Lawyer Who Advised Pence Team Speaks Ahead of His Jan. 6 Committee Appearance - FRONTLINE

[Rhiannon12866]

The former federal judge J. Michael Luttig, who counseled then-Vice President Mike Pence's team in the days before the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack, spoke to FRONTLINE ahead of his anticipated House Jan. 6 committee appearance.

“The plan was to overturn the election through the exploitation of what I've called the institutions of democracy and the instruments and instrumentalities of our democracy,” Luttig told FRONTLINE in a May 25, 2022, interview — his first for television.

Luttig served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1991 to 2006. Prior to his time on the bench, Luttig was assistant counsel to the president under Ronald Reagan and clerked for then-judge Antonin Scalia and for Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger. He also served as assistant attorney general in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice under George H.W. Bush. After leaving government service in 2006, he entered the private sector, where he has worked for both Boeing and Coca-Cola. He is currently retired.

This interview is being published as part of FRONTLINE’s Transparency Project, an effort to open up the source material behind our documentaries. Explore the transcript of this interview, and others, on the FRONTLINE website: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/about-frontlines-transparency-project/

[Duppers]

1. Thank you, thank you, Rhiannon.

I missed this broadcast.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. You're more than welcome - and so did I!

So I remembered to look for it, and was pleased to find it!

[Hamlette]

4. Was this ever broadcast?

it said the interview was "conducted for an upcoming documentary on the challenges to American democracy,"

[Hamlette]

3. spellbinding and terrifying

what have we become?

[usajumpedtheshark]

7. A country where way too many people care way more about hating others than democracy.

[SheltieLover]

5. K&R!

[ShazamIam]

6. Incredibly interesting, and I found his Jan 5. 2021 tweet, link posted below

Link to tweet

[scipan]

8. I had not seen this "famous" thread before. Thanks and

Here is the story behind it, which is a bit crazy, in case you or others haven't read it.

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/18/former-judge-beat-trump-january-6-00010056

During Luttig’s time on the bench, one of his clerks was a young attorney named John Eastman. In recent months, Eastman’s name has become inextricably tied to the legal advice he offered to then-President Donald Trump in December 2020 and January 2021: In a now-infamous legal memo, Eastman argued that then-Vice President Mike Pence had the ability to discard certified electoral votes from contested states — a notion that has been roundly debunked, but which Trump’s closest allies clung to (and which helped to inspire some of his supporters to storm the Capitol in rage).

That story is, by now, well known. But there’s another part of the story — one that hasn’t been told until now.

Edit: I just got to the part in the video where he talks about this, so my post is kinda redundant.

Today, in his first in-depth interview on the topic, Luttig shares the story of those days before the insurrection, when he was unknowingly enlisted to help Pence reject Trump’s efforts on Jan. 6.

He didn't know how to tweet...

[ShazamIam]

10. He is the kind of conservataive/Rep. we wonder about disappearing into the current anti-democratic,

and bigoted merchants of fear and hate.

[scipan]

11. Yes. But I can't figure him out really.

I'm almost to the end of the video and time after time he displays such humility as to seem incredibly naive, or even duplicitous, although his manner makes me trust him. He's almost like an idiot savant.

I have heard of him many times and I'm a liberal. He doesn't seem to know how well known and regarded he is/was.

Interesting that he said that the "instrumentalities of democracy" are necessary but not sufficient, that it is necessary for elected officials to have goodwill toward the country. Paraphrased of course. This from a student of, and expert on, the Constitution.

Too bad this is too long to be part of the 1/6 hearings. Maybe they will excerpt some of it.

[ShazamIam]

13. He has the most intense Constitutional and rule by law focus that I have ever encountered.

He does believe in a democratic republic based on law, but is conservative, in that traditional Bob Dole kind of way though I think Dole lost his way and drank the tea.

[scipan]

14. The lure of so much power.

Luttig doesn't have that ego thing *at all* does he.

[ShazamIam]

17. I am not having any trouble believing he is very disciplined in keeping what he considers personal

beliefs separate from his belief in a democratic republic, ruled by a constitution and law.

[ShazamIam]

15. His conservatism is almost touchable but he is extremely focused on the idea of a Constitution

based, democratic republic, based on the rule of law I have ever read or encountered in person.
And yes at times he seems naive and I know others who have a similar laser focused idea that drives their consciousness beyond everything but immediate family where they are more like us more ordinary thinkers. Mostly they are scientific and or math and or political/history focused. My own personal opinion only of course.

[scipan]

16. Yes, I hadn't thought of him that way but it fits.

"almost touchable": nice phrasing.

That's why I was getting the idea of him as an idiot savant. But your explanation is more perceptive.



Edit to add: you probably know that he's going to be on tomorrow at the 1/6 HEARING. 1:00 pm eastern.

[ShazamIam]

18. I am so interested in what he says about the constitution, our government and the need to protect it

I have looked on youtube for videos of interviews and speeches.

[dalton99a]

9. Kick

[scipan]

12. Wow. Thank you Rhiannon. This is must watch.

Brings home the mountain of trouble we're in. Laws and even the Constitution aren't going to save us if he's right.

[Rhiannon12866]

19. And it's been announced that he's scheduled to testify tomorrow!

[scipan]

20. Yes!