After a NY jury deemed #Trump a #felon last week, his staunchest supporters are focusing on what they allege is a weaponized #justice sys by ramping up #House investigations & stalling [#obstruction ] regular business in the #Democratic-led #Senate. #House Spkr #MikeJohnson broadly outlined a “3-pronged approach” Tues during a weekly conference on how the #Republican majority can #target the #DOJ, #NewYork & other jurisdictions for investigating Trump.
“You had 12 #jurors come to a #unanimous conclusion, & the former president was #guilty of 34 #felonies, & that, that somehow is indication of weaponization when that was a #state prosecution that had nothing to do w/President #Biden or the Dept of #Justice,” Jeffries said. “The American people understand that we need more common sense & less chaos in Washington, DC.”
[#Trump appointee] Judge #AileenCannon …recently scrapped the trial’s start date … in May & has not yet scheduled a new one. In doing so, she cited the “myriad & interconnected” legal issues she has yet to resolve.
It appears increasingly unlikely that the case will go in front of a jury before the election…. That is largely because of Cannon’s habit of holding time-consuming hearings on arguments raised by the defense that many other judges would have decided on the merits of written filings.
#JennaEllis said in court during her guilty plea: “If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald #Trump in these postelection challenges,” adding, “I look back on this experience w/deep remorse.”
8 #Republican senators announced Fri they would boycott #Democratic#legislative priorities & nominations as payback for #Trump’s #guilty#verdict.
In a joint statement, the senators said they would not “allow any increase to non-security related funding for this administration, or any appropriations bill which funds partisan lawfare.”
The statement was signed by Sens. Mike Lee (Utah), J.D. Vance (Ohio), Tommy Tuberville (Ala.), Eric Schmitt (Mo.), Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), Rick Scott (Fla.), Roger Marshall (Kan.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.). Scott is among those running to succeed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as the top Senate Republican, while Rubio has been discussed as a potential Trump running mate.
« This requires the will to persevere just when one apparently must do something that leads away from his goal. This unswerving inner purpose brings good fortune in the… »
In an angry court filing, #Trump’s lawyers pushed back hard against the request by the office of the #SpecialCounsel, #JackSmith, to revise Trump’s conditions of release by forbidding him to make any public comments that might endanger federal agents working on the prosecution.
On Fri, Smith’s team requested …a limited #GagOrder on #Trump, prompted by what it called “grossly misleading” social media posts Trump made last wk falsely claiming that the #FBI had been authorized to kill him when agents searched #MarALago….
Trump’s stmnts were based on a recently unsealed order for the search that contained boilerplate language spelling out that the use of deadly force could be used only in case of emergency, a standard provision applied to all FBI searches.
4 months after the #FBI raided #MarALago, Trump’s attys discovered 4 docs marked #classified in his personal bedroom.
That revelation was among several cited by US District Judge Beryl Howell in a newly unsealed 2023 opinion that found prosecutors had presented compelling #evidence that #Trump#knowingly stashed #NationalSecurity docs in his home & then tried to conceal them when the #DOJ tried to retrieve them.
@lin11c the Corcoran who took accurate & truthful contemporaneous handwritten notes & recorded voice memos when advising Trump to return the classified documents.
The decision to hear the appeal reopens the possibility that#FaniWillis, the Fulton County district attorney, could be disqualified from prosecuting Trump & 14 #CoConspirators over efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The decision to hear the appeal, handed down by a 3-judge panel, is likely to further #delay the #Georgia#criminal case against #Trump & 14 of his #CoConspirators, making it less likely that the case will go to #trial before the Nov #election.
The terse 3-sentence announcement reopens the possibility that DA #FaniWillis could be #disqualified from the biggest case of her career, & one of the most significant state criminal cases in the nation’s history.
At issue is a romantic relationship she had w/ #NathanWade, a lawyer she hired to handle the prosecution of #Trump. Defense lawyers argued that the relationship amounted to an untenable conflict of interest, & that DA #FaniWillis & her entire office should be removed from the case.
But in her ruling, the judge said there are too many complicated legal rules & deadlines surrounding the use of #classified evidence in public #criminal trials that need to be considered before she finalizes a court date. She said she would schedule the trial date at a future time. Cases that involve #ClassifiedDocuments have to follow the rules & legal proceedings defined under the Classified Information Procedures Act, or #CIPA.
“By delaying a final decision, #Cannon gives other judges presiding over #Trump#criminal cases —US Dist Judge #TanyaChutkan in Washington & #FultonCounty Superior Court Judge Scott #McAfee in #Georgia —a window to schedule their own trials this summer or fall. It’s unclear, though, if either of those judges can prepare their cases in time.”
#Trump Was Warned to Return Records to Archives, Unsealed Documents Say
“Whatever you have, give everything back — let them come here & get everything,” the unnamed associate told Trump, acc/to an interview the person gave the FBI “Don’t give them a noble reason to indict you, because they will.”
#SCOTUS is hearing a challenge today to a federal #law prosecutors used to charge >350 people who attacked the Capitol on #Jan6.
>100 have been convicted & sentenced under the statute for obstructing or impeding an ofcl proceeding—the joint session that convened to confirm Biden’s victory.
The case could impact #Trump’s federal trial in DC for trying to remain in power, 2 charges he faces are based on the same #obstruction statute.
US Solicitor General Elizabeth #Prelogar said the statute squarely answered a question that loomed after the violent siege of the Capitol on #Jan6: What was the #crime beyond a riot?
“In plain English, the fundamental wrong committed by many of the rioters, including petitioners, was the deliberate attempt to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the election. That is, they obstructed Congress’s work in that ofcl proceeding,” disrupting the peaceful transfer of power. #law#SCOTUS
It is not clear what protests #Alito was referring to Tues. In 2018, protesters opposed to the confirmation of #Kavanaugh pounded on the doors of #SCOTUS but did not make it inside. Protesters have also demonstrated outside justices’ homes. But protesting is specifically barred from taking place any closer to the #SupremeCourt than the sidewalk. It’s because of a #law dating to 1949, passed to avoid the perception that the justices are swayed by popular pressure rather than the law.