that is testimony from mike pence s former adviser regarding former president donald trump s repeated efforts to get pence to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. we will hear much more of the key moments from yesterday s january 6th hearing, including the vice president s close call with the mob, very close call that day. and the pardon request from the architect of the president s election scheme. plus, new reporting that the house select committee now wants to talk to conservative activist ginni thomas. she is, of course, the wife of supreme court justice clarence thomas. good morning. welcome to morning joe. it is friday, june 17th. along with joe and me, we have white house bureau chief at politico and the host of way to too early, jonathan lemire. washington post s jackie alemany. host of politicians nation and host of the national action network, reverend al sharpton. and nbc legal analyst joyce vance. good morning to everybody. joe, anothe
what he is doing is not just beyond the pale, not just un-american, it s illegal. joe, let me tell you the only caveat, right? so the statute you read from, 18 us-c 2384, the seditious conspiracy statute, requires that somebody who thwarts congress or attempts to hinder the hinder a law or delay the vote intended, intended the use of force. now, we saw what the president did, we know what he said. you re getting close and close er, as jonathan and i discussed, but you have to intend force. that s hard to show. it s not hard to show that eastman s advice was idiotic or the president pressured mike pence. what about eastman when confronted about violence. yeah, violence happens in the
in the space, holding these meetings in this transitional period for a couple of hours at a time. you know, this is not just someone who wanders in off the streets. he gets to be in these meetings because everyone understands that he is speaking with trump s voice. he is the architect of this scheme, this notion that the breaking point in the process after americans have voted and have voted convincingly for joe biden, is to bypass the electoral college certification. that s why mike pence becomes an essential player. so it becomes clear that eastman and trump are working together to achieve this illegal objective. the evidence is pretty good in this regard. the justice department will have to engage in serious considerations involving whether the good evidence is all admissible. does it add up to proof beyond a reasonable doubt? does it make sense legally to bring the case, or are there some impediments? there may be first amendment considerations.
thereof, which they were trying to do, or, or to delay the execution of any law of the united states. let me say that again. or if their intent is to delay the execution of any law of the united states or by force to seize, take, possess any property, they ll be guilty of a conspiracy to commit sedition. this is i mean, my god, if any of us were given this fact pattern, in criminal law, our first year in law school, and if any of us wrote, oh, no, no, this doesn t fit the four corners of this statute, our criminal law professor would give us an f. this is basic stuff. from there, let s move on to john eastman. what in the world does john eastman have to do to be charged? like, it is really this is
face. even what he viewed as the more politically palaable option would violate options, but he thought the electoral count act was unconstitutional. that was former legal for mike pence, mr. jacob. the committee also played sound from former white house attorney eric hershman, who talked about hiss reaction to john eastman s scheme to overturn the election, and said eastman told him he did not care if that led to violence. i said, hold on a second. i want to understand what you re saying. you re saying that you believe the vice president, acting as president of the senate, can be the sole decision maker as to, under your theory, who becomes the next president of the united states? and he said yes. i said, are you out of your f-ing mind? i said, you re completely crazy. you re going to turn around and