Yesterday, in the carnival sideshow known as the “U.S. House of Representatives,” Marjorie Taylor Greene held up posters showing Hunter Biden in sexually explicit activities. She was “uncomfortable” showing nude photos of President Joe Biden’s son, she said, but “the American people deserve to see” them. Our tax dollars at work.
But what did the American people do to deserve Hunter Biden dick pics? Enquiring minds want to know.
Greene was attempting to claim that H.B. was engaging in trafficking and had claimed payments to sex workers as tax writeoffs. However, her only proof was … dick pics. I’m not sure that Greene quite grasps the concept of “proof.”
Kevin McCarthy did not reprimand Greene. But then, McCarthy has his own problems. Politico is reporting that McCarthy has promised Trump that the House would vote to “expunge” his two impeachments. The Constitution doesn’t provide a process for doing that, but whatever. And he’s supposed to do this before the August recess. But even some Republicans think it’s likely the vote would fail.
Trump had another great day in criminal justice yesterday. One judge denied his motion to move Alvin Bragg’s hush-money prosecution to a federal court. Said the judge,
Hellerstein found that the allegations pertained to Trump’s personal life, not presidential duties that would have merited a move to federal court.
“The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the matter was a purely a personal item of the President — a cover-up of an embarrassing event,” Hellerstein wrote in a 25-page ruling. “Hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a President’s official acts. It does not reflect in any way the color of the President’s official duties.”
Another judge denied Trump’s request to have E. Jean Carroll’s first suit against him re-tried. And the judge said other things Trump probably didn’t want to hear.
“This was a rape claim, this was a rape case all along, and the jury rejected that — made other findings,” his lawyer, Joe Tacopina, said outside the courthouse.
A judge has now clarified that this is basically a legal distinction without a real-world difference. He says that what the jury found Trump did was in fact rape, as commonly understood.
Of course it was. E. Jean Carroll will probably file a second lawsuit against Trump for the smack he talked about her since the first one.
We’re learning more about what charges Jack Smith will likely throw at Trump.
Federal prosecutors have introduced a new twist in the Jan. 6 investigation by suggesting in a target letter that they could charge former President Donald J. Trump with violating a civil rights statute that dates back to the post-Civil War Reconstruction era, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The letter to Mr. Trump from the special counsel, Jack Smith, referred to three criminal statutes as part of the grand jury investigation into Mr. Trump’s efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss, according to two people with knowledge of its contents. Two of the statutes were familiar from the criminal referral by the House Jan. 6 committee and months of discussion by legal experts: conspiracy to defraud the government and obstruction of an official proceeding.
But the third criminal law cited in the letter was a surprise: Section 241 of Title 18 of the United States Code, which makes it a crime for people to “conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person” in the “free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States.”
Congress enacted that statute after the Civil War to provide a tool for federal agents to go after Southern whites, including Ku Klux Klan members, who engaged in terrorism to prevent formerly enslaved African Americans from voting. But in the modern era, it has been used more broadly, including in cases of voting fraud conspiracies.
A Justice Department spokesman declined to discuss the target letter and Mr. Smith’s theory for bringing the Section 241 statute into the Jan. 6 investigation. But the modern usage of the law raised the possibility that Mr. Trump, who baselessly declared the election he lost to have been rigged, could face prosecution on accusations of trying to rig the election himself.
Heh. Emptywheel:
The recent news that Jack Smith has subpoenaed the security footage from the State Farm arena vote count location in Georgia, taken in conjunction with Trump’s efforts in places like Michigan — where his efforts focused on preventing a fair count of Detroit, where he had actually performed better than in 2016, rather than Kent County, the still predominantly white county where he lost the state — is a reminder that Trump and his mobs, many associated with overt white supremacists like Nick Fuentes, aggressively tried to thwart the counting of Black and Latino people’s votes. It was the same play Roger Stone used when he sent “election observers” to Black precincts in 2016, just on a far grander scale, and backed by the incitement of the sitting President.
In other news, some fascists in Florida are trying to ban Arthur’s Birthday from Clay County schools. Will Pat the Bunny be next?
Looking at the three charges mentioned in the target letter (reportedly), I'm inclined to think the charges are less complicated than I envision if a comprehensive, all-inclusive indictment for J6 was prepared. Of course, nobody knows what will be in the indictment yet but did Jack go for the low-hanging fruit?
There's no longer any doubt that Trump's strategy is to delay trials until after the election. Trump committed the plan to writing in submission to Judge Cannon. J6, if it was described with all the criminal facets in full detail would provide Trump's lawyers with a lot of opportunities to challenge and delay the trial, IMO. I'd LIKE to see all the evidence in a court of law – I think people would hang on every word. But the basic facts that 1) Trump lost the election, 2) he knew it, and 3) Trump tried to overturn those results through fraud and violence – those key points with proof and a criminal conviction need to be out there before Nov. '24.
BTW, John Bolton made the argument that the public has the right to know the results of the criminal charges BEFORE the election. Yeah, live long enough and you'll even find rare agreement with Bolton.
When this gets charged, Trump will try desperately t get it moved out of DC. Then Trump will try desperately to get it delayed until after the election. I don't think Trump will disguise the ask. Trump thinks it's a legitimate right for a candidate for POTUS to have the immunity from criminal prosecution that Trump had as POTUS. I do not think even this USSC will agree. Trump will delay as much as possible with the result of driving the actual trial date into the middle of '24 when it will do Trump the most political damage.
It looks like Georgia will take center stage if Fulton County charges Trump and if (as predicted)the federal charges focus on the election fraud attempts there.
I'm reading that Jack Smith is still investigating 2020 election issues. He may very well bring additional charges later, but he wanted to get as much as possible underway as fast as possible.
Side note, I was listening to Harry Litman talk about the Michigan fake electors. He said Michigan law is very specific and clear cut about the manner in which the electors must meet to certify the election. It specifically states that they must meet in the Capitol building, not in a basement somewhere (which is what actually happened). The fake electors knew this, and even plotted to sneak into the Capitol building to cover this point, but abandoned the idea. What's great about the Michigan case is that the law is so clear that there just isn't any wiggle room for these people to escape. It's also telling that AG Nessell didn't need to flip anybody, to get a cooperating witness – her case is so strong.
Regarding Smith's use of the Civil War era statute – it sounds so broad, I wonder what he has in mind.
And no, MTG does not know what proof is. Space Laser Lady thinks anything she says is "proof", whatever that means.
You might say MTG proved Hunter filed a "long form".
I hate to admit this, but I think I've developed a love-hate thing for Marjorie Traitor Greene.
I hate her politics, and I truly despise her personality.
But I love how feckin' stupid AND ignorant she is!
And how sure of herself she is, and the courageous way she openly, proudly and loudly pronounces how little she knows on any given topic!
And she has the most punchable face, ever – or is in a flat-footed tie with Matt Gaetz for that "honor!"
MTG is the very definition of "The Ugly American!"
And I love to hate her/and hate to love her!!!!!!
Oh, and if she wanted to make herself useful to her party, she could work to try to "butch-up" Miss Lindsey. She's a hot mess of late.
geunther,
Go to your room.
😉
You're mad 'cause you didn't say it.
MTG thinks a rambling non-sequitur proves a cause-effect relationship.
How long would it take to make her understand that sentence? I'd go at least four reincarnations.
MTG is a toxic weed, who enjoys 1) being the center of attention, like a 2 year old who discovered how to get attention by acting out, but 2) also enjoys destroying others, and is good at it. This is a particularly deadly combination and is what has allowed such a mediocrity to rise so far – effectively being the actual House Speaker, instead of the nominal Kevin McCarthy.
Whatever comedy she provides through her stupid remarks, it pales next to her dangerousness. If the Borg first rolled out Sarah Palin, who was too tongue tied to say anything of significance, they recalibrated and rolled out MTG, who is even dumber but more deadly.
My hope is that when Trump goes to prison, the air is going to come out of a lot of people's sails, including hers.
I shudder in horror that the literary world has not sanctioned MTG over her misuse of the dangling participle.
If I ever met Green privately, in person, the conversation might go like this:
Me: Hey Marge, did you see the nasty look that she gave you?
Greene: Who?
Me: Mother nature!