In 1966, Charlotte E. Keyes wrote a famous article for McCall’s magazine titled “Suppose They Gave a War and No One Came.” Special Counsel Jack Smith may be contemplating the same fate.
Putting the tongue-in-cheek title aside, the odds are that some people will come to any trial of President Donald Trump. After all, a lot of people have to come from the judge to the jurors and counsel. However, Smith has had an ominous week that could severely complicate his plans for convicting Donald Trump before the election. Moreover, a trial after the election could mean no trial at all.
Before this week, Smith found himself on the losing end of the schedule in Florida in his prosecution of Trump for his retention of classified documents. Judge Aileen Cannon has scheduled a trial for May 20, 2024, but that could easily move with additional delays or appeals in the case.
I have always viewed that case to be the strongest against Trump, but the huge number of classified documents have (as predicted) slowed the prosecution. Despite Smith’s pushing for a pre-election trial, his structuring of the charges undermined that schedule.
Smith then pushed hard for a pre-election trial in the January 6th case in Washington where he seemed to have a supportive judge in Judge Tanya Chutkan who shoehorned the start just before the Super Tuesday elections.
Now, however, Judge Chutkan has been forced to stay the case indefinitely pending the appeal of the presidential immunity claim made by Trump. The matter is now before both the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court gave Trump until December 20th to respond to Smith’s request for an expedited review — leapfrogging over the D.C. Circuit.
Smith’s filing conveys priority, if not a necessity, in trying Trump before the election. The Supreme Court may not share that sense of urgency. Traditionally, the Supreme Court has preferred to wait to allow appellate courts to render decisions. Since a conviction will not make Trump ineligible to run for the presidency, the question is why the March date should short circuit the review process.
If the Supreme Court ultimately does not rule on the merits, the period for review would easily supplant the trial schedule since an appeal could be taken to the entire D.C. Circuit (en banc) and then to the Supreme Court.
That did not change the March 4 trial date, but it could well make that date unworkable if the appeals drag on.
Then to make the week complete, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in United States v. Fischer. That case turns on the proper interpretation of the obstruction provision under Section 1512(c)(2).
Fischer was charged with obstructing an official proceeding of Congress and based solely on his trespass in the Capitol.
A ruling in his favor could effectively cut away half of the case against Donald Trump. Among the four counts brought by Smith, Trump is charged under 18 U.S.C. § 1512(k) (Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding) (Count Two) and 18 U.S.C. §§ 1512(c)(2), 2 (Obstruction of and Attempt to Obstruct an Official Proceeding) (Count Three).
If those two counts fell to the wayside, Smith would be left with a count on conspiracy to defraud the United States (Count One) and conspiracy against rights (Count 4). Those counts contain other challengeable elements which would have to be appealed after any conviction.
At some point, the mad rush for a March trial will look illogical and gratuitous if key legal issues remain unresolved and pre-trial motions and discovery remain incomplete in February.
The problem for Smith is that a trial after the election could mean no trial at all. If Trump is elected, he could give himself a preemptive self-pardon, though some disagree with this view. Moreover, the new Attorney General could scuttle or undermine the prosecution.
In other words, it is possible that Jack Smith might never see a jury in either case.
That would still leave the New York and Georgia cases, which are not subject to presidential pardons. However, those cases (particularly the one in New York) have their own challengeable elements.
None of this means that Trump is out of the woods. He will continue to face a daunting daisy-chain of civil and criminal cases around the country. Moreover, it is not clear how the schedule will shake out with both the D.C. Circuit and the Supreme Court giving expedited attention to the immunity question. He could still face at least one federal trial before election day.
However, Smith must be wondering if, assuming the schedule breaks in favor of Trump, he would be holding an empty sack come January 2024.
We find our yesterday, Assistant US Attorney in Delaware Leslie Wolfe has resigned her position.
She is the one that denied any warrants into Joe Bidens involvement in chasing down all the foreign money flowing into the Biden Crime Family. She will get protection for the DoJ for being held to account for her coverup of legal paths of investigation.
There was a movie not long ago with Daniel Day Lewis titled ‘There will be blood.’
74 million voters pulled the lever for DJT in Nov. of 2020.
A large majority of those voters despite was the left-wing Democrat Party has done and is doing to this great nation of ours.
And they have guns.
Lots of guns.
And they’re angry…..very very angry.
How long before people start disappearing or are ‘eliminated.’
I’m an advocate for Kevlar
I give you the updated, and newly named Lefty Wall of Shame
I resisted calling it the Lefty Turd Farm
Comer said that the mere presence of shell companies is *proof* of a crime—-Svelass aka Mr. Peetape
Hunter Biden showed up for his hearing today—–Svelass aka Mr. Peetape
Hunter Biden agreed to testify to a public hearing—–Gigi the LIAR
(who did he agree with?)
The Consumer Price Index was indeed at 7.6% when Trump left office—–Elvis Bug aka The Lawn Boy (it was 1.4%)
Archer gave no details about the meeting at the Naval Observatory with Marc Holtzman—-Svelaz aka Mr Peetape
Archer had no idea what was on those phone calls. He admitted it under oath—Svelaz aka Mr Peetape
Evidence isnt permissible unless its incontrovertible—-ATS
Circumstantial evidence alone is not enough to convict——Svelaz aka Mr Peetape
Republicans are the only ones calling for violence these days—-Dennis
Democrats call for violence when the cause is right—-Dennis in the same post
Gas prices spiked because Texas uses crude oil to make electricity—-Gigi the LIAR
AR-15’s ruin the meat—-Dennis
The inflation rate was 8% when Trump left office—-Gigi the LIAR
(it was actually 1.4%)
Biden only released the strategic oil reserve once—-Svelass Mr Peetape
Archer never said it was Joe that was called from Dubai—-ATS
The State of Florida does property tax “appraisals”—-Svelass Mr Peetape
You can’t convict without incontrovertible proof—ATS
Trump was convicted of rape—Svelass Mr. Peetape
The Jefferson County school board has a supermajority of republicans—-lawn boy EB
Trumps attorney forgot to “check a box”——Dennis
An insult or name calling is not a personal attack—-Svelass Mr. Peetape
The DC NG answers only to the President—-Gigi the LIAR
Christianity teaches to treat your fellow man the same way you treat Jesus—-Svelass Mr Peetape
The ideal athlete is 6’2” and 175#—-Dennis
There is no way a fat person can shoot a 67 in golf—-Dennis
“Bright red Alabama is the “wild west”,” (when its bright blue Birmingham that accounts for 95% of the gun violence in Alabama)—-Dennis
That’s why McCarthy didn’t hold a vote. He was going to, but upon realizing he didn’t have the votes he chose not to hold one.—-Mr Peetape
McCarthy never said he didn’t have the votes.—-Mr Peetape.
Get a job, fool.
“I resisted calling it the Lefty Turd Farm.” But of course you just did. Aren’t you cute. Good luck with your Lefty Wall of Shame.🤣🤩
Oh it will get updated and posted daily. Pretty much not a day goes by that one of the big 4 doesn’t contribute a new one. Glad you like the name.
In the same way that Turley’s once-upon-a-time legal blog has devolved into a political spin vehicle, Turley’s comment section has devolved into a troll-infested rat’s nest dominated by a handful of bickering trolls with multiple fake-screen-name accounts. If this were someone’s pet poodle, it would have already been taken to the vet and put out of its misery.
Whatever the S Ct ultimately decides on the immunity claim, the Court, or Congress, must address the issue of the new institution of “Lawfare.” Trump is the current victim of this institution. But the campaign against Trump is just a trial-run for Democrats, RINOs and Neocons. If they succeed against Trump, every Republican to the right of of Adam Kinzinger will be assailed by: women from the past claiming improper touching in grade school; attorney generals claiming that business valuations made by the candidate 20 years ago were inflated; special prosecutors claiming that classified documents were not properly taken care of; county district attorneys claiming that the candidate used inflammatory rhetoric at a Lincoln Day dinner; etc. If this institution is not controlled in some way, the Democrats will be effectively controlling the nomination process in the Republican Party. It won’t even be necessary to keep people off the ballot. This is the “friendly face” of the emergent police state.
I’m looking forward to the shock and horror on their faces when these new Team Blue rules and tactics are used again them.
Good observation Edward
Jonathan:
I will title this one:
Recognizes Correct Answer When Told
During the course of training, qualification and certification of Nuclear Reactor Operators, three types of examination are use. Written exams, oral boards, and practical evaluations. In these trials and evaluations, there are no multiple choice, true false, or yes/no answers. Essays are required, demonstrating a fundamental yet detailed understanding of the subjects, and not just rote memorization of data. This was one of the governing principals introduced by Admiral Rickover. He understood the danger of automatons, who merely recite what they hear or read. He wanted people who could reason and problem solve. He believed it was absolutely essential for safety, and credits that above all for the Navy’s impeccable record, through millions of
mW-Hours of operating nuclear reactors.
During an oral board, it was not uncommon for board members to “lead” or “guide” an examinee thru a difficult concept or problem. If the student had well developed reasoning skills, they could quickly find their way back on track, and continue to display their knowledge. We referred to this as RCAWT, or Recognizes Correct Answer When Told. Candidates were actually given some credit for these instances, because it required more than just recall. It meant they could use logic and prior learned concepts and apply those to arriving at the correct response.
Here on this blog, we witness daily, commenters who cannot RCAWT. Svelaz, Dennis, and bug guy come immediately to mind. The lefty lie list, promulgated by Tom, bares witness to this shortfall in reason. Even when led to, and sometimes even outright given, the correct answer, they go on to later repeat the same lie, distort the truth, use “rhetoric”, and cite unreliable sources. If memory serves, each item on the lefty lie list was not just a one time, random misspeak on the part of the examinees. They actually argued, conflated, backpedaled, defended, gaslit each lie. We suffered through an entire day of the bug guy trying to defend the lie that CPI was 7.6% when Trump left office, despite being given the correct answer, right from the source. We watched in abject horror, as Svelaz tried for hours to somehow defend his statement that Archer testified that he had *no idea* what was discussed on the Dubai phone call. We’ve seen Dennis continue to claim that the pee tape is real and that AR-15’s “ruin the meat”.
When operating, maintaining, and repairing a nuclear reactor, someone without the ability to recognize the correct answer when told is dangerous. They are quickly weeded out. Here, the consequences are not severe, and the prospect less frightening.
Instead its just sad and pathetic.