LISTEN: Government lawyer says Trump organizing alternate electors was ‘campaign conduct’

PBS NewsHour
PBS NewsHour
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Published 2024-04-25
As the nation's highest court heard arguments in Trump v. United States on Thursday, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan asked government lawyer Michael Dreeben which actions by former President Donald Trump were in an official capacity and which were not.

Dreeben said he disagreed with Trump’s lawyers in most cases, and that the actions the president took to allegedly overturn the 2020 election were as a private citizen and were part of his campaign.
“Seeking as a candidate to oust the lawful winner of the election and have one self-certified with private actors is a private scheme to achieve a private end, and many of the co-conspirators alleged in the indictment are private,” Dreeben said.

Some actions were in an official capacity, Dreeben argued, such as conversations between Trump and Department of Justice officials, as outlined in the federal indictment against the former president.

“For an incumbent president to then use his presidential powers to try and enhance the likelihood that it succeeds makes the crime, in our view, worse," Dreeben said.

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