There is also a certain amount of faux dudgeon around the fact that the FBI also searched Melania’s bedroom and took pictures of the room. Anything to distract.
FBI Search and Seizure at Trump's Mar-A-Lago Residence, August 8, 2022, Case Dismissed July 15, 2024
If you think about the actual charges against DJT in this case, to wit:
- 32 felony counts of willful retention of national defense information in violation of the Espionage Act
- 6 felony counts of obstruction-related crimes under 18 U.S.C. § 1512 and 18 U.S.C. § 1519
- 2 felony counts of false statements under 18 U.S.C. § 1001
These violations were all associated with his refusal to return the documents and his efforts to obstruct the process for their discovery and recovery by NARA and elements of the DOJ.
All of that happened at/from Mar-A-Lago.
I like to remember that Trump literally forced the government’s hand:
In the event of potentially unlawful removal or destruction of government records, Title 44, Section 3106, of the U.S. Code requires the head of a federal agency to notify the Archivist, who initiates action with the Attorney General for the possible recovery of such records. The Archivist is not authorized to independently investigate removal or recover records.
Notice that the term “requires” is used. The Archivist literally had no choice but to refer the matter to the AG.
Yup. The motions are really not the problem. In another court, these motions - some fine, mostly wacky - would be filed, and dismissed soon after without a hearing. The problem is Judge Cannon unnecessarily dragging this all out, on purpose, to help Trump.
The speedy trial act says you have 70 days to bring a defendant to trial. It’s coming up on one year since this case started and exactly ZERO days have been counted toward that 70. Trump still has 70 days. All of this crap and no violation of the Speedy Trial Act. Prosecutors abuse the “loopholes” in the Speedy Trial Act all the time, but here it’s working very well for Trump (with the help of Judge Cannon).
The law is asymmetric. The defendant has the right to a speedy criminal trial. The state does not have the power to impose a speedy trial.
Probably the way you phrase it, I don’t think the prosecution can “impose” it. Maybe if it went on long enough they could ask the Judge in some way to enforce it - I’m going to doubt that has been done before because I doubt it has been an issue before. But I truly don’t know.
This is why Jack vaguely argues the “public interest” aspect - the public has a right to a speedy trial. Not just the Defendant. A lot of that comes from the Supreme Court and specifically Justice Alito in a ruling about the Speedy Trial Act:
The Court unanimously held that the defendant was correct; one may not prospectively waive one’s rights under the Speedy Trial Act. Justice Alito wrote that the purpose of the Act is not simply to protect the defendant’s rights, but to protect the public’s interest in a speedy trial…The history follows the explicit terms of the Act, stating that the public has an interest in quick resolutions to criminal charges.
a bit of a quick report on msnbc:
things got a bit heated during the discussion on dismissing charges regarding nauta due to vindictive prosecution.
the prosecution called the defence argument “absolute garbage”. prosecution was admonished and told to “calm down”.
they are now onto the argument for all three defendants that the indictment suffers technical flaws.
Here’s your rule of thumb on what Cannon will do:
If prior to a jury being sworn, she will not make any ruling that disposes of the case. If she does, the prosecution will appeal and they will likely prevail.
If after the jury is sworn and double-jeopardy attaches, all bets are off. She is most likely to grant a defense motion for directed verdict just after the prosecution puts on their case. The prosecution will have no right of appeal if she does this, and that will be the true end of it.
It will be blindingly obvious that she worked as a partisan hack to deprive the American people of justice in a very important case, but she obviously doesn’t care about that. She’s Trump’s creature to the bone. IMHO. And I do not reach this conclusion lightly.
a bit more on the incident during the hearing today, from the independent:
The hearing was quickly taken over by a disagreement over an August 2022 meeting including prosecutor Jay Bratt and Stanley Woodward, Mr Nauta’s defense attorney, who claimed in court and legal filings that Mr Bratt tried to convince Mr Nauta to cooperate with the prosecution against Mr Trump by threatening to affect the possible nomination of a judgeship.
Mr Nauta argues that he was charged for not cooperating with the Department of Justice and its probe into Mr Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified files.
“Mr Woodward’s story of what happened at that meeting is a fantasy,” prosecutor David Harbach said, banging the lectern. “It did not happen.”
“This is a lawyer whose allegations amount basically to him being extorted,” he added as he waved his arms, before being told by Judge Cannon to “calm down”.
Could the prosecutors have charged him with some, instead of all of those offenses? What I was wondering is if they had charged him with some, but not all, of them, and the case is dismissed, they could try him for the remaining ones and use a different strategy and/or hope for a different judge?
This is one of those “I assume they can’t” things, since ISTM if that’s something that could be done, it would be done regularly, for just this reason.
Exactly. It’s massively unfair and unjust to the defendant, whoever they may be. I’m sure that if a DA tried something like this, the judge would just add everything else as LIO and get on with it!
I think things just got weird…
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
-Hunter S Thompson
So … MAGA BINGO
Who had:
Because the FBI was authorized to use deadly force when they executed the Search Warrant at Mar-A-Lago – despite the fact that I was actually in New York at the time – the whole thing was an attempt by the Biden DOJ to assassinate the former President of the United States
??
He seems nice.
He foiled the whole plot by skipping town. Brilliant!
Are there grounds for a defamation claim in this? Accusing someone falsely of attempting to murder you seems serious.
I know whoever brings that would probably have to wait in a long line.
In a mathematical sense, having multiple trials on different subsets of criminal charges would make things more fair, for the prosecution and defense. Maybe the defendant gets a judge like Cannon, who bends over backwards to give the defendant every possible break. It’s also possible to get a hanging judge, who thinks everyone is guilty and gives the benefit of every doubt to the prosecution. By having a single trial, you might get a judge at either extreme. By dividing the charges and having two trials, you’re more likely for the overall impact of the judging to be closer to average.
Now, there are probably other legal reasons not to do it. If sentences for multiple crimes are routinely served concurrently, then multiple trials would suck for the defendant.
Well, if the dumbass would have the decency to resist in a manner that would have necessitated deadly force, then this would all be wrapped up now, wouldn’t it? Oh, I can dream.
Is there a Dark Brandon solution to the Cannon problem? Suppose Biden were to nominate her to a position that pays more, is of a higher rank, but doesn’t actually do anything. Is there something like Chief Patent Appeals Judge that she could be bumped up to and get out of the way?
Getting involved in the case in any way would be the worst possible move by Biden, and would validate all the conspiracy theory nonsense being spewed by the right. He needs to keep as hands-off as possible.
Alternatively, he could do it deniably. For example, he could secretly order her to be incinerated with one of those orbital Jewish lasers, and then shrug when people ask about her disappearance.