Trump's only defense starts with "I"

From what we've learned from the Jan. 6 Committee, Donald Trump may have to deploy a novel defense against the crime of seditious conspiracy.

Insanity.

This one must deduce from comments about the hurdle of "state of mind and intent" prosecutors would need to demonstrate to prove criminality.

To that effect, Trump World should be aggressively changing its tune in reacting to the explosive testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson.

Now, take notes, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson. You're all going to have to be on the same page if you want to keep him out of the clink. All together, now:

Of course, he assaulted a Secret Service agent and attempted to steer the limo to the Jan. 6 melee.

Of course, he threw plates of food at the White House wall.

Of course, he sought to lie and cheat his way back into the presidential residence – our residence -- he so soiled.

Of course. Of course. Of course. Why? Because he is Donald Trump. Does the law even apply to people insane with power lust?

At the risk of self-promoting, at this point I must return to something I wrote in 2019 about the first impeachable (and removable) thing a red-handed Trump was caught doing.

When first reports emerged that he sought to extort "a favor" from Ukraine's president to help facilitate a political hatchet job, I wrote this "Question to admirers of Donald Trump":

"When suspicions first were raised, did the man you helped elect sound like someone who asked the president of a foreign country to investigate the son of a political opponent?

"Ah ha. You nodded your head. Ever so slightly, you did.

"Or maybe you said, 'Hell, yeah.'"

Hell yeah. By now we know him all too well. Trump did what's alleged before the Jan. 6 committee – conspired to defraud the U.S. government (by extension you and me), raged against anything (such as truth) in his way, incited a riot, did nothing to save the lives endangered or lost, or the democracy teetering on the brink. Oh, and he fraudulently raised a lot of money doing it.

His only defense is insanity.

Tucker, Sean, Laura, "Fox & Friends": Do you want your preferred president to be gobbling up air time with collect calls from federal prison?

Then go with the insanity defense. Of course, he menaced that agent. Of course, the condiments flew.

Per today's Trump World talking point: Trying to deconstruct the case about the man's criminality into whether his fingerprints were on the agent's throat is an artful dodge about the whole mess – the conspiracy, the fraud, the violence – that these hearings are about.

But if you want to focus on those things, Team, say, "Yeah, the guy was out of his mind. He did it. Patently insane. Not guilty!"

Cassidy Hutchinson is of sound mind, and of eyes and ears. Not only that, she was down the hall. She was a birdie putt away.

Did you hear Trump say he barely knows her? Then he proceeded to rip her like, um, he knows her. Which is it? Do you know her or do you not? Don't bother. Plead state of mind.

What Trump did right there is an element of what prosecutors label "consciousness of guilt." The primary definition is concocting a "false alibi."

Wait? Did you know her? Or did you not?

Don't try to explain what Trump knew. Let the defense team take over:

"He doesn't know anything that can be held against him, your honor. He's out of his mind."

Everything we've learned since Jan. 6 fits exactly what we know of Trump – corrupt, conniving, venal and driven by self-interest, or at least what Vlad Putin deems that to be.

It's an open-and-shut case of criminality, corruption and treason. Cassidy Hutchinson had to ask, who in his right mind would have even contemplated it? The man down the hall did.

Longtime newspaperman John Young lives in Colorado. Email: jyoungcolumn@gmail.com.