New Hits thread. A continuation from the last one. Have moved over about ten posts from the old thread so as not to disrupt the flow.Â
@JourneyWithMe2 has a hit this morning.
Â
Fani Willis will successfully stand against TFG's attorneys and her case against will go forward with her still at the helm.
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/fani-willis-georgia-ruling-03-15-24/index.html
The judge ruled Willis can stay on the case, but the prosecutor needs to go. He said bad judgment does not mean there is a conflict per Georgia law.
I think that’s also a hit for someone else. Maybe @Baba?
There will be a change in the case but it will go forward. ( I Still haven’t found the exact prediction but that is the essence of the sentence)
@journeywithme2 I agree about Fani Willis. Â Before I even watched her march in and testify in the courtroom, I felt that she would get through this debacle okay. Â
Â
Found it:
January 2024
U.S. — Politics
- There is a change in the Fulton County case, but it goes forward. (Baba)
Â
I think that’s also a hit for someone else. Maybe @Baba?
There will be a change in the case but it will go forward. ( I Still haven’t found the exact prediction but that is the essence of the sentence)
Â
@april In his decision, the judge conveyed that Willis' bad judgement does not de facto result in actual conflict of interest, and I understand that. However, I remain concerned that the decision to retain her will continue to be a stain on this critical case down the road. Right or not, Trump's attorneys will continue to argue this and further issues in order to affect to the final outcome. I hope I'm wrong.
Wade just resigned effective immediately
@april In his decision, the judge conveyed that Willis' bad judgement does not de facto result in actual conflict of interest, and I understand that. However, I remain concerned that the decision to retain her will continue to be a stain on this critical case down the road. Right or not, Trump's attorneys will continue to argue this and further issues in order to affect to the final outcome. I hope I'm wrong.
Â
@tybin I don’t think there was any other choice. Either Wade went or all of the Fulton County DA’s office was out.
@april After reading the formal decision, I believe that if the judge could have done so, he would've removed Willis. He addressed her bad choices and her unprofessional behavior on the stand. But, his hands are tied due to Georgia's interpretation of conflict of interest. However, the main problem with removing Willis is that the entire case could just go away or at least be even further delayed as the State would have to get another Georgia practice to take it on. Not much money on the state prosecution side, and it will be a long one.
I think we should wait and see how this plays out. I have a feeling that Wade may have needed to step aside in order for the right person to prosecute the case to come into the picture.
@kathleen I'm concerned about this as well. I'm pretty well prepared for the inevitable and probably interminable appeals based on this situation, even if it's obviously a manufactured issue.
@tgraf66 https://apnews.com/article/trump-hush-money-criminal-trial-delay-8e41f4be00f0420056433d2381189df8
It's pure Cheetolini at his lawyers / the deny and delay,delay,delay game he always plays... he wears people out with it. His game plan all along has been to deny and delay until he runs the clock out, he believes he can win and will then pardon himself and claim "kingship" and embrace the death of our Democracy. In his manic mind he sees this happening.Â
It will take all of us calling in the Light and getting the 💙 vote out and invoking Divine Assistance for us to prevail.
@tgraf66 I heard one of the CNN pundits insist that Trump can't pardon himself in the Georgia case b/c it's not a federal case. However, if SCOTUS finds that he has broad immunity, I believe that it will directly affect the case as it applies to Trump given that he was scavenging for votes under his Presidential duties. Your thoughts?
@journeywithme2 I saw that earlier today, but I haven't looked into it beyond what I'm about to say. This delay was requested by the NYAG - not TFG's team - because of a discovery dump of a crap-ton of documents that they will need time to go through and analyze before the trial begins. Again, I haven't looked into the reason for the sudden dump of documents (I think it was like 31,000), so I can't say if this was something the Orange One's team did or if this was discovery from another source. I suspect it was the latter, since at this late date, any documents that his team would have needed to turn over would have already been done. Nevertheless, while it will delay the start of the trial by 2-4 weeks, it could still be completed by July, barring appeals (which we all know will happen).
I heard one of the CNN pundits insist that Trump can't pardon himself in the Georgia case b/c it's not a federal case. However, if SCOTUS finds that he has broad immunity, I believe that it will directly affect the case as it applies to Trump given that he was scavenging for votes under his Presidential duties. Your thoughts?
@kathleen Under the law as it is currently interpreted, no, he can't pardon himself for a non-federal crime. As for the other thing, my thoughts are that the Supremes don't dare say that he has that kind of broad immunity because if they do, that means that Biden (or any other D President) also has that same immunity, which would effectively nullify the Constitution and all bets are off regarding the future actions of any president ever, assuming there would even be any.
They may try to do some kind of very narrow ruling that gives that immunity to TFG and only TFG, not other Presidents, but despite their recent (Constitutionally incorrect, in my view) decisions in other cases, the legal contortions they would have to twist themselves and the law into in order to try to do even that would still be catastrophic. I simply can't imagine they would go that far. I suspect that it will not be a unanimous decision either way because of the number of justices that are obviously compromised in one way or another. However, I do still hold out hope that they will do the right thing and actually follow the document that gives them their power. Assuming that's true and they do rule against him, we're good. Otherwise, turn off the lights when you leave, because it's over.
On the other hand, when they first said they were going to hear the case, there were some pundits who were saying (and I don't remember who it was because I only read it in passing) that the Court's reasoning could be to clarify the previous patchwork of decisions regarding the boundaries of what POTUS can actually do and finally have a definitive decision that defines those powers. If that's what's happening, that could be a good thing. Otherwise, again, turn off the lights.
@journeywithme2 I did some poking around and found some additional information here, but it's behind a paywall, so I'll summarize as best I can.
Earlier this month, TFG's team requested documents from the federal Southern District Court of New York (SDNY) from the investigation of Michael Cohen in 2018. SDNY sent 73,000 pages of material to TFG's team, which was then shared with the NY DA's office as per the law. Of those documents, DA Alvin Bragg's office said that they were for the most part irrelevant to the current case with the exception of about 173 pages containing statements of witnesses. DA Bragg's filing requesting the delay said that SDNY produced around 31,000 pages of additional documents, and that another production of documents is expected next week (no indication how may documents that will contain)
TFG's team is requesting that the charges be dismissed, accusing DA Bragg of violating the rules of discovery by not sending the new docs to the defense in a timely manner. However, DA Bragg's filing states that he has turned over everything he has received, but that he obviously cannot turn over materials that he doesn't have yet. DA Bragg is blaming TFG's legal team on this because while Bragg had requested these additional materials from the feds over a year ago, he was rebuffed (no reason given that I could find), so he was forced to wait until TFG's team subpoenaed the records, which they didn't do until January of this year.
TFG's team is requesting a 90-day delay to review the new discovery documents, but DA Bragg's office has offered only 30 days. There will need to be a hearing before Judge Juan Merchan about the possible (probable) delay, but since DA Bragg only filed his request a day or two ago, there has not yet been a response from the court.
@tgraf66 Thanks for this straightforward explanation and additional info on the reasons for the delay in the hush money case. You are so helpful in clarifying the legal nuances and facts of these complicated issues.
Re: the issue of which type of case, federal or state, has a direct impact on immunity, it's confusing because even when these state cases clearly don't involve immunity either in scope or time-frame of the alleged crimes, Trump's team inserts it anyway, as they are now doing with this NYAG case. Trump's team has asked to delay the hush money trail until after SCOTUS makes its decision on immunity. I just read part of DA Braggs' response to the Trump team's assertion of immunity. Braggs' response states in part that the time-frame of the alleged crimes is 2018, prior (of course) to Trump's presidency. Although I know that Trump's team throwing spaghetti with the hope that some of it will delay the State's proceedings, the mainstream media often conveys these arguments as if it's a new complication that has real merit. Although I understand that Trump cannot pardon himself for a non-federal crime, I also wondered if SCOTUS defined his actions in such a way that would permit some level of immunity, it might have a limiting effect on the Georgia case.Â
As I've been ruminating about the reason why SCOTUS wouldn't simply let the DC appellate court's immunity decision stand, my thoughts went to the direction that many of the justices wanted to protect Trump. I appreciate you passing on the possible reasoning of these legal pundits. If SCOTUS is hearing the case in order to codify a comprehensive set of POTUS' powers and boundaries, that would be a very good thing for our country and its future as a democracy. But, even if this Court delivers, and I really hope they do, it seems a lengthy process and likely wouldn't be finalized until the end of their term in late June, which would push the Jan 6th trial into the fall at the earliest. Timing is everything in this election.
Trump's team has asked to delay the hush money trail until after SCOTUS makes its decision on immunity.
I don't think this will succeed precisely because what's at issue is a state law, not federal, regardless of what BS his team is trying to push.
just read part of DA Braggs' response to the Trump team's assertion of immunity. Braggs' response states in part that the time-frame of the alleged crimes is 2018, prior (of course) to Trump's presidency
Uhm...2018 was smack in the middle of TFG's presidency. I'm not sure how specifying that would help Mr. Bragg's case, since it would in fact go toward supporting the argument to wait for the SCOTUS immunity decision.
I also wondered if SCOTUS defined his actions in such a way that would permit some level of immunity, it might have a limiting effect on the Georgia case.Â
Again, I doubt that because it is a state case. I'm not saying it couldn't be interpreted as you have here, but it seems a bit of a stretch to me.
But, even if this Court delivers, and I really hope they do, it seems a lengthy process and likely wouldn't be finalized until the end of their term in late June, which would push the Jan 6th trial into the fall at the earliest. Timing is everything in this election.
Unfortunately, I agree with you re: the unnecessary and frankly uncalled-for delay by SCOTUS here. I'm sure they will push it back as far as they can, which means that, as you said, the decision may not come down until June. However, that doesn't mean that the J6 case has to stop in its tracks until then. There can still be filings, orders, appeals, etc., that can happen while we wait so that those issues are settled once the decision does come down and don't delay things even more. Assuming a June decision, I actually think that the case could go to trial as early as mid- to late July, and as buttoned down as DOJ cases usually are, it could go very, very quickly.
@tgraf66 You're entirely right, Trump was POTUS in 2018. I'll look for that filing again, but it's possible that I just got it wrong :)
To your last point, I'm glad to know that there can be efficiency in the DOJ when the stakes are high. I wish that Garland had acted sooner to appoint Jack Smith and get the ball rolling, not sure why that took so long.
@kathleen The reason the appointment of Mr. Smith "took so long" is that it was never the plan and it wouldn't have happened if TFG hadn't run for office again. Mr. Smith was appointed at that time with full authority to act independently of Mr. Garland to protect the case so that there could be no accusations of partisanship on the part of the DOJ and/or Mr. Garland. If you recall, THE DOJ also appointed specials to investigate the documents issues with both Mr. Biden and Mr. Pence at the time for the same reason.