UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. DONALD J. TRUMP,
Defendant. * * * * * * * *
CRIMINAL NO. 23-cr-257 (TSC)
GOVERNMENT’S MOTION FOR IMMUNITY DETERMINATIONS
In early November, in a Campaign meeting, when the defendant suggested that more people in Pennsylvania voted than had checked in to vote, Deputy Campaign Manager JUSTINCLARK corrected him. Around the same time, Philadelphia City Commissioner ALSCHMIDT appeared on television and stated that there was no evidence of widespread fraud in Philadelphia. After seeing the interview, the defendant targeted ALSCHMIDT tweeting, “A guy named ALSCHMIDT a Philadelphia Commissioner and so-called Republican (RINO), is being used big time by the Fake News Media to explain how honest things were with respect to the Election in Philadelphia. He refuses to look at a mountain of corruption & dishonesty. We win!” As a result of the defendant’s attack, threats that ALSCHMIDT already was receiving became more targeted and detailed and included his address and the names of his family members.
On the defendant’s behalf. GIULIANI too spread patently false claims about Pennsylvania. On November 25, GIULIANI and JENNAELLIS attended an unofficial hearing with Republican state legislators in a Gettysburg hotel conference room. The defendant called in, claimed to have been watching, and demanded that the election in Pennsylvania “has to be turned around.” During the event, GIULIANI falsely stated that Pennsylvania issued 1.8 million absentee ballots and received 2.5 million in return. The claim was rooted in an obvious eror the comparison of the number of ballots sent out in the primary election to the number of ballots received in the general election. After seeing GIULIANI make this claim, JUSTINRIEMER the RNC’s Chief Counsel, tweeted publicly, This is not true.” In the following days, Campaign staff internally confirmed that GIULIANI was lying: when one Campaign staffer wrote in an email that GIULIANI claim was just wrong” and [t]here’s no way to defend it,” JUSTINCLARK responded, “We have been saying this for a while. It’s very frustrating.” Likewise, in late November or December. ERICHERSHMANN informed the defendant directly that a claim GIULIANI was spreading, that “Pennsylvania received 700,000 more mail-in ballots than wvere mailed out,” was “bullshit” and explained the error.
JUSTINRIEMER followed up on his public Tweet in a private email on November 28 to LIZHARRINGTON the RNC spokesperson, expressing his concern about GIULIANI and JENNAELLIS spread of disinformation: “I’m really not trying to give you a hard time but what GIULIANI and JENNAELLIS are doing is a joke and they are getting laughed out of court. It’s setting us back in our fight for election integrity and they are misleading millions of people who have wishful thinking that the president is going to somehow win this thing.” When GIULIANI learned of JUSTINRIEMER Tweet and email, on November 28, he called JUSTINRIEMER and left a threatening voicemail, stating, “I really do need an explanation for what you said today because if there isn’t a good one, you should resign. Got it? So call me or I’ll call the boss and get you to resign. Call me. It’d be better for you if you do,” GIULIANI also contacted RNC Chairwoman RONNAMCDANIEL to demand that JUSTINRIEMER be fired, and thereafter JUSTINRIEMER relieved of his duties as RNC Chief Counsel.
On December 3, four Republican leaders of the Pennsylvania legislature issued a public letter stating that the General Assembly lacked the authority to overturn the popular vote and appoint its own slate of electors, and that doing so would violate the state Election Code and Constitution. BERNIEKERIK -an agent of the defendant who worked closely with GIULIANI issued a Tweet showing the four legislators’ names and signatures and wrote, “These are the four cowardice Pennsylvania legislators that intend to allow the Democrat machine to #StealtheVote! #Cowards #Liars #Traitors” while linking to the legislators’ Twitter accounts. On Sunday December 6, at 12:56 a.m., from the White House residence having just returned from a political rally in Valdosta, Georgia-the defendant re-tweeted and amplified BERNIEKERIK post.