MAGA commentator Eric Daugherty labelled Jack Smith as a “TYRANT” after the former special counsel accused Donald Trump of “criminal” involvement in inciting the January 6 riot.
Daugherty’s fiery comments came after Smith’s 255-page testimony to Congress, which was delivered on December 17, was released.
During his testimony, Smith said his team had “proof beyond reasonable doubt” that Trump had sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election with the riot. His investigation had been dropped, though, when Trump took office for a second time.
“HOLY CRAP. Special Counsel Jack Smith said during his Congressional testimony President Trump did NOT have a 1st Amendment Right to say the 2020 election was fraudulent,” Daugherty wrote on X. “THIS GUY IS A TYRANT! No free speech for Trump? Lock Jack Smith up.”
Daugherty, who is the Chief Content Officer at RightLine, was referring to a remark made by Smith during his testimony.
However, Smith, who had led the 2022 investigation into Trump’s involvement in the January 6 attack on the Capitol, had actually said that the president was allowed to say whatever he wanted about the election.
Smith’s caveat, though, was that Trump could not use false statements to prevent the government from carrying out its regular functions.
“There is no historical analog for what President Trump did in this case,” Smith told Congress. “As we said in the indictment, he was free to say that he thought he won the election. He was even free to say falsely that he won the election.”
“But what he was not free to do was violate Federal law and use knowing — knowingly false statements about election fraud to target a lawful government function,” he continued. “That he was not allowed to do. And that differentiates this case from any past history.”
Smith went on to say that his investigation was completely impartial and actually hinged on evidence provided by members of Trump’s own party.
“We had an elector in Pennsylvania who is a former Congressman who was going to be an elector for President Trump who said that what they were trying to do was an attempt to overthrow the government and illegal,” he said. “Our case was built on, frankly, Republicans who put their allegiance to the country before the party.”
Trump has not been criminally convicted of any involvement in the January 6 attack, which saw his supporters storm the U.S. Capitol to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
In one of the final acts of his first administration, Trump called on Mike Pence to derail Biden’s certification since the then-vice president was given the role of overseeing the transfer of power.
When Pence was poised to hand over the election to the winning candidate, Joe Biden, Trump unleashed his rage on X.
“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify,” he seethed, in a tweet obtained by American Oversight. “USA demands the truth!”
His supporters were later heard shouting “hang Mike Pence,” according to Politico. In his testimony, Smith said Trump’s actions “endangered the life of his own Vice President.”
Since winning a second term in office, Trump has issued pardons or commutations for more than 1500 people convicted or charged in connection with the riots.
Fourteen members of the far-right group Proud Boys were included in the pardon.
“These people have been destroyed,” Trump said at the time. “What they’ve done to these people is outrageous. There’s rarely been anything like it in the history of our country.”
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