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Crime Donald Trump Supreme Court

Trump Is Trying To Keep His Classified Documents Case From SCOTUS – Here’s Why

When failed former president Donald Trump and his legal team refused to try and stop one of his attorneys from testifying before a federal grand jury recently, many were left scratching their heads, wondering why the ruling of a lower court ordering the Trump lawyer to testify wasn’t appealed all the way to the United States Supreme Court.

MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin notes in an article she wrote for the network that the disgraced ex-president and his attorneys appear to be playing the long game, and that could come back to haunt them down the line.

Trump has made clear he believes this Supreme Court — controlled by conservative justices, three of whom he appointed — owes him one. My hunch is that Trump’s team let Corcoran’s testimony happen because of what’s likely involved in any request to pause, much less, review a crime-fraud-related ruling: the evidence.

Put another way, if Trump had petitioned the Supreme Court to stay Corcoran’s testimony and document production, the justices would have seen some, if not all, of what Judge Howell and the three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit have already reviewed: proof that Trump misled Corcoran and engaged in criminal conduct.

If Trump had used up his judicial lifeline, appealed to the high court and they ruled against him, it would be game over and he’d likely be on his way to a multi-count indictment on charges ranging from mishandling of classified information to violations of the Espionage Act. And if the former president is found guilty on those charges, he’ll likely spend the rest of his life in federal prison.

Rubin explained the reasonsing:

And for someone whose one last hope, if he is ultimately charged or tried by any of the multiple entities now investigating him, is that same Supreme Court, letting the justices see evidence of his alleged crimes now would be a bridge too far. Even if that means Corcoran’s notes and transcripts of “personal audio recordings” are now in the DOJ’s control, even if Corcoran had to return to the grand jury as a witness the day after arguing the application of Trump’s other privileges, Trump can’t afford to lose the Supreme Court yet.

But even if Trump’s documents case does wind up before the nine justices, there’s a good chance he won’t get any relief there, either. Because if the court allows him to get away with such a serious violation of law, it would be setting the sort of precedent that would, in years to come, turn future U.S. heads of state into absolute dictators who can rule by fiat And that would mean American democracy was dead.

 

By Andrew Bradford

Proud progressive journalist and political adviser living behind enemy lines in Red America.

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