MSNBC legal analyst Barbara McQuade said Monday on MSNBC’s “Katy Tur Reports” that the House committee investigating the Capitol riot had “stumbled upon another” crime in former President Donald Trump’s fundraising.
McQuade said, “You know what I think may have happened here? The committee, in investigating one crime, may have stumbled upon another. This happens quite a bit when prosecutors investigate cases. It turns out we didn’t find Whitewater, but we did find Monica Lewinsky. In this case, it appears that they are building a very solid case of willful blindness as to the big lie, which could contribute to criminal liability for Donald Trump for election fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and conspiracy to obstruction an official proceeding.”
She continued, “In addition, if he’s using a lie as a false pretense to collect money from people, that could also be a charge of wire fraud. So in that way, I think we may have seen an expansion of potential liability here.”
McQuade added, “The same mindset that would be a support for any of these other election-based crimes would be the same mindset used as evidence in a fraud claim. What comes out to me is I thought we heard crystal clear today what I thought is the essence of willful blindness. That is a theory of liability of knowledge of fraud, and that was when William Barr said, ‘He showed no indication of any interest in what the actual facts were.’ That’s is the essence of willful blindness, turning a blind eye to a fact that is inconvenient but true.”
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