Judge: Trump Knew Election Fraud Numbers Were Wrong

But he 'continued to tout those numbers, both in court and to the public'
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 20, 2022 5:52 AM CDT
Judge: Trump Knew Numbers in Election Lawsuit Were Fake
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Sept. 3, 2022.   (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

Former President Trump knew that the numbers in legal documents alleging voter fraud were false but he signed them anyway, a federal judge said Wednesday. US District Court Judge David O. Carter said Trump attorney John Eastman needs to turn four emails over the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack because they are evidence that Trump and his allies took part in a 'knowing misrepresentation of voter fraud numbers in Georgia when seeking to overturn the election results in federal court," the Washington Post reports. Carter said Trump alleged in a Dec. 4, 2020 court filing in Georgia that the votes of more than 10,000 dead people, felons, and unregistered voters had been improperly counted in Fulton County, reports Politico.

Eastman told other Trump lawyers on Dec. 31 that the numbers were incorrect. Trump has "been made aware that some of the allegations (and evidence proffered by the experts) has been inaccurate," Eastman wrote to colleagues. "For him to sign a new verification with that knowledge (and incorporation by reference) would not be accurate." The then-president, however, still signed a legal complaint with the false numbers, as well as legal documents saying the numbers were, to the best of his knowledge, "true and correct," Carter wrote."The emails show that President Trump knew that the specific numbers of voter fraud were wrong but continued to tout those numbers, both in court and to the public," the judge wrote, per the Guardian. "The Court finds that these emails are sufficiently related to and in furtherance of a conspiracy to defraud the United States."

Carter, an appointee of former President Clinton, said most of the emails Eastman had resisted turning over to the House panel were protected by attorney-client privilege, but 33 must be handed over, including four that were privileged but fell under the "crime-fraud' exception, per Politico. The judge said some of the emails "make clear that President Trump filed certain lawsuits not to obtain legal relief, but to disrupt or delay the January 6 congressional proceedings through the courts." (More Donald Trump stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X