Very important Robert Costa add'l reporting re: Pence resistance, UNROLLED

[Grasswire2]

Today, unrolled. Robert Costa on twitter:



https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1469680144726040577.html


(thread) Based on our reporting, Eastman begins drafting his memo in late Dec. and Trump WH has it by the new year. WH then gives it to Sen. Lee and others on Jan. 2, as we document in "Peril."

But by Jan. 3, after Pence meets w/ Sen. Parliam., it's clear he's not coming along.
On Jan. 4, Pence is in Georgia for a rally, but once he flies back, Trump calls him to the Oval. See "Peril" pgs. 224-227. "I'm getting guidance that says I can't," Pence tells Trump and Eastman, who is there. "Listen. Listen to John," Trump replies.
As Eastman and Trump pressure Pence and Pence's aides/lawyers, the rest of the Trump WH is in full-steam ahead mode that same day. See "Peril" chapter 41. "Graham was at the WH on January 4, where he received some memos supporting Trump's claims." We put those memos in the book.
Chief of staff Mark Meadows is working with Trump this whole time, and we show him meeting with Graham and Giuliani on how to push Trump's efforts along. See his Jan. 2 meeting with both of them on p. 212-214 of "Peril." But there were still lingering Qs re: his role/knowledge.
Now, months after "Peril" was published, we are learning more about both Meadows and that key day, January *4th.*

Think of it as the set-up day for the eve of the insurrection, Jan. 5, when Bannon and Giuliani work from the Willard and Trump pressures Pence, 1 on 1, in Oval.
Read this: "The powerpoint was presented on 4 January to a number of Republican senators and members of Congress, the source said."

Meadows was in possession of a PowerPoint that echoed Eastman memo. (The origin story of the PP is a key reporting target.)

Capitol attack panel obtains PowerPoint that set out plan for Trump to stage coup
Presentation turned over by Mark Meadows made several recommendations for Trump to pursue to return himself to presidency
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/10/trump-powerpoint-mark-meadows-capitol-attack
We now know that in the critical Jan. 4-5 period, where the pressure on Pence is Level 10/10, you have not only the principals leaning on the VP, but numerous docs circulating to make the case.
-Eastman memos
-PowerPoints
-And Jenna Ellis memos (see below)

Memos from Trump campaign lawyer outline her theories for how Pence could reject Electoral College votes
In the weeks leading up to January 6, one of Donald Trump's campaign lawyers wrote memos outlining how she believed then-Vice President Mike Pence could reject electoral college votes and overturn the…
https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/10/politics/jenna-ellis-trump-lawyer-memos-pence-biden/index.html
But despite all of these docs and PowerPts, the most revealing thing of this period isn't a document. It's what he says to Pence on Jan. 5.

At the end of the day, Trump isn't looking to these docs to make his case. He looks to the gathering mob in the streets. (Ch. 43, "Peril&quot
"If these people say you had the power, wouldn't you want to?" Trump asked.

"I wouldn't want any one person to have that authority," Pence said.

"But wouldn't it almost be cool to have that power?" Trump asked.

"No," Pence said.

/end

[malaise]

1. Get thee to the greatest page

RFN!

[FalloutShelter]

4. Oh Hells yes!

[brush]

26. Meadows was at first cooperating with the committee...

but I'm still not clear if he turned the powerpoint over to them. Is it your understanding that he did?

[malaise]

28. Well they said he handed over documents so I think

the power point was handed over by him. That said a version of it was circulating for some time.

[malaise]

32. See here

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216135179

[brush]

36. Ahhh...thanks.

[dchill]

2. Holy mountain of shit!

[Fiendish Thingy]

3. If Costa were a patriot, he would go to the committee and reveal his sources

It would end his career, but it would save the country.

[Ocelot II]

5. That last part is the scariest.

"If these people say you had the power, wouldn't you want to?" Trump asked.

"I wouldn't want any one person to have that authority," Pence said.

"But wouldn't it almost be cool to have that power?" Trump asked.

"No," Pence said.

I'll give Pence credit for not caving - even though there's not much else to recommend him (and he continues to kiss TFG's blubbery orange ass).

[brush]

34. Yes, give Pence credit for that at least.

He's still holding out hope for relevancy but the only way that happens is if trump is indicted for the attempted coup and completely discredited.

Pence has shown some bravery in his refusal to go along with the coup attempt, but he kinda had to be dragged kicking and screaming to that stance by former VP Quayle, of all people.

[Hekate]

39. That passage really nauseated me

“Wouldn’t it be cool?”
“No”

Thank you, Mr Pence, for that.

[elleng]

6. "But wouldn't it almost be cool to have that power?" Trump asked. "No," Pence said.

INTERESTING.

[Grasswire2]

7. some years ago, the mental health authority on narcissism considered whether...

...."evil" should be considered its own mental disorder, and be classified with characteristics.

Dr. M. Scott Peck. His book "People of the Lie" was the defining exposition on the disorder. Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

This quote from Trump shows the most frightening aspect of his mental state. I think.

Evil.

[cbabe]

13. I recommend the book. Think of it often for its clarity and heart.

[Grasswire2]

14. It was that book that explained my then spouse's tyrannical rages to me.

A business partner of spouse was a psychologist, and told me of the condition wrt spouse. I immediately went to research, and everything that had happened to me was made clear. NPD. Such misery it caused, and not just for me.

[erronis]

20. Thanks for the recommendation: "People of the Lie"

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4451.People_of_the_Lie

In this absorbing and equally inspiring companion volume to his classic trilogy – The Road Less Traveled, Further Along the Road Less Traveled, and The Road Less Traveled and Beyond – Dr. M. Scott Peck brilliantly probes into the essence of human evil.

People who are evil attack others instead of facing their own failures. Peck demonstrates the havoc these people of the lie work in the lives of those around them. He presents, from vivid incidents encountered in his psychiatric practice, examples of evil in everyday life.

This book is by turns disturbing, fascinating, and altogether impossible to put down as it offers a strikingly original approach to the age-old problem of human evil. (less)

[BunnyMcGee]

41. Thank you, just purchased on ebay

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. Pressure on Pence? Remember he refused to get into a car during the attack, fearing he never be seen

[chia]

10. Yep, that was significant

[Sneederbunk]

9. Pence was a very big wrench in the works.

[CrispyQ]

11. Kick.

Mike Pence & Dan Quale—heroes?

[MyOwnPeace]

18. 'Ya know - damned near impossible......

to wrap your mind around THAT one!

Go back a few years:

Dan ('you say tomatos, I say tomatoes') - a 'hero?'

Mikey - "Mother's boy" - a 'hero?'

I can't even begin to think how absurd this is...............

[wnylib]

35. Pence knew that it was

iilegal and that it would fail. He was covering his own butt more than protecting democracy.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

12. It's like they exhausted all other ways when Pence refused, so Dec 5 their last resort was violence

Like they had a timetable with checkpoints and on Dec. 4 they put an X beside Pence's name. On the 5th they put the machine in motion, and pulled the violence trigger on the 6th. "We will meet you there" tRump said Jan 6.

Violence was always an option for them. Planned to run along side with plausible deniability and ready for unleashing at any time. Planned from November 9, 2020 when they fired DefSec Esper because he had defied tRump in the summer of that year.

[JackHughes]

15. Sedition

Why the hell aren't the coup plotters being charged with sedition?

The evidence is overwhelming.

[MyOwnPeace]

21. You got THAT right!

It's like everybody is in shock and not knowing what to do next.

SIMPLE:

CHARGE THEM AND LOCK THEM UP!!!!!!

[RussBLib]

27. still, the Jan 6 cmte has to do it right

we've never prosecuted an ex-pres before. I'm sure they don't want to fuck it up.

get it right. we still don't know the whole story, although we seem to be getting there.

[radius777]

16. Pence had a soul (who knew?) at the end of the day

and did the right thing.

Mike Flynn (via his brother Charles Flynn) is a key figure IMO in all of this - what was his role in neutering DoD so that the response was late/weak to the insurrection.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/21/politics/michael-flynn-brother-capitol-hill-riot/index.html
Washington (CNN)The Army is now acknowledging that Lt. Gen. Charles Flynn, the brother of President Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn, was in the room for one of the key January 6 phone calls in which DC government and US Capitol Police were asking for National Guard troops to quell the unfolding violence at the US Capitol.
The decision-making has come under scrutiny as city and Capitol Police officials have alleged that the Pentagon was slow to respond, while the Pentagon and Army maintain they never denied or delayed requests for the National Guard.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/michael-flynn-brother-capitol-riot-b1970877.html
A former aide to the District of Columbia National Guard general who was in command during the 6 January insurrection has accused two top Army officers — including the brother of disgraced Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn — of lying to Congress in an attempt to blame DC national guard officials for delays in response to the worst attack on the Capitol since the 1814 Burning of Washington.
The accusations against General Charles Flynn, who served as the Army’s deputy chief of staff for operations on 6 January, and then-Army staff director Lieutenant General Walter Piatt, were laid out in a memorandum authored by Colonel Earl Matthews, who was the top military legal aide to Major General William Walker that day.

[MyOwnPeace]

22. The Flynns - simple.......

Mike Flynn - call him to active duty and court martial him!
Charles Flynn - (still on active duty) - President Biden orders him to DC and fires his ass!*


* See: President Truman/General McArthur: https://www.historynet.com/truman-fires-macarthur.htm

[Botany]

19. So Grahamn was at the White House and in on the planning meetings to try to overthrow our Democracy?

Motherfucker should be thrown out of the Senate.

[MyOwnPeace]

23. Finished it for you!!!!

"Motherfucker should be thrown out of the Senate - and put into jail for sedition!"

[Botany]

25. Now know why the Trump and the GOP were fighting so hard to keep power. They are all a bunch ....

... of treason weasels.

A long time as a kid I lived in N.W. PA and our next door neighbor (middle class neighborhood) was the
county D.A. and his brother was Ray Shafer, Gov. of PA. He supported civil rights, unions, education,
the environment, and infrastructure (I looked it up later) and he was the finest man you would ever meet
and he was a Republican too. Those days are dead and gone.

[brush]

30. Sadly that party went over to the dark side decades ago.

I'd say it got bad with Goldwater and really bad with Reagan opening his campaign in Philadelphia, Miss with a speech on states' rights. And from then on just worst and worst...Newt Gingrich and the Project for the New American Century, then Bushies stealing the election, with the help of the Supreme Court, from Gore.

Now it's just completely bat shit, extreme right wing crazy.

No sane republicans left who have the nerve to speak out against the crazies. Sometime Rowney will emit a peep, before soon quiting down.

[MyOwnPeace]

33. As a fellow 'PA' person (current, by the way)

it is sad to see how this state has drifted SO far apart regarding respect for fellow citizens and desires/dreams for our children.
The number of 'Trumpsters' in our state, ignoring the labor/human rights history that was fought by the Democratic Party in our state is damned near as baffling as what's taking place in W.Va with the people most in need of Democratic ideals, instead, opting to follow a racist/"we're better than you" agenda being pushed by RepubliQans who want to preserve their own "special interests," which have NOTHING to do with the needs of these very people that want to vote for them!

May all of the 'weasels' drown in their own hate and let's have a great wave of 'clear-thinking' "blue" voters!

[onetexan]

24. which Graham is this - Leningrad Lindsey?

[Botany]

38. Could be another Grahamn but I don't think so.

"Graham was at the WH on January 4, where he received some memos supporting Trump's claims."

[usaf-vet]

37. Ok I'm ready to take the crap if you want. BUT I think Pence will be seen as a brave hero....

.... in the history books.

I would NEVER vote for him but he is the perfect definition for what makes a hero.

It's a person the does the right thing at the right time when the danger is at its greatest.

He should quietly go away and bask in the act of heroism that he perform by not doing what Trump wanted.
We could have in my opinion easily have lost our Democracy if he had made the wrong choice.

[Ocelot II]

40. Unfortunately he's tarnishing his possible historical stature

by continuing to try to crawl back up inside TFG's colon again. His refusal to go along with the coup - even though he kind of wanted to and had to be talked out of it by Dan Quayle, of all people - was admirable but he'd be more admirable if he hadn't reverted back to his usual toadying, if not to TFG himself, at least to the base. In an interview on Fox (of course), he said "“I know the media wants to distract from the Biden administration’s failed agenda by focusing on one day in January. They want to use that one day to try and demean the character and intentions of 74 million Americans who believed we could be strong again and prosperous again and supported our administration in 2016 and 2020.” C'mon, Mike; grow a pair. You had them on 1/6 but now they're retracted again, like you'd just been skinny-dipping in Lake Superior.

[usaf-vet]

42. Agreed!

[MyOwnPeace]

43. He's from Indiana......

has no clue that things outside of "Mother's world" could be any different. Lake Superior 'colder' than Lake Michigan?

[Demsrule86]

45. Trump and his cronies can get lots of supporters to attack Pence physically and his family as well..

I can see why he may fear being on the outs with Trump.

[rgbecker]

44. Time for the committee to call Pence for some questioning.

Give him a chance to be a hero.