After Trump recently revealed that he wanted Mike Pence to overturn the election results and threatened to pardon January 6 defendants, George Conway, a lawyer and frequent critic of Trump, said the previous president may have incriminated himself.
Donald Trump said on Sunday that his former vice president should have “overturned the election” on January 6 but “unfortunately” failed to do so while serving as Senate presiding officer solely in a ceremonial capacity, and Conway, husband of Kellyanne Conway, appeared on MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes to discuss that claim.
According to Trump’s campaign event in Texas on Saturday, if elected again, he will “deal those folks fairly” by granting presidential amnesty to anybody convicted in connection with the January 6 attack.
Conway told Hayes that prosecutors may be able to use Trump’s weekend remarks as “kind of a trifecta leading to his purpose,” according to her comments.
By pardoning those who performed violent crimes on January 6, or even implying that he would pardon them, he’s showing his approval of their actions and it’s consistent with the claims that he was watching it with joy,” Conway added.
Adding weight to the theory that he intended to instigate violence that day, Conway said.
When he said he was trying to influence Vice President Mike Pence to reverse the election, he was revealing his true motives and whether he was operating with corrupt intent to try to interfere with congressional proceedings.
He said Trump’s “modus operandi” is to use violence to intimidate government officials into ignoring or breaking the law in order to keep him as president, and that’s what he’s done with his recent comments about election fraud.
While it is unclear whether or not Trump plans to run for president again in 2024, Trump’s threat to pardon those responsible for violence or suspected conspiracies to delay certification of the election results on January 6 has been taken as evidence that Trump is getting the gang back together to “come for you a second time,” according to Hayes.
As a result of Conway’s remark, the former president is “definitely” preparing to do so.
“He’s now claiming that the revolt on November 3 was the actual one. His original goal of honoring the people has been accomplished “Conway made the comment.
“His words on January 6, when he declared, “This is what happens when free and fair elections are stolen,” were meant to praise the people who took part in that.
“These individuals did what they thought he wanted them to do, and he wanted them to do what he wanted them to do. They tell the judges this when they’re punished, so it’s no surprise that this is the case.”
On the other hand, Rep. Liz Cheney, the vice head of the House Select Committee probing the January 6 attack, said Trump’s comments over the weekend prove he would “do it all again.”
Cheney posted the following on Twitter: “When asked about the Jan. 6 violence, Trump uses language that he knows triggered it, says that he’ll pardon those accused of seditious conspiracy from that day, threatens the prosecution and acknowledges that his goal was to overturn the election.
“If given the chance, he’d do it all over again.”
The White House has reached out to Trump for comment.