This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.

This is The New Yorker Radio Hour. Thanks for joining us today. I'm David Remnick.

Late in November, Donald Trump's legal team filed discovery documents in the federal criminal case against him, which should be a

routine legal matter. But the documents from Trump's lawyers were rife with heated political

rhetoric and conspiracy theories about what had happened on January 6th. His lawyers referred to

foreign actors who sought to, quote, undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process.

They mentioned Antifa, of course, because why not?

And they also wanted information from the Justice Department on John Nichols or any similar persons who were encouraged or participated in any illegal activities on January 6th.

Some January 6th conspiracy theorists believe that John Nichols, who was in Wisconsin on January 6th,

not in D.C., appeared at the Capitol in order to trick Trump supporters into ransacking the place

to make them look bad. They've got like a nickname for him and some video they think they've identified him on the

scaffold.

So that is the caliber of argument you could expect from the Trump legal team.

False flag from John Nichols of the nation.

So who is this John Nichols?

He's a political reporter based in Wisconsin, the author of more than a dozen books, and he was nowhere near the Capitol on January 6th.

How did you end up in this bizarre position of learning that people thought you were involved in January 6th somehow?

About a year and a half ago, I got a email from Caitlin Graff, who is the publicity director for the nation,

and she said, this is going to make you laugh.

And she sent me a post from someplace that said, you know, was John Nichols involved in January 6th? Was he, you know, one of the people,

like urging people to storm the Capitol? And it had a kind of a grainy picture of me from many

years ago, sadly to say, before I got my bifocals and when I was perhaps a bit more youthful.

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