An attorney for Trump did the rounds on Sunday TV to give his defence to the charges of interfering with election results.  He said that what Trump did was only ‘aspirational.’  According to the Shorter OED, to aspire is ‘to have a fixed desire or ambition for something at present above one.’  That may not fit the case here, because Trump says he believes he was still President.  I am not sure what the American usage is.  But what is meant is that Trump at least hoped or wanted to get a result.  And since he believed he was still the most powerful man in the world, and he has never been taught to accept defeat, he would take steps to achieve that result.  And although I know little about the criminal law, it looks to be to be inevitable that as soon as Trump took steps to achieve that result, then if to do so successfully would be in breach of the law, he was in the process of an attempt to do just that.

I could of course be quite wrong.

Some in the press say he bona fide believed he had won the election.  Presumably he would have to do that in the witness box.  That has its own problems, but it would look to me be like saying: ‘Yes, I shot him in the head, but I did not think that would lead to death’.

Finally, some say it is a matter of freedom of speech.  You are free to say ‘Yes’ – but there are consequences if it is in response to ‘If I pay you one million dollars, will you murder the President.’  If that defence got up, the world would know the U S Constitution protects those who want to bring it down.