Ex-federal prosecutor: Hold Trump and lawyers accountable for 'damaging' election lies

The Big Lie — Donald Trump's false claim that the 2020 presidential election was supposedly stolen from him through widespread voter fraud — is at the heart of two of the four criminal prosecutions he is facing. In separate cases, special counsel Jack Smith and Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis allege that Trump committed criminal acts after losing to now-President Joe Biden in 2020 and trying to remain in the White House anyway.

In an article published by the conservative website The Bulwark on January 4, Kimberly Wehle — a law professor, author and former federal prosecutor — slams the former president for continuing to promote the Big Lie in 2024 despite the fact that it has been "painstakingly and repeatedly debunked."

"It was because of the Big Lie that people died on January 6th, and it is because of the Big Lie that hundreds of Americans have been sentenced for crimes committed on that day," Wehle explains. "But Trump knew that what he calls 'fraud and irregularities' in the 2020 election did not exist. The House January 6th Committee spelled this out in detail in its final report, explaining exactly how Trump 'was informed over and over again, by his senior appointees, campaign experts and those who had served him for years, that his election fraud allegations were nonsense.'"

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The former federal prosecutor also calls out Trump's attorneys, arguing that promoting the Big Lie in court documents is not only "appalling" — it is "sanctionable conduct."

Wehle writes, "It is stunning to see that, three years after January 6th, Trump and his lawyers are once again spreading the Big Lie…. It's time for more lawyers — and not just their disturbed client — to be held accountable by the rule of law for continuing this damaging ruse."

READ MORE: Fani Willis hints more plea deals could be forthcoming for Trump's GA co-defendants

Kimberly Wehle's full article for The Bulwark is available at this link.