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Crime Donald Trump Elections

Co-Defendant In Georgia Racketeering Case Is Already Tossing Trump Under The Bus

A co-defendant of former president Donald Trump’s in the Georgia racketeering case filed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is already making it clear he isn’t willing to go to prison for the failed ex-president.

According to Politico, Kyle Still was one of the “fake electors” selected to help overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, and a filing from his attorney places the blame for the entire scheme on Trump.

“Mr. Still, as a presidential elector, was also acting at the direction of the incumbent president of the United States,” his attorney Thomas Bever argued Thursday in a court filing seeking to transfer the case against him to federal court. “The president’s attorneys instructed Mr. Still and the other contingent electors that they had to meet and cast their ballots on Dec. 14, 2020.”

Fake electors were chosen in seven states where Trump had lost, including Georgia. The goal of the plan was to have an alternate slate of presidential electors pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to recognize the Trump electors instead of those Biden had legitimately won, which would have tipped the election to Trump despite his having lost both the popular and electoral vote.

Still’s argument is similar to one being used by David Shafer, former chair of the Georgia GOP:

Still, who took office as a state senator in January, aligned his argument closely with co-defendant David Shafer, a former chair of the Georgia GOP who also served as a false elector on Trump’s behalf in December 2020. Like Still, Shafer is seeking to transfer his charges to federal court, arguing that the advice of Trump campaign attorneys was consistent with historical precedents and federal procedures.

“Mr. Shafer and the other Republican Electors in the 2020 election acted at the direction of the incumbent President and other federal officials,” Shafer’s attorney wrote in a petition seeking to move the Fulton County case to federal court.

Trump was booked, fingerprinted, and photographed at the Fulton County Jail on Thursday evening, later complaining about the ordeal.

“I went through an experience that I never thought I’d have to go through, but then I’ve gone through the same experience three other times. In my whole life, I didn’t know anything about indictments. And now I’ve been indicted, like, four times.”

Just imagine how upset Donnie will be when he has to put on an orange prison jumpsuit.

 

Categories
Crime Donald Trump

Trump May Not Surrender In Georgia If They Insist On Releasing His Mugshot: Report

Despite being under court order to appear in Georgia for arraignment and booking on racketeering charges no later than Friday, Aug. 25, failed one-term, twice-impeached and multiply indicted former president Donald Trump now sounds like a man who may decide to become a fugitive from the law.

The sticking point holding up Trump’s surrender, according to Hugo Lowell of The Guardian, is the mugshot.

So what happens if the disgraced ex-president’s attorneys can’t reach an agreement with authorities in the Peach State? Technically, that would mean Trump was in violation of Georgia law and the following would likely happen:

  • A bench warrant for his arrest would be issued
  • Georgia authorities would contact law enforcement in whatever jurisdiction Trump was in at the time and request that he be handed over
  • A judge in Georgia could order Trump held without bail until trial if it’s determined that he remains a flight risk

Would any of that actually transpire? That’s the unknown, as we’ve never faced such a scenario with any other former president. Then again, we’ve never had a former president accused of as many crimes as the one facing the rest of his life behind bars in multiple locations.

The prospect of Trump insisting on being held to a different standard than any other accused criminal set off a firestorm of anger on social media.

https://twitter.com/bluekel/status/1693326884656865453?s=20

 

Categories
Crime Donald Trump Elections

Donald Trump May Be Denied Bail In Georgia Election Fraud Case

As a direct result of his complete inability to control his worst impulses, disgraced former president Donald Trump may soon find himself facing incarceration in the state of Georgia if and when he’s indicted.

Indictments are expected to be handed down by a grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia as soon as Tuesday, but Trump couldn’t resist firing off what sounded like textbook witness intimidation this morning with a social media attack on the state’s former Republican Lt. Gov., Geoff Duncan, which read:

“I am reading reports that failed former Lt. Governor of Georgia, Jeff Duncan, will be testifying before the Fulton County Grand Jury. He shouldn’t. I barely know him but he was, right from the beginning of this Witch Hunt, a nasty disaster for those looking into the Election Fraud that took place in Georgia. He refused having a Special Session to find out what went on, became very unpopular with Republicans (I refused to endorse him!), and fought the TRUTH all the way. A loser, he went to FNCNN!”

That posting led former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade to note: “Witness tampering in real time.”

And now Andrew Weissmann, who served in the Department of Justice for years and was also the lead investigator in the Trump-Russia probe led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, is warning that a judge in the Peach State can refuse to grant bail to any defendant who might be a threat to intimidate witnesses or obstruct justice.

During an appearance on MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House,” Weissmann explained:

“Now we have seen the former president get bail in Manhattan, in Florida, and in D.C. We have also seen the former president continue to make statements that at least arguably are obstruction of justice or intimidating witnesses. Why is that important? Because in Georgia, the statute that may apply here depending on what is charged is one where the presumption is one that the defendant has the burden of rebutting. And in other words, it is on the defendant to show that he will not commit crimes and not a risk of flight and let me give you the exact words because this is the provision that the court has to find to release someone on bail in Georgia.”

He continued:

“Which is that the defendant poses no risk of intimidating witnesses, or otherwise obstructing the administration of justice. Poses no risk of intimidating witnesses. To me, that is going to be for a judge who is going to treat Donald Trump or anyone else like any other defendant, that could be a problem. Because just today we saw a continuation of attacks on the D.C. federal judge and on Truth Social saying that Geoff Duncan, the former lieutenant governor, should not comply with the grand jury subpoena in Georgia. You can’t tell a witness not to comply with a grand jury subpoena unless there is some legal ability to do that. But that is not what the former president did. So, it will be interesting to see how the judge deals with bail.”

Can you imagine how enraged Trump and his supporters would be if he’s held in detention until his trial? He’d lose all access to social media also wouldn’t be able to do live interviews or campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. And that, more than anything, might just be the worst punishment of all for a narcissistic prick like the loser ex-president.

 

Categories
Crime Elections GOP Whining

Lindsey Graham Tries To Defend Trump From Indictment And Steps Into A Steaming Pile Of Irony

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) went on Fox “News” Monday evening and did his best impression of Henny Penny, declaring that the sky was definitely falling if disgraced former president Donald Trump wound up being indicted in the state of Georgia for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Appearing with Fox host Jesse Watters, Graham whined that the legal problems facing Trump were “unfair.”

“The American people can decide whether they want him to be president or not,” Graham declared. “This should be decided at the ballot box, not a bunch of liberal jurisdictions trying to put the man in jail.”

As HuffPost notes, many couldn’t help but wonder if Graham fully appreciated the irony of his words.

Users on … Twitter said deciding Trump’s fate at the ballot box was “sorta the point here.”

 

Categories
Crime Donald Trump Elections

Nervous Trump Resorts To Desperate Move In Attempt To Keep Georgia DA From Indicting Him

Nervous that he’s about to be indicted yet again, this time in the state of Georgia for attempting to overturn 2020 election results in the Peach State, failed former president Donald Trump is having his attorneys try a legal maneuver that reeks of desperation.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, lawyers for the disgraced ex-president filed an emergency appeal with the Georgia Supreme Court in which they argue that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be barred from issuing any new indictments against their client.

The motion filed on Thursday asks Georgia’s highest court to put a halt to any ongoing proceedings “related to and flowing from the special purpose grand jury’s investigation until this matter can be resolved.” This would include any consideration of a possible indictment for alleged criminal meddling in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election by one of two regular Fulton grand juries that were seated on Tuesday.

Trump’s attorneys — Drew Findling, Marissa Goldberg and Jennifer Little — acknowledged that such a petition filed before Georgia’s highest court is typically a long shot. But they said “extraordinary circumstances” justify it now.

According to the motion, “Even in an extraordinarily novel case of national significance, one would expect matters to take their normal procedural course within a reasonable time. But nothing about these processes have been normal or reasonable. And the all-but-unavoidable conclusion is that the anomalies below are because petitioner is President Donald J. Trump.”

The filing also contends that Georgia’s statute for special grand juries is too vague, arguing, “(Trump) now sits on a precipice. A regular Fulton County grand jury could return an indictment any day that will have been based on a report and predicate investigative process that were wholly without authority.”

Of course, such an argument could be made if and when Trump is convicted and appeals the process that led to him being charged in the first place. The fact that he’s doing so prematurely suggests he know that state charges such as those he may face in Georgia cannot be pardoned by a sympathetic president or dismissed by U.S. attorney general he might appoint if he happens to win another term in office. Only the governor of Georgia could issue a pardon, and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) has been critical of Trump, who has also attacked the governor on numerous occasions for failing to seize ballot boxes in the state and declare him the winner.

Willis is expected to announce any criminal charges against Trump as soon as August.