S3 E14: Alex Cannon, Private Eye

Capitol Insurrection Report

A quick update on some of the latest January sixth news, followed by a close reading of 300 pages of transcripts from crucial testimony by a key figure in the January sixth Committee Report, Trump campaign attorney Alex Cannon. Topics include the arrest of an AFO defendant who was arrested on January 6th, only to be released from his cuffs by the mob of Trumpist thugs, an analysis of the daunting task of reading some 18,000 pages of testimony, a call for assistance with regard to this task, with inquiries to be directed to @capinsurrep on Twitter, and some discussion of the question of whether the speech and debate clause actually applies to members of the executive branch, such as the vice president. The main body of the episode consists of a close reading of the two transcripts of testimony by Trump campaign lawyer Alex Cannon in April and August of 2021. Cannon offered very useful testimony to Committee with regard to the big lie, and had documentation to support his position that he had opposed "team crazy." Nonetheless, the transcripts make it clear that this opposition had its limits, and Cannon took pains to absent himself from the work of "team crazy," even going so far as to move his office. Although the Committee did not delve much into the question of Cannon's involvement in the TMAGAC "Big Rip-Off" scheme, already addressed in S3E11, "The Big Rip-Off," which was relegated to Appendix 3 of the Final Report, Cannon, whose expertise consists mainly of drawing up vendor contracts, lies at a nexus of Trump insiders who created LLCs that received disbursements from the Trump campaign and his PACs, sometimes totaling millions of dollars. Though the Committee seemingly took pains not to undermine Cannon's credibility, the questions surrounding these unusual dealings are reportedly of interest to Special Counsel Jack Smith. Cannon's transcript also shows how Cannon, who was represented by Daniel Benson, a named partner at Kasowitz, Benson and Torres, is linked to another KB&T client: Jared Kushner. Cannon told the Committee that it was Kushner, acting on the instruction of Donald Trump, who sought to create the Save America PAC as a leadership PAC because it would allow the campaign to transfer over 200 million dollars, ostensibly raised for the purposes of creating an Election Defense Fund that ultimately was never created, into an entity with few restrictions on how these funds could be spent. This move raises issues of FEC violations, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Also, in rare scoop for the podcast, I will reveal that Cannon authorized a secret investigation into January 6th funded with Trump PAC money. Cannon claims the investigation was conducted by 2M Document Management and Imaging, LLC, a firm with no clients not affiliated with Trump. Cannon also claims that this investigation, which was funded with part of the 6.2 million dollars disbursed to 2M, is work product subject to attorney-client privilege. Cannon asserted that neither the Committee, nor the public, nor anyone else, will ever see this privileged work product, which raises questions regarding accountability and transparency. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/jesse-james-rumson-sedition-panda-jan-6-b2291006.html https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-shell-spending-scheme-comes-under-doj-scrutiny https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/22/trump-brass-campaign-firm-449402 https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/16/politics/secret-grand-jury-special-counsel-trump/index.html https://www.lawfareblog.com/how-much-can-speech-or-debate-clause-protect-mike-pence https://www.golocalprov.com/news/blocks-voter-fraud-allegations-spark-controversy-in-rhode-island https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GPO-J6-TRANSCRIPT-CTRL0000062449/ https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GPO-J6-TRANSCRIPT-CTRL0000916113/