My gag time gal
Special Counsel Jack Smith and his team head to court Monday to urge Judge Tanya Chutkan to issue a partial gag order that prevents Donald Trump from intimidating jurors or attacking the judge, the court, and lawyers. Smith's team has cited Trump's attacks on witnesses like retired Gen. Mark Milley (who Trump said should be executed) and former Veep Mike Pence, along with his long, long track record of inciting violence and intimidation against anyone he perceives as a threat.
Trump's attorneys argue that the proposed order is an effort to stifle his free speech and his campaign for president. In separate motions, Smith is also urging Judge Chutkan to take steps to protect prospective jurors from Trump's intimidation tactics.
While it's clear that Trump wants to intimidate court officers and poison the jury pool, the question of a limited gag order is a difficult balance for the judge. Giving Trump too much leeway guarantees he'll use every bit of it to try to taint the proceedings and delegitimize them to his supporters. Cracking down would inevitably fuel Trump's claims of persecution, not to mention providing possible fodder for appeals if he's eventually found guilty.
Remember, a Trump supporter from Texas was already arrested and charged for threatening to kill Judge Chutkan. Monday morning!
The "I crossed my fingers" defense
The first bid to keep Donald Trump off the 2024 ballot goes to trial at the end of the month in Colorado. Yup, this is one of the cases seeking to disqualify Trump under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which states that no one who's sworn an oath to the Constitution then does an insurrection can ever hold public office again.
One legit question sure to come up at trial is whether the President of the United States qualifies as an "officer" of the government under the Constitution. And then there's this: Trump's lawyers argue in a motion to dismiss the case that when Trump swore to "preserve, protect and defend" the Constitution when he took the oath of office, he never actually swore to "support" it.
Kraken the case
Lawyers for Ken Chesebro were in court this week trying to get Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee to toss the case against him on the grounds that the fake electors he helped organize weren't really fake after all. The judge seemed skeptical.
Anyway, we're just a week away from the start of jury selection in the speedy-trial case of Chesebro and co-defendant Sidney Powell. DA Fani Willis has made it known that RNC chair Ronna McDaniel and career liar Alex Jones, both MAGA cast members, are on the list of potential witnesses. This trial will be televised!
Slowdown dirty shame
As long as Trump's having no luck getting the cases against him dismissed, delay is the name of the game. It's the only thing that could stave off judgment long enough for him to get elected and corruptly pardon himself. His latest target is the Mar-a-Lago case, where his lawyers are trying to convince Judge Aileen Cannon that they need many more months to gain access to classified evidence. The wildcard here is Cannon. Everyone is looking for signs that she's slow-walking decisions or ready to help Trump delay the May 2025 trial date.
Meanwhile, prosecutors say they can prove why Trump took all those highly sensitive documents in the first place. But they're not saying what his motive was just yet.
Yesterday Judge Cannon tried to hold a long-awaited conflict-of-interest hearings for lawyers representing Trump co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira. Those attorneys are also representing several witnesses who could wind up testifying against the defendants. It didn't go well, and now the whole thing's been postponed. If you're looking for evidence Judge Cannon is working to delay things for Trump, this is it.
No accountant for good taste
Former Trump Organization CFO and recently-released Rikers inmate Allen Weisselberg took the stand in Trump's New York civil fraud trial this week. He forgot… a lot. But he remembered that he cleared the company's financial disclosure statements directly with Trump and also probably with one or both of his adult sons.
Why would Weisselberg suffer a sudden bout of amnesia on the stand? As the AG's lawyers pointed out, maybe it has something to do with all the money he loses if he cooperates!
Then yesterday Weisselberg's testimony abruptly ended after Forbes published an article accusing him of perjuring himself on the stand earlier this week.
Also, how could Trump possibly be guilty of fraud when a bank gave him a trophy?!
Trump says he's returning to court next week. Even he doesn't want to miss the expected testimony of one Michael Cohen.
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