A John Eastman email to Rudy Giuliani contained an admission that Trump and his supporters found no evidence of election fraud.
“A lot of us have now staked our reputations on the claims of election fraud, and this would be a way to gather proof,” Mr. Eastman wrote in the previously undisclosed email, which also went to others, including a top Trump campaign adviser. “If we get proof of fraud on Jan. 5, it will likely also demonstrate the fraud on Nov. 3, thereby vindicating President Trump’s claims and serving as a strong bulwark against Senate impeachment trial.”
The email, which was reviewed by The New York Times and authenticated by people who worked on the Trump campaign at the time, is the latest evidence that even some of Mr. Trump’s most fervent supporters knew they had not proven their baseless claims of widespread voting fraud — but wanted to continue their efforts to delegitimize the outcome even after Mr. Biden had taken office.
The Eastman email is proof that Trump and his lawyers knew that there was no fraud, but they continued to perpetuate an act of fraud by attempting to overturn a legitimate election with a baseless claim. Emails such as the one reported above are why so many of the people who worked on Trump’s coup plot are under criminal investigation.
People like Eastman and Giuliani were not operating in good faith. They were looking for a justification to support their bogus fraud claims.
There was no fraud. Trump’s lawyers knew it. The Republican Party knew it, and Donald Trump knew it, which means that a whole lot of Republicans were involved in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Mr. Easley is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association