AG Garland appoints special counsel

Fogdog

Well-Known Member
Posting the debate going on in the legal community by informed pundits helps to educate people on the issue and stimulate discussion, the whole point. Many of the experts I've posted speak of these things and caution required too. However, on the documents and obstruction case it is pretty clear cut and I personally believe many of the complaints have been addressed by Jack's appointment. There has been a marked change in tone from most of these pundits including Lawence Tribe since Jack came on the scene and the elections are over. I tend to follow the consensus of experts in the field as well as educate myself on the law and how it is suppose to work. The Trump years shook people's faith in many things, including the rule of law, I'm glad to see it is returning to normal. If it works like it did back in previous scandals, there are a lot of people in deep trouble when they start turning over rocks and following the evidence. 2023 promises to be an interesting year and the only thing left is if Donald will make it through this year without being indicted.
Take note of who is giving good advice and who is not when listening to the talking heads. This is a good time to look back and recall what those "experts" said about the pace of this investigation. As Tangerine pointed out, there may never be another case that is as complex or filled with so many unprecedented events as what happened during and after Trump's presidency. Most of the so-called experts got the reasons for the pace of the investigations wrong. Not only is now a good time to review the worth of the "expert's" advice, now is also time to take stock of what one's self has said. People who were saying that the DOJ is going too slowly in the pace of investigating Trump's many crimes might now take note that their fears were not realized.

I put my opinions out there and at times later events show I fell short of the mark. I owned it when I called it wrong regarding Putin's invasion. I owned it when I realized that I completely underestimated the level of support Trump had in 2022. My admissions of ignorance weren't acts of self flagellation, they motivated me to dig for more information, some of which you and others on this site provided. So thanks for that.
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
More legal punditry and this guy is a serious contender, who the legal community takes seriously, he was Garland's law professor. There are issues with the SCOTUS as many are aware and he has an expert opinion on these matters.


Clarence Thomas Violated Law ‘In Plain View,’ Tribe Says
522,777 views Dec 9, 2022
With the crisis of confidence in the Supreme Court getting worse, Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe joins MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell to explain why Justice Thomas’s participation in oral arguments for Moore v. Harper was in violation of federal law.
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member

Rep. Cicilline: Supreme Court Must Be Held Accountable To Rules Of Conduct

79,636 views Dec 9, 2022
The Supreme Court is under scrutiny for alleged leaks, leaks that are seen as part of the orchestrated effort to influence the Court. Now Democrats are pushing for greater ethics regulations. Rep. David Cicilline joins us on this, and the landmark legislation protecting same-sex and interracial marriage being approved and sent to President Biden for his signature.
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
Jack is hauling them all in for a grand jury.


Special Counsel Jack Smith sends MORE SUBPOENAS in Trump Crime Investigation

142,049 views Dec 9, 2022
Special Counsel Jack Smith has sent more subpoenas to the Arizona Secretary of State and Michigan Secretary of State in connection with the criminal investigation of Trump. MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports.
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
It sure looks like Jack put Trump in a box with the contempt filing, it seems he has a firm grasp on his balls before he even indicts him. No lawyer is gonna be Trump's custodian of record and take responsibility for any missing top-secret documents! Jack knows what's missing though and it's probably been flushed down Trump's toilet or even torn up and tossed in the trash. Donald will need to take the job himself on this one and be his own custodian of records.


Special Counsel Jack Smith CORNERS Trump with CONTEMPT Filing

26,155 views Dec 9, 2022
MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reveals the real reason DOJ Special Counsel Jack Smith has filed a motion for contempt against Donald Trump for not naming a custodian of records and how Trump has nowhere to hide.
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member

Trump Contempt Judge Rebuked By DOJ Vet As Feds Ramp Up Mar-A-Lago Pressure

6,417 views Dec 9, 2022
A federal judge rejects the DOJ request to hold Trump in contempt over the Mar-a-Lago classified documents probe. The contempt hearing reveals an aggressive approach from the new special counsel Jack Smith. It comes after at least two more classified documents were found in a Trump storage facility and turned over to the DOJ. Former federal prosecutor John Flannery joins MSNBC Chief Legal Correspondent Ari Melber on the judge's ruling saying the idea that no one is above the law and the subject doesn't matter is now "a fiction these days."
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
Looks like a DC indictment and trial at least and after the contempt ruling, they could go for a warrant to search his other properties after two classified docs turned up at a storage unit. In any case it appears to be just a matter of time, Donald still has some Teflon on him yet. This is not a difficult case to prove, and it means there is the rule of law in America or Trump is above it and there is none. Trump's whole life has shown the inequality under the law and lawyers not only defend the guilty, but they also advise them on how to get around the law or not to get caught when breaking it. He is a poster boy for inequality under the law, a lifelong criminal who never had to account for anything and who constantly had lawyers and money clean up behind him. The cops don't bother the rich, they don't pull over the likes of Trump, they hold the car door open for them when they get out.

 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member

Federal judge REFUSES to hold Trump and his team in contempt. Here's why the judge was right

251,930 views Dec 9, 2022
Chief Judge Beryl Howell refused a request by the Department of Justice to hold Trump and his lawyers in contempt for continuing to violate a grand jury subpoena to return all the classified and national security documents he stole from the federal government at the end of his presidential term.

This video takes a deep dive into the procedural quagmire in which DOIJ finds itself because it continues to treat Trump differently than it would treat anyone else who would steal classified documents. When DOJ/the FBI knows someone steals classified documents/national security information, the normal (and only acceptable) law enforcement response is to obtain a search warrant for stolen materials and arrest the offender. DOJ opted not to do that. Rather, they tried to use a grand jury subpoena to retrieve the stolen documents and, even since they've been playing on Donald Trump's playing field as he continues refuses to comply with the subpoena. So instead of doing what was necessary - arresting Trump for his crimes - DOJ ran to the court to try to enlist Judge Howell's assistance. Today, Judge Howell said "no." This rebuke can be read as Judge Howell telling DOJ - do your job as it should be done. Indeed, federal judges including Judge Reggie Walton, Judge Emmet Sullivan, Judge Amy Berman Jackson, Judge Amit Mehta, Judge David Carter and others, have been imploring DOJ to place criminal responsibility where it belongs - on Donald Trump. Will DOJ ever get the message?

Link to the excellent reporting by Hugo Lowell of the Guardian:

...
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
The professional consensus of the talking heads is to just indict the fucker and stop playing games with contempt bullshit. Indict him and search his properties then try to keep him in custody during his plea hearing by throwing everything he said and did in his lawyer's face when he tries to get him conditional release. They appear to have more than enough for the docs and obstruction cases that are simple to prove and carry stiff penalties. The heat is growing on Jack to do Donald and I dunno if he will before the Newyear or not, if he is he should act within the week since Christmas is coming and I don't think they will purp walk Donald on Christmas eve.
 

hanimmal

Well-Known Member
https://apnews.com/article/politics-donald-trump-michigan-jocelyn-benson-subpoenas-5aef3e21ba783083451a0f7319357a19
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LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson confirmed Thursday that her office has been served a subpoena in connection with special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of former President Donald Trump.

The subpoena, which Benson’s office received on Wednesday, comes after Detroit’s Wayne County and counties in other battleground states said they were issued subpoenas from Smith. This is the first known round of subpoenas by Smith, who was named special counsel last month by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Smith is overseeing the Justice Department’s investigation into the presence of classified documents at Trump’s Florida estate as well as key aspects of a separate probe involving the violent storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and Trump’s frantic efforts to remain in power. All of the states and counties where requests were sent are places Trump and his allies targeted as they tried to overturn election results.

Benson declined to comment on what information Smith is seeking, saying in a statement sent to The Associated Press that “the Department of Justice has asked that we not disclose the contents of the subpoena to prevent harming the investigation and we will honor that request.”

Jake Rollow, a Michigan Department of State spokesman, said Thursday that the department wasn’t aware of any other subpoenas being issued in the state.

Two subpoenas obtained by The AP involving counties in other states seek “any and all communications in any form” between June 1, 2020, and Jan. 20, 2021, “to, from, or involving” Trump, his campaign, lawyers and aides, including former campaign officials such as Bill Stepien and Justin Clark and lawyers John Eastman, Boris Epshteyn, L. Lin Wood, Sidney Powell and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Michigan centered on Detroit’s convention hall. Trump falsely claimed poll workers there “were duplicating ballots,” and an unsuccessful lawsuit by his campaign on Election Day forced election workers to temporarily halt the tallying of votes in the state’s largest city.

Another lawsuit was filed by several attorneys, including Trump allies Powell and Wood, on behalf of six Republican voters who wanted a federal judge to decertify Michigan’s results and impound voting machines. The judge declined, calling the request “stunning in its scope and breathtaking in its reach.”

Michigan was also one of seven states where GOP officials submitted alternative Electoral College certificates despite Democrat Joe Biden defeating Trump in their states.
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member

Why did a federal judge reject the prosecutor's request to hold Trump team in contempt? An explainer

32,916 views Dec 10, 2022
In the aftermath of yesterday's decision by DC federal court Chief Judge Beryl Howell declining to hold Trump and his team in contempt for their ongoing refusal to return all government documents Donald Trump stole, there has been much speculation and confusion about whether Judge Howell made the right decision.

First of all, because the hearings are being conducted in secret, we don't know the full contour of Judge Howell's ruling. However, the current investigative quagmire in which the Department of Justice finds itself is a problem of DOJ's own making.

This video explainer (which is a follow-up to yesterday's video on this same topic) breaks this issue down to the basics and tackles the question of how law enforcement generally investigates the theft of documents, the theft money, or the theft of any other property.
 

Offmymeds

Well-Known Member
Any unaccounted documents were probably flushed down the toilet by Trump. Search warrants can't be far behind considering the history and nature of the documents.


WaPo: DOJ Asks Judge To Hold Trump Team In Contempt

95,727 views Dec 8, 2022
Former U.S. attorney Barbara McQuade and former FBI counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok react to reporting in the Washington Post that Justice Department prosecutors have urged a federal judge to hold Trump’s team in contempt over the Mar-a-Lago documents case.
I bet Melania has a few salacious intel reports on her enemies and possibly a few classified documents for blackmail against TFG. You know TFG shared the salacious intel with her.
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member

An Indictment Before Christmas; A Holiday Poem


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'Twas an indictment before Christmas, when in his Florida house

A volcanic temper stirring, in the orange headed louse;

Top secret documents stuffed in chimney with care,

Knowing agents of the government would soon would be there;

The children passed out with My Pillows adorning their beds;

While visions of grifting danced in their heads;

And a porn star wearing nothing but a 'kerchief as a cap,

Thinking Donald had settled, all this legal crap,

When from the lobby arose such a clatter,

Trump sprang from someone’s bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window he flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw out his stash.

The faces of the agents were all aglow,

Giving a lustre of midday to the falling evidence below,

When what to his evil old eyes did appear,

But his handcuffed minions, faces filled with fear,

With the colors of the Hague with a beard so thick,

I knew in a moment he must Jack Smith.

More rapid than eagles his warrants they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:

"Now, Bannon! now, Meadows! now Rudy and Clark!

On, Jordan! on, Marjie! on, Junior and Eastman!

Turn on your boss! And face the wall!

Now I send you away, away with you all!"

To prison they left at the bat of an eye,

Trump backed in a corner he couldn’t easily ply;

So up to the housetop the agents they flew

With the sleigh full of Quislings, and Counsel Smith too—

And then, with an inkling, Trump heard on the roof

The Grand Jury was pounding, like a dog with a woof.

As he drew in his head, and was turning around,

Down the chimney Jack Smith came with a bound.

He was dressed all in suit, a boot on his foot,

And his clothes were not tarnished with ashes or soot;

Grand Jury Indictments flung on his back,

And he looked like he wanted Trump on the rack.

His eyes—how they twinkled! Because justice is merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

The corners of his mouth drawn up like a bow,

And his demeanor was icy, cold as snow;

The fall of a criminal now under his feet,

And the agents they encircled Trump with smiling teeth;

He looked in Trump’s face, melting like jelly

Trump shook when he laughed, his fat jiggling like jelly.

The Counsel was straight with no slump, and quite sure of himself,

Trump coughed when he saw him, knowing Jack was top-shelf;

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head

Soon Smith handed Trump what he did long dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And delivered the indictments to the monstrous jerk,

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, he was cuffed without blows;

Jack sprang to his sleigh, leaving the scene quite abysmal,

And away Trump was taken, like an invasive thistle.

And I heard many exclaim, ere he drove out of sight—

“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
Next stop an indictment in DC.. Will it be Merry Christmas Donald with a plea hearing on Christmas eve and remanded to the DC jail until a hearing on the 27th, while the judge and everybody else enjoys a holiday! :lol: I can hear Jack's people now reading out the reasons why Trump should not get conditional release upon indictment, make him sweat for it!


Judge Dismisses Trump Lawsuit Challenging Mar-A-Lago Search

75,005 views Dec 12, 2022
A federal judge has dismissed former President Donald Trump's lawsuit challenging the Justice Department's search of his Mar-a-lago estate. NBC News' Ken Dilanian reports on how the dismissal overrules a previous judge's decision and how it affects the case's special master.
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member

Special Counsel Subpoenas Georgia Secretary of State

42,586 views Dec 12, 2022
The special counsel appointed to investigate former President Trump at the Department of Justice subpoenaed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. The subpoena is not a request asking him to appear or testify in person, it is a request to provide documents.
 

Sir Napsalot

Well-Known Member

An Indictment Before Christmas; A Holiday Poem


View attachment 5236781

'Twas an indictment before Christmas, when in his Florida house

A volcanic temper stirring, in the orange headed louse;

Top secret documents stuffed in chimney with care,

Knowing agents of the government would soon would be there;

The children passed out with My Pillows adorning their beds;

While visions of grifting danced in their heads;

And a porn star wearing nothing but a 'kerchief as a cap,

Thinking Donald had settled, all this legal crap,

When from the lobby arose such a clatter,

Trump sprang from someone’s bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window he flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw out his stash.

The faces of the agents were all aglow,

Giving a lustre of midday to the falling evidence below,

When what to his evil old eyes did appear,

But his handcuffed minions, faces filled with fear,

With the colors of the Hague with a beard so thick,

I knew in a moment he must Jack Smith.

More rapid than eagles his warrants they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:

"Now, Bannon! now, Meadows! now Rudy and Clark!

On, Jordan! on, Marjie! on, Junior and Eastman!

Turn on your boss! And face the wall!

Now I send you away, away with you all!"

To prison they left at the bat of an eye,

Trump backed in a corner he couldn’t easily ply;

So up to the housetop the agents they flew

With the sleigh full of Quislings, and Counsel Smith too—

And then, with an inkling, Trump heard on the roof

The Grand Jury was pounding, like a dog with a woof.

As he drew in his head, and was turning around,

Down the chimney Jack Smith came with a bound.

He was dressed all in suit, a boot on his foot,

And his clothes were not tarnished with ashes or soot;

Grand Jury Indictments flung on his back,

And he looked like he wanted Trump on the rack.

His eyes—how they twinkled! Because justice is merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

The corners of his mouth drawn up like a bow,

And his demeanor was icy, cold as snow;

The fall of a criminal now under his feet,

And the agents they encircled Trump with smiling teeth;

He looked in Trump’s face, melting like jelly

Trump shook when he laughed, his fat jiggling like jelly.

The Counsel was straight with no slump, and quite sure of himself,

Trump coughed when he saw him, knowing Jack was top-shelf;

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head

Soon Smith handed Trump what he did long dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And delivered the indictments to the monstrous jerk,

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, he was cuffed without blows;

Jack sprang to his sleigh, leaving the scene quite abysmal,

And away Trump was taken, like an invasive thistle.

And I heard many exclaim, ere he drove out of sight—

“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”
tldr
 
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