Nobody knew just how provocative the documents that the former president did not want lawmakers to see would actually be after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an emergency appeal from Donald Trump, and the National Archives started sending materials to congressional investigators looking into the attempted coup d’etat.
The U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol has obtained documents that show Trump considered using the military to retain his hold on power after losing the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden by more than 8 million votes.
Among the records that Trump’s lawyers tried to shield from congressional investigators is a draft executive order that would have directed the defense secretary to seize voting machines. The order was never issued.
The proposed executive order —first published by Politico—makes a number of bizarre and unfounded allegations, such as: “Dominion Voting Systems and related companies are owned or heavily controlled and influenced by foreign agents, countries, and interests.”
The order empowers the defense secretary to “seize, collect, retain and analyze all machines, equipment, electronically stored information, and material records required for retention under” a federal law that relates to the preservation of election records.
It also cites a lawsuit filed in 2017 against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Additionally, the draft order would have given the defense secretary 60 days to write an assessment of the 2020 election. That suggests it could have been a gambit to keep Trump in power until at least mid-February of 2021.
It’s not clear who authored the draft executive order, which was dated Dec. 16, 2020, but the document is consistent with proposals known that have been made by lawyer Sidney Powell.
In what has been described as “the craziest meeting of the Trump presidency, Powell, former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, former Trump administration lawyer Emily Newman, and former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne met in the Oval Office with then-President Trump on Dec. 18, 2020.
The four conspiracy theorists fueled Trump’s narcissistic delusions.
The January 6 committee also has a Trump White House document titled “Remarks on National Healing,” which appears to be a speech drafted for delivery a day after the riot, and Trump gave nearly identical remarks.
A line in the document that Trump didn’t say in his video is: “The election fight is over.”
He also acknowledged a “new administration” will assume the presidency on January 20 and said he will work to ensure an “orderly” transition of power but the draft reflects a stark contrast between his words uttered to stave off an immediate impeachment and Trump’s true feelings about the attempted coup.
Since leaving office, Trump has continued to push his lie that the 2020 election was rigged and included widespread voter fraud. Prosecutors have yet to level charges against the deposed tyrant, but mounting evidence appears to indicate his guilt.
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