Still More: In one of the remaining criminal cases against the conspirators of the January. 6th Insurrection, the Arizona Attorney General's office has obtained a large cache of communications by the perpetrators and Trump allies. They cannot be released yet because the judge overseeing the case gave defense attorney an opportunity to filter extraneous information before it becomes public. The evidence may contain yet unknown details of the plot to overthrow the democratic transfer of power,
The Arizona case focuses on the "fake elector" scheme in that state. Don the Con is not among the defendants, but is a co-conspirator. Former chief of staff Mark Meadows is a named defendant. Prosecutors obtained the cooperation of one of the Trump electors earlier this year.
More: The Georgia Appeals Court has effectively ended the RICO case against Don Trumpilini by deciding Thursday that Fani Willis would be removed from the case for improper conduct. Although it allowed the indictments to stand, it is unlikely that a special prosecutor will be appointed anytime soon to replace Willis and her office. Willis' problems began when the defense unearthed a romantic relationship between her and one of her subordinates working on the case, The appeals court found that situation constituted a substantial conflict of interest. How that relationship conflicted with her decisions in the RICO can is not clear to US Person, who is allegedly out-of-bounds, but the appearance of impropriety was enough to taint the case according to the court. The Fulton County DA's office has filed a notice of appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court.
Update: In their desperate effort to defeat the conviction of the their client of 34 felonies in the hush-money case, Trump's lawyers are now alleging juror misconduct. Justice Merchan has responded to their letter saying the allegation should be investigated, but he cannot rely on hearsay and unsworn allegations in deciding whether the case against Don the Con should be vacated. Manhattan prosecutors argued that Trump’s lawyers were trying to immune the verdict by airing their claims in a letter to the judge rather than a formal motion to dismiss the case. Prosecutors also questioned the defense’s resistance to having Merchan hold a court hearing where their juror misconduct claims could be examined more thoroughly. The defense strategy is to prevent sentencing before his inauguration as the first convicted felon in history to become president of the United States. The attorneys' heavily redacted letter of December 3rd was released to the public Tuesday.
On another front, the House Ethics Committee voted to release the ethics report on Matt Gaetz after the 118th House concludes its business at the end of the year. Read the released report here.
{17.12.2024} Justice Juan Merchan of New York's Supreme Court issued his ruling on Don the Con's immunity claim on Monday. It was not good news for the Boss. Merchan found that the 34 criminal acts for which he was convicted by a jury occurred before he became president, and communications by White House personnel during his presidency about the illegal payments to 'Stormy' Daniels presented in evidence were not consequential, i.e. harmless error. Don Olde reacted on-line with predictable fury calling Merchan's ruling "psychotic".
The case is still alive for now, but the trial judge has yet to rule on the motion for dismissal in "the interests of justice" because Trump won the election. His lawyers did not address the required factors for such a dismissal established under New York law in their motion. Their client hardly has "clean hands" to demand such extraordinary equitable relief; calling the trial judge, "corrupt" and "psychotic" is not a good thing. Sentencing is also still pending after Merchan postponed it twice in consideration of political events. Merchan's rulings will be appealed through the two levels of state judicial review, and if necessary to the US Supreme Court where a MAGA majority awaits.
Popock agrees!--suspend his sentence, which should include some jail time, pending his return to private life. Meanwhile™the appeals can go forth.
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| credit: M. Ramirez Wackydoodle sez: He does tricks too! |