Jack Smith doing his usual, historic hack job of the law... and the circle jerk cheers.
Dershowitz with the money shot:
Not only freedom of speech but freedom to petition the government for a redress of grievances and freedom to challenge elections. In the indictment they acknowledge that there are these freedoms, but they claim that Donald — and this is the key point — that Donald Trump actually believed that he lost the election. That everything he did was fraudulent. That he conspired with unnamed lawyers mostly, to affect the election outcome. You’re allowed to challenge elections. In fact, the best way to challenge an election is to come up with a slate of alternate electors. That’s what a court said in Hawaii in 1960, that’s been the case throughout our history.
So the government has the burden of proof beyond an unreasonable doubt that subjectively Donald Trump actually believed that he lost the election and acted contrary to that belief.
Dershowitz with the money shot:
Not only freedom of speech but freedom to petition the government for a redress of grievances and freedom to challenge elections. In the indictment they acknowledge that there are these freedoms, but they claim that Donald — and this is the key point — that Donald Trump actually believed that he lost the election. That everything he did was fraudulent. That he conspired with unnamed lawyers mostly, to affect the election outcome. You’re allowed to challenge elections. In fact, the best way to challenge an election is to come up with a slate of alternate electors. That’s what a court said in Hawaii in 1960, that’s been the case throughout our history.
So the government has the burden of proof beyond an unreasonable doubt that subjectively Donald Trump actually believed that he lost the election and acted contrary to that belief.