The Trials of Donald J Trump

I have a good feeling that Jack Smith will eventually get his man.
Hope he gets to nail Trump

Jack Smith officially appeals dismissal of classified documents case to 11th Circuit

Story by Matthew Chapman

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Special counsel Jack Smith has formally filed an appeal of District Judge Aileen Cannon’s decision to dismiss the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case against former President Donald Trump to the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Cannon, a Trump-appointed judge whose rulings have drawn criticism for consistently benefiting the former president, cited a concurrence by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to rule that Smith was not properly appointed as special counsel because he was not confirmed by a vote of the Senate.

But in the appeal, Smith points out that this interpretation of the law has never been used in prior cases, and cites decades of law and fact to argue Cannon’s interpretation is wrong.

“Precedent and history confirm those authorities, as do the long tradition of special-counsel appointments by Attorneys General and Congress’s endorsement of that practice through appropriations and other legislation,” said the filing. “The district court’s contrary view conflicts with an otherwise unbroken course of decisions, including by the Supreme Court, that the Attorney General has such authority, and it is at odds with widespread and longstanding appointment practices in the Department of Justice and across the government. This Court should reverse.”

Smith’s filing appears to stop just short of asking for the appellate court to throw Cannon off of the case altogether, simply stating that, “The Court should reverse the dismissal order and remand for further proceedings.”

Even a win for Smith at this stage would potentially trigger a further appeal to the Supreme Court, and regardless, the litigation of ongoing issues in the case would push out any possible trial date to far past the November election.

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Needs to get rid of the judge, who is in way over her head, and has consistently made spurious rulings favorable to Mango Mussolini.

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Mango Mussolini :joy:

New one for me.

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From The Guardian :

"Prosecutors also argued that Cannon was wrong to reject four statutes that they had contended allowed Smith to lead the Trump criminal prosecutions.

The dispute over the four statutes, which was litigated during an unusual multi-day hearing in federal district court in Fort Pierce before Cannon dismissed the case, is likely to take center stage in the appeals process that could take months or years. "

Even if Smith prevails the case will most likely outlive him. The loose Cannon has done her job.

Cannon has bet her whole career on these ‘iffy’ actions, in the hope it gets her appointed to SCOTUS, once Trump gets re-elected.
Now that Kamala Harris entered the race, it might not exactly work out the way she planned.
Although his hands are being bound at every turn, Jack Smith appears to be quite dogged, and it remains, watch this space no matter the length of time it takes - Unless of course, Trump gets elected…

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Even if Trump were re-elected , or indeed any other future Republican President , I don’t see how someone as intellectually limited as her would ever get through a Senate confirmation hearing.

And then I’m reminded of Brett Kavanaugh. :scream:

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Because the hearings don’t actually matter anymore. The only that matters these days is having 50 republicans in the senate. I think the days of Republicans refusing to approve one of their own nominations a la Harriot Miers are gone and long way from returning.

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https://x.com/7Veritas4/status/1828543306973749714?t=itBwSs5EuQJ_HJsBJchx-A&s=19

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Like my mate Liam Nissan, I am wondering if there are people replying to Jack E. Smith as if it’s the actual Jack Smith.

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Following the most recent developments , a look here at where we are now across all the cases ;

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08/28/trump-court-hearings-deadlines-00176680

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This could spell big trouble for Trump’s election chances.

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/05/trump-hearing-chutkan-timeline-00177538

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People keep pointing to the DoJ’s “60 day rule” for why these cases should now be blocked, but that, unsurprisingly, is a misunderstanding (purposeful?) of what the rule says and is intended to protect against.

The rule says DOJ should not bring new indictments of any political candidate within 60 days of an election knowing that such a move would influence voters opinion of someone who would not be capable of demonstrating their innocence before the election. It doesnt say that legal proceedings already in process must be put on hold, because the knowledge is already out there. The cases continuing dont give the voters meaningfully new information. And previously, it was always considered the expected thing that because ongoing charges would hurt any political candidate, such a situation would see the candidate remove themselves from the election. This being front and center right up tot he election is Trump’s choice, not the DoJ’s.

But, this is why it was important Smith got his revised case put in front of Chutkin last week, because that allowed them to come in under the 60 day rule.

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New Jack Smith ‘mystery’ doc includes ‘hidden’ Trump evidence not yet made public: report

Story by Carl Gibson

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Special Counsel Jack Smith delivers remarks on a recently unsealed indictment against former President Donald Trump at the Justice Department on June 9, 2023 in Washington, DC.

Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith appears to have new evidence against former President Donald Trump in his Washington, D.C. election interference case.

According to Newsweek, Smith submitted the “mystery document” to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ahead of the September 5 hearing in the District of Columbia federal court as part of his superseding indictment of the ex-president. The publication reported that the contents of the document remain “hidden from the public and Trump’s lawyers” as of Wednesday, with the new evidence under seal in accordance with federal laws pertaining to classified material.

The new document is titled “Government’s Classified, Ex Parte, In Camera, and Under Seal Notice Regarding Classified Discovery,” which Newsweek noted is a formal way of saying the DOJ is submitting classified information to the court that has yet to be unsealed due to national security reasons. Judge Chutkan will review the document privately away from both the DOJ and Trump’s attorneys.

Trump was arraigned in absentia on Wednesday on the new superseding indictment Smith previously filed. His attorneys entered a not guilty plea on his behalf, and sought to prevent further action in the case prior to the November election. In his live-tweeting of the hearing, Politico legal correspondent Kyle Cheney observed that Trump lawyer John Lauro protested against a supposed “rush to judgment,” which Chutkan laughed off, saying: “This case has been pending for over a year. We’re hardly sprinting to the finish line.”

The special counsel previously indicated in a joint status report filed with the defense that he would soon be submitting new evidence to the court as part of the updated indictment that included evidence against the 45th president of the United States not yet known to the public.

Smith revised the original four-count felony indictment following the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Trump v. United States case, in which the conservative majority — including three Trump appointees — ruled that presidents have absolute broad immunity from criminal prosecution for all “official acts.” However, the Court left it up to lower court judges like Chutkan to determine what constitutes an “official” act and what does not.

The former president’s attorneys argue that Trump’s actions on and leading up to January 6 took place while he was in the lame duck period of his presidency, that they are to be viewed as official acts and should be included under SCOTUS’ immunity guidelines. Smith contended in his new superseding indictment that because Trump’s January 6, 2021 rally outside the U.S. Capitol was paid for by his campaign rather than with tax dollars, it was an unofficial act of a private citizen.

During the hearing, Chutkan said it would likely be “months” before the case went to trial. But that’s assuming Trump loses the election. Should he win, he could have his appointed attorney general dismiss both ongoing federal cases against him — including both the D.C. case and the classified documents indictment in the Southern District of Florida.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon — the Trump-appointed judge overseeing that case — dismissed the charges entirely in July, and argued in her filing that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ argument that Jack Smith was not constitutionally appointed rendered his indictment null and void. Smith appealed her decision to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has already overturned Cannon’s rulings in the past.

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Is there any end to this guy’s stupidity ?

Today , his lawyers lodged an appeal to have the E.Jean Carroll verdict overturned. After being found liable in the original trial he was ordered to pay $5m.

Then he defamed her by claiming she made the whole thing up and was hit with an $83m order.

After the appeal hearing he gave a ‘press conference’ at Trump Tower where he repeated the defamatory remarks.

And all this while he’s in the thick of an election campaign. Presumably he believes that seeing how well his indictments worked for him during the primary , that he can keep up the corrupt Biden DOJ narrative to help propel him back into the WH , regardless of the fact that this case , the fraud case , the Georgia case and the hush money case have precisely nothing to do with DOJ.

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Strategy = delaying tactics to get him over the line and into the WH. And creating another 4 year safety net from being put in prison. If he’s loses any court proceeding he appeals which adds additional months worth of time. Lose again, take it to the supreme court that he’s manipulated into being his own personal court of dismissal.

Only reason this has began to fail is Biden dropping out. Not supposed to happen, Trump’s whole plan was hinged on beating Trump. Whole thing is sliding into the sea. And he’s losing it big time. All the cringe worth GOP slime has begun to realize they might lose their seats so are starting to stand up to him.

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Hush money sentencing delayed until after the election. Unfuckingbelievable.

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The prosecution did not object to the November request. Anyone seen any reasons why?

Based on Merchan’s comments, it appears to be out of concern for creating a perception of election interference

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Of course the implication of this is Merchan intended to jail him

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"I understand why supporters of the rule of law are disappointed by those political calculations. Ideally, politics should not enter into legal wrangling. In practice, though, the Justice Department has longstanding guidelines preventing prosecutions within 90 days of a federal election. Merchan has two good reasons for applying that standard to sentencing at the state level.

The first is that the district attorney, Alvin Bragg, decided in August to take no position on the sentencing delays. Bragg was trying to shield himself from political fallout, and Merchan was doing the same. His decision will be better received — even by Republicans — after the election.

Merchan said of the jury: “Their verdict must be respected and addressed in a manner that is not diluted by the enormity of the upcoming presidential election.”

The undiluted bit seems to support Limie’s suggestion that he will indeed be jailed … if he loses the election.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/09/03/opinion/thepoint#merchan-trump-delayed-sentence

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Here’s hoping!

Winning the election is his best bet to stay out of jail. What a time to be alive to see this.