In Just Security, they respond to his questions about the evidence of Trump’s criminality as shown in the January 6 Committee’s hearings. I was struck that several of these former prosecutors said that, as significant as it may be that Eastman told Trump that his theory about Pence’s power was wrong, even more significant is that this theory was put into service of a claim that had no basis whatsoever. As Barbara McQuade put it:

“I think a better argument is that the underlying premise of the theory was itself illegal. There was no basis to throw out electors because there was no fraud in the election. As we heard on Monday, Meadows said there was “no there there.” Trump heard from his attorney general, his cyber security director, the Secretary of State of Georgia, and more than 60 judges that there was no fraud in the election. Trump just made it up.“

For another perspective on this topic, see Renatto Mariotti’s essay for Politico Magazine, which was highlighted by Michael Smerconish on his CNN show this morning.