Tag: Trump crimes

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Donald Trump Justice Department

Jack Smith Has The Perfect Way To Put Trump In A Legal Bind On His Way Out As Special Counsel

As he prepares to resign before Donald Trump takes office on January 20 of next year, Special Counsel Jack Smith has a way to make sure that Trump has to make a painful choice as he attempts to get the federal criminal cases against him permanently dismissed.

That’s the word from former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade, who explained what Smith is likely to do in his last days as special counsel.

Speaking with MSNBC’s Katie Phang, McQuade explained the two choices Smith has.

“I have heard from a number of people saying, why should Jack Smith pull the plug on his own case, why not just let Trump just fire him, make him go through that exercise so that people can see that it was Trump who ended this?” she noted. “And I think it is because Jack Smith can have a lot more control if he ends it on his own terms.”

“There are a couple of things he can do,” McQuade continued. “One, as you say, is to issue a full-throated report on both of the cases; the January 6th election interference case, as well as the documents case in Florida ––those two things. The other thing he could do, Katie, and I don’t know if this would withstand all of the machinations that Trump will certainly try to put up against it –– to dismiss the cases without prejudice, and make the argument later that the statute of limitations is tolled during the Trump presidency and revive the cases in 2029.”

“I think there is a 50-50 shot that succeeds, so if he ends it now with prejudice, that keeps those cases alive. It would put the Trump administration in the untenable spot of either accepting that or having to refile the cases just so they can dismiss them with prejudice.”

McQuade concluded, “So, we will see how that goes, but I think this keeps Jack Smith’s hands in control rather than leaving it in the hands of the next Department of Justice.”

In other words, the federal case against Donald Trump is far from finished, and it could well be restarted once he leaves the White House in 2029.

The bar of justice isn’t finished with the disgraced felon president-elect.

Here’s the video of McQuade’s conversation with Phang:

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Crime Donald Trump Elections

New Court Filing From Jack Smith Is The Worst Possible News At The Worst Possible Time For Trump

A filing made late Friday by Special Counsel Jack Smith is terrible news for failed former president Donald Trump, especially since he’s right in the middle of trying to win the 2024 election and doesn’t need more negative publicity with his poll numbers already tanking.

The 10-page filing contains one line in particular which should send a chill up Trump’s spine, Politico reports.

Smith notes in the filing that he is willing to proceeed with the case “promptly at any time the Court deems appropriate,” and it also includes a line that will worry Trump and his attorneys, according to former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner, who appeared on MSNBC to discuss the matter.

“There is one what I would call money line, and it’s on page two,” Kirscher began.

“Here is what I would call the money line: [Smith] says that the government, the prosecutors propose that it will file a brief in which we will explain why immunity does not apply to the categories of allegations in the superseding, the new indictment … ‘or additional unplanned categories of evidence that the government intends to introduce in trial and will put in this brief.'”

“What does that mean?” Kirschner continued. “Jack Smith just said, ‘Judge Chutkan, I’m going to put lots of other information and evidence about Donald Trump’s crimes and conduct so you have it all. So you can make a decision about whether each thing Donald Trump did was official or unofficial, might enjoy immunity, or should not enjoy immunity.'”

While the Supreme Court did indeed give Trump some immunity with a 6-3 ruling handed down in July, Kirschner explained, that immunity isn’t absolute and the high court made it clear individual judges will be left to decide what is covered by presidential immunity.

“What remains to be seen is when will Judge Chutkan say ‘okay, we’re going to litigate this issue. I want the briefs.’ Will they be September, will they be October?” Kirschner said. “Because those briefs, according to what Jack Smith said, are likely to contain a whole bunch of information that the grand jury knows about Donald Trump’s crimes, but that the American people do not yet know about.”

New information and evidence about how Trump allegedly tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election so he could remain in office might prove devastating, especially since voters are already leery of putting Donald back in office.

In other words, the filing from Smith is the worst possible news at the worst possible time and could be what winds up sending Trump to prison for a very long time.

Here’s the video of Kirschner’s MSNBC appearance:

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Crime Donald Trump Elections Sex Scandals

Disturbing New Epstein Documents Lead To Calls For Trump To Drop Out Of 2024 Race

While there’s been a cacophony of talk on Capitol Hill over the past couple of weeks regarding whether or not President Joe Biden should drop out of the 2024 race for the White House, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) said Tuesday that the person who needs to be booted from the ticket is disgraced former president Donald Trump.

Citing newly released grand jury documents from the Florida criminal case against the late convicted pedophile and sexual trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, Lieu told reporters that Trump’s name is all over the court filings, and yet Republicans haven’t said anything about the matter.

“So like Chairman Aguilar said we hear a lot from our constituents on different issues, but something I’ve heard that doesn’t seem to be being covered are the Epstein files. These files were released and like Donald Trump sort of all over this, right? There are pictures of him with Jeffrey Epstein.”

Lieu then got specific with his accusations against Trump.

“He’s taken multiple plane flights with Epstein with young girls on board. He is in call logs with Epstein. One of the highest trending hashtags on Twitter right now is about Trump and Epstein. I’m not going to repeat the hashtag because we’re in a dignified setting. But yeah, y’all might want to look at that because that’s highly disturbing.”

The California Democrat concluded, “And again, it shows that Donald Trump is unfit for office. And by the way, he was convicted in a civilian court for sexual assault, convicted in a separate court of 34 felonies. Donald Trump should drop out of the race.”

Lieu is correct. Trump’s name is indeed all over the latest batch of Epstein documents, as many people pointed out on social media, where the case remains a hot topic of debate.

Reporters covering the Trump 2024 campaign need to ask the convicted felon why he made so many calls to Epstein and traveled with him on several occasions. After all, the voters have a right to know everything about a candidate for the presidency who may have been engaged in the systematic sexual abuse of children.

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Crime Donald Trump Elections

Former U.S. Attorney: Jack Smith Can Still Do Tremendous Damage To Trump Before The Election

Even though there’s almost zero chance that any of the federal criminal cases against convicted felon Donald Trump will go to trial before the election in November, Special Counsel Jack Smith can still do tremendous damage to the disgraced ex-president in the months leading up to balloting.

That’s the warning from former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade who appeared on MSNBC’s “The Weekend” this morning and told the hosts, “It is not just the defendant, it is the public that has a right to a speedy trial. I think the more progress he [Smith] could make before president-elect Donald Trump goes into office, the more he can do at the other end.”

“You do not have to go back to a grand jury to remove things from an indictment where they already found probable cause,” she continued. “So he can pare this down to just those acts that he believes are official acts and go for it. Certainly, it will be litigated but the public will have an opportunity to see what the unofficial acts were: Organizing false slates of electors, pressuring state officials to flip the outcome of the election, and exploiting the chaos at the Capitol on January 6 to try to press legislators to delay the certification.”

McQuade added, “All of that, I think, is entitled to a public hearing. Of course, also the documents case out of Florida. Judge Aileen Cannon has made no effort to act with urgency. — no reason that case can’t proceed all the way through January to see how much progress they make.”

Every new detail Smith exposes in the months before Americans go to the polls could prove damaging to Trump’s already shaky prospects of winning a second term as president. And in an election that’s already expected to be close, those details could be a giant albatross for him.

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Crime Donald Trump Elections

New Polling Points To ‘Real Fallout’ From Trump’s Criminal Conviction

As we near the three-week mark since convicted felon Donald Trump was found guilty on 34 criminal counts by a Manhattan jury, it appears that the verdict is indeed dragging down the failed former president’s polls numbers, especially among a key bloc of voters.

Politico, in conjunction with Ipsos, released the results of their latest poll this morning, and it shows that 21 percent of independent voters say Trump’s conviction makes them less likely to vote for him and will also play an important role in who they cast their ballot for this November.

“Among the most notable findings in our poll: 21 percent of independents said the conviction made them less likely to support Trump and that it would be an important factor in their vote. In a close election, small shifts among independent and swing voters could determine the outcome.”

Additionally, while Trump and his allies have repeatedly attempted to sow distrust of the American judicial system, respondents remain confident in it, with one glaring exception: The U.S. Supreme Court.

“But the least trusted actors in the legal system are not the lawyers prosecuting or defending the cases, or even the kind of state judges presiding over Trump’s case. They are the Supreme Court justices themselves, whose public approval has taken a considerable hit in recent years thanks to unpopular rulings issued by the conservative supermajority and a series of rolling ethical controversies involving Republican appointees Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas.”

The responses from independents should terrify Trump’s campaign brain trust, Politico notes.

“Thirty-two percent of them said that the conviction made them less likely to support Trump. Only 12 percent of them said that it made them more likely to support Trump.”

The new poll also shows that just having a conviction on his record could drive voters away from Trump, which is reflected in the 21 percent who told Ipsos the former president being a felon matters to their vote and makes them less likely to support him when they cast their ballot.

If the upcoming election is as close as the one we saw in 2020, that 21 percent could prove decisive, especially in key battleground states such as Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, all of which are in play at the moment.