Trump's Crimes & Investigations

[goldenvalley]

Jul 7, 2023 18:37:26 GMT indy said:

A Washington, D.C.-based bar discipline committee concluded Friday that Rudy Giuliani should be disbarred for “frivolous” and “destructive” efforts to derail the 2020 presidential election in support of former President Donald Trump.

“He claimed massive election fraud but had no evidence of it,” the three-member panel declared in a 40-page decision. “By prosecuting that destructive case Mr. Giuliani, a sworn officer of the Court, forfeited his right to practice law.”

www.politico.com/news/2023/07/07/disciplinary-panel-calls-for-rudy-giulianis-disbarment-00105220

That's nice and all but the damage he did cannot be remedied by a disbarment.  And he might even be lauded because the Deep State of the DC Bar is trying to punish him...further evidence of his rightness. This is theTwilight Zone that we are all living in now.  

[pnwguy]

Jul 7, 2023 18:37:26 GMT indy said:

A Washington, D.C.-based bar discipline committee concluded Friday that Rudy Giuliani should be disbarred for “frivolous” and “destructive” efforts to derail the 2020 presidential election in support of former President Donald Trump.

“He claimed massive election fraud but had no evidence of it,” the three-member panel declared in a 40-page decision. “By prosecuting that destructive case Mr. Giuliani, a sworn officer of the Court, forfeited his right to practice law.”

www.politico.com/news/2023/07/07/disciplinary-panel-calls-for-rudy-giulianis-disbarment-00105220

But he'd make a fine jailhouse lawyer, once he's on the inside...

[goldenvalley]

Trump's response to the prosecution's request to postpone the Florida trial on the documents case from August to December is to ask that no date be set until after "substantive motions" are filed (and ruled upon). And also...Trump and his little buddy are too busy to deal with a criminal proceeding right now:

“President Trump is running for president of the United States and is currently the likely Republican Party nominee,” they wrote. “This undertaking requires a tremendous amount of time and energy, and that effort will continue until the election on Nov. 5, 2024.”

“Mr. Nauta’s job requires him to accompany President Trump during most campaign trips around the country,” they continued. “This schedule makes trial preparation with both of the defendants challenging. Such preparation requires significant planning and time.”

As my husband said "Gee judge I'm in a job search right now and don't have time to be on jury duty."

[indy]

Trump receives another target letter from Smith:

Special counsel Jack Smith has informed former President Donald Trump by letter that he is a target in his investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.

abcnews.go.com/US/special-counsel-informs-trump-target-probe-efforts-overturn/story?id=101404037

[pnwguy]

Jul 18, 2023 14:12:45 GMT indy said:

Trump receives another target letter from Smith:

Special counsel Jack Smith has informed former President Donald Trump by letter that he is a target in his investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.

abcnews.go.com/US/special-counsel-informs-trump-target-probe-efforts-overturn/story?id=101404037

If only he was the target at a firing range. He could wear a Bud Light t-shirt 😉

[indy]

Sure hope they won't be the last charged.

Sixteen fake electors who signed certificates falsely claiming President Donald Trump won Michigan in the 2020 election have been charged with multiple felonies, state Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Tuesday.

This is the first time any of the fake electors have been charged with a crime related to the scheme, versions of which took place in multiple states.

www.cnn.com/2023/07/18/politics/michigan-fake-electors/index.html

[indy]

A third person has been charged in the classified documents case. Trump apparently asked this third person (who may be cooperating) to erase security camera footage, resulting in an additional three charges against Trump as well.

Prosecutors allege in the updated indictment that two Trump employees – Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira – attempted to delete security camera footage at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort after the Justice Department issued a subpoena for the footage.

www.cnn.com/2023/07/27/politics/trump-mar-a-lago-special-counsel/index.html

[goldenvalley]

Jul 27, 2023 23:05:42 GMT indy said:

A third person has been charged in the classified documents case. Trump apparently asked this third person (who may be cooperating) to erase security camera footage, resulting in an additional three charges against Trump as well.

Prosecutors allege in the updated indictment that two Trump employees – Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira – attempted to delete security camera footage at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort after the Justice Department issued a subpoena for the footage.

www.cnn.com/2023/07/27/politics/trump-mar-a-lago-special-counsel/index.html

Employees 4 and 5 mentioned in the indictment...as with the Jan 6 Select Committee investigation it turns out that low level seemingly invisible employees that work in and around the big deal people like Trump are not stupid and blindly loyal to "The Boss." They remember what they saw and heard and when asked, will tell law enforcement about it.

[indy]

Well, Employee 4 and De Oliveira are the only two in the 'secret closet' meeting but the indictment recounts the conversation word for word. Pretty sure they just didn't make it up, so...

Nauta goes back to Mar-a-Lago for a secret mission but the indictment reveals that at least 5 employees know he came.

The whole bumbling crime and attempted cover-up sure appears to have that trademark air of incompetence I'd have expected of anything masterminded by Trump.

[goldenvalley]

Jul 28, 2023 19:16:56 GMT indy said:

The whole bumbling crime and attempted cover-up sure appears to have that trademark air of incompetence I'd have expected of anything masterminded by Trump.

And yet he's getting by with it so far.  Lots of people think he tried but failed so why are we talking about this anymore?  That's a very short sighted reaction.

And from our friend David Frum (note you have to have knowledge of the the HBO series Succession to understand it...Greg is the guy who was commissioned to do some dirty work who seemed naive enough to do it without asking questions.  He actually knew exactly what was going on):

[indy]

Who knows if Trump will ever serve a day in jail but I am pretty confident he will be judged harshly by history, for whatever that is worth.

[goldenvalley]

Jul 28, 2023 23:19:06 GMT indy said:

Who knows if Trump will ever serve a day in jail but I am pretty confident he will be judged harshly by history, for whatever that is worth.

That's the least we can hope for.  I fear we'll be long dead by the time an objective view of him takes hold...the right wing will do its best to impose their current view on the history books.

[indy]

Well, let's remember that we haven't even seen most of the evidence against Trump yet. Just the broadest of outlines. All of the evidence will eventually be written into the record and my guess is there is literally boatloads of it and it will overwhelmingly reveal his intentions and actions. I'm not certain a conviction or jail time is in the cards but I am certain of the rest.

Even if there is a conviction and he is pardoned by a future Republican president, the record will live on. Similarly, McCarthy can hold a vote to 'expunge' Trump's two impeachment trials but the record of the trials are here to stay. Influencing the historical record has become a lot harder in the age of the internet and cloud services.

For example, I'm super curious about the security system that recorded the video. Did the government or an outside company actually provide the security system services for Mar-a-Lago? Reading the indictment and the responses from employee 4---and using a little common sense---certainly makes me think so.

Trump Employee 4 responded that he would not know how to do that, and that he did not believe that he would have the rights to do that. Trump Employee 4 told DE OLIVEIRA that DE OLIVEIRA would have to reach out to another employee who was a supervisor of security for TRUMP's business organization.

Why didn't they reach out to that person right then?  And remember Trump had already been president for four years and had spent a ton of time there. So the government would have CERTAINLY been involved in the security system there at that point and had had an updated and modern system installed by a government contracted vendor when Trump had been elected. It's likely Trump had no direct control of the security systems that had been provided for him and was still being paid for by taxpayers, even if they had the technological sophistication (and they clearly do not) to alter the record. If the government was paying (and who pays for security of an ex-president?) for the system the retention policy was 'forever', not 45 days. Maybe they keep the stuff locally for 45 days but it would have been backed up into the cloud forever.

If either a contracting company or the government WAS involved, then certainly all the information that was claimed to be lost in the 'accidental' flooding of the server room (which I read as a naive and desperate attempt) exists and is in the hands of the special counsel. And if video footage submitted by Trump under subpoena doesn't match or is missing the actual video they have? There is a lot we don't know yet and there are time frames not mentioned in the indictment that almost certainly contain more video evidence.

It's not 1972 anymore, and no contortions of a secretary---or flooding of a server room---can 'accidentally' destroy the record. A conspiracy of a sitting president and high-level government employees might be able to do it (e.g., the missing secret service texts) but Trump was no longer President and all his cronies had resigned. I mean, come on, the people he does hire himself run into the bushes to have secret conversations while in full view of the system they are having the conversations about record them. The Keystone Cops would have been an improvement.

[indy]

I know it's a perverse hobby, but I always get a little bit of pleasure reading court findings with regard to Trump's numerous lawsuits.

Here is the last footnote from the latest decision where Trump's lawyers made a motion to quash the Georgia grand jury looking into his efforts to overturn the election there and it's about as salty as it gets.

Perplexingly, prematurely, and with the standard pugnacity, Trump has filed not one but two mandamus actions against the District Attorney and this Court--one in the Supreme Court of Georgia (case 82301134, which the Supreme Court has already dismissed) and one in the Superior Court of Fulton County (Civil Action 20230V382670). Peculiarly, neither petition requests
the sole relief available under mandamus: an order "compelling a public officer to perform required duty." Love v. Fulton Cnty. Bd. of Tax Assessors, 311 Ga. 682, 692 (2021) (citation omitted). That "required duty," though it is only obliquely referenced in the twin mandamus petitions, could only be for this Court to rule on the pending motion. Perhaps the conspicuous omission of demand for such relief is due to petitioner's counsel's familiarity with O.C.G.A. 15-6-21(b). Pursuant to that statute, superior court judge in county with more than 100,000 inhabitants (such as Fulton County) must decide all motions within 90 days after briefing is complete. Basic calendar math shows why mandamus relief is not (yet) available: the State's response was filed on 15 May 2023, per the Court's amended (and unobjected to) Scheduling Order of May 2023. Ninety days from 15 May 2023 is 13 August 2023--which is Sunday--making the statutory deadline for the Court's Order 14 August 2023. Before that date, there is nothing to compel. We are several weeks from that date and here is the Order. This filing, while it will indubitably generate an appeal, should render moot Civil Action 023CV382670 as to the supervising judge. In the future, counsel is encouraged to follow the professional standard of inquiring with Chamber's staff about timing and deadlines before burdening other courts with unnecessary and unfounded legal filings.

[goldenvalley]

Jul 31, 2023 16:17:56 GMT indy said:

I know it's a perverse hobby, but I always get a little bit of pleasure reading court findings with regard to Trump's numerous lawsuits.

Here is the last footnote from the latest decision where Trump's lawyers made a motion to quash the Georgia grand jury looking into his efforts to overturn the election there.

Perplexingly, prematurely, and with the standard pugnacity, Trump has filed not one but two mandamus actions against the District Attorney and this Court--one in the Supreme Court of Georgia (case 82301134, which the Supreme Court has already dismissed) and one in the Superior Court of Fulton County (Civil Action 20230V382670). Peculiarly, neither petition requests
the sole relief available under mandamus: an order "compelling a public officer to perform required duty." Love v. Fulton Cnty. Bd. of Tax Assessors, 311 Ga. 682, 692 (2021) (citation omitted). That "required duty," though it is only obliquely referenced in the twin mandamus petitions, could only be for this Court to rule on the pending motion. Perhaps the conspicuous omission of demand for such relief is due to petitioner's counsel's familiarity with O.C.G.A. 15-6-21(b). Pursuant to that statute, superior court judge in county with more than 100,000 inhabitants (such as Fulton County) must decide all motions within 90 days after briefing is complete. Basic calendar math shows why mandamus relief is not (yet) available: the State's response was filed on 15 May 2023, per the Court's amended (and unobjected to) Scheduling Order of May 2023. Ninety days from 15 May 2023 is 13 August 2023--which is Sunday--making the statutory deadline for the Court's Order 14 August 2023. Before that date, there is nothing to compel. We are several weeks from that date and here is the Order. This filing, while it will indubitably generate an appeal, should render moot Civil Action 023CV382670 as to the supervising judge. In the future, counsel is encouraged to follow the professional standard of inquiring with Chamber's staff about timing and deadlines before burdening other courts with unnecessary and unfounded legal filings.

Great find.  You can draw a couple of conclusions from this footnote.  1) Trump can only find incompetent lawyers to work for him.  Reading court rules is a basic first step for filing and it seems this was ignored or disregarded which leads to 2) Trump isn't serious about any of this.  He just wants to whine that the Deep State judges of Georgia that he could not appoint because they are not federal judges are working against him.  Very unfair.  

[indy]

Almost all of the footnotes contain various pointed comments aimed at either Trump or his attorneys. Here is a link: s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23891541/2022-ex-000024-ex-parte-order-of-the-judge-1.pdf

[goldenvalley]

And new co defendant De Oliveira cannot find a Florida lawyer to appear for him...I'm getting the impression that no one wants to be associated with this and/or they all know they will get stiffed on their fees.

[indy]

In a DOJ filing yesterday they said they had obtained additional video evidence since the last superseding indictment was prepared and they were turning it over to the defense. It is presumably relevant to the case.

[goldenvalley]

Whelp further history was made today.  Trump is indicted again on four counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.  TPM has the indictment.  Can't wait to see if co conspirators will be indicted and who they are.  I suspect we can make some pretty accurate guesses.

I particularly like to see conspiracy against rights...the votes of people in AZ, MI, GA in particular were what Trump and his people wanted to denigrate and deny. 

[indy]

I didn't see anything much that I hadn't already read about previously, but it is very nice to see it all laid out chronologically. For the first time I can see the flow of everything, from beginning to end. The one thing I hadn't heard before that is in there is that the campaign told the fake electors that their fake certificates would only be used if they prevailed in court. When they didn't prevail in court, they were used anyway.

[goldenvalley]

Aug 2, 2023 1:20:58 GMT indy said:

I didn't see anything much that I hadn't already read about previously, but it is very nice to see it all laid out chronologically. For the first time I can see the flow of everything, from beginning to end. The one thing I hadn't heard before that is in there is that the campaign told the fake electors that their fake certificates would only be used if they prevailed in court. When they didn't prevail in court, they were used anyway.

Yeah I suspect we'll hear that from all the fake electors except for the rabid Trump cultists.

What I liked was the clear showing that this was a white collar coup, a bunch of lawyers trying to give Trump what he wanted and
Trump happily engaging with all of it. The activity of the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and various benighted loyalists was the tail end of the coup.  I suspect we'll see a lot more indictments...the six co conspirators and I'm still hoping to see Roger Stone in the dock for his organization of the terrorists for their 1/6 activities.

[jackd]

Looks like it was assigned to a no nonsense trial judge. I'm guessing she'll push it and try to get it tried before the election.

[indy]

Aug 2, 2023 1:31:20 GMT goldenvalley said:

Aug 2, 2023 1:20:58 GMT indy said:

I didn't see anything much that I hadn't already read about previously, but it is very nice to see it all laid out chronologically. For the first time I can see the flow of everything, from beginning to end. The one thing I hadn't heard before that is in there is that the campaign told the fake electors that their fake certificates would only be used if they prevailed in court. When they didn't prevail in court, they were used anyway.

Yeah I suspect we'll hear that from all the fake electors except for the rabid Trump cultists.

What I liked was the clear showing that this was a white collar coup, a bunch of lawyers trying to give Trump what he wanted and
Trump happily engaging with all of it. The activity of the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and various benighted loyalists was the tail end of the coup.  I suspect we'll see a lot more indictments...the six co conspirators and I'm still hoping to see Roger Stone in the dock for his organization of the terrorists for their 1/6 activities.

And I suspect he will blame the whole thing on his lawyer co-conspirators. "They are lawyers and I believed them when they told me it was all legal. I was just following the advice of my counsel." I honestly don't know how that might look to a jury. I mean, for the 4 or 5 he found, he was being told by 10 times as many that it wasn't legal but it only takes one juror.

Some of these lawyers are in true jeopardy I think because there is back and forth admissions between them about what exactly they were doing. What is the evidence that Trump knew it as well? Mens rea and all that. I'm hoping it's there somewhere.

I mean, it would be great if Trump ended up in jail but I'm really hoping more that the lawyer co-conspirators do. At the end of the day if the justice system doesn't actually serve as a warning to deter future behavior, what good is it really? If they get off as well, it just creates a blueprint for future attempts.

It's pretty clear the GOP is in panic mode because they understand that the power they currently have has a shelf life being driven by forces outside their control no matter how many laws they pass trying to turn back the tide. It is only going to get worse before it gets better and the attempts will be ever more brazen. I'm hoping it gets nipped in the bud but it's up to the justice system to do the work.

[indy]

Reading trough some of the analyses this morning it appears that Nov. 13 Trump's campaign legal team conceded in court that Trump lost in Arizona and that they could not possibly win without it. So Smith chose Nov. 14 therefore as the beginning of the conspiracy to overturn the election. Seems not quite a smoking gun but substantial in showing his state of mind.

Shortly after election day—which fell on November 3, 2020—the Defendant launched his criminal scheme. On November 13, the Defendant's Campaign attorneys conceded in court that he had lost the vote count in the state of Arizona--meaning, based on the assessment the Defendant's Campaign advisors had given him just a week earlier, the Defendant had lost the election. So the next day, the Defendant turned to Co-Conspirator 1, whom he announced would spearhead his efforts going forward to challenge the election results. From that point on, the Defendant and his co-conspirators executed a strategy to use knowing deceit in the targeted states to impair, obstruct, and defeat the federal government function, including as described below.

[LFC]

Over at National Review and elsewhere they're screeching that this was already dealt with by the impeachment proceedings, which are of course political. During the impeachment proceedings a number of Republicans, including Moscow Mitch, screeched that they wouldn't vote for impeachment because it should be dealt with as a criminal proceeding. I doubt any of you reading this are in the least bit surprised.