Sunday, March 19, 2023

In the Background



In a post on his social media account, Donald Trump on Saturday morning tweeted

“THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK, “PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!”

Saturday afternoon, he was back with

“WE JUST CAN’T ALLOW THIS ANYMORE,” he wrote. “THEY’RE KILLING OUR NATION AS WE SIT BACK & WATCH. WE MUST SAVE AMERICA!PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST!!!”

As CNBC noted

Trump’s lawyer Joseph Tacopina was not informed about the possibility of Trump being arrested on Tuesday.

“No one tells us anything, which is very frustrating,” Tacopina told CNBC. “President Trump is basing his response on press reports, and the fact that this is a political prosecution and the DA leaks things to the press instead of communicating to the lawyers as they should.”

The press report Tacopina is complaining about is the report by the press of what Donald Trump is claiming. The ex-President claims for two reasons that the sky is falling. It's a fund-raising tool, but almost anything Trump says or does is motivated by a lust for more money.

In this case, Trump also is trying to intimidate. The conventional wisdom is that the 45th President wants to intimidate Alvin Bragg into choosing not to prosecuting him. 

But Bragg may already know whether he is going to charge Trump or is simply going through the motions. Although the ex-President would like to dissuade Bragg, Trump is as interested in Attorney General Merrick Garland. 

On August 8, 2022 the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted a search of the Trump compound at Mar-a-Lago, seven months since we read

Property receipts from the search indicate that at least some of the information confiscated was classified at the highest levels, including top secret/sensitive compartmented information (TS/SCI), intelligence that could reveal how and from whom the United States acquires information from other countries. Media reports also indicate that former President Trump’s lawyers inaccurately told the FBI in June that they had returned all requested classified documents to the government. The property receipts show that the lawyers’ reported declaration was false and that former President Trump put America’s national security at serious risk.



Merrick Garland- at least as of now- has not charged Donald Trump for violations far more serious than that alleged in the Stormy Daniels matter.  Once the search in Florida took place, an indictment generally was thought to be around the corner. Now, the Manhattan District Attorney appears on the verge of announcing an indictment of Trump in a case which is both more difficult to prosecute and which a conviction would carry less prison time than would the classified documents case.

It's past time to observe that the Attorney General is intimidated by the idea of obtaining an indictment against the ex-President. If his fear of pressing charges results in no prosecution, Merrick Garland will go down in history as not only a very bad Attorney General but also a cowardly.




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