Attorney George Conway believes former Republican President Donald Trump could face accountability for inciting the January 6 insurrection because he deployed a tactic used by former football star O.J. Simpson—who was sentenced to prison for armed robbery and kidnapping.
Simpson, best known for being tried—and ultimately acquitted—for the murders of his former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, was arrested in 2007 after he led a group of men into a room at the Palace Station hotel-casino and took sports memorabilia at gunpoint.
When questioned by police, Simpson admitted to taking the items, which he said had been stolen from him, but denied breaking into the hotel room. Conway noted Simpson was ultimately imprisoned because he "still used illegal means and intended to use illegal means to steal the stuff back."
He added "that’s the thing that’s happening with Trump," pointing to recent testimony from a White House aide who said Trump explicitly wanted his supporters to march on the Capitol despite knowing many of them were armed with weapons.
You can hear what Conway said in the video below.
Speaking to CNN, Conway said:
“You remember the O. J. Simpson case? Not the first one – not the murder case – but the one he actually went to jail for nine years in Nevada state prison for which was an armed robbery case."
"He lured a memorabilia dealer into a hotel because he thought the guy had stolen his stuff … so he wanted to take it back and he took it at gunpoint.”
“But it doesn’t matter that O. J. Simpson thought that the stuff belonged to him, no more than it matters that Donald Trump might have thought that the election was won by him."
"He still used illegal means and intended to use illegal means to steal the stuff back, and that’s the thing that’s happening with Trump."
Conway then pointed to revelations from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows whose explosive testimony has spotlighted more of the former President's abuses of power.
Hutchinson told the House Select Committee tasked with investigating the January 6 insurrection that Trump had been "very concerned" about the shot camerapeople would get of the "Stop the Steal" event "because the rally space wasn't full."
Indeed, when Trump spoke, he kept making references to the size of the crowd, declaring that "thousands" of people were in attendance but that those viewing the proceedings from elsewhere that "you don't see hundreds of thousands of people behind you."
Hutchinson stressed that Trump was "angry" that the Secret Service was not allowing people who had arrived armed with weapons into the event. The footage shows Trump saying he "would love it if they could be allowed to come up here with us."
Hutchinson also said that she heard Trump say that those in attendance were "not here to hurt me" and had demanded that his security people "Let my people in" so they could "march to the Capitol after the rally's over."
On that note, Conway observed:
"What happened with Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony is that it showed that Donald Trump intended to use illegal means – force – to take back the presidency by marching with these people he knew couldn’t cross through magnetometers because they were armed, and he didn’t care.”
Many concurred with Conway's assessment.
\u201cCassidy #HutchinsonTestimony, put Trump\u2019s #BigLie & his willful intent for a violent insurrection in plain view. He knew his supporters were armed when he urged them to march on the Capitol & \u201cfight.\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t f-ing care that they have weapons. They\u2019re not here to hurt me." \ud83d\udd3b\u201d— Lovely Rita \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83d\udc95\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\udf3b (@Lovely Rita \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83d\udc95\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\udf3b) 1656699651
\u201c@gtconway3d @RDEliason Even if he truly believed the election was token, there is a remedy within the legal system for that. Vigilante justice is illegal no matter what the reason for it. He didn\u2019t overthrow the Govt and our judicial system, now he has to face consequences within the system.\u201d— George Conway\ud83c\udf3b (@George Conway\ud83c\udf3b) 1656612303
\u201c@gtconway3d @RDEliason Having written books on both OJ and Donald, I agree totally about Trump. However, I believe that Simpson would not have been indicted in LV if he had not been acquitted in LA.\u201d— George Conway\ud83c\udf3b (@George Conway\ud83c\udf3b) 1656612303
\u201c@gtconway3d @RDEliason They both tried to take something they thought was theirs with violence.\u201d— George Conway\ud83c\udf3b (@George Conway\ud83c\udf3b) 1656612303
\u201c@gtconway3d @RDEliason Excellent explanation - thank you! One of the concerns of the DoJ could be the risk of a hung jury in such an almost evenly (not quite 50-50 according to recent polls) polarized population ... Even then not prosecuting him would cause more irreparable damage to democracy ...\u201d— George Conway\ud83c\udf3b (@George Conway\ud83c\udf3b) 1656612303
\u201c@gtconway3d @RDEliason I\u2019m not an attorney, but common sense and reason brought me to the same conclusion:\u201d— George Conway\ud83c\udf3b (@George Conway\ud83c\udf3b) 1656612303
\u201cIf Trump is shown beyond a reasonable doubt to have intended to overturn the election by illegal means \u2014 by fraud or corruption or force \u2014 he has a guilty state of mind, even if has deluded himself into believing he truly won.\u201d— George Conway\ud83c\udf3b (@George Conway\ud83c\udf3b) 1656628416
\u201c@gtconway3d @RDEliason And let\u2019s hope it doesn\u2019t take 10+ yrs between crimes this time\u201d— George Conway\ud83c\udf3b (@George Conway\ud83c\udf3b) 1656612303
\u201c@gtconway3d @BrianKarem @RDEliason i heard this point from you early this morning on CNN. well done.\u201d— George Conway\ud83c\udf3b (@George Conway\ud83c\udf3b) 1656612303
Conway has long been one of Trump's more high-profile detractors, a position that has previously put him at odds with his wife Kellyanne Conway who served as a top aide to Trump and coined the term "alternative facts" which came to define the Trump presidency and what political scientists and academics have referred to as the "post-truth" era in American politics.
Conway has often brought attention to some of Trump's more outlandish behavior, as when he referred to Trump as "Deranged Donald" in response to the news Trump had accused the British of spying soon after he accepted an invitation for a state visit from Queen Elizabeth II.
As a founding member and advisor of The Lincoln Project, a conservative Super PAC formed in December 2019 and dedicated to "Defeat President Trump and Trumpism at the ballot box" from which he has since stepped down, Conway was instrumental to the success of various social media campaigns that criticized the Trump administration's policies.
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