Harold Hutchison, DCNF

Liberal media outlets hyped the possibility that prosecutors could indict former President Donald Trump with various fraud charges in connection with fundraising for post-election legal battles on Tuesday.

“This false solicitation of money for the non-existent fund to the tune of 250 million, I think that raises exposure and danger for Trump and those who helped him do that,” former federal prosecutor Shan Wu said on “CNN Newsroom with Ana Cabrera” Tuesday afternoon. “In particular … That kind of a charge, wire fraud, may be much more palatable to prosecutors at DOJ and AG Garland than wading into the uncharted waters of charging a former president of trying to overthrow the government they’re in charge of.”

The Jan. 6 Select Committee focused on fundraising after the election, alleging that Trump’s campaign raised $250 million by using baseless claims of fraud for an Election Defense Fund, according to CBS News.

Amanda Wick, the committee’s chief investigative counsel, said in a pre-recorded video that “the select committee discovered no such fund existed,” Axios reported.

“I don’t believe there is actually a fund called the Election Defense Fund,” Trump campaign staffer Hanna Allred told the committee, according to CBS. Gary Coby, formerly the digital director for the campaign, told the committee that the Election Defense Fund was a promotional tactic.

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Norm Eisen, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, noted that members of the Jan. 6 committee said they would be handing evidence collected to the Justice Department.

“The crimes that seem to be in play would be crimes such as conspiracy to defraud the United States,” former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade said on MSNBC Tuesday morning. “That is using fraud to interfere with the proper functioning of government… When it comes to these fraud crimes, you have to show fraudulent intent. And that requires Trump knew he had lost.”

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“Well, if you raise money with the public with misrepresentations and you know that you’re lying about how you’re going to be using the money, that could be wire fraud,” attorney Jeremy Temkin, a partner at Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello said on CNN’s “New Day” Tuesday morning.

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Brett Kappel, a campaign finance attorney, told Axios that securing a conviction could be difficult, citing the fine print in the solicitations sent to Trump’s supporters.

Former President Trump, Eisen, Wu, Temkin, McQuade and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Daily Caller News Foundation.

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