From Greg Palast Website
Here is the smoking gun.
Trump's GOP defenders say that Trump merely called for a march to the Capitol, a legal act of protest.
Except for this: it wasn't legal. And Trump and his team knew it.
During Wednesday's trial, House impeachment manager Rep. Stacey Plaskett (D-VI) laid out the evidence the Palast investigative team first broke in Consortium News and on the Thom Hartmann Program: The sponsors of the January 6 rally at the Ellipse repeatedly promised, in writing, there would be no march on the Capitol.
Watch my interview with Law & Crime's Brian Ross.
In fact, the Park Service reiterated, days before the Trump rally, "The permit does not authorize a march from the Ellipse."
As an insider who planned the rally told us, sponsor Women for America First was stunned by Trump's seemingly spontaneous call for a march in violation of the permit. "It was shocking. It's something we advocated against doing for exactly the reasons that ended up playing themselves out."
In other words, the riot was foreseeable and resulted directly from Trump's call to march. As the permit holders understood, sending thousands of angry people, some armed, meant there was no warning to the Metro or Capitol police, no monitors to direct or control the crowd.
While the House prosecution team referenced our story, it appears that neither the senators nor media understood the importance of the damning evidence.
Because there was still a missing piece of evidence: did Trump know a march was not permitted, illegal, and dangerous?
The evidence is that Trump had to know. While his call to march on the Capitol appeared spontaneous, it was anything but.
On January 5, the night before the riot, two participants foolishly posted (in posts since removed, but recorded) that they were meeting at Trump's personal residence at his DC hotel with top Trump strategists about the next day's events. The group included notably, Eric and Donald Trump Jr. Both would speak at the rally the next day.
Crucially, during the meeting Don Jr.'s girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle called Ali Alexander -- who'd been calling for a "Stop the Steal" march from the rally despite admonitions from the rally organizers that it would be illegal and dangerous.
It is not minor that neither Trump, nor the White House, nor Trump fils told the organizers that Trump would issue a call to march. The permit holders, Women for America First, told this reporter that both the White House and Alexander had been warned repeatedly against attempting the uncontrolled march.
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