That particular fig leaf is gone. As I just posted in the Pence Independent thread, he has called his Republican run.
Former Vice President Mike Pence suspended his 2024 presidential campaign Saturday, with his campaign running low on money and the Republican Party moving in a different direction than the longtime Indiana conservative.
But there’s the rub, right? Trump has almost zero incentive to try this case in court. Trump wants to try this case in the media where his MAGATs can decide that he was justified and correct.
His defense literally boils down to “Reelect me and I’ll pardon myself”.
There’s no question Trump will try his case in the court of public opinion as much as he is able.
In the end, it will depend on just how taken in American voters are by his BS, and that of the entire Republican party, Fox, Newsmax, OAN, Steve Bannon and whatever other illiberal forces are arrayed against democracy. The MAGAs are already all in for Trump and nothing will ever change that. My hope is that independents are still persuadable and Democrats aren’t so stupid and fickle that they actually believe November 2024 will be much like any other election where we can fuck around.
Meantime, all we can do is adhere to the rule of law this country purports to be built on and let this court proceeding – along with all the others – play out as they do all over the USA every day. And hope it helps people understand what is truly at stake.
I’ll admit I’m disheartened by what I see. But that’s a discussion for another thread.
His lawyers would be able to ask Pence on the witness stand: “Isn’t it true that you would benefit politically from Trump being out of the Presidential race, and therefore you have an incentive to implicate him in crimes?”
Pence has dropped out of the Presidential race.
Yeah, that’s what most of the last 15 posts have been about.
I was responding to CurtC’s post. My point was that Pence wouldn’t benefit politically from removing Trump.
Sure. Once. In the total scope of available evidence in this case, do you expect this one insinuation to sway a jury? I don’t.
You can even build a house of cards with jokers, if that’s all you have to hand.
Not in any trial I ever sat through.
jury selection is slated to start on feb. 9th. team trump is trying various delays and appeals. judge chutkan is moving forward with the plan to start the trial in march.
c817e8f5-624d-4afe-9619-e0b2af1a584e.pdf (washingtonpost.com)
A Trump appointee to the State Department has been sentenced to 5 years for his actions on Jan 6th.
His lawyer is Stanley Woodward, who has defended other MAGA defendants. Meet the legal nerd who MAGA bigwigs are turning to for help - POLITICO
And the gag order has been lifted while being appealed. Hearing on the 20th. Per msnbc.
Oh. My. Grid! That radical lunatic is making us READ!!!
I think a suitable response would be to point out that these filings were only necessary because Trump’s plea at arraignment contained twice as many words as it should have.
Nice one!
Is this particularly significant beyond cutting off an avenue of delay and equivocation?
She’s calling his bluff. If he wants to use that defense, he has to waive attorney client privilege and hand over documents.
Nice!!
Ah ha, that’s great.