How many times over the last seven years have we exclaimed, on these pages and elsewhere, "This is unprecendented!" But this one. This one is a biggie.
On Tuesday, another first: The federal arraignment of a former president. He was arrested by federal authorities, brought to a federal courthouse, fingerprinted and entered into the federal justice system, and he had his lawyers entered a plea in front of a federal judge, just like thousands of other federal defendants have done before him. Checks and balances, baby!
Today, we look at the aftermath.
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| More sketches here |
The Arraignment
Cameras and microphones were not allowed in the courtroom, but reports indicate that he sat there slumped and quiet. He didn't say a word; his lawyers did the talking. He did not look around the room. Jack Smith was there, and reportedly took multiple glances at the defendant. If I were him, I would've been jingling the keys to the prison cell.
The People were represented by David Harbach, a long-time federal prosecutor who has had cases against politicians, including former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) in 2012 and and former Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-Va.) in 2014.
It was a short hearing, the longest part was a little wrangling about the restrictions to the case, of which there were not many. The presiding magistrate judge found it untenable that Dirty Don be disallowed to speak with any witnesses – that's a great portion of his Mar-a-Lago staff! He took pity on Walt Nauta's position as an employee and ruled that he and his boss could have contact, but were not to talk about the case. Now, how can that be enforced?
You can read the transcript of this historic event here.
The "Fairness"
The GOP whines about how SCROTUS is treated differently than other people. Well, this is true, but not in the way that they want to project. 45 is getting a lot of leeway from the Court that isn't allowed other defendants. Take this exchange:
THE COURT: Is the prosecution asking for former President Trump to surrender his passport?MR. HARBACH: No, Your Honor.THE COURT: Is the prosecution requesting any international travel limits on former President Trump?MR. HARBACH: No, Your Honor.THE COURT: Is the prosecution asking for any limits on domestic travel for former President Trump?MR. HARBACH: No, Your Honor.THE COURT: So one of the standard conditions of our bond is no travel outside the Southern District of Florida unless pre-approved by a Court. What is your position on that?MR. HARBACH: That it's not necessary, Your Honor.THE COURT: Fair enough.
Fair enough. Ha. Not fair at all! Which other federal defendant has had such leniency?
Really the only condition so far was a restriction from him talking to Nauta about the case.
And what about Nauta?
Waltine Nauta attended the arraignment hearing, sitting at the same table as his co-defendant. Mar-a-Lardo's lawyers were seen talking to Nauta. He did not enter a plea, however. It is required that the defendants have an attorney barred in the state of Florida, but he does not have this kind of attorney yet. His court date was rescheduled for June 27. There is speculation that his attorneys will be paid from Don the Con's Save America PAC, as his current attorney is.
He still has a chance to flip, and he would be wise to do so. He probably hasn't looked up much, so while he's been kissing Clownigula's ass he may not have noticed that his boss is not loyal. At all. He runs over associates like a farmer over last year's chaff. Does he not know that Don Scrotolone is mob style?
It is so sad that this small person has been caught up in this ugliness. Like so much of the ugliness in our country, if not for T****.... If not for him, Nauta would not be a federal defendant. End stop. There's still time to save his own ass, and maybe when he gets a competent attorney, they will advise him to do so. Sadly, all indications are that he is staying loyal and will not flip. We will see what happens when he finally retains a Florida attorney and returns to court.
The Attorney Problem
Clownigula has attorney problems, too. He chews through them like a jackal through a zebra's hind leg. I'll let The Guardian fill you in.
The Motive
No one really knows the motive, and the government does not have to show a motive. But there is speculation that
- He likes breaking the law.
- He has disdain for the intelligence community as part of the "Deep State."
- He thinks it's cool to show off secret things. Remember when he tweeted a map of Iran's missile sites, which gave information about our espionage abilities? Remember when he told a couple of Russians about an inside intelligence source? Remember when he had the nuclear football at a dinner party at Mar-a-Lago and discussed sensitive information with the Japanese prime minister about a North Korea missile test in the crowded Mar-a-Lago dining room? (BTW, this motive parallels another recently indicted classified-document-sharer, fellow federal defendant Jack Teixeira)
- He just really wanted to keep them as a vanity thing. Vanity is his thing, baby!
- He really does think he is above the law. Duh.
- He was not ready to be Not President.
- He planned to sell them to interested parties.
- Maggie Haberman in the New York Times has more ideas.
His Demeanor
It has been reported that he is "rattled" and angry. I caught a very small bit of his speech afterwards. I don't want to give it more air here, but he had the same words as every time before, but delivered in the most dejected, bored, sad way. How 'bout some energy, pal? If it really was "the most evil and heinous abuse of power in the history of our country" then maybe muster some real outrage! Geez.
11-Day press secretary Anthony Scaramucci predicts he will drop out of the race over this. Nope. Not gonna happen.
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| Jack Ohman |
Any Publicity is Good Publicity
This whole spectacle keeps him in the limelight and keeps his MAGAt base outraged. His GOP candidate opponents have a straw in their mouth, sucking air from below the muck. They don't know what to say. Criticize him and his base will turn against them. Praise him, and the rest of the country will. (I can't wait to watch them eat their own from now until Election Day)
What Are the GOP Candidates Saying?
Mike Pence mustered some "harsh" words, if you can call them that. He said, "No one is above the law. I cannot defend what is alleged. The very prospect that highly classified material could have fallen into the wrong hands even inadvertently, jeopardizes our national security. The former president has a right to his day in court."
Ron DeSantis came down firmly in The Big Lie-bowski's camp, mirroring his language and tweeting, “The weaponization of federal law enforcement represents a mortal threat to a free society. We have for years witnessed an uneven application of the law depending upon political affiliation. Why so zealous in pursuing Trump yet so passive about Hillary or Hunter?” Points for alliteration and meter, though.
Nikky Haley called him "reckless," saying, "If this indictment is true, if what it says is actually the case, President Trump was incredibly reckless with our national security. … This puts all of our military men and women in danger, if you’re going to talk about what our military is capable of or how we would go about invading or doing something with one of our enemies." She continued, "If that’s the case, it’s reckless, it’s frustrating and it causes problems. You know, we’re looking now, this is the second indictment. We’re looking at a third indictment coming in with Georgia."
Tim Scott said, "This case is a serious case with serious allegations, but in America you are still innocent until proven guilty."
Chris Christie has been the most damning, calling the YMCA-hole a "loser,” a “child,” and "angry, vengeful, and sad." He said if 45 is re-elected, "the next four years will be all about him settling scores." He also said, "This evidence was pretty damning. … it is a very tight, very detailed, evidence-laden indictment and the conduct in there is awful."
Some of the GOP candidates are weighing the option to pardon him if they are elected. Asa Hutchinson has been the only one to put truth to this nonsense: "It is simply wrong for a candidate to use the pardon power of the United States, of the president, in order to curry votes and in order to get an applause line."
We have one job: to not let any of them get elected.
Bill Barr's Comments - on FAUX News no less
Former attorney general Bill Barr, who had been one of SCROTUS's staunchest enablers, has now had the most cutting words coming from a GOP mouth. First the toast comment:
...then he slams again, talking about the Fraud Father's "outrageous act of obstruction and deception." Watch the interview here. As Bill Barr pointed out, this is an obstruction case. If he really thought he was entitled to the documents, he could've pursued legal pathways to retain or re-obtain them. And we wouldn't be here.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, "Trump had classified docs when he shouldn’t have had them, and when given the opportunity to return them he chose not to do that. … That’s inconsistent with protecting America’s soldiers. … Some of these were pretty serious, important docs.”
The other GOP Mouths: Crybabies and Sycophants
Did they even read the indictment?
They've been singing from the same ol' songbook: shift blame and threaten violence. Shameful.
The "law and order" party demonizes the law enforcement agencies and then people like Kari Lake make veiled threats of violence. She said, "If you want to get to President Trump, you’re going to have to go through me, and you’re going to have to go through 75 million Americans just like me. And I’m going to tell you, most of us are card-carrying members of the NRA. That’s not a threat, that’s a public service announcement." Disgusting.
Kari Lake is literally gunning for Voldemoron's vice-president nod. And yanno, she may be pretty enough to get it!
Other GOPers have been giving the old line, "They are jailing political opponents willy nilly!" Scamperin' Josh Hawley tweeted, "If the people in power can jail their political opponents at will, we don’t have a republic."
"It's all political!" Well, yeah. It can't be divorced from politics. Remember Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY), who had allegations of unwanted pics, of ...well, Weiner's weiner? Remember how he was disgraced? He resigned, after pressure from those in his own party. That was political. It was also the right thing to do. He was later charged and pled guilty. Or the John Edwards case I mentioned, tried by the same prosecutor involved in this case. It's how our our justice system works.
There are hundreds of scandals throughout our history, from all branches of government, that by virtue of politicians being involved, become political. Shrug. Yeah. Duh.
The Tangerine Palpatine's case is a long way from jailing a political opponent just to get him out of the way. The GOP would be wise to remember that a group of ordinary United States citizens voted to indict. There is a process. We are a nation of laws and we shall conduct our business as such.
You can read other GOP comments from MSNBC.
His Family's Mouths: Nothing Much
The little boys blathered the usual. Junior put out a video and tweeted, "We’re living in a 3rd world Banana Republic and the only way to stop what the corrupt Biden DOJ is doing is to put @realDonaldTrump back in the White House!!!” **Yawn** Little brother was even lazier. He retweeted sentiments from Jim Jordan and Vivek Ramaswamy that had nothing new to add: "Sad day for America. God Bless President Trump," and "two tiers of justice: one for Trump, another for Biden."
Ivanka, though, has been conspicuously mum about the indictment. She did, however, put out a birthday greeting on Instagram, ominously wishing her dad "the happiness you deserve." Ouch.
Melania hasn't said anything either. She reportedly just wants it all to go away.
No one from his family accompanied him to his arraignments, neither last time nor this time.
Dem Mouths: Nothing Much
Democrats are smart to just stay quiet and let the system work. Privately, no doubt, they are doin' a little dance. On news shows, they've been mostly reserved.
The PROTESTS!
None. POTATUS put out a call to protest and truth-socialed, "SEE YOU IN MIAMI ON TUESDAY!!!" But there were only a few MAGAts at the courthouse, and no trouble followed. Thank goodness.
The Other Cases
There is speculation that this may cool the state-level cases in New York and Georgia. Federal cases usually take precedence. That doesn't mean that they will never be pursued, but it may take a while. And remember: state convictions are not subject to pardon. So there's that. And Jack Smith is still working on the January 6 case.
More About Judge Aileen Cannon
It turns out she has woefully sparse experience in handling federal cases, and actually not much experience trying cases at all, let alone complex cases. She has presided over only four brief trials in her stint with the Southern District of Florida. She may be in over her head. However, she currently has a big case on her docket which is about to go to trial. She has overseen the case for nearly 18 months, and many motions that she decided parallel the motions that Quarter Flounder's defense may file. In these matters, she has nearly always sided with prosecutors. We shall see if she continues the pattern or favors the man who appointed her. You can read more at Politico.
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Ed Wexler |
Design Advice
More about the chandelier (thanks to Big Sister Resister Pagrs).
Your Dose of Cartoons n Creations
And Some Satire
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The Bottom Line
Delay will be his defense. He is hoping that he gets elected before the case is adjudicated so that he can make it all go away.
But he won't be elected. We have to make sure that on January 20, 2025, he is behind bars and not on the steps the U.S. Capitol. We need to ensure that he is unpresidented.
RESIST!
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