Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz stood at the podium (see video segment below) answering questions after introducing a resolution — reportedly supported by 60 U.S. lawmakers — that would officially declare that former President Donald Trump “did not engage in insurrection or rebellion against the United States.”
Asked about the purpose of the measure — “is there a practical reason?” — Gaetz replied unequivocally that it was an effort by Republicans to help Trump legally.
[NOTE: Gaetz’s “help” is largely aimed at combatting Trump’s removal from the ballot in certain states based on the 14th Amendment’s Section 3 prohibiting insurrectionists from holding high office. But its potential impact may not be limited to that case — now being considered by the Supreme Court — as Trump also faces felony insurrection charges.]
“I think that it would be incredibly helpful legally,” Gaetz said in his answer, positing that if Congress declares it was not the victim of an insurrection, then it follows that even if Trump were found to have incited what happened on January 6, it was — at most — a victimless crime.
With his gambit, Gaetz, a lawyer, tacitly acknowledges that it’s victims who keep getting in Trump’s way legally. Without a victim, Gaetz says, the former President presumably has an easier defense.
Gaetz on his resolution that declares Trump didn’t engage in insurrection: I think it would be incredibly helpful legally. If we’re the victim, and we say it’s not an insurrection, I think that will hold a lot of weight. pic.twitter.com/QwPIumcq2c
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 6, 2024
Gaetz’s assertion that a successful prosecution is aided by the presence of a victim is borne out by a recent Trump loss in court — it’s indisputable that if E. Jean Carroll hadn’t stated her case as Trump’s victim, Trump would never have been found to have assaulted her.
It follows, in Gaetz’s logic, that if Congress does not state its case as Trump’s victim — indeed if it officially declares it was not victimized — then Congress cannot be found to have been assaulted by Trump.
According to Gaetz, this makes Trump’s defenses easier, as the former President can ask the courts, despite the hundreds of January 6 convictions, if any harm was really done. The official answer from Congress, if Gaetz gets his way, will then be no. The resolution paves the way for this conclusion: Trump may have victimized E. Jean Carroll, but he did not victimize Congress — because Congress officially denies it was victimized.
[NOTE: The no-victim defense is not original — Trump has been railing against New York District Attorney Letitia James’s civil fraud case against him by claiming, among other objections, that the alleged fraud had “no victims.”]
“Prosecutors regularly consult the victim [of crimes],” Gaetz says in the video segment above. “If we’re the purported victim, in Congress, and we’re saying this was not an insurrection, I think that would hold a great deal of weight.”