Constitutional law expert Laurence Tribe said on MSNBC Sunday that evidence appears to support sedition charges against former President Donald Trump regarding his role in the Capitol riot.
While various financial cases against Trump are very strong, the Harvard University law professor said they won’t hold him accountable for the abuses he allegedly committed as president. However, far more serious for Trump was the Fulton County investigation into his efforts to overturn Georgia’s vote for Joe Biden for president in the 2020 election.
If Trump is convicted of “conspiracy to commit sedition — which is a fancy way of talking about trying to prevent the government from functioning,” — Trump could get 20 years in prison, Tribe said. A conviction on another charge, which applies to “anyone who gives aid or comfort to insurrection or rebellion,” would be punishable by up to 10 years and permanent disqualification from ever holding any state or federal office.
It’s that second charge where the evidence “seems to point to the president’s guilt” concerning the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, Tribe said.
“It looks like the evidence supports a conclusion that the president and the people immediately around him directly gave aid and comfort to an insurrection against the United States to prevent the government from functioning and to prevent the installation of a new president through the counting of the electoral votes on Jan. 6th,” said Tribe.
As for Georgia, Trump basically tried to steal that election, Tribe added.
Last January, in a recorded phone call, Trump pressed Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his attorney to find enough votes to give him a win over Biden. Tribe described the call as “code for ’Give me a victory that I didn’t win or else you’re in trouble.”
“That’s really strong-arming extortion, a violation of the election laws,” he said. “And we saw it happen in real-time and we heard it with our own ears. So, it’s really hard to wiggle out of that.”
Check out the full interview above. Tribe talks about the sedition charges beginning at 1:29.
