Criminal defense attorney Arthur Aidala told “CNN NewsNight” host Abby Phillip Thursday night that there was “no evidence” President Donald Trump conspired to cause the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol building when she argued Trump should have faced consequences.
Trump issued a blanket pardon on Jan. 20 to more than 1,500 people convicted of crimes surrounding the storming of the Capitol building during the certification of the electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021. Aidala pointed out to Phillip and Pam Hemphill, a Jan. 6 protester who turned against Trump, that Trump’s actions did not meet “the threshold for acting in concert of conspiracy.”
“Do you think he should have faced charges for his role on January 6th?” Phillip asked, with Aidala responding, “The president of the United States, him personally? No. why? Because he doesn’t meet the threshold for acting in concert or conspiracy. There was no evidence that there was a real conspiracy under the letter of the law.”
WATCH:
“So you don’t think that there should be any accountability for Trump’s role in spinning up a complete farcical lie about the election to draw people to the Capitol? He encouraged them. He directly encouraged them to come on that day, he said, it’s going to be wild. You don’t think there should be any consequences whatsoever for that kind of conduct?” Philips asked, with Aidala responding, “Not federal criminal consequences.”
Republican strategist Melik Adbul pointed out to Phillip that Trump was held to account.
“Donald Trump was held responsible because Donald Trump was impeached,” Abdul said. “Now, if there was a criminal case to be made, the Biden Administration obviously could have filed charges against Donald Trump. It was being investigated.”
Aidala also added that the Biden administration and Democratic officials “definitely” targeted Trump after the 2020 election.
“You have to say the DoJ was weaponized against Donald Trump, and you could say the Manhattan DA’s office was and the New York State attorney general was. I mean, there’s no doubt about it,” Aidala said. “I practice in this area of law. That case that was brought by Alvin Bragg and the Manhattan district attorney’s office was the first of its kind in the history of the United States of America, so they were definitely targeting him.”
“I’m not talking about January 6th. I’m talking about Donald Trump himself, and I think he’s got PTSD,” Aidala continued. “You know, he it turned out all right for him, but he almost went to jail federally. He almost went to jail statewide. They called his three adult children to the stand and the finance case. They took his companies and said, you can’t run your companies in the state of New York. So in terms of Donald Trump, the whole system was definitely weaponized against him.”
New York Judge Juan Merchan sentenced Trump to an “unconditional discharge” Jan. 10, rendering Trump’s May 30 conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records in a case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg official.
The Colorado Supreme Court decided that Trump was disqualified under the provisions of the 14th Amendment in a 4-3 ruling on Dec. 19, 2023, before being overruled by the Supreme Court in a 9-0 decision. Democratic Secretary of State Shenna Bellows of Maine ruled Trump was ineligible for the office of President of the United States Dec. 28, 2023, citing the 14th Amendment’s “insurrection” clause and the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol building.
Special counsel Jack Smith secured a superseding indictment against Trump in August 2024, almost two months after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Trump’s claims of immunity in a case stemming from a 2023 indictment secured by Smith over Trump’s efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election.
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