Indictment #3? Trump Says Investigators Closing in Again

11 thoughts on “Indictment #3? Trump Says Investigators Closing in Again”

1. Well, Boebs and Smith now have one thing in common?!!

   . . . With a bitch, bitch here,
   and a bitch, bitch there;
   here a bitch, there a bitch;
   everywhere a bitch, bitch.
   Old MTGreeney had a bitch, e-i-e-i-o . . .

   (Wondering: what’s the first thing EmptyG says every morning to her mirror?)

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2. Is there a political way out of this Trump reality show? If he is convicted, it will take the better part of a year, and then years of appeals. If he is acquitted, it will feed his cult's conspiracy theories and further weaken people's trust in government. If he loses the election, he will keep on running until he dies. If he wins the election, we are all doomed. 

   Is there any way to work out a deal where he is pardoned in exchange for an agreement to never run for office? Would it sweeten the pot if Biden also agreed not to run? 

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   1. Short answer: no.  

      Longer answer: Oh, hell no!

      Ttump believes he will never be convicted. And, given his resources and the delays he can inflict on the legal system, that belief — as opposed to his “belief” the 2020 election was stolen — actually has basis in reality.

      Ttump will be long gone dead, stuffed, and mounted on a display pedestal in a Mar-a-Lago hall of mirrors before he ever surrenders a single photon of limelight attention.

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   2. “Would it sweeten the pot if Biden also agreed not to run?”

      That should definitely be on the table along with promises that neither Clinton nor Obama will ever run again.

      The problem is that F.D.F.Q. accepted such a deal to get out of jail, he would simply put some MAGA stooge in as his proxy as president while he would remain the power behind the throne.

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   3. Pardoned, no. But a plea deal where he agrees to completely back away from politics and cut off communications direct or indirect to any elected official for anything other than business filings? I might consider that, provided the penalty for non-compliance is immediate incarceration based on the original charges.

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   4. IMHO we cannot go the pardon route any more. It was a mistake yo let Nixon off the hook; it set the stage for Trump's presumptions and a second Presidential level pardon will enshrine the practice (at least for Republicans) forever.

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      1. Besides in retrospect, comparing Nixon's criminal behavior with Trump's gusher of current and pending indictments across a broad array of crimes, is like comparing the highest point in Florida with Mt. Everest.

         With even Republicans tiring of Trump (and turning away from the GOP), getting a jury to convict him on at least some crimes will be sufficient to ensure a majority of voters will reject him if nominated for the GOP ticket.

         There may be no cure for stupid, which afflicts a solid minority of Republicans in and out of office, but as polls suggest, a majority of Americans aren't ready to suffer through another era of chaos from Trump.

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      2. 100%.  If Ford hadn't pardoned Nixon, Nixon would've been indicted and we would've had some precedent here, which would somewhat help combat the claims that trump's indictments are political (despite the clear evidence sufficient to establish probable cause to indict him). 

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   5. The way out is to hold the Senate and take the House back in 2024.

      As long as he is fleecing rubes, they won't be funding the other nutjob candidates. Let him siphon all the small dollars away from all the other awful candidates.

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      1. Agreed, Gilpin Guy.

         That is why I was not critical of the Magadonian fools sending all their $$$ in 2022 to Trump instead of to Dr. Oz, Hershel Walker, and Blake Masters.

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3. Several sources are speculating on a timeline for "the next" Trump indictment.  Clear and persuasive, Ben Wittes [editor at Lawfare], asks on his Substack

   Can We Identify the Trump Indictment Timeline?

    

   We basically know three things, two of them from Trump, and one of them from the press. From Trump we know (1) that he received the target letter on Sunday, and that (2) it gave him four days to come into the grand jury. From the press, we know (3) that one of Smith’s senior prosecutors was spending quality time with the grand jury last week.

   This last fact is important, because it suggests that prosecutors may have already presented their case to the grand jury and have held off only on having the grand jury vote on whether to hand up the charges. In other words, it suggests that the gun is loaded and the safety is off. They don’t need any additional time or steps before pulling the trigger.

   Counting four days from Sunday would bring us to Thursday evening. In fact, however, Smith will know well before Thursday evening whether Trump is coming in (he is not). A visit by a former president to the E. Barrett Prettyman courthouse would require significant Secret Service coordination. It couldn’t be a surprise pop-in. It would have to be arranged both with the special counsel’s office and with the court itself.

   So Smith will not be sitting at his desk glancing at his watch waiting for Trump to show up as business hours on Thursday wane. If he were to proceed to a grand jury consideration of the charges on Thursday afternoon, he could do so knowing that he will have honored his promise to hold off for four days.

   So I’m thinking an indictment on Thursday or Friday is the most likely scenario. My assumption is that Smith will once again proceed under seal, though he will do so while prepared to move to unseal the charges the moment Trump announces them—which Trump will do immediately. This means the indictment will likely become public on Friday.

    

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