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When Donald Trump<\/strong> faces off with the Justice Department over his attempt to overturn the 2020 election, two of his key defenses are likely to be that (1) the claims he made in the weeks and months following his loss to Joe Biden<\/strong> were protected by the First Amendment and (2) not actually lies because he believed the words that were coming out of his mouth. On the first point, legal experts have said<\/a> such a defense is unlikely to hold up in court, and prosecutors made clear in the indictment<\/a> that they are not disputing that Trump had a right \u201cto speak publicly about the election and even to claim, falsely, that there had been outcome-determinative fraud during the election and that he had won.\u201d (It\u2019s the conspiracy part that they say was illegal.) As for the idea that Trump somehow did not understand that he had, in fact, lost the election? Numerous people have said that he quite obviously knew he\u2019d lost<\/a>\u2014including, most recently, his former attorney general.<\/p>\n Speaking to CNN on Wednesday, Bill Barr<\/strong> told<\/a> Kaitlan Collins<\/strong> that Trump \u201cknew well he lost the election,\u201d and that it was likely that Special Counsel Jack Smith<\/strong> has even more evidence than we know of proving as much. \u201cWe\u2019re only seeing the tip of the iceberg on this,\u201d Barr said. \u201cI think there is a lot more to come, and I think they have a lot more evidence as to President Trump\u2019s state of mind.\u201d On the First Amendment issue, the former attorney general told Collins: \u201cAs the indictment says, they are not attacking his First Amendment right. He can say whatever he wants, he can even lie. He can even tell people that the election was stolen when he knew better. But that does not protect you from entering into a conspiracy.\u201d He added that the allegations in the indictment were \u201cnauseating\u201d and \u201cdespicable,\u201d and that \u201csomeone who engaged in that kind of bullying about a process that is fundamental to our system and to our self-government shouldn\u2019t be anywhere near the Oval Office.\u201d<\/p>\n This content can also be viewed on the site it originates<\/a> from.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In his memoir released last year, Barr wrote<\/a>\u00a0that Trump\u2019s \u201cself-indulgence and lack of self-control\u201d cost him a second term and that \u201cthe absurd lengths to which he took his \u2018stolen election\u2019 claim led to the rioting on Capitol Hill.\u201d In the lead-up to said riot, Barr wrote, Trump \u201cstopped listening to his advisers, became manic and unreasonable, and was off the rails.\u201d The former AG has also gone on record that he believes Trump was \u201cresponsible<\/a>\u201d for January 6.<\/p>\n Last month, in an interview with ABC News, former Trump ally turned 2024 GOP rival\u00a0Chris Christie<\/strong>\u00a0told\u00a0George Stephanopoulos,<\/strong> \u201c[Trump] doesn\u2019t believe he won. He was concerned before the election that he was losing, and I know that because he said it to me directly. So, you know, he knows he didn\u2019t win.\u201d<\/p>\n This content can also be viewed on the site it originates<\/a> from.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In his testimony before the January 6 committee, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General\u00a0Mark Milley,<\/strong>\u00a0said<\/a> that during a meeting in the Oval Office in late November or early December 2020, Trump accepted that he had lost the election. \u201cHe says words to the effect of: Yeah, we lost, we need to let that issue go to the next guy,\u201d Milley said, adding, \u201cMeaning President Biden.\u201d As Milley\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0the House panel: \u201cThe entire gist of the conversation was\u2014and it lasted\u2014that meeting lasted maybe an hour or something like that\u2014very rational. He was calm. There wasn\u2019t anything\u2014the subject we were talking about was a very serious subject, but everything looked very normal to me. But I do remember him saying that.\u201d<\/p>\n On Thursday, in what appeared to be a reference to the batshit crazy phenomenon in which his support among Republicans has grown<\/em><\/a> with each passing criminal charge, Trump wrote<\/a> on Truth Social: \u201cI NEED ONE MORE INDICTMENT TO ENSURE MY ELECTION!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nTwitter content<\/h4>\n
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