Dana Radcliffe laid out the case in an op-ed for The Hill on Wednesday that Jack Smith may be able to prove that former President Donald Trump knew that he lost the election, which would destroy his defense that he genuinely thought he won.

Count one of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Aug. 1 indictment of Trump alleges that he used “knowingly false” claims of election fraud and conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Smith already has witnesses who are likely to testify that Trump admitted during private moments that he lost the election.

Before January 6, 2021, Trump knew that he lost 61 election-related lawsuits, Radcliffe further wrote.

Different interpretations

A lot of the other evidence that Radcliffe presents could have interpretations more sympathetic to Trump.

Trump's request to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger to "find" enough votes for him to win is one such example.

Trump supporters say Trump wanted Raffensberger to find legal votes that had not been counted because of fraud, while his detractors say he was asking Raffensberger to give him fraudulent votes.

Trump twisting truth

Some of the examples show Trump twisting the truth or ignoring evidence that would disprove his statements.

After Vice President Mike Pence said he didn't have the authority to delay vote certification, for example, Trump tweeted that he and Pence were “in total agreement that the vice president has the power to act.”

He also tweeted that "many states" wanted to "decertify" their votes for Biden even though that was also not the case.

It doesn't seem like the evidence is with Trump on some of these points, while others are more vague and could be interpreted different ways. This case is expected to play out before the 2024 election, although delays are certainly possible.

The real question

The question that neither Radcliffe nor anyone on the right is asking is, did Trump's conduct after the election rise to the level of a crime that he needs to be prosecuted for? After all, anything Trump may have tried to do to overturn the election failed, and he was forced to turn the reins of power over to Joe Biden just as the Constitution sets forth.

It could be argued that his conduct was similar to Al Gore's in 2000, when Gore demanded excessive recounts and claimed falsely that he had won the election. Yet Gore was never prosecuted, but was allowed to slink off into relative obscurity after he had tried everything to take the presidency away from George W. Bush.