The Grand Jury dropped the long-awaited Big One. Here is a nice summary from The Guardian. It isn't behind a paywall: Donald Trump indictment: what are the charges and what happens next? | Donald Trump | The Guardian
Here are some highlights:
"What is the indictment?
Donald Trump has been indicted on four charges:
Conspiracy to defraud the US
Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding
Obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding
Conspiracy against rights
"You can read the full indictment here – but here is a flavour: “The defendant lost the 2020 presidential election,” the 45-page document states. “Despite having lost, the defendant was determined to remain in power. So for more than two months following election day on November 3, 2020, the defendant spread lies … that he had actually won.”
"...The background:
"The indictment stems from Trump’s refusal, in the weeks and months after his defeat by Joe Biden in November 2020, to accept he had lost, and from the violent attempt by a group of Trump’s supporters on 6 January 2021 to disrupt the congressional certification of Biden’s victory."
"That event caused the deaths of seven people, a bipartisan Senate report found, and has already resulted in more than 1,000 arrests."
"...What does Trump say?
The former president hit back on Truth Social: “Why didn’t they bring this ridiculous case 2.5 years ago? They wanted it right in the middle of my campaign, that’s why!”
"...What happens next?
Trump has been summoned to appear before a federal magistrate judge in Washington DC on Thursday.
Jack Smith, the special counsel, said he would seek a “speedy trial”, and stressed that the former president was entitled to a presumption of innocence until proven guilty."
As Tim Miller of The Bulwark said, "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes"
Though the Supreme Court did rule in Moore vs Harper that state legislatures could not appoint rogue electors. There have been other instances too of Republican-appointed judges not following a partisan line in their rulings. Of course the threat is that if Trump won again he would make sure that only partisan toadies were appointed to judge-ships.
ReplyDeleteI've seen commentary over the last 24 hours from people and outlets that are not in the bag for Trump that this latest indictment is relatively weak. It's far from a slam dunk Trump will be convicted.
ReplyDeleteBy way of comparison, the indictment for taking the classified docs back to Mara Lago will be more difficult for Trump to beat.
Well nothing to do with Trump is ever a slam dunk. But to me the January 6th events are by far the most serious crime. Which doesn't mean they are the easiest to obtain a conviction on. He may have endangered lives with the abuse of classified documents. But the Capitol Insurrection resulted in seven actual deaths, and countless injuries and trauma. Not to mention of course the assault on democracy. Something is wrong if a full-court press effort is not made to hold him to account.
DeleteOf course they got Al Capone on tax evasion. Likewise any conviction of Trump is a good conviction. I don't see how anyone other than his brainwashed cult could vote for him if he is convicted on any of these indictments.
A question in my mind (but I'm not a legal scholar): can't the RNC have some say in refusing to support Trump's candidacy? Convicted or not, he is so obviously unfit, don't they have any "nope" power?
ReplyDeleteAfter the only domestic assault on our Capitol in our nation’s history - the only other was by the English in 1814- a very violent attack meant to overthrow an election - to destroy our democracy- the head of the RNC called it a legitimate protest.
DeleteDon’t count on any republicans to do the right thing. They want power - preferably unlimited power - and trump is their path to this. They haven’t been sending people to Hungary to study Orban’s methods for nothing. They hope to achieve the same thing - a white, Christian, nationalist country under the thumb of an authoritarian government. I don’t know if the Atlantic has any free articles, but they have published numerous articles recently about what will happen to our country if trump wins. The consequences are chilling, especially about the constitutional crisis his presidency will launch. This is today’s article
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/08/donald-trump-indictment-gop-jan-6/674895/
Yes, very depressing. I have read a lot of the Atlantic coverage. But I am encouraged by the statistic that those who identify as Republican are now in the minority. And even more so that only 15% of Americans are hard core MAGA cult. https://theconversation.com/how-a-divided-america-including-the-15-who-are-maga-republicans-splits-on-qanon-racism-and-armed-patrols-at-polling-places-193378
DeleteThe only way they can win is by cheating. Which they will try. So it is all the more important that the normies get out the vote, and counter the would-be cheaters at every turn. And they have to counter the MAGA line that the Democrats are the devil, complete with horns.
And yet the most recent poll shows Biden and trump in a tie.
DeleteBack in 2016, when Trump was first catching on, I asked a lawyer friend the same question Katherine is asking now: Can't the RNC just make Trump go away?
DeleteHe told me that, legally, the RNC's hands are tied. If Trump jumps through the hoops to get on the ballot, e.g. by collecting the requisite number of signatures, then the RNC can't veto it by barring him from the primary.
And of course politically, if the RNC kicked out Trump, it would be kicking out half or more of the GOP's own members. Some of us might be willing for that to happen! But it would destroy the party, and presumably the Committee members aren't ready to go there yet.
I think there was some hope in the early days of Trump that he would be a unicorn; if the party somehow survived his tenure as a candidate and a president, everything would go back to how it was. But of course, it hasn't worked out that way. Trump has infected vast stretches of conservatism. And if he is a unicorn, he is a unicorn who begets many other candidates for lower offices, most but not all of whom blessedly lose their elections.