TWIT: The Outlaw Trump

credit: J. Heller, Duluth News Tribune

Latest:  Judge Merchan in the Manhattan business records fraud case postponed the trial set for the 25th until at least mid-April.  He is asking both parties to explain the delay in receiving and reviewing new records. He will hold a hearing on March 25th to determine how much delay is justified.

More:  Judge McAfee in Georgia ruled that Fani Willis can stay on the case, but chose to chastise her for an appearance of impropriety by dating her employee, Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade.  Wade must resign for Willis to continue the prosecution to cure the impropriety.  Judge McAfee previously struck down 3 counts against Trumpilini on grounds of specificity under Georgia law, had scathing remarks for DA Willis' testimony calling it "unprofessional manner". US Person urges Ms. Willis to bite the bullet and continue prosecuting Don Legit for his attempted coup for the good of the order.

Update:  The score in favor of the rogue former president is now 4-0.  Team Trumpillini has incredibly succeeded in delaying all four criminal cases against him.  The situation is simply grotesque.  Now voters will almost certainly be denied the benefit of at least one criminal conviction before voting.  

In the Mar-a-Lago espionage case,  Aileen. Cannon, handmaiden to the demigogue, took an entire day of hearing to decide what should have been done in a written order without a hearing.  She decided, for now, that the Espionage Act is not too vague to support a constitutional prosecution.   She dismissed the motion without prejudice, indicating that the defense can bring it up at a later date. perhaps at jury selection.  Since 1917 thousands of prosecutions have occurred and been upheld on appeal for violation of the Act.  Other than dismissing the motion, everything she did was favorable to the defense. More pending motions remain undecided by her. To top it off, Don Legit was at the hearing  to remind everyone that her judicial future hangs on how she handles this case. So far she is leaning over backwards for Trump without giving the prosecution grounds for an immediate appeal to the Eleventh Circuit.  This case is another example of politics outweighing due process of law.

DA Alan Bragg has asked for a one month delay to allow examination of new evidence obtained from the Department of Justice. His case is currently the only one scheduled for trial beginning this month.  Most of the 31,000 documents are irrelevant, but some of the witness statements may be relevant.  Left unexplained is why the Justice Department took so long to turn over the information requested by the Manhattan DA a year ago.  The defense waited until January to subpoena the information.  Is this an another turf war?

{11/04/24}Perhaps the most popular since Jesse James rode the Missouri borders. The MAGA Supremes has cut Don 'Legit' enough legal slack to tie up his criminal prosecutions.  Predictably, he raised his bogus absolute immunity argument in the NY criminal fraud case to ask for a delay going to trial until the Supreme Court rules on his absolute immunity claim.  Two problems with this argument: one, the  NY criminal indictment's gravamen is his conduct before he became the forty-fifth President; and two, he waived the immunity argument in a previous appeal in the same case.  Federal judge Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York found in response to Trump's federal removal petition that immunity does not apply because he expressly waived his theory of absolute presidential immunity and that his criminal acts are not "official business" [see below]. Trump later withdrew his appeal of Hellerstein's decision.  Thus, the principle of collateral estoppel applies. 

Trump also raised evidentiary complaints related to "official acts".  Like any evidentiary objection these can be ruled on by the trial judge before the trial is scheduled to begin on March 24th.  Trump's specious circus show must be ended now for the sake of democracy and the rule of law.   But since he has a reliable five vote majority on the Supreme Court in his pocket, he may seek an emergency stay if a ruling goes against him.  

In Florida, Employee Five of the indictment, aka Brian Butler, has gone public with his participation in Don Legit's obstruction of federal authorities seeking to recover classified documents. Butler helped Walt Nauta load banker boxes (10-15) full of government documents, including classified material, onto Trump's private plane bound for his Bedminster club.  Don Legit and his lawyers at that time were negotiating with DOJ for return of the material at Mar-a-Lago.  The two-decade employee faced repeated requests to obtain an attorney paid for by Trumpworld, but he said he is willing to testify at trial, if that ever occurs.   The Mar-a-Lago Papers case is a pathetic expose of the weaknesses of our judicial system.  Politics has overtaken due process because the defendant happens to be a prominent national politician. He may not be Mussolini, but it is not from want of posing: