Donald Trump’s talk of a “blanket pardon” for last year’s Jan. 6 insurrectionists and supporters is important evidence of his “consciousness of guilt,” underscoring his legal liability, a former federal prosecutor revealed.
Former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade, now a law professor at the University of Michigan, discussed information about a wide blanket pardon floated by Trump that has been detailed in the Jan. 6 House committee transcripts.
“This is evidence of what prosecutors refer to as consciousness of guilt,” McQuade told MSNBC’s Nicole Wallace in an interview Wednesday.
McQuade noted that, “The only reason you need a pardon is if you believe you did something wrong. And it can matter a lot in the kinds of charges that the committee has recommended” to the Department of Justice for Trump.
“Two of those [charges] do require that sort of cognizance,” she added. “Conspiracy to defraud the United States requires knowledge of fraud. Obstruction of an official proceeding requires a corrupt intent. To demonstrate those intents, one of the things prosecutors can use in evidence is consciousness of guilt as evidenced by this [Trump’s] desire to have blanket pardons.”
The former president was apparently aware that the supporters he aroused were not actually patriots, as he insisted at the time, but were likely facing criminal charges for the storming of the Capitol after he encouraged in a rally speech to “fight like hell.”
Trump proposed blanket pardons for “everyone involved,” including officials, White House staff, family members and all Jan. 6 rioters, according to testimony to the Jan. 6 House committee by then-director of presidential personnel Johnny McEntee.
McQuade called Trump’s use of his “pardon power” for favorites “throughout his presidency” a “violation of the rule of law.” A “blanket pardon” would also have been a violation of the rule of law in that it would have dodged all judicial review, she added.
Approximately 900 defendants have been arrested and charged with crimes linked to the Jan. 6 insurrection, including trespassing, property damage and theft, assault and conspiracy.
Check out McQuade’s assessment of Trump’s “consciousness of guilt” in the interview here: