Dear Denver DA Beth McCann:
You’ve announced your days as Denver district attorney are ending. Congratulations on a fine career. Time flies when you’re doing justice. Our first Denver DA boss, the late great Dale Tooley, taught justice as our mission. Proving truth beyond a reasonable doubt for our great state of Colorado is truly a privilege.
You were a district court deputy when future Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter and I began as student interns in 1980. Your career’s been full of prestigious jobs since then as a litigator, legislator, administrator and prosecutor.
Denver voters elected you Denver’s first female DA simultaneously to Donald Trump winning in 2016. Your second term will end next January. Before you think about relaxing, I’ve got a prosecution you should consider. A major perjury just happened in Denver, and it happened in a case headed to oral argument in the U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 8.
Most Americans don’t appreciate there was a five-day bench trial in Denver District Court before it was determined Trump engaged in insurrection. Team Trump competed hard with witnesses. In the process, provable perjury occurred. Judge Sarah Wallace made clear in her Final Order that she did not believe the testimony of Trump’s key witness, Kash Patel.
Patel is a former federal public defender, and top Trump consigliere. He’s performed numerous reported acts of MAGA fealty. On Nov. 2, 2023, Patel perjured himself in Denver District Court, promoting Trump’s favorite January 6 falsehood about authorizing 10,000 National Guard troops, Nancy Pelosi’s security failures and disappearing January 6 Select Committee evidence.
Trump’s malfunctioning brain relentlessly repeats this preposterous canard, even glitching last weekend into amalgamating Nikki Haley into Nancy Pelosi. MAGA cultists claim Trump’s misnaming of Haley was genius — reinforcing attention on Trump’s whopper that Pelosi and the Dems bear blame for January 6. Lies don’t come much bigger, Beth.
Legwork proving Patel’s perjury is already completed. C-SPAN recorded the entire trial. The cross examination of Patel by plaintiffs’ counsel Sean Grimsley was superb. Follow-up witnesses crushed Patel’s false story. There was January 6 Committee chief investigative counsel Tim Heaphy, and the January 6 Committee Report, admitted into evidence pursuant to Colorado Rule of Evidence 803(8).
As for any massive National Guard deployment, plaintiffs refuted that pathetic Patel lie through testimony by esteemed national security law professor, William Banks. Banks earned his law degree in 1974 at the University of Denver. Banks’ testimony destroyed the remotest possibility Patel’s testimony was true. No such manpower was at the president’s disposal, and the necessary documentation was also absent.
In finding number 47 of her historic Final Order, Judge Wallace determined Patel to not be credible. Patel testified that Trump authorized 10,000 to 20,000 National Guard forces on Jan. 3, 2021, a claim the court, and other esteemed government investigators, have deemed illogical. Patel’s provably false claims about the January 6th Select Committee destroying evidence compounds his Denver perjury.
Patel’s role as Devin Nunes’ acolyte during the House Intelligence Committee days helped shield Trump from investigations into Russian interference. When Trump was caught cold with confidential documents in Mar-A-Lago, Patel has been glad to say anything to muddy the waters and/or exonerate his employer. Indeed, Trump-associated entities still pay most of Patel’s bills.
Former Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Christopher Miller will refute Patel’s lie. Add to your witness list Miller’s predecessor, Senate-confirmed former Trump-appointed Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who regards his old boss a risk to national security, and a threat to democracy.
At your Jan. 10, 2017, inauguration, I recall your warnings about the President-elect. You sized Trump up as terrible and warned the large crowd at the Webb Building atrium. You were prescient.
Trump behaves like a crime boss determined to destroy democracy. When given an opportunity, our justice system works. Juries and fact-finding judges weigh admissible evidence and arguments, then render verdicts.
Trump and his loyalists aim to undermine our precious rule of law system under the weight of all their lies. Trump disinformation must be combated. Damn Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ron DeSantis and all those now singing the MAGA-approved song that big city verdicts don’t mean a thing.
MAGA constantly distorts reality in, and about, America’s major big cities. Please teach the world a lesson about the hazards of lying under oath in Denver. Be like Denver Nuggets great Dikembe Motumbo and wag your finger, declaring, “Not in my house!” Provable perjury, committed during the insurrection case of the ages, should be sanctioned.
Former CIA Director Gina Haspel threatened to resign if Patel got installed while she was agency head. If Trump wins, Patel could be appointed CIA Director, Attorney General, or any high-level position under a 47th president. That’s a frightening prospect.
This is your moment, Beth. Inform Denver, America and the civilized world that perjury, especially in matters of such significance, will not be ignored. Your last year of prosecution can be your most consequential. Let the world know justice works in Colorado, where we let the truth prevail.
Craig Silverman is a former Denver chief deputy DA. Craig is columnist at large for The Colorado Sun and an active Colorado trial lawyer with Craig Silverman Law, LLC. He also hosts The Craig Silverman Show podcast.
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