Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Triumphant



It was August of 2022 and the FBI had executed a search warrant of the Mar-a-Lago resort and home of former President Donald Trump, at which boxes of classified documents were classified.  NBC News had obtained a copy of the warrant and Glenn Kirschner, MSNBC columnist and NBC legal analyst, reasonably and logically concluded

Even if the Mar-a-Lago search warrant is “only” about Trump illegally possessing government documents, if feels like a shift in the tectonic legal plates. With Garland’s Justice Department reaching the conclusion that it’s time to begin using search warrants as part of its criminal investigation of a former president, it seems that things may be snowballing in the direction of accountability, and maybe even justice.

Accountability and maybe even justice. Similarly, there must have been an NFL general manager somewhere outside of Kansas City who in April, 2017 mused "that Mahomes kid from Texas Tech is just going to be a bust." 

In July of 2024 Federal Judge Aileen Cannon, with a dream of being nominated to the United States Supreme Court in a second Trump Administration, dismissed the indictment on the spurious notion that the appointment of Jack Smith to be special counsel violated the Appointments Clause and the Appropriations Clause of Article II of the US Constitution. 

In August, Smith asked a federal appeals court to reinstate the indictment but it was too late. Attorney General Merrick Garland had waited seventeen (17) months to appoint a Special Counsel. Trump used his immense wealth and influence to run out the clock and was assisted by the paralysis which plagues the criminal justice system when confronted with formidable defendants.

At least Smith, who resignedJanuary 10 beat a possible hangman's noose by ten days- has now delivered his final report, as is customary at the conclusion of an investigation authorized by the Justice Department. However, it covers only the 1/6/21 case because 

The Justice Department had been expected to make the document public in the final days of the Biden administration, but the Trump-appointed judge who presided over the classified documents case granted a defense request to at least temporarily halt its release. Two of Trump's co-defendants in that case, Trump valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira, had argued that the release of the report would be unfairly prejudicial, an argument that the Trump legal team joined in.

The department responded by saying that it would withhold from public release the classified documents volume as long as criminal proceedings against Nauta and De Oliveira remain pending. Though U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon had dismissed the case last July, a Smith team appeal of that decision related to the two co-defendants remained pending.

But prosecutors said they intended to proceed with the release of the election interference volume.

Good; also completely irrelevant. The portion of the report pertaining to the insurrection four years ago has been released and we have learned- or, rather, been reminded 

The Department’s view that the Constitution prohibits the continued indictment and prosecution of a President is categorical and does not tum on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Office stands fully behind,” Smith wrote.

Indeed, but for Mr. Trump’s election and imminent return to the Presidency, the Office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.



Good on the Special Counsel for laying it out but we already knew Donald J. Trump is a criminal. Last May, he was convicted in New York City, NY on 34 counts of falsification of business records, a felony which garned him an unconditional discharge last week.  Nine months after conviction, the ex-President was sentenced to nothing because, well, No One Is Above The Law.

Everyone in this country, except individuals who have not been here the past 48 or 39 months, has not only heard about the attempted coup in January 2021, but has seen video of it, repeatedly. Some- only some- people who watch only Fox News and other right-wing outlets have seen video edited to include protesters merely hanging out inside the Capitol. However, they have viewed clips and have their mind made up, as have the rest of us.. 

Even a spattering of loyal Trump supporters knew that he did wrong on January 6, 2021 and even committed a crime, yet decided to vote for him, anyway. Everyone has had a working knowledge of that day and has had his or her mind made up a long time ago.

Yet, little is known about the classified documents case, which has mostly escaped attention of the public. Donald Trump may have kept top-secret and other classified files merely to satisfy his ego. Or he may have intended to turn them over to Russia, Saudi Arabia, or other enemies or rivals. Or he may have intended to keep them for the time being and kept them as a chip to bargain with nations for personal advantage. We don't know.

So, this: The Justice Department, helmed by a Democrat in a Democratic Administration, will not be releasing the portion of the report which pertains to a matter of the highest national security and which might foster justified concern about the President-elect. It is the matter not well understood by the American people because there has been relatively little attention paid to it by news media or politicians, and the matter which might engage the public's interest if details about it became known.

It appears that this portion of the report could have been released (and could be in the next 4-5 days) were it not for charges pending against Nauta and De Oleveira, who appear to be creeps. Creeps who would not have committed their crimes if not for Donald Trump. Creeps whom only a few people have heard of and whom have been forgotten by most of those. Creeps who even if acquitted will never become members of the United States House of Representatives or Senate, let alone President of the USA.

But prosecutors must have their trophies, even if they let the big one go. The cases against Nauta and De Oliveira will almost certainly be dismissed by the Trump Justice Department. It turns out that Donald Trump was right about two things. There is a Deep State, only not that which Trump whines and lies about. It is a legal system which, whether because of a feckless Attorney General or a malevolent, opportunistic federal judge, will opt for prosecuting nobodys rather than a very big, very significant somebody. 

The other is that Donald Trump has won. Oh, for now and pending adjudication of an appeal of the jury verdict in New York, he is a convicted criminal. He also, for the second time, will be President of the United States of America after an election which he would not have won had Merrick Garland not spent several months dithering. Now, with the blessing of the Supreme Court, free to do virtually anything he wishes in the office, Donald Trump has emerged victorious. Not only has he slammed the Democratic Party, he has scored a knockout victory over the vaunted American legal system.


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