Some time yesterday, Trump posted this “truth” on his social media platform.
Attorneys on Jack Smith’s team of prosecutors, in a court filing last night, called this to the attention of U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, who will be overseeing Trump’s J6 trial. The prosecutors did not request a gag order, but they did request a protective order to prevent Trump and his legal team from revealing sensitive information in the evidence compiled by the prosecutors.
Jack McCordick writes at Vanity Fair,
In Friday’s filing, prosecutors claimed to have “a large amount of sensitive and confidential material” that it was prepared to send to Trump’s legal team. The material includes witness testimony, subpoena returns, and evidence obtained through search warrants.
Protective orders are fairly standard in criminal cases, but Smith’s office wrote that one would be “particularly important” in Trump’s case, as he “has previously issued public statements on social media regarding witnesses, judges, attorneys, and others associated with legal matters pending against him.” The request noted that Trump had already issued multiple social media posts that “either specifically or by implication” referenced the D.C. indictment, including the Truth Social post from earlier Friday evening.
Earlier in the week, Trump wrote on the social media site that “Dems don’t want to run against me or they would not be doing this unprecedented weaponization of ‘Justice.’ BUT SOON, IN 2024, IT WILL BE OUR TURN. MAGA!” Revenge and retribution have been favorite themes of Trump’s campaign: At his first rally in March, the former president said, “I am your warrior, I am your justice…I am your retribution.”
Smith’s office argued that if Trump “were to begin issuing public posts using details” from discovery, it could exert “a harmful chilling effect” on witnesses as the case unfolds.
In an unsigned statement released by a Trump spokesperson, it was claimed the social media post “was in response to the RINO, China-loving, dishonest special interest groups and Super PACs, like the ones funded by the Koch brothers and the Club for No Growth.” The Koch Network and the Club for Growth are both funding efforts to stop Trump from getting the GOP nomination.
Especially if Judge Chutkan does issue a protective order, Trump’s lawyers will need to sit him down and explain how to use “disclaimers” when he posts something. Or maybe they’ll take his phone away and/or break his fingers.
At Thursday’s arraignment, Trump agreed not to talk about the case with any witnesses without lawyers present and not to attempt to influence potential jurors or tamper with witnesses. And he was told that if he failed to comply with the conditions of his release, a warrant might be issued for his arrest. He’s not going to comply — especially since his current aides are likely going to be called as witnesses — so we’ll see if the court follows through.
Update: CNN reports,
A federal judge on Saturday denied a request from former President Donald Trump’s legal team for a deadline extension over the handling of evidence in the 2020 election subversion case.
Trump’s lawyers will have to respond by Monday afternoon to the Justice Department’s proposal for a protective order.
The decision from US District Judge Tanya Chutkan caps a flurry of activity in the case after special counsel Jack Smith’s team on Friday asked Chutkan to quickly set limits on what Trump’s team can do with the evidence that will be shared with them. Their request pointed to a post by Trump on Truth Social from earlier in the day to argue that the former president has a habit of speaking publicly about the details of the various legal proceedings he’s facing.
In related news — do see John Eastman Comes Clean: Hell Yes We Were Trying to Overthrow the Government at Talking Points Memo.
Jan 6th conspirators have spent more than two years claiming either that nothing really happened at all in the weeks leading up to January 6th or that it was just a peaceful protest that got a bit out of hand or that they were just making a good faith effort to follow the legal process. Eastman cuts through all of this and makes clear they were trying to overthrow (“abolish”) the government; they were justified in doing so; and the warrant for their actions is none other than the Declaration of Independence itself.
“Our Founders lay this case out,” says Eastman. “There’s actually a provision in the Declaration of Independence that a people will suffer abuses while they remain sufferable, tolerable while they remain tolerable. At some point abuses become so intolerable that it becomes not only their right but their duty to alter or abolish the existing government.”
“So that’s the question,” he tells Klingenstein. “Have the abuses or the threat of abuses become so intolerable that we have to be willing to push back?”
The answer for Eastman is clearly yes and that’s his justification for his and his associates extraordinary actions.
The article by Josh Marshall goes on to explain that the Declaration has no legal weight and that there is no protected right to overthrow the government in the U.S. Overthrowing the government is unlawful, unless you succeed and rewrite the laws real fast. The Declaration argues that there is a kind of moral right to overthrow a government when it “evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism.” But if the Biden Administration is Eastman’s idea of “absolute Despotism” he has led a very sheltered life. I look forward to seeing Eastman’s argument used at trial against Trump, though.
In other news — Clarence Thomas’s $267,230 R.V. and the Friend Who Financed It.
"Trump’s Self-Incrimination Never Stops"
I don’t think it’s self-incrimination, it's how he survives. Outrageousness is the only thing that works for him. Look at him he’s a fucking clown! He got elected President. If everyone is talking about him he gains ground. If everyone says the same thing about him, even better it reinforces his argument that he is a victim, look everyone is out to get me for the same thing today. He puts his lawyer out to confess to the crime, that guarantees everyone will have the same reaction. He threatens the prosecutor, witnesses, same thing. He only needs 35% of the country (plenty of them) to stay viable so if he can galvanize them his revenge tour stays alive. Maybe Biden slips and falls or the economy crashes? All he needs is a life line. It should be a losing strategy but it works for now, and nobody seems willing to counter it. If we are talking about him he has a chance. The only thing that will stop Stump is suffocation, a huge wet blanket, a sober judge, jury and a courtroom without cameras. The rest of us could end it if we could look away, but that seems unlikely!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeTnMHnqI-s
Re Trump's self-incrimination – Teri Kanefield made the astute point some time ago, that Trump's legal needs are diametrically opposed to his political needs. He says stuff to rile his base (and fundraise off of them), which only digs his legal hole deeper.
That remark by John Eastman made my day. Wonder what he thinks – from everything going on in contemporary America – what warrants the overthrow of the government? I want to hear him say it in his own words.
I was on some other site yesterday, where a wingnut said something to the effect that four more years of Biden / Harris will be "the Death of America". Yeah: inflation under control, wages increasing, the pandemic is over, an international crisis (Ukraine) is being handled, and traitors against the Constitution are being processed.
On what planet do people like Eastman and your average wingnut reside? What garbage has been pumped into their minds that prevents them from seeing?
"…what warrants the overthrow of the government? I want to hear him say it in his own words."
You'll never hear any of them say it, in theirs or any one's words, because the reality is absurdly disqualifying. That's because, in their "minds" government not being in their total control warrants the over throw of it. Biden's "crime" is he's a democrat. America is "failing" because its not being run by them. There is no justification for it, other than them insisting there is.
If I may, as I have a bit of experience … a Prevost Le Mirage XL Marathon motor coach runs upwards of eight hundred thousand, sometimes a mil
Even in disclosing their dishonesty they're dishosnest
Oy. More dumb shit from the mouth of the worst and dumbest MFer ever born and raised in the borough of Queens, in NYC
I don't remember the title of the movie this line comes from, but it definitely applies to Satan's taint, Donald J. tRUMP:
"That boy jus kent hep his self!"
He'll keep running his big, fat, stupid, ignorant, bigoted yap, because he knows there's no way they'll throw his fat ass in the slammer.
Yet…*
The next 18 months won't be dull for a moment!
So hope for the best.
Expect the worst.
And keep the hatches battened down during the storm of the century, "Himicane Orange Sphincter!"
*We hope.
moonbat,
To explain these bigoted RepubliKKKLAN "MORANS!", remember Satan's reason – from John Milton's epic "Paradise Lost" – for his rebellion against god, and his fall from heaven,
"Better to rule in Hell than serve on Heaven."
@gulag – that's profound – thank you! I have never read "Paradise Lost" (it's clearly time), and I will think over what you said. Thanks again!
Thanks, moonbat!
🙂
But I screwed up the quote when I finger-fumbled and typed an "o" instead of an "i" – and then missed it when I proofread it!
OY! 🙁
"Better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven."
There! Fixed it.
I have to respect Jack's gunfighter stance. He had every right to take the threat personally – it was meant that way. He also could have asked for a gag order – restricting ALL Trump's comments about the case. He didn't. Jack asked for a Protective Order to protect the evidence.
Not lost on Trump is the fact Jack's not intimidated and Jack is (obviously) looking forward to cleaning Trump's clock in court. Very professionally and dispassionately. Almost Vulcan.
But this evening, Judge Chutkan responded to Jack's request by ordering the defense to respond by Monday, 5PM. Trump's lawyer suggested Thursday would be better. The judge responded, (I paraphrase), "I said, MONDAY!"
As I read the tea leaves, she's already decided to grant the Protective Order. I strongly suspect she will hammer Trump on the threat. (My public defender warned me NOT to criticize the prosecutor, "Judges don't like it.") So I think Trump will get the smackdown he deserves without Jack requesting it. Trump's lawyer will say the threat was generic because Smith was not named. True. Trump might have been threatening any number of people, including witnesses. As far as the court is concerned, if it might be a threat against the prosecutor or witnesses (or the judge herself) the sanctions will be levied as if the threat(s) were specific.
I think the judge won't do anything to prevent Trump from campaigning – much as I hear calls to lock Trump up until the trial, it won't happen. Nor will there be a gag order, though they've been issued to other defendants. (Roger Stone) Trump will violate the Protective Order. That can't continue through the lead-up to the trial. But when it happens the first time – that Trump puts out Discovery material, the judge might tell the defense to find three consecutive days in the next month (to have the least effect on Trump's campaign) for Trump to report to lockup in DC. Let Trump bluster, threaten, and beg to be let off without punishment. (I think Trump will meltdown if he's forced to do three days in a cell. The anticipation alone will drive Trump insane. He doesn't have the discipline or fortitude.)
Trump's lawyers must be going nuts. Trump is going to torpedo any chance of a negotiated settlement (which I think is the best the defense can hope for if the evidence presented in Discovery checks out.) Before Trump even appears before Judge Chutkan, he has the judge mad at him. I can believe that in 30 days, Trump's lawyer in the DC case will ask to be removed because of "irreconcilable differences." Which means the lawyer does not want to be party to a trial that becomes a crime. Trump does not care if his lawyer quits because Trump thinks it will delay the trial. I'm not so sure. If Trump's erratic behavior is the reason lawyers keep walking away, he can represent himself or accept a public defender.
The MAGA House intended to poison Biden's campaign with hearings, dic pics of Hunter, maybe an Impeachment, and a pile of lies and conspiracy theories about Biden. I'll look at facts and credible witnesses but the GOP can't find any witnesses who aren't felons or fugitives. But this is what's planned until Nov '24. Except Trump's trials are gonna suck all the news oxygen out of virtually every news cycle from now until election day.
Maureen Dowd, Coup-Coup-Ca-Choo, Trump-Style
By the end of the piece, she insults him in Irish:
In the comments, someone corrected her:
A candidate who knows he's innocent of all the crimes Trump's been charged with would insist on swift trials, in order to be tried an acquitted on all counts before the election, so as to remove any doubt for voters that he is innocent. Instead, he's insisting on going into the election with that doubt in place, with only his insistence, and against a mountain of incriminating evidence, that he is innocent. Only a guilty person with no respect for the law or the jury he's insisting on being tried by, the voters, does that.
Its a simple and straightforward message that needs to be put out there and repeated ad nauseum, from now until the election: forget the justice system, Trump doesn't even respect the voters enough to prove to them that he's innocent.
"Its a simple and straightforward message that needs to be put out there and repeated ad nauseum"
Agreed but who is going to deliver that message? Biden can't if he abides by norms against a President commenting on a DOJ investigation. Democrats in the Senate, House are sitting on their hands, hiding in their offices, not sure why besides cowardice? The news media sure as hell are not going to deliver that message. Stump is their cash cow, the only thing they are going to do is repeat Stumps lies and broadcast his rallies, bullshit social media posts. Who is going to deliver that message?