Trump on Trial

Indictments just published. About 20 people charged. RICO charges. 41 counts. Forgery. Impersonating a federal officer.

WHOA. 90 pages. Major stuff.

Rudy Giuliani. Mark Meadows. Sydney Powell.

Every single Republican Senator who voted to acquit Trump in his two impeachments need to be themselves impeached for dereliction of duty and violating their oath to uphold the Constitution.

Republicans are rioting and looting businesses in their own neighborhood. That's what it feels like when they attempt to tear down the country over election losses. Republicans have won the popular vote in only one presidential election in 50 years.

2024 is sizing up to be an all-Trump all-the-time year. He'll be in the news almost every single day, like it or not, either for trials or trial motions or primaries or rallies or campaign events.  Every.  Single.  Fucking. Day.

To a malignant narcissist like him, it must be heaven.

There's even talk now that he may turn himself in to the Fulton County DA for booking two days early, on September 23rd, because that is the date of the Republican debate.  Suck all the oxygen out of the room, Donald, suffocate everyone.

Jocelyn Benson (MI) and Judge Luddig and Lawrence Tribe And two scholars at the Federalist Society all agree: Trump and several Republican Congressmen are barred from office by the 14th Amendment. It’s in the Constitution. Congress doesn’t need to pass a law, the people under discussion don’t even need to be convicted in a court of law. The standard has been met.

Several states may bar them from running. Will it be enough to make an Electoral College count impossible?

NoCoPilot wrote:

Jocelyn Benson (MI) and Judge Luddig and Lawrence Tribe And two scholars at the Federalist Society all agree: Trump and several Republican Congressmen are barred from office by the 14th Amendment. It’s in the Constitution. Congress doesn’t need to pass a law, the people under discussion don’t even need to be convicted in a court of law. The standard has been met.

Several states may bar them from running. Will it be enough to make an Electoral College count impossible?

Wait.  Electoral College votes are winner-takes-all in 48 of the 50 states (Maine and Nebraska being the exceptions). Keeping Trump off the ballot would only matter in states where Trump would have won the state -- which is to say, probably unlikely to happen.

Sydney Powell is requesting a speedy trial, as is her right.  So is Kenneth Cheseboro. By requesting speedy trials -- Fani Willis has told the judge she's ready anytime, and requested October 23 for Cheseboro -- this puts enormous pressure on Trump's defense team, who would rather delay the whole thing to April 2026.

Willis has stated she wants to try all 19 defendants simultaneously.  This is a RICO trial, and the strength of the trial relies on the conspiracy between all the defendants.  Trying them separately would actually weaken her case.

It'll be interesting tomorrow to see how the judge rules.

But here's what's interesting about Powell's petition.  She cut-and-pasted the whole thing from Cheseboro's petition.  Her attorney didn't even bother to change all the "him"s in the petition to "her"s.

That's some quality lawyering there.

MAGA = making attorneys get attorneys.

Do you remember that various text messages were deleted from Secret Service phones on or about Jan 6? And some people said it was because the agents had been in touch with Oathkeepers etc?

Apparently, one of Jack Smith's court filings mentions that while the texts could not be recovered from the phones, they could be recovered from the servers - and have been.

That would be some interesting reading, I bet.

NoCoPilot wrote:

You know, the Justice Department has been EXCEEDINGLY careful, PAINFULLY careful to move slowly and neutrally toward the Trump indictment.  The argument that faster prosecution would've risked violence in the streets makes sense, from one point of view.

But from another, it just exacerbated the situation.  After 2-1/2 years of consequence-free fomenting, now Trump and his minions feel absolute freedom to threaten Justice Department officials, judges, attorneys general and anyone branded "disloyal" with the most heinous acts of violence.

Drumpf needs to be in jail, in solitary confinement.  His continual threatening of judges and prosecutors should not be endured.  His fund-raising off lies about the charges should be grounds for immediate confinement.  No pictures, no press, no statements to the press. Whisk him out of the public eye for the duration.

If he's in solitary, the Secret Service detail can be sent home.

His lawyers can be allowed into the Georgia State penitentiary, to prepare his trial defenses, under the absolute restriction that they are not allowed to make public statements.  Period.

And if Trump wants to delay his trial until April 2026, let him.

If anyone's worried about the appearance of "election interference" I have already mentioned the simple and logical solution.  Judge Chutkan (or any of the judges overseeing his 91 felony counts) just has to rule that running for president is not a protected right.  He's not barred from running for president in the future; he's just barred from running until his trials are over.

Trump's demand that Biden stand for impeachment will fuck up the election.  Trump's demand that Republicans default on the debt will fuck up the country.

This shit needs to be shut down.  Now.

Clear and present danger. He'd sooner burn it all down than face justice.

Gag order is a good first step. Next up would be remanding into custody.

This ruling kinda slipped quietly into the public record, but it will have huge implications.  If Drumpf is unable to do business in the state of New York, if his children are barred from leading any company for five years, if assets are seized and companies dissolved, well, the Trump deception obviously does a Hindenburg.


It will be appealed of course.

But NY judges seem to be okay with speedy resolutions (penalty phase October 2), and united in their resolve.  As a civil trial there was no jury to intimidate, no jurors to disparage.

Without a business Drumpf will be dependent on appeals to his congregation, and those are dependent on his remaining in their good graces*. Without funding he will have trouble paying the cadre of lawyers he's engaged, and without lawyers his many upcoming convictions will not be appealed. He will have no option but to report to jail (or flee the country).

Without funding, he may also find it difficult to mount a national presidential campaign.

George Conway agrees.

David Cay Johnston wrote:

Donald Trump is no longer in business in  New York State.
A judge canceled all of his business certificates and appointed a judge to monitor the assets.
Barring an unlikely reversal by an appeal court, the assets will be sold and Trump, Don Jr., & Eric are barred from business.

Renato Mariotti wrote:

This is a pretty big deal.

* - The judge also has the right to seize assets to satisfy the $250,000,000 fine already levied.  Not to mention future litigations.

If Trump can no longer launder Russian organized crime money through his businesses his coffer goes pffft.  

And he becomes a liability rather than a asset to Vlad.

This is huge.  He'd better stay away from tall staircases and sixth floor windows. And private jets.

Thought experiment:

Commander-In-Chief calls for the death of the highest ranking member of the military. Does the military continue to follow "civilian rule," or does it pivot and oust the President in a military coup?

Quote :

"As much as these comments are directed at me, it’s also directed at the institution of the military. And there is 2.1 million of us in uniform," Milley continued. "And the American people can take it to the bank, that all of us, every single one of us, from private to general, are loyal to that Constitution and will never turn our back on it no matter what. No matter what the threats, no matter what the humiliation, no matter what."

Up to, and including, ousting the rogue President?

Wonder if any other states are going to join in?

AZ AG’s office investigates Trump’s alleged election interference 'well after Biden's inauguration': report

NoCoPilot wrote:

But NY judges seem to be okay with speedy resolutions (penalty phase October 2), and united in their resolve.  

Let us not forget, Judge Engoron has already found The Trump Organization guilty of systemic fraud. The hearings that started Monday are strictly to determine the penalties for the already-declared guilty verdict.

The State of NY is asking for $250 million, but the judge could decide on less... or a lot more.

Here's the thing though -- money is easy come easy go for Drumpf. He only has to ping his private army to rake in millions more.

But the judge has another option, besides a fine, and that is to cancel the TO's certificate so they can't do business in NY anymore. That would be FAR more consequential than a fine.

He can also order that Trump properties be seized to pay the fines. His properties outside NY state -- Bedminster, Mar-A-Lago, Doonbeg, Doral, Turnberrry, etc. -- could be seized as well, and with Trump headquarters in NYC closed, he's not going to be able to do anything about it (like selling them). No Trump properties, no Trump boasting about how rich he is. No Trump properties, no money laundering. No money laundering, no Trump.

• The election interference case in Georgia isn't going to do it
  
• The sexual assault case of E. Jean Carroll isn't going to do it
  
• The classified documents case in Florida might touch on it, but it's unlikely
  
• The business fraud case in NY might touch on it, but it's unlikely
  
• The January 6 case might touch on it, but it's unlikely
  

What REALLY needs to happen is for the Mueller investigation to be re-opened, and turned into an indictment so witnesses can be compelled to testify under oath. That's the only way we're going to learn whether DJT has been a Russian asset since 2015, as seems likely.  It ties together all of his other cases: why he stole classified documents, why he tried to overturn the election, why his businesses had wonky accounting.

And why Congressional Republicans are intent on blowing up the government.

This is BRILLIANT.

Trump's been notified that, if he plans to mount an "advice-of-counsel" defense in the January 6 case, his communication with counsel will not be protected -- because communication in pursuance of a crime is not protected.

That leaves him only the option to claim he really believed the election had been stolen -- which numerous witnesses have already debunked -- or he has to claim that what happened on Jan 6 was not a crime. That's not gonna fly either.

Brilliant legal strategy.

Sidney Powell just pleaded (pled?) guilty.

This means three big things.

1.  Trump's expected defense that "he was just following advice of his attorneys" just blew up

2.  Powell is likely to testify against Trump as part of her plea deal

3.  Powell, as the second defendant up and second defendant to plead guilty, indicates that loyalty amongst Trump's other 17 co-defendants is probably low

Fani Willis may not even need to try Trump on RICO charges. If all his co-conspirators turn on him, it's over.

Mrs NoCo just asked an interesting question: as part of her plea deal, did she have to admit the whole 'stolen election' thing was made up?

Because if she did, that goes right to the heart of Trump's case. Game, set and match.

Quote :

As recently as Tuesday, Powell was still posting false claims on social media that said the 2020 election was rigged against Trump. But on Thursday, she walked into an Atlanta courtroom and admitted that she was guilty of trying to interfere with the 2020 election.

The most obvious consequence of Powell’s plea is that this could hurt Trump’s defense.

“She’s going to have to admit that, ‘yes, we were trying to steal the election, yes, I knew it was illegal, and yes, it was in fact a crime,’” Honig said. “All of that is in play for her testimony against all of the 17 other co-defendants, including Donald Trump.”

But zooming out, it puts in danger anyone who worked with Powell to overturn the election, including the attendees of the White House meeting and the Coffee County breachers. It doesn’t help them that a key player is now working for the prosecutors.

Powell had numerous contacts with other people in Trump’s orbit and could now be required to turn over evidence against them. Her guilty plea also implicates the group of Republicans who breached Coffee County’s voting systems in early 2021. Another member of that alleged scheme, bail bondsman Scott Hall, has already pleaded guilty.

She was also in touch with prominent right-wing media figures, including former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and current Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo. All three of them are facing defamation lawsuits from voting technology companies, and Powell’s admissions in the criminal cases could strengthen the defamation allegations.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/19/politics/sidney-powell-plea-takeaways/index.html

Powell is also an unindicted co-conspirator in Trump's New York Jan 6 criminal trial, and by admitting guilt in Georgia, she admits guilt in New York.  That fundamentally shifts the burden-of-proof in New York, from proving a crime was committed, to defining who committed the admitted crime(s).

It must be Christmas, because Trump's goose is cooked.

Whoa, Kenneth Chesebro just pled guilty, on the opening day of his jury selection.

Three up, three guilty pleas.

Not looking good for the ringleader.