A federal judge said on Wednesday that Donald Trump signed legal documents detailing evidence of election fraud. The judge wrote that emails from John Eastman, an architect of Trump's last-ditch effort to subvert the 2020 election, needed to be turned over. Carter wrote that the emails show that President Trump knew the numbers of voter fraud were incorrect but continued to tout them. The files that were declining to turn over to the committee were the ones that contained the emails. Carter found that some of the materials were covered by the privilege, but he ruled that some of the emails were evidence of a crime. Carter wrote that the court found that the documents were related to the obstruction crime. According to Carter, Trump and his attorneys filed a complaint in Georgia state court that Fulton County had overstated the number of dead people, felons and voters. They decided to use the same statistics in that filing. Trump's lawyers noted in private correspondence that the president had resisted signing certain documents. The numbers filed in state court were incorrect. The President signed a verification for the state court filing back in December, but has since learned that some of the allegations have been incorrect. He wouldn't be accurate if he signed a new verification with that knowledge. Trump and his lawyers decided to use the same numbers that were conceded to be incorrect. Carter said that President Trump swore under oath that the numbers are true and correct, or that he believes them to be true and correct. The emails show that President Trump knew the numbers of voter fraud were incorrect, but he continued to tout them. The court found that the emails were related to a conspiracy to cheat the United States.
The spokesman for Trump did not respond to requests for comment.
Carter gave the Jan. 6 select committee more evidence to support its investigation of Trump. Chapman University had thousands of emails in its possession. Chapman was subpoenaed by the select committee to get the emails, but they were blocked from being released.
The Justice Department and prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia are investigating the efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the election. It is unclear if those investigators already have the emails at issue, but if they don't, Carter's latest ruling has put some on the public record and made it easier to get to others.
Carter has helped the select committee in their efforts. He delivered thousands of pages of Eastman's emails to congress. The March 28 ruling in which he said it was likely that Trump and Eastman would commit felony obstruction has become a regular feature of the public hearings.
Carter was urged by the committee to review an additional set that had yet to be disclosed. Carter said that most of the emails the committee sought were attorney-client or attorney work-product privileged. The four that were privileged but fall under the crime-fraud exception should be delivered to the committee.
The effort by Trump to try to block Congress from certifying Joe Biden's election was spearheaded by Eastman. He fought with the lawyers of the Vice President.
One of Trump's attorneys suggested using pending litigation to force delays in the counting of electoral votes in an email that was disclosed by Carter.
One of Trump's attorneys wrote in an email that having the case pending in the Supreme Court could delay consideration of Georgia.
Carter said that the email made clear that President Trump filed lawsuits to disrupt or delay the January 6 congressional proceedings through the courts.
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