Tag: Justice Department

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Crime Donald Trump Justice Department

Jack Smith’s Next Move May Be Seizing Millions Of Dollars From Trump

Much as investigators did during the Watergate scandal that wound up bringing down the presidency of Richard Nixon, it appears that Special Counsel Jack Smith is following the money trail and has his eye on a political action committee former president Donald Trump has been using to fund his legal defense.

According to a report from Betsy Woodroof Swan and Kyle Cheney of Politico, a grand jury empaneled by the special counsel met recently in a Washington, D.C. federal courthouse and has been looking closely at the Trump-aligned Save America PAC and other fundraising efforts the disgraced ex-president is using to pay for his 2024 bid for the White House and mounting legal bills.

In a closed-door interview on Monday with Bernard Kerik, investigators asked multiple questions about the Save America PAC’s enormous fundraising haul in the weeks between Election Day and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, according to Kerik’s lawyer, Tim Parlatore, who was present for the interview and shared details with POLITICO.

“It’s a laser focus from Election Day to Jan. 6,” Parlatore said.

The special counsel has long been thought to be scrutinizing whether Trump or his PAC violated federal laws by raising money off claims of voter fraud they knew were false. Last week’s indictment of Trump, on charges that he conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election, did not include any allegations of financial crime.

That led several legal experts to suggest that Smith may have his sights set on the hundreds of millions Save America PAC has collected since the 2020 election and be on the verge of seizing them as ill-gotten gains from a wire fraud scheme.

NBC News national security analyst Frank Figliuzzi noted on Twitter, “This isn’t over yet. When you raise millions based on a fraudulent claim, you’ve committed a crime. And, you just might have to give those millions back.”

Andrew Weissmann, who worked as general counsel for the FBI and is now an MSNBC legal analyst, suggested what to expect next from Smith and the Justice Department:

“Keep your eyes peeled for a criminal case about the Trump PAC and forfeiture allegations/seizures. Case wd [would] not need to go all the way up to Trump before Jack charges folks and seizes assets.”

Law professor Jennifer Taub was even more succinct: “Wire fraud? Delicious.”

How much money are we talking about that Trump might suddenly see disappear from the accounts that fund his campaign and pay his attorneys? According to NPR, as much as $250 million:

“The Trump campaign took $250 million in donations from supporters that it said would go to an election defense fund to pay for legal fees to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. But the fund was never actually created, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., one of the committee members, said … in the panel’s second public hearing.”

Follow the money and you find the crimes.

 

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Crime Donald Trump January 6 Justice Department

Trump Launches Disgusting New Attack On Jack Smith’s Wife As He’s Arraigned For Jan. 6 Crimes

Shortly before he appeared before a federal magistrate at the E. Barrett Prettyman courthouse in Washington, D.C. today, failed one-term, thrice-indicted former president Donald Trump thought it’d be a swell idea to attack the wife of Special Counsel Jack Smith, suggesting that she’s a Democratic political operative and that her husband shouldn’t be allowed to prosecute the disgraced ex-president.

In a multi-page statement issued by Trump’s 2024 campaign team and posted on Twitter by his spokesperson, Liz Harrington, Smith was smeared as leading “a dirty, politically-motivated investigation.” 

Smith served under Obama’s “wingman” Eric Holder Overturned unanimously by the Supreme Court in his political targeting of VA Gov Bob McDonnell Instrumental in IRS targeting conservatives scandal

Then came the attack on Smith’s wife.

Jack Smith’s wife is a Biden donor and produced fawning Michelle Obama documentary Deputy AG Lisa Monaco is also Obama loyalist and Russiagate Architect which tried to frame President Trump for Russia “collusion” Smith worked at the corrupt International Criminal Court

While Trump can claim that he didn’t issue the statements, he could still be in big trouble with the judge overseeing his latest case connected to January 6. That judge, Tanya Chutkan, will see Trump on August 28 in her courtroom for preliminary hearings and to schedule the criminal trial, though she could also demand that he appear prior to that and demand that he stop issuing inflammatory statements about Smith.

For now, social media laid the immediate smackdown on the Trump team for their attack on the special counsel.

 

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Crime Donald Trump

Former Prosecutor Suggests Jack Smith ‘Detain Trump Pending Trial’ For Latest Violent Outburst

Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner is urging Special Counsel Jack Smith and the Justice Department to take threats made on social media this week by former president Donald Trump very seriously and give careful consideration to detaining him in jail until his trial in May of next year.

Kirschner made his remarks on the SiriusXM show of Dean Obeidallah, and was clearly referencing a video Trump promoted this week on his poorly-performing Truth Social site in which he suggested that he would get revenge on anyone that dared to cross him or his supporters.

The video featured a photo of the disgraced ex-president along with audio of him saying,  “If you f— around with us, if you do something bad to us, we are going to do things to you that have never been done before.”

“Donald Trump should be detained pending trial,” according to Kirschner. “And I say that not from my own personal preference or animosity I have for the man.”

“I say it because the law provides that when there is clear and convincing evidence that a defendant pending trial presents a danger to the community he is supposed to be detained, or she is supposed to be detained pending trial, that’s the law” he added. “Everyone has ignored that when it comes to Donald Trump.”

“And we do it at our peril. We as the system, as the institutions of the government,” Kirschner warned. “What did we see Donald Trump do recently? He posted President Obama’s address and one of his followers, a guy named Taylor Taranto read it, reposted it on his social media platform and then armed himself with two guns, 400 rounds of ammunition, a machete and then headed toward President Obama’s home.”

Though it’s unlikely Smith and the DOJ will detain Trump before his trial, it’s a suggestion they shouldn’t completely dismiss, especially if his treats get more explicit and violent the closer we get to May 2024.

Here’s the video of Kirschner’s discussion with Obeidallah:

 

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Crime Donald Trump Justice Department

Former FBI Official Has A Message For Trump: The DOJ Doesn’t Bring Cases It Can’t Win

Frank Figliuzzi is the former FBI assistant director for counter-intelligence, and he has a sobering message for failed one-term former president Donald Trump regarding the legal jeopardy he’s in with the U.S. Department of Justice: The DOJ’s batting average is astronomical and they only bring criminal cases they’re confident they can win.

Appearing on “Deadline: White House” today, Figliuzzi told host Nicolle Wallace that in 90% of all federal cases, the defendant pleads guilty.

“I don’t mean for anyone to infer that I think Donald Trump’s going to plead guilty. Rather, I say that to emphasize the strength of a federal criminal prosecution.”

He added, “The seriousness of the charges that get brought, and the strength of the evidence when you have agencies like FBI and others pulling out all their tools in their toolkit from informants, cooperating witnesses, surveillance coverage, wiretaps, paper analysis, you name it. The federal government brings it to the table, which is why cases are so strong.”

All of that means, Figliuzzi continued, “Jack Smith would not be bringing this case, and it looks like it’s imminent, unless he had it nailed down solid with evidence. The charges will not be light or fringe-like, and the evidence will be overwhelming because that’s what we see, generally speaking, in all federal cases.”

The DOJ would rather drop a case than lose it, he noted:

“So, this is the strength of what we’re about to see happen.Also, you led with this issue of the likely springboard that happened from the Jan. 6th work, excellent, the committee, to lead to where Jack Smith is today. I’m both disturbed by that and encouraged by it, disturbed because it took way too long for the FBI and the DOJ — and we learn more about this delay every day — for them to get their act together, and that’s bad.”

The House Select Committee on Jan. 6 is to be commended, Figliuzzi concluded, because they helped press the Justice Department into pursuing charges for Capitol insurrection on the biggest fish of them all, Donald Trump.

 

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Crime Donald Trump Elections Espionage Justice Department

Jack Smith Dismantles Trump Team’s Request For Indefinite Delay In Documents Trial

Special Counsel Jack Smith absolutely dismantled a request from the legal team representing indicted former president Donald Trump to delay the ex-president’s trial for stealing and mishandling classified documents. The trial is set to begin in December.

Trump’s attorneys asked Judge Aileen Cannon to delay the trial indefinitely, which led to a scathing rebuke from Smith’s team of prosecutors as part of a Thursday court filing.

The United States files this reply in support of its Motion for Continuance and Proposed Revised Scheduling Order (ECF No. 34, “Mot.”). In their response in opposition to the Motion (ECF No. 66, “Resp.”), Defendants Trump and Nauta claim unequivocally that they cannot receive a fair trial prior to the conclusion of the next presidential election, urge the Court to withdraw the current scheduling Order (ECF No. 28), and request that the Court not even consider a new trial date until some unspecified later time. Resp. at 9, 10. There is no basis in law or fact for proceeding in such an indeterminate and open-ended fashion, and the Defendants provide none. For the reasons discussed below and in the Government’s Motion, the Court should reset the trial date in this action for December 11, 2023.

The filing also addresses Trump’s concerns that a fair and impartial jury cannot be selected to hear the case against him.

Defendants’ claim that this Court could not select an impartial jury until after the presidential election does not justify further delay here. Resp. at 9. First and most importantly, there is no reason to credit the claim. Our jury system relies on the Court’s authority to craft a thorough and effective jury selection process, and on prospective jurors’ ability and willingness to decide cases based on the evidence presented to them, guided by legal instructions from the Court. To be sure, the Government readily acknowledges that jury selection here may merit additional protocols (such as a questionnaire) and may be more time-consuming than in other cases, but those are reasons to start the process sooner rather than later.

Smith’s filing led former prosecutor Glenn Kirschner to remark that he hopes it’s a “sign of the prosecution to come.”

“This is a persuasive court pleading. A model of clarity, of brevity, of persuasion. It is only ten pages, double spaced. It’s a quick, easy read. I would urge people to read it, because it is clear. Jack Smith and his team don’t mince words. They don’t pull punches,” Kirschner told MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell Thursday evening.

“And I think that they are going to continue to insist on a timely trial date, and in fact on page one of this reading they highlight how the Trump defense team failed. And really, in its most important endeavor, when they filed their pleading on July 10th. They said judge, don’t set a trial date,” he added. “One of the first things Jack Smith pointed out, is that the Speedy Trial Act says the judge shall set a date certain for the trial to begin. So they really just sort of embarrass the Trump defense team’s request and they don’t let up for the ten pages. So I am encouraged that this is what we can expect from Jack Smith and his team.”