Former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal on Wednesday broke down the significance of a 221-page legal filing submitted by the Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"Lawyers for the House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol said in a court filing Wednesday that former president Donald Trump and key allies engaged in potential crimes during their effort to overturn the election: conspiring to defraud the United States and obstructing an official congressional proceeding — the counting of electoral votes," The Washington Post reported. "The alleged criminal acts were raised by the committee in a California federal court filing challenging conservative lawyer John Eastman’s refusal to turn over thousands of emails the panel has requested related to his role in trying to persuade Vice President Mike Pence to reject electors from states won by Joe Biden."
Katyal offered his analysis during an interview by MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle.
"To me, this filing is not about John Eastman, he's not a serious player or lawyer," Katyal said. "It's a filing about Donald Trump."
"And it's serious because what you have here is a big deal. It's a formal legal brief by this congressional committee, the January 6 committee, saying that there is a good faith basis to believe that Donald Trump committed felonies and this lawyer, John Eastman, helped him do it," he noted. "To have that kind of accusation from a congressional committee about a president happens so rarely in American history."
Katyal said of the allegations, "this is as deadly serious as it gets, seditious conspiracy."
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