#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.
These same tweets were among the potential instances of #obstruction of #justice that were reviewed by Robert #Mueller, the special counsel who at the time was investigating the #Trump campaign’s possible ties to #Russia.
At this point in the narrative in 2018, #MichaelCohen was looking for reassurance that Trump was going to take care of him. He would soon lose that sense of security, as the #TrumpOrganization stopped paying some of Cohen’s #legal bills.
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.
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.
#Trump’s #Florida trial for mishandling #ClassifiedDocuments & #obstruction of govt efforts to retrieve them has been pushed back indefinitely, #AileenCannon ruled Tues, increasing the chance that Trump’s NY #criminal trial may be the ONLY ONE to happen before the #election.
The judge originally set the trial for late May & heard arguments on March 1 about when it should be — w/Trump’s lawyers pushing for after the election, or no earlier than Aug.
Ridiculous that #AileenCannon says that there are "novel & difficult" #CIPA issues when her delays have meant the CIPA issues have barely been considered by the court. The only section of CIPA she has considered was §4, which is straightforward.
They’ve yet to rule on either Trump’s #immunity claim or the #Jan6 case disputing the use of the #obstruction of an official proceeding by defendant Fischer that could impact #Trump as well as other #J6 defendants.
#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.”
#Senate now going through nonsensical #Republican motions re #Mayorkas#impeachment that are all being rejected. There will likely be more before a real vote on Schumer’s point of order that article I is unconstitutional.
#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.
The word ‘#otherwise’ in the #obstruction statute & why it matters The #law includes a penalty of up to 20 yrs in #prison for anyone who “corruptly — (1) alters, destroys, mutilates, or conceals a record, document, or other object, or attempts to do so, with the intent to impair the object’s integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding; or (2) otherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so.”
#JosephFischer’s attorneys strongly disagree. They say that the two sections of the statute must be read together & that the court must reject the government’s “boundless” interpretation. The #obstruction measure is all about preserving the availability of evidence, they argue, as well as Congress’s interest in protecting the integrity of an investigation or other official proceeding.
Justice #AmyConeyBarrett asked a question that suggests that the 2 election #obstruction charges against #Trump could survive, even if the court agrees w/challengers that the statute is not appropriate for the #Jan6 rioters. Barrett asked whether the #law prohibiting #evidence impairment would prohibit altering electoral vote certificates, as Trump is alleged to have. Would that be different from someone in a #trial or #criminal proceeding trying to prevent evidence from making it into the case?
“I don’t think we’re talking about anything other than evidence itself,” answered Jeffrey Greene, the attorney representing #JosephFischer.
But Justice #AmyConeyBarrett pressed. Are #Trump’s charges evidence-related, because they were related to obstructing or impeding #evidence — the state by state electoral vote count — from reaching VP Mike Pence’s desk?
“That’s closer, that’s definitely closer,” Greene conceded.
When Jeffrey T. Green said he doesn’t understand how the government can ask to expand the #obstruction statute to “cover something that it has never covered before,” Justice Sonia #Sotomayor said the #Jan6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol was unprecedented.
“We’ve never had a situation before … with people attempting to stop a proceeding violently,” she said.
#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.
Justice #ClarenceThomas — lobbed the first challenge to Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar’s argument in favor (shocker) of the #obstruction of Congress #convictions.
“There have been many violent protests that have interfered with proceedings,” Thomas said. “Has the government applied this provision to other protests in the past? And has this been the government’s position throughout the life span of the statute?”
#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.
#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.”
US Sol Gen #Prelogar said no, she didn’t think it was odd; it was in exactly the right place. Congress wrote the statute to broadly prohibit #obstruction offenses &the provision in question followed a passage that punishes the #crime of killing witnesses w/an even stiffer penalty—up to life in prison.
Prelogar also noted that fed sentencing guidelines for actual #Jan6 defendants who are first offenders &who plead guilty are far lower: 10-16 mos for #violent offenders, & 6-12 mos for #nonviolent.
Chief Justice #JohnRoberts ruled in favor of that narrower reading.But Justices #Alito & #ClarenceThomas, the only other 2justices who are still on the court today, did not.In a dissent written by Alito,they said reading “#otherwise” to mean “limited to”equally purposeful, aggressive acts “does not follow the statutory language.” When asked what earlier case best supported his argument that #obstruction of Congress only covers evidence tampering,Green responded:“Begay is our best case for sure.”