Dahlia Lithwick:
If he were anyone else, one could say that former President Donald Trump has been having an exceedingly bad week. Indeed, were he anyone else, one might well be saying that it sure looks like the walls are closing in on him. But Donald Trump has been living in the Republic of Walls-Closing-Inistan for so very, very long that it’s difficult to know whether the former president will once again get away with simply lying about the square footage of the forever-shrinking penthouse.
That’s how I feel. I don’t want to get my hopes up that this time will turn out any differently. But it does seem he’s closer to disaster than he has been so far.
For example, David French writes at The Atlantic that Georgia Has a Very Strong Case Against Trump. By “Georgia,” of course, he means the Fulton Count District Attorney, Fani Willis. DA Willis wants a special grand jury in order to issue indictments to the many people refusing to testify otherwise. She may have enough evidence with the tape of the infamous Raffensperger phone call, but she may want to be sure she has an ironclad case. She might also be going beyond just the phone call.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is pursuing civil charges, which are easier to prove than criminal charges. AG James wants to be able to compel the Trumps, including the Donald himself, to submit to depositions about the conflicting claims they’ve made about their finances. The Trumps will probably take the 5th, because anything they say might be used against them by the Manhattan District Attorney, who is investigating criminal charges, as is the Westchester County District Attorney.
Meanwhile, thousands of Rudy Giuliani’s communications have been turned over to the Manhattan U.S. attorney.
More than 3,000 communications were released to prosecutors on Wednesday, an action reflected in a four-page report submitted to a judge overseeing litigation on the FBI’s April 28 seizure of Giuliani’s phones and computers. The contents of the devices were not disclosed.
This is in regard to Rudy’s meddlings in Ukraine, a little matter that was the subject of Trump’s first impeachment. The stuff withheld probably involved attorney-client privilege.
And then there’s the January 6 committee. CNN reported this afternoon that the committee now has all the records from the National Archive that Trump tried to block. They’re also looking into the fake electors who filed fake elector certificates in anticipation of Vice President Mike Pence rejecting the Biden electoral votes that Trump claimed he had won. Even though Pence didn’t go along with the plan, his weird script change during the official counting suggests he knew something was up.
Greg Sargent anticipates that what the committee eventually reveals will be significant.
The committee’s new focus on Ivanka Trump signals what this eventual pile-up will look like. It shows the committee is developing an unexpectedly comprehensive picture of how inextricably linked the violence was to a genuine plot to thwart a legitimately elected government from taking power.
Which, in turn, should make it harder for Republicans to campaign on Jan. 6 mythologizing without facing more intense scrutiny and blowback.
The committee appears to be preparing to show that the mob was sicced on Mike Pence deliberately as part of a larger scheme to get electoral votes tossed out.
Maybe some day we’ll find out what really happened with the inauguration money. Well, we can dream.
He can always use the same escape route as Jeffery Epstein. Let's hope!
He won't. He's too much of a coward.
There's no doubt that he's a coward but, when faced with the reality of doing prison time, death becomes the easiest way out for a narcissistic coward of Trump's magnitude. For a bag of shit like Trump the prospect of death would be a lot more palatable than having some black prison guard ordering him to face the wall or drop his draws for a weapons search when it's clear that there is no possibility for him to have a weapon on him.
I'm sure no prison guard is going to say…"Sir, I'd like to perform a cavity search".
It's the fact that he is such a coward that makes the prospect of suicide all the more understandable.
In the face of our colossal defeat in the Senate, this gives me something to focus on and hope for. Proverbs 21:15 When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous, But to the evildoers it is disaster.
Stormy times have finally arrived for tRUMP (no filthy stormy and "arriving" puns, please. This is a family website 😉 ).
Very, very seriously stormy times.
MWA-HA-HAAAAAAAAA!!!!
Stormy indeed! But this time, the "stormy " I'm referring to isn't the porn star tRUMP was boffing while his wife, Melanoma, was at home with their new-born son.
Instead, "stormy" refers to the many subpoena's raining down around him (ok, not for him – yet) and his grifting offspring's heads.
It looks as if the tRUMP family's many, many transgressions may finally have matching consequences.
And when it rains, baby, it pours! Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain!!!
And man, I, for one, hope it's a deluge. Where the subpoena's raining down on them aren't like the proverbial cat and dogs; but instead, coming down like rats and hogs – cats and dogs are too small. Let it rain giant subway rats and state fair winning porkers on the entire grifting lot of evil tRUMP sociopaths until they drown
BTW: Hopefully, the tRUMP KKKLAN will eventually be charged with sedition and treason!
AND WON'T THAT BE FUN?!?!?!?!?
I don’t want to get my hopes up that this time will turn out any differently.
Well, the way I see it is that it's better to enjoy several months of gleeful anticipation thinking that Trump is going to finally get his lumps, than it is to face a day or two of bitter disappointment if he manages escape the grasp of justice.
Just the thought of Trump facing accountability more than satisfies my sense of schadenfreude.
I'm not sure about a conviction in GA. However, there's a damn good chance in NYC or Washington DC. Why? One Trumpster who is dead certain the election was stolen will ignore the laws and the facts. The odds of a jury in GA getting one of those idiots is high. But the odds shift in NYC or DC because there are damn few Trumpsters (expressed as a percentage of voters.) Which is NOT to suggest Trump would be convicted for being Trump – but if the prosecutor has the facts, they will bring back a verdict based on that.
In NY, Trump has hired a rank idiot golf buddy in the civil case (not yet charged.) I'm not sure if that's because Trump is staying with loyalists OR because reputable lawyers won't return his calls. It's my guess that some firms who are looking to the future see the writing on the wall. No money is worth the damage to their reputation, especially because Trump will try to dictate the defense strategy.
Trump's old lawers are named in lawsuits – on the hook for (potentially) a billion if the jury comes back with a verdict and damages that the voting machine companies are demanding. They're being clobbered with legal fees for frivolous suits and facing disbarment. The more stuff gets charged, the thinner the lawyers will be spread (and the less eager top lawyers will be to sign on.) Trump will also play his lawyers to file an appeal – claiming that he was badly represented. So you take Trump on as a favor and he drags your reputation through the mud to try for a re-trial. (Ya want to get paid up front – he'll stiff you if he loses.)
My hope is that as much stuff hits the fan at the same time civil, criminal, state and federal for Trump and his kids and his CFO, Rudy, Sidney, Lindell, Fox News, Matt Gaetz…. who have I forgotten. THIS YEAR, if you are listening!
who have I forgotten
His name hasn't come up yet, but somewhere in all this seditionist activity I'm confident Stephen Miller's name will come up. He's such a ghoul and underhanded scoundrel that he couldn't let an opportunity to subvert democracy slip by without getting his hands all over it.
Under the cover of a blinding blizzard of conspiracies that lacked conspirators, a conspiracy, and evidence of conspiratorial actions, this conspiracy was attempting to steal an election. Corruption at the highest level of government brought to you by the corrupt wing (it could be the whole bird minus the nuggets) of the Republican Party. Forged documents were made at the state level by co-conspirators, many yet unidentified, to change electoral votes. These were to be submitted to the Senate on 1/6 and the election overturned. The ritual was disrupted, and the sleight of hand foiled. Then they tried to bury the evidence in the national archive and prevent it from ever seeing the light of day.
A conspiracy from the party known to constantly cry conspiracy without supporting evidence. One could begin to think they do this cover their conspiratorial actions, but they would just change color. How quickly they can go from projection pink to denial blue to avoid detection. It is the party of Tricky Dicky you know. He was quick to claim he was not a crook you might recall. A little too quick it seems.
Who knows how long any of us will live, but Trump still has a good chance of experiencing the end of his life never seeing the inside of prison walls, even with what he's currently facing. If he is indicted and tried, trials could take months, and then, even if convicted, appeals could keep him free for many more months if not years. Then there's the distinct possibility of history repeating itself and Trump and the entire seditious, treasonous lot is pardoned by a republican president in the very near future.
The best justice for Trump, which is also the most likely, is that his money is taken or dwindles, that he's no longer publicly relevant and even publicly mocked and laughed at. He's already beginning to face the humiliations of being ignored and attacked by his own people. He's scaled back his rallies for fear of sparse attendance. Even Fox isn't covering him they way it used to. Melania auctioning off a hat "for charity" for $250K is not a good sign of the state of their finances. What "billionaire's" wife auctions off a hat for essentially chump change, with the intention of keeping the bulk of the proceeds for herself?