Neal Katyal is a former U.S. Solicitor General. It is a bit of a vague and weirdly defined job, but the Solicitor General represents the United States in cases in front of the United States Supreme Court, often submitting briefs on behalf of the government, even if the government is not a party, advocating one position or another.

One must be an extremely good attorney to get such a position. Katyal is an extremely good attorney who believes that Trump’s latest “crazier than normal” actions are due to the fact that it’s now become fairly obvious that the Select Committee is coming after Trump with the goal of sending at least one criminal referral to DOJ involving Trump himself. The committee is making a run at being the first federal entity to attempt to hold Trump criminally liable. (DOJ? Are you listening? No? Gotcha.)

Yes, there is all the planning and the conspiracy, but the most solid case is still the obstruction of congress case, in which Trump did nothing to stop the rioters. Katyal believes there is significant exposure. This staff doesn’t have an attorney of Katyal’s stature, but as of now, the committee doesn’t have the evidence. We suspect that Katyal knows that the committee may be about to get evidence that Trump knew beforehand that the goal was to run Pence out of the building.

But we’ll let Katyal make his case, regarding Cheney’s plans for Trump. Katyal says that even if Cheney can’t get Trump charged for inciting the mob, that doesn’t get Trump out of trouble:

“The other thing she’s saying is, it’s not just Trump’s action, but his inaction. Trump is saying, I guess his defense is, ‘Look, I didn’t light the match.’ But what Cheney is saying is, ‘Look, at least you sat in front of the fire truck toasting marshmallows if you didn’t light the match.’

Yes, that is abhorrent, just watching it happen when it’s your job to put it down. But it’s likely not a crime and Katyal has to know it. He knows that the committee needs more than “you did nothing.” They need “You knew something,” or “You did something” to help with the riot. That evidence may well be out there.

“He wasn’t exactly advocating the crowd to march to the Capitol and, like, count the votes. He was urging them to stop that count, and so that runs you squarely into a federal crime. That’s why Cheney’s remarks are so important, and why Donald Trump this week has been, even by his own standards, more off the rails than usual.”

“I know that’s a very serious thing. I don’t say that lightly. But that’s because what happened on Jan. 6 was deadly serious.”

Obstructing a federal proceeding, like the Senate procedure that day carries a sentence of up to 20 years. Somewhere there is information that he knew of the plan and arranged for it to happen. There are just too many coincidences. In our opinion.

****
[email protected] and on Substack: Much Ado About Everthing

The opinions expressed by contributors and/or content partners are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of LeftScoop.news. Contact us for guidelines on submitting your own commentary.