Will Trump’s alleged co-conspirators in the Jan 6 indictment turn on him?
The six co-conspirators have not been hit with criminal charges raising questions as to whether they could turn on Mr Trump to avoid prosecution
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump wasn’t alone in pursuing his alleged plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
In his latest federal criminal indictment, the Justice Department refers to six co-conspirators who also conspired with him to cling onto power at all costs.
The six individuals are not named in the charging documents but, based on the details in the indictment and records already known about the events leading up to the January 6 Capitol riot, their identities are clear.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Mr Trump lawyer John Eastman, “Kraken” lawyer Sidney Powell, former top Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, and attorney Kenneth Chesebro are identifiable as the people named co-conspirators 1 to 5.
Co-conspirator 6, meanwhile, is believed to be Boris Epshteyn, a political consultant who worked as a strategic adviser to the Trump 2020 campaign.
Their identities were easy to decipher and came as little surprise – given all six players had key and very public roles in Mr Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election in his favour.
At present, none of the six have been charged with a crime in the case.
But, as they are named as co-conspirators in schemes with which Mr Trump has been criminally charged, questions remain about their potential future legal troubles.
Will they also be hit with charges? Or could they turn on Mr Trump in order to avoid prosecution?
Duncan Levin, prominent criminal defence attorney and former assistant district attorney in the Manhattan DA’s office, told The Independent that it’s possible that the move not to charge or name Mr Trump’s co-conspirators could be because some of them are already cooperating with prosecutors.
“It is common practice when charging a conspiracy for the government to lay out the behaviour of a defendant’s co-conspirators. Sometimes co-conspirators are also under arrest but here they have not even been named,” he said.
“That is likely because the government is still investigating their conduct and assessing whether to move forward with charges.”
“It is also possible that a number of them have already been cooperating.”
Mr Levin added: “Time will tell, but they should all be seeking immediate legal counsel if they haven’t already. They are not in an enviable position.”
Following the release of the indictment, Mr Eastman – aka co-conspirator 2 – has vowed that he will not turn on Mr Trump.
In an appearance on CNN on Wednesday, attorney Charles Burnham said Mr Eastman will “absolutely not” consider “flipping” on the former president – but has said he will be “happy to tell his side of the story” and didn’t rule out some sort of “cooperation” with prosecutors.
“Well, I think it depends on what you mean by cooperate,” he said.
“Dr Eastman is happy to tell his side of the story, to talk about the issues he believes are important to the Constitution and the country. And under the right circumstances, certainly, he would share those views and share his recollections of everything that happened in 2020 with the special counsel.”
He added: “But if by cooperation you mean flipping on Donald Trump or providing incriminating information, then absolutely not, simply because those aren’t the facts of this case, as it pertains to Dr Eastman.”
Mr Burnham went on to acknowledge that “immunity would be great” but said that they wouldn’t “insist on that”.
The indictment describes Mr Eastman as an “attorney who devised and attempted to implement a strategy to leverage the Vice President’s ceremonial role overseeing the certification proceeding to obstruct the certification of the presidential election”.
Among other allegations, the indictment says that Mr Eastman wrote a “two-page memorandum” falsely outlining how then-vice president Mike Pence could overturn the 2020 presidential election on January 6.
This memo was first reported in Bob Woodward and Robert Costa’s book “Peril” before Mr Eastman himself released a longer six-page memo to the media laying out his claims.
Beyond the memo, quotes cited to co-conspirator 2 match quotes of Mr Eastman previously revealed in court in Georgia, including an email which read: “Although the President signed a verification for... back on Dec. 1, he has since been made aware that some of the allegations... has been inaccurate.”
“For him to sign a new verification with that knowledge... would not be accurate.”
Mr Giuliani has also acknowledged that he is one of the unnamed co-conspirators, with his attorney Robert Costelllo telling The New York Times that it “appears that Mayor Giuliani is alleged to be co-conspirator No. 1” in the indictment.
The former New York City mayor has since railed against the indictment.
In a bizarre rant on right-wing network Newsmax that night, he furiously claimed that special counsel Jack Smith should be indicted for indicting Mr Trump.
“The people lying are the people bringing this… They should be indicted for conspiracy against rights,” he fumed.
The attorney – who is facing calls from an attorney disciplinary committee to be disbarred – went on to accuse Mr Smith of being an “unethical lawyer” and slammed a hard copy of the indictment down on the table.
“This one will be your legacy, violating the rights of free speech of an American citizen. Nevermind whether he was president or not,” he fumed, before
“It could be anybody. It could be a homeless person. You don’t get to violate people’s first amendment rights, Smith. No matter who the hell you are, no matter how sick you are with Trump derangement syndrome.”
The other four co-conspirators have not yet publicly acknowledged the indictment – Mr Trump’s second federal criminal indictment and third overall.
A grand jury, which has spent months hearing evidence in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation, returned a federal indictment on Tuesday (1 August).
The former president was charged with four counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.
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