Users on far-right online forums are publishing private information about members of the Georgia grand jury that indicted former president Donald Trump and 18 of his allies in a sweeping criminal case focused on alleged 2020 election interference earlier this month, leading to jurors receiving threats online....
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.
#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.
#ClarenceThomas was first to ask a question, asking #JosephFischer’s attorney a very specific question about his reading of the #obstruction statute. “How do we determine what these provisions have in common. Do we look after the ‘otherwise’ or before?” he asked. Critics have said Thomas should not have any role in #Jan6-related cases because his wife, #GinniThomas, was involved in efforts to undo the results of the 2020 election & attended #Trump’s rally the morning of the Capitol attack.
#ElenaKagan kicked off her questions for Fischer’s atty, Green, by referring to #ClarenceThomas’s earlier comments. #KetanjiBrownJackson asked Green to respond more fully to a #AmyConeyBarrett question. The callbacks from the court’s liberals to its conservative members appear to be skepticism that the #obstruction statute can apply only to #evidence tampering.
The #law doesn’t say it applies to someone who “otherwise spoils evidence,” Kagan noted. “It says otherwise obstructs a proceeding.”
#Prelogar said the #obstruction statute “directly reads onto this conduct,” & that the court was left w/a simple question of statutory construction: “Did people obstruct an official proceeding?”
“The answer is equally straightforward,” she said, yes, they did.
She argued that Fischer asked the court “to impose an atextual limit,” conflating 2 adjacent passages in the #law to attempt to limit the statute to acts of #evidence impairment. The 2 prongs aren’t so limited, she said.
#SCOTUS Justice Samuel A. #Alito Jr., in suggesting that the #obstruction charge is being read too broadly & covers normal political protest, proposed thinking specifically about a demonstration inside the building where the argument was taking place.
“For all the protests that have occurred in this court, the Justice Department has not charged any serious offenses,” he said.
President Biden called the House Republicans’ bluff. They asked for a border bill. They got one. Now they’re proving they were never going to pass one because they need a problem to run on and they were never going to fund Ukraine.
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.”
Republicans openly admitting to sabotaging efforts to fix the #border.
Of COURSE republicans don't want to fix anything. They'd have nothing to run on if shit got fixed. #DEMOCRATS fix things. Republicans muck shit up and then cry about how democracy doesn't work. From: MSW
Ron Johnson says he’s leading an effort to obstruct a deal on #border#security.
Ron Johnson takes credit for the Senate recessing before voting on any border security measure.
MAGA Republicans are hoping that demagoguing the issue of #immigration—while not addressing it in any serious way—will be their ticket back to the White House. Then Trump can resume the real work that he wants to accomplish: pocketing for himself and his family tens of millions of dollars from foreign governments.
The federal judge presiding over Donald Trump's classified documents case on Friday temporarily paused a series of significant pre-trial deadlines pertaining to prosecutors' sharing of sensitive materials that the former president is entitled to while building his defense, The Messenger reports....
The GA Court of Appeals on Wed ordered a halt to the proceedings in the election interference case against Trump & 8 co-defendants pending the outcome of their appeal seeking to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney #FaniWillis.
The order, issued by the full appeals court, means the case against #Trump & his co-defendants, accusing them of a #criminal#conspiracy to try to overturn his defeat in the state, will almost certainly not be scheduled for trial before the fall #election or even the new year. It remains unclear if the case against the 6 remaining co-defendants who did not sign onto the appeal will proceed.
#FaniWillis walked unaccompanied through the front door of a #FultonCounty courtroom on Thurs afternoon in a bright magenta dress & announced she was ready to testify. She was interrupting her lawyer, who at that very moment was trying to convince a judge that she should not have to testify at all.
The judge’s comments are significant, because they suggest that #NathanWade’s fmr lawyer, Terrence Bradley, will not be able to avoid answering some questions when he takes the stand, though there is sure to be significant sparring among the lawyers as he testifies. He has been identified as a significant #witness by the defense who could establish the timeline of when Wade began dating DA #FaniWillis.
A number of lawyers have referred to “Rule 1.6” during the hearing. That's a citation from #bar association rules that relates to lawyers keeping info received from clients #confidential. But Judge Scott #McAfee said this morning that he would direct witnesses to “be responsive to any questioning that may be covered by Rule 1.6” because it was not equal to #AttorneyClientPrivilege.
Was This Perjury A full-blown Criminal Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice?
Trump’s longtime CFO & accountant, Allen Weisselberg, has pleaded #guilty to even more #crimes—this time, Perjuring himself and frustrating the bank fraud case against his former boss.
In other words, in what universe are you telling me Allen Weisselberg did not lie because he was told to lie by Donald Trump and/or discussed with him his plan to lie to save his boss
And yet he gets a lesser sentence and doesn’t have to give up any more information. That’s pretty damn good for someone who lied, got caught, and perjured himself.
Tues night, prosecutors told Judge #AileenCannon who is overseeing Trump’s #ClassifiedDocuments case that a “fundamentally flawed” order she had issued was causing #delays & asked her to quickly resolve a critical dispute about one of #Trump’s defenses — leaving them time to appeal if needed.
#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.”
The #DOJ advises Judge #AileenCannon that the "60-day rule" does NOT apply in #Trump's case as he has already been #indicted & the case is already being litigated.
So, no reason to delay taking him to #trial, even w/ #election in Nov.
Important note: the 60-day rule is NOT a #law it is just internal DOJ guidance. The policy is regarding making new allegations shortly before an election when a person can’t have a trial to argue them.
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.
[News] "Hit list": Trump grand jurors face violent threats after names and addresses shared on QAnon forums - Salon.com (www.salon.com)
Users on far-right online forums are publishing private information about members of the Georgia grand jury that indicted former president Donald Trump and 18 of his allies in a sweeping criminal case focused on alleged 2020 election interference earlier this month, leading to jurors receiving threats online....
[News & Opinion] "Already an embarrassment": Legal experts shred Judge Aileen Cannon for granting Trump "delay" (www.salon.com)
The federal judge presiding over Donald Trump's classified documents case on Friday temporarily paused a series of significant pre-trial deadlines pertaining to prosecutors' sharing of sensitive materials that the former president is entitled to while building his defense, The Messenger reports....