In the days just before the Jan. 6, 2021, certification of President Joe Biden's 2020 electoral victory, amid talk that Vice President Mike Pence could reject the electors from states with disputed results, it was reportedly former federal Judge J. Michael Luttig who advised Pence otherwise and gave him cover to certify Biden's win over then-President Donald Trump.

Judge Luttig has now reemerged from his retirement once again to pronounce that "the beginning of the end of Donald Trump" is now at hand ahead of the 2024 election, The Guardian reported.

He went on to argue that former President Trump committed "quite arguably the worst crime against the United States that a president could commit," and predicted that there would eventually be some measure of legal accountability imposed.

GOP establishment member in good standing

Those remarks came in a lengthy profile piece of retired federal Judge Luttig by The Washington Post that glowingly documented his rise in conservative legal circles and, now, the bipartisan contingent of those vehemently opposed to any political future for the hated former president.

Luttig, a longtime member of the Republican establishment, began his own career as a staffer in the administrations of former GOP Presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan, as well as being a Supreme Court clerk, before being appointed as a federal judge under former President George H.W. Bush.

Once considered a possible Supreme Court justice nominee himself, he was ultimately passed over and eventually retired from federal judicial service in 2006 ... only to be called upon in early 2021 to provide legal advice to an unsure VP Pence about how to handle the impending congressional certification of then-President-elect Biden's victory that was disputed by some.

Luttig advised Pence to oppose Trump

The Post detailed how Lutting had been called on Jan. 4, 2021, by a mutual friend and attorney for VP Pence, Richard Cullen, for advice on how to counter the theory put forward by Trump attorney John Eastman, a former clerk for Luttig, about how Pence could reject the electors from states with disputed results, which would have had the effect of Trump being declared the victor and remaining as president.

The next morning, Luttig posted a thread of tweets that explained how Pence lacked the constitutional authority to do so and how it wouldn't be "disloyal" for the vice president to uphold his constitutional obligation to certify the reported election results, regardless of any disputes or the desires of the president.

Pence obviously followed that advice, which then led to the disruption of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, and Luttig later emerged once again from retirement to testify before the biased House Jan. 6 Committee against former President Trump and his failed efforts to overturn the 2020 results and remain in office.

"The beginning of the end of Donald Trump"

Now, in the interview with The Post, Luttig referenced the Watergate scandal that led to former President Richard Nixon's resignation and said, "What Nixon did was just an ordinary crime. What Trump has done is quite arguably the worst crime against the United States that a president could commit."

He went on to assert that there was "ample evidence" of criminal conduct by Trump that he believes will eventually lead to criminal indictments, even as he acknowledged that such indictments would inevitably "split the nation" and be a massive "spectacle" and legal fight.

However, even if Trump isn't ever indicted, Luttig nonetheless pointed to "triple blows" against the former president -- Trump's demand to be unconstitutionally reinstated, criminal referrals from the Jan. 6 committee, and the failures of some of his endorsed candidates in 2022 -- that he characterized as "the beginning of the end of Donald Trump" and "Trumpism" more generally.

Pence likely to run against Trump in 2024

As for former VP Pence, who followed Luttig's advice and positioned himself against then-President Trump, it is widely expected that he will soon declare himself to be a 2024 presidential candidate, setting up an eventual primary battle against his former boss, who has already officially launched a 2024 re-election campaign.

"Over the coming months, we’re going to continue to travel," Pence said in a recent interview with The Hill about his future plans. "We’re going to continue to listen very intently, and we’ll make a decision I’m sure that in the months ahead about what role we might play, whether it be as a national candidate or as a voice for our conservative values."