to get as much of his version of events on the record before any players could ask the courts to block the proceedings, according to two people familiar with those discussions who are not authorized to speak about ongoing investigations.

He also reached out directly to Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department’s inspector general, and pledged to cooperate with his investigation, according to a person briefed on those talks.