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Crime Donald Trump

New Batch Of Subpoenas From Special Counsel Have The Trump Team Worried: Report

The latest subpoenas from Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith for members of disgraced former president Donald Trump’s legal team should have those close to Trump very worried, according to a former federal prosecutor.

Glenn Kirschner spoke with MSNBC’s Yasmin Vossoughian Sunday afternoon and was asked about the fact that it now appears members of Trump’s legal team are becoming witnesses.

“It’s highly unusual, but it’s not unprecedented,” Kirschner noted. “There are times when prosecutors will investigate the mafia, mob organizations, and they will get to a point in the investigation when it looks like the attorneys representing the mobsters, the targets of the investigation, are complicit in the crimes of the organization and prosecutors do go after mob lawyers.”

Trump attorney Evan Corcoran is now being put under the microscope by the special counsel because he may have been part of the crimes committed by the former president, and means the crime-fraud exception would apply and invalidate attorney-client privilege.

“I think everyone is worried on Team Trump,” Kirschner explained. “I don’t fully understand why Mike Pence is unwilling to stand up for the people of the United States of America and talk about, for example, the pressure campaign that Donald Trump waged against him to get him to commit federal crimes. To violate the Electoral Count Act on Jan. 6 and obstruct Congress’ official proceeding certifying Joe Biden’s win. Mike Pence seems comfortable talking about it publicly when he’s trying to profit off of his book.”

In the long run, Kirschner predicted, Pence testify before Smith’s grand jury:

“I think Mike Pence will testify at the end of the day. There are several reasons why the executive privilege fails, and I also think the speech or debate clause privilege fails because no matter how you cut it, Mike Pence is not a legislator, and he wasn’t engaged in robust debate about legislation. So I think all privileges will fail, and Mike Pence will find himself inside the grand jury.”

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Crime Donald Trump

Jack Smith Has A ‘Killer Witness’ Who Can Send Trump To Prison For A Very Long Time

According to one of Donald Trump’s former assistants, the failed ex-president was so cavalier with who saw classified documents he kept at Mar-a-Lago in violation of federal law that he would write to-do lists on those files and give them to her.

ABC News reported Monday that Molly Michael has spoken with investigators working for Special Counsel Jack Smith, and what she had to say was terrifying.

Michael told investigators that — more than once — she received requests or taskings from Trump that were written on the back of notecards, and she later recognized those notecards as sensitive White House materials — with visible classification markings — used to brief Trump while he was still in office about phone calls with foreign leaders or other international-related matters.

The notecards with classification markings were at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate when FBI agents searched the property on Aug. 8, 2022 — but the materials were not taken by the FBI, according to sources familiar with what Michael told investigators.

Michael will make one hell of a “killer witness” for Smith at trial, according to former federal prosecutor Harry Litman, who told MSNBC host Chris Jansing :

“This playing around with notecards shows he’s cavalier, shows he’s very Trumpian. But what you read, Chris, is the real punch line. Knowing that the FBI wants to interview her, he said you don’t know anything about the boxes. And by the way, we know that is clearly a lie. It sounds like it anyway because she takes a picture and gives it to him. So, he knows, and the picture is in the indictment.”

Michael, who is identified as “Employee 2” in the federal indictment, is pure gold as a witness, Litman continued.

“She’s going to be a killer witness here. No deal, no ax to grind. In fact, was loyal to Trump. Goes to Mar-a-Lago with him after, and then finally leaves when she knows he’s basically breaking the law and obstructing justice. She gives absolute killer evidence about his trying to keep more than the boxes he had given up already to the FBI, and that’s why the search ensued. Very, very powerful witness, she’s going to be.”

A big problem for Trump, Litman noted, is that so many of the witnesses who have been loyal to him so far and refused to cooperate with Smith are now looking at massive legal bills they simply cannot hope to pay.

“For example, Jenna Elis, saying why is he not paying our fees? That’s exactly the kind of posture that is dangerous for Trump because if you are in financially dire straits, that is one real reason you would go to the prosecution and try to cooperate. One quick additional point about Molly Michael, by the way. She is present when Trump makes the statement to Evan Corcoran, ‘What if we told [the FBI] nothing? Could we just pretend there is nothing there?’ So, to the extent, he tried to make that a credibility battle between Corcoran, she is there to break the tie in a very persuasive fashion.”

 

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Crime Donald Trump Elections

Georgia Grand Jury Recommends Multiple Indictments In 2020 Election Fraud Case

A special grand jury impaneled in Fulton County, Georgia is recommending multiple indictments for crimes connected to the 2020 election that former president Donald Trump and his allies tried to have overturned.

The New York Times spoke with Emily Kohrs, who served as forewoman of the grand jury. While she refused to give the names of those suggested for criminal indictment because the full report remains under seal.

However, when Kohrs was asked if Trump was among those named, she responded:

“You’re not going to be shocked. It’s not rocket science.”

The Times also reports:

“The investigation in Atlanta has been seen as one of the most significant legal threats to Mr. Trump as he begins another run for the presidency. In November, the Justice Department named a special counsel, Jack Smith, to oversee two Trump-related criminal investigations. And last month, the Manhattan district attorney’s office began presenting evidence to a grand jury on whether Mr. Trump paid hush money to a porn star during his 2016 presidential campaign, laying the groundwork for potential criminal charges against the former president in the coming months.”

Kohrs also revealed that the grand jury made one of their main focuses the call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which he urged the election supervisor to “find” nearly 12,000 additional ballots that would allow the disgraced ex-president to declare victory in the Peach State.

And Kohrs added:

“I will tell you that if the judge releases the recommendations, it is not going to be some giant plot twist. You probably have a fair idea of what may be on there. I’m trying very hard to say that delicately.”

Another grand jury will have to formally indict anyone recommended by the special grand jury, which served as an investigative body to gather evidence and made suggestions to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

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Crime Donald Trump Elections

Indictment Of Trump In Georgia For Election Crimes A Done Deal: Legal Experts

Portions of a report from a special grand jury in the state of Georgia are the strongest evidence yet that failed one-term former president Donald Trump will be indicted for crimes connected to the 2020 presidential election, according to several legal experts.

The nine-page report contains the following findings:

  • There was absolutely no election fraud in the Peach State
  • At least one witness who testified should be indicted for perjury

“We find by a unanimous vote that no widespread fraud took place in the Georgia 2020 presidential election that could result in overturning that election,” the report reads.

The grand jury report — some of which remains redacted — is very bad news for the disgraced ex-president, attorney Norm Eisen noted.

“The GA special grand jury excerpts are starting to emerge & they are very bad for Trump. ‘We find by unanimous vote that no widespread fraud took place in the Georgia 2020 presidential election.’ If that’s true, then Trump likely committed crimes.

“The GA special grand jury has spoken–that means Trump committed crimes He’s gonna get indicted.”

Former federal prosecutor Harry Litman concurred with Eisen

“Basically, we sat, we discussed, we voted on charges. And yes, some people committed perjury, and we agreed that there was no fraud in the election.”

Attorney Allison Gill wrote:

 “They recommend indictments for the unnamed people who lied under oath.”

A new grand jury with the power to indict has begun in Georgia. It should be interesting to see whose names wind up on any indictments, especially since both Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani both testified and may have committed perjury.

 

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Crime Donald Trump

Maddow Warns: If Trump Is Indicted, Expect ‘An Attack On The Full System’ That Brings Him To Justice

Facing indictment on multiple fronts — Georgia, Manhattan, and by the U.S. Department of Justice — disgraced former president Donald Trump gets closer each day to seeing his life ripped apart if and when he’s brought before the bar of justice.

But could indictment of the disgraced ex-president also result in an attack on the very system which charges Trump?

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow warned Monday evening on her show that if Trump is indicted, the country can expect some horrible blowback.

Citing the assault on democracy being seen in both Israel and Russia (most notably on the judicial system of both countries), Maddow noted:

“I think it is worth us watching it in other countries to learn the pattern and also recognize the signs that we are not even immune. In this country, our most prominent far-right leader has been subjected to multiple criminal and counterintelligence investigations by the FBI and Justice Department. And so, we have seen over the past several years that he has escalated, and escalated, and escalated further attacks on the Justice Department and the FBI to the point where not just him and his party considers the FBI to be an enemy and attack it at every turn.”

With the release of portions from a grand jury report in Georgia planned for Thursday, Maddow continued, we could be on the verge of seeing a full-scale assault on American democracy by Trump and his allies.

“Thursday this week, former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump is likely to understand he is no longer just facing scrutiny and investigation from the law enforcement agency, but is likely to find out this week that he is about to be under court scrutiny as well.”

All of this will challenge the country in ways we can only imagine, the host concluded.

“The bottom line is a big picture story for our democracy. Trump may not find himself being charged in Georgia, just as he may not find himself being charged in New York state. He might not find himself being charged in federal court where multiple grand juries are investigating him. It’s possible he will not face charges in any of these places. But if he is, the process of adjusting as a democracy is about to start now.

“And if you thought it was a bad look for our American version of ‘one of these guys’ to be attacking the press for challenging him, to be attacking the FBI and Justice Department for investigating him, then what is around the corner for our democracy if he is indicted? What is around the corner from us is if he is indicted is an attack on the specific system, the specific system that holds the power to indict him and potentially arrest him and put him in court and put them on trial.”