Trump Trial
- Thread starter GURPS
- Start date
So has Trump started appealing his NY conviction, or can that not happen until he's sentenced (whenever that may be)? All anyone talks about is his sentencing.
'A Direct Assault on Democracy!' Trump Responds to Jack Smith's Indictment
In referring to the indictment out as "ridiculous," he called for it to be "dismissed IMMEDIATELY," especially as it "has all the problems of the old indictment."
Trump also called to mind how Smith's case against Trump for his handling of classified documents has been dismissed by Judge Aileen Cannon, which the former president referred to as the "Florida Document Hoax Case." Cannon tossed out the case last month, but Smith on Monday filed an appeal with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse that move.
The post also called to mind the upcoming 2024 election. "This is merely an attempt to INTERFERE WITH THE ELECTION, and distract the American People from the catastrophes Kamala Harris has inflicted on our Nation, like the Border Invasion, Migrant Crime, Rampant Inflation, the threat of World War III, and more[,]" Trump warned.
ABC News ran a surprisingly helpful story yesterday headlined, “Trump charged in superseding indictment in election interference case following SCOTUS ruling.” Special Counsel Jack Smith was feeling cranky about current events, so he held a whole new grand jury to charge President Trump with new crimes.
Except, the story is both bigger and smaller than it looks. Special Prosecutor Jack Smith (still battling South Florida Judge Aileen Cannon over whether he was legally appointed in the first place), re-charged President Trump yesterday in the “election interference” case pending in D.C.
But the new indictment wasn’t really new. It just reworded Smith’s original claims. If anything, a few of the original claims were removed.
Smith is merely adjusting his case, to improve its chances of surviving the new Supreme Court immunity standard. I know, I know. That spicy old paragon of reliable information Joe Biden told you that the new standard made presidents into “kings” who can never be held accountable, not even for assassinating people willy nilly, just blam! blam! blam! goose-stepping through the halls of Congress while laughing maniacally and continuously shrieking, “I’m the king! I’m the king!”
But I digress.
After tweaking it to better fit the contours of the new Supreme Court standard, Smith’s indictment even shrank a little, deflating from its original, obese 45 pages down to a chubby 36. So we can now quantify what “presidential immunity” is worth: about nine pages.
The revision re-characterized the President’s conduct as being motivated by personal benefit rather than presidential aims. Trump’s lawyers will certainly challenge Smith’s characterizations. It’s a brand-new standard, so we shall see how everything shakes out. But the new indictment made one thing perfectly clear: presidential prosecution is still on the table even after the immunity decision.
Here’s a minority report. I believe this superseding indictment is a positive development, since it proves that the Supreme Court did not, in fact, immunize presidents, but rather deleted their de facto common-law immunity and created a legal rubric for their fair prosecution.
In other words, Smith’s new indictment proved presidential prosecution is not just possible, but presidential prosecution now follows a prescription.
Finally, consider two implications. First, the lying media, currently gushing over Prosecutor Smith’s new superseding indictment, isn’t apologizing (but should) for the tsunami of demented stories it breathlessly ran about how awful the Supreme Court decision was, just two months ago. E.g.:
Don’t hold your breath waiting for them to apologize for their moronic misinterpretation of the immunity standard. Corporate media is worse than useless.
But second, and maybe even more importantly, consider that, if Trump wins, other presidential prosecutions will be on the menu. Jack Smith just drafted the roadmap.
Keep it coming, Jack!
☕️ KEEPING IT WEIRD ☙ Wednesday, August 28, 2024 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠
New special prosecutor Trump charges may be helping; what's with the weird new slur?; DNC's surprisingly ironic surprise guest; Harris's policy body-snatching; Tucker/Kennedy interview; more.
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PJay
Well-Known Member
ELECTION INTERFERENCE: DOJ Chief Caught Admitting in Undercover Footage That Trump Indictments Are Politically Motivated — Exposes Plot to Make Trump a 'Convicted Felon' and 'Affect His Candidacy' | The Gateway Pundit | by Jim Hᴏft
The real threat to America’s future isn’t coming from Moscow—it’s coming from Washington, D.C.
www.thegatewaypundit.com
The key issue before the court was the order and timing of the pleadings and determinations that will need to be made before the case can actually proceed to trial. Chutkan acknowledged that the case will not be ready for trial for months.
In addition to sorting out the immunity issue, Trump's legal team raised the matter of Smith's appointment, as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas addressed in his concurrence in the immunity ruling and Judge Aileen Cannon determined was grounds for dismissal of the Florida classified documents case brought by Smith against Trump.
Chutkan initially expressed reservation that a motion on that basis would be timely at this point, given there was an October deadline for such. Ultimately, Chutkan agreed to let Trump's attorneys raise the issue, but they will have to persuade her that binding DC Circuit precedent rejecting their position does not foreclose it. (Based on her apparent inclination, this looks to be a tall order.)
As to the immunity issue, Trump's team sought to delay the briefing until after the election, asserting that the prosecution's brief is likely to place damaging details into the public record just ahead of the election. Chutkan appeared unimpressed at the notion that this was a particularly sensitive time, noting that the court will not be taking the election into account.
She did, however, note that setting a trial date would be "an exercise in futility" given all of the issues remaining to be resolved.
In addition to sorting out the immunity issue, Trump's legal team raised the matter of Smith's appointment, as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas addressed in his concurrence in the immunity ruling and Judge Aileen Cannon determined was grounds for dismissal of the Florida classified documents case brought by Smith against Trump.
Chutkan initially expressed reservation that a motion on that basis would be timely at this point, given there was an October deadline for such. Ultimately, Chutkan agreed to let Trump's attorneys raise the issue, but they will have to persuade her that binding DC Circuit precedent rejecting their position does not foreclose it. (Based on her apparent inclination, this looks to be a tall order.)
As to the immunity issue, Trump's team sought to delay the briefing until after the election, asserting that the prosecution's brief is likely to place damaging details into the public record just ahead of the election. Chutkan appeared unimpressed at the notion that this was a particularly sensitive time, noting that the court will not be taking the election into account.
She did, however, note that setting a trial date would be "an exercise in futility" given all of the issues remaining to be resolved.
Top Manhattan US Attorney’s Office spox blasts DA Bragg over Trump prosecution in secret recording: ‘The case is nonsense’
A top Department of Justice spokesman in New York was caught on a hidden camera ripping Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for his recent prosecution of former President Donald Trump — accusing Bragg of conducting “lawfare” just to further his own political ambitions.
Nicholas Biase, chief spokesman for the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office, was secretly recorded tearing into the progressive prosecutor during a recent conversation with a so-called undercover operative from conservative podcaster Steven Crowder’s “Mug Club.”
“Honestly, I think the case is nonsense,” Biase was filmed saying to an unidentified woman on July 31 at what appears to be a bar.
Corrupt Obama Judge Tanya Chutkan Comes Out Swinging Against SCOTUS Presidential Immunity Ruling During January 6 Hearing
President Trump and Special Counsel Jack Smith presented opposing arguments for how the January 6 case will proceed in a joint status report filed last Friday night ahead of Thursday’s status conference.
Last Tuesday, Jack Smith indicted President Trump AGAIN in Washington DC, following the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity.
The grand jury indicted Trump on the same four charges that were unveiled last August: Conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.
Trump’s lawyers argued that Trump is immune from federal prosecution for alleged ‘crimes’ committed while he served as US President.
Judge Chutkan was unprepared, smug and condescending during Thursday’s hearing, according to Julie Kelly who attended the status conference.
Corporate media was madder than enraged hornets yesterday about what you will probably consider good news. Politico ran a highly annoyed column with the argumentative headline, “There Was No Good Legal Reason to Delay Trump’s Sentencing.” When you also consider Hunter’s sentencing schedule, it adds up to another bizarre, 2024-style confluence of events.
At a practical level, Manhattan Judge Merchan had little choice. The DA’s office had filed a motion indicating it did not oppose Trump’s request to delay sentencing till after the election. In his order granting the delay, Judge Merchan said the DA’s lack of opposition could “fairly be construed as a joinder of the motion.”
In other words, DA Alvin Bragg had agreed to push the sentencing hearing. Presumably he has his reasons. So the judge was faced with nobody arguing for sentencing the President —an unprecedented sequence of words— next week as planned.
Politico’s columnist was offended by the delay. He clearly suggested Judge Merchan should have moved forward anyway. The news mag blamed MAGA attacks on the judge, suggesting Judge Merchan had been cowed by a barrage of conservative inquiries and harsh criticisms.
In other words, it’s Trump’s fault. It’s gotten political.
But — what did they expect? There’s a good reason why Presidents have never been prosecuted before, and that reason is because Presidents are polarizing political figures. Even if the case had merit, which it doesn’t, it was always inevitable the case would become inextricably mired in politics right from the filing of the initial indictment.
This case is the Stormy Daniels “hush money” case, where Trump was convicted of ‘falsifying business records’ because his accountant wrote “legal expenses” on several payments to Trump’s lawyer. Since Trump is a first-time offender, the crime is a victimless white-collar crime, and since it was such a creative prosecutorial stretch, Trump should get probation. Meaning, no jail time.
If Judge Merchan sentences Trump to prison anyway, it would provoke an unprecedented Constitutional crisis over the separation of powers. The easiest way to avoid that unpleasant outcome would be to order Trump’s sentence to start after he left office. Assuming Merchan did not take that easy out, the case would likely return back to the Supreme Court.
At that point, the simplest way for the Supreme Court to solve the Constitutional conundrum would be to stay Trump’s sentence until after his term, on the theory that imprisonment is inconsistent with Trump’s ability to fulfill his Constitutional duties as President. That way, the Supremes could avoid wading into deeper legal waters by creating controversial new immunities or presidential doctrines.
It is worth marveling about the miraculous fact that, despite the dizzying and historic barrage of state and federal lawfare, Trump remains free as a Twitter bluebird and politically undamaged. If anything, all the lawfare helped the former President. For just one example, Trump’s constant legal battles have kept the former President in the media’s klieg lights, and have guaranteed his constant publicity, which inarguably fueled his campaign fundraising.
Trump is a marketing genius, and his enemies handed him troves of public relations ammunition.
It’s also striking how the political prosecutions amount to legal attempts to assassinate President Trump, which have all failed just like the actual assassination attempt did.
I predict probation, but I’m not ruling anything out. This is 2024, after all, and anything could happen.
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