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.
Tues 29 May 2024 🧵
Good morning! It’s the last day of the #TrumpTrial before jury #deliberations.
Today Justice #Merchan will give #JuryInstructions. Then they will discuss the case among themselves for the first time; they have not been allowed to even discuss it w/each other as yet.
Closing arguments took place yesterday, & the lawyers will have no further opportunity to address the jurors before they determine whether #Trump is #guilty or not guilty of 34 felonies.
Justice #Merchan greets jurors & immediately begins reading the #JuryInstructions. He tells them the instructions will take ≥1 hr to get through. He explains that any changes in his inflection are not intended to send a message.
Merchan tells jurors that it is not his responsibility to judge the #evidence in the case. “It is yours,” he says. “You are the judges of the facts, & you are responsible for deciding whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty.”
The male juror prepares to take the computer & the paralegal seems hesitant. “He can take it,” Justice #Merchan says. The 2 jurors leave the room.
All the trial exhibits are on that laptop, which could help speed up the #deliberations: the jurors will not have to request specific documentary #evidence they wish to review. Nor will they have to view it in the courtroom, which takes time to setup.
#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.
“We have enforced it in a variety of prosecutions that don’t focus on #evidence tampering,” #Prelogar said.“Now, I can’t give you an example of enforcing it in a situation where people have violently stormed a bldg in order to prevent an ofcl proceeding, a specified one, from occurring w/all of the elements like intent to obstruct, knowledge of the proceeding, having the ‘corruptly’ mens rea. But that’s just because I’m not aware of that circumstance ever happening prior to #Jan6.” #law#SCOTUS
#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.
#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.”
#Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection w/a #HushMoney payment made to a porn star to influence the 2016 election. The case could be in the jury’s hands as early as Wed.
Steinglass shows Trump’s filing w/the federal government’s Office of Government #Ethics in May 2018 that revealed #Trump had made a payment to #MichaelCohen. The filing came days after #RudyGiuliani said on #FoxNews that Trump had reimbursed Cohen for the #StormyDaniels payment.
9 #witnesses in the #criminal cases against #Trump have received significant financial benefits, including large raises from his campaign, severance packages, new jobs, & a grant of shares & cash from Trump’s media co.
White-collar defense #lawyers say the situation #Trump finds himself in—…defendant & boss of many of the …primary #witnesses to his alleged #crimes —is not uncommon. Their standard advice is not to provide any unusual benefits or penalties to such employees. Ideally, decisions about employees slated to give #evidence should be made by an independent body….
These pay increases & other benefits often came at delicate moments in the #legal proceedings against #Trump. One aide who was given a plum position on the board of Trump’s social media company, for example, got the seat after he was subpoenaed but before he testified. 👀
Significant changes to a staffer’s work situation, such as bonuses, pay raises, firings or promotions, can be #evidence of a #crime if they come outside the normal course of business.
A #juror was quickly dismissed at the start. She was among the 7 already selected, she said she was very worried that despite the fact the court ruled to keep jurors’ name secret, she would still be exposed & targeted.
Another prospective juror interviewed by Necheles, says she is very "centrist." She says she appreciates #democracy & a diversity of #political opinion. But, says, "I really don't think this case is about my #personal politics, this case is ultimately about the #evidence & the #facts presented." She concludes by saying that her family background "comes from #totalitarian regimes," & that bc of that, she believes in "innocent until proven guilty."
As Israel's assault on Gaza continued Friday with 4,100 Palestinians—including over 1,600 children—killed and at least 13,000 others wounded by relentless bombardment that's destroyed or damaged nearly a third of the besieged strip's homes, #AmnestyInternational shared "damning evidence of war crimes as Israeli attacks wipe out entire families."
Skop – who has called the supreme court’s overturning of #RoevWade “a victory in the battle but not the end of the #war” – has argued in favor of forcing #rape and #incest#victims as young as nine or 10 to carry #pregnancies to term.
The #evidence against #Trump & his 17 co-defendants in #Georgia is the same whether presented by Fani #Willis or any other prosecutor. The same.
Would it have made a difference in their deliberations If the grand jurors knew or suspected that Willis was having an affair with a co-worker? Maybe, but only if it caused them to doubt the evidence. After all. Willis wasn't a jilted lover of Trump or a co-defendant or one of their attorneys.
So far, although we had #genetic and #oxygen#data supporting early photosynthesis, it was difficult to find clear fossil #evidence directly. Now, we have!
#Trump has his posse again. Today it’s more #Republican elected officials. Today, Trump will be joined by the #House speaker, #MikeJohnson, as well as #NorthDakota’s governor, #DougBurgum, a contender to be Trump's running mate. Also present will be Representatives #ByronDonalds & #CoryMills of Florida, & #VivekRamaswamy, who was one of Trump's primary rivals this year. Both Donalds & Ramaswamy are longshot hopefuls to be Trump's running mate.
Prosecutors are arguing that #Trump’s sign-off on the repayment plan, along w/his knowledge that #MichaelCohen would be falsely reimbursed for “#legal services,” indicates that he approved of what they say was a #crime.
There’s mountains of documentary #evidence that #Cohen was paid for legal services he didn’t actually provide, & that these were reimbursements. The question of what Trump knew relies mostly on Cohen’s testimony.
This 3-shirt-wearing slob is still lying. Nobody is trying the shut him up (although that would be nice). He committed a #crime, he was afforded #dueProcess, he was #convicted on the basis of the #evidence, and he has been sentenced to #prison. He can run his mouth and talk all he wants. But for now, he'll have to do it from behind bars. These are the consequences of his actions, despite the bullshit story he's hoping everyone believes.