Trump may believe in his own Big Lie, but that shouldn't save him from a guilty verdict for election

[LetMyPeopleVote]

I have been amazed at the bad legal counsel that TFG has been getting in this case. No first or second tier lawyer will touch TFG. The concept of an intent defense was examined by Harry Litman

Link to tweet

The argument goes this way: His conduct — trying to overturn a legitimate election — may look like a crime, but was there criminal intent? If he is so much of a sociopath that he believes his own Big Lie (or, to state it with the sort of constitutional precision utterly foreign to him, there is a reasonable doubt whether he has that belief), could he wriggle out of culpability?

He can’t — or he shouldn’t. Intent in a criminal case depends on the defendant’s state of mind about a specific criminal act, not an overall state of affairs. That’s “hornbook law” — so basic it doesn’t require citation for law students. And it should satisfy the “he really believed it” concerns about the criminal charges Trump may face......

A careful parsing of the legal code reveals the defect with the “he’s not guilty if he really believed it” line of thinking......

If Willis’ case comes to trial, the jury would be instructed that the intent requirement is fulfilled if Trump wanted Raffensperger to tamper with the vote count, which is a felony. Even if the then-president was certain he was justified, he is no less guilty.....

Nor is the bottom line unfair to deluded defendants who come before the court. What Georgia legalese drives home is that even if Trump pressured Raffensberger under the sincere belief that he’d won the state, it was wrong, indeed criminal, to twist the arm of the secretary of state to get him to alter the count. Trump’s lawful avenue of redress was the legal process and the state courts.

Litman also analyzes the intent issue for the fake electors and concludes that the belief that TFG won their states will not protect them from being convicted for forgery.

[lees1975]

1. He knows its a lie

his ego can't handle the defeat.

And the most sincere belief is not a legal defense.

[world wide wally]

2. Trump also believes that Trump U. was a great college, That Trump Vodka

was the best on the marker, and that he can stare directly at the Sun.