This is such a valuable post Jay! Your explanations help us all to understand. Justice must prevail and these fascists need to be imprisoned! Go Jack Smith!
Traitorous ex-presidents should be imprisoned for life. Tangerine Palpatine’s conduct absolutely fits the definition of treason:
“treason
noun
1. The betrayal of allegiance toward one's own country, especially by committing hostile acts against it or aiding its enemies in committing such acts.
2. The betrayal of someone's trust or confidence.
3. The offense of attempting to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance, or of betraying the state into the hands of a foreign power; disloyalty; treachery.”
Under the case law, treason itself only occurs during a time of war. That's why so many of the cases use seditious conspiracy, which is similar to treason but does NOT have to be an act done during war.
yes indeed. Off the top of my head, I think the distinction is that treason allows the death penalty while seditious conspiracy doesn't. The stronger law is thus reserved for more dangerous act. But I haven't looked at the case law recently.
Thank you, Jay-just thank you. I hope people hear this and it’s not just preaching to the choir. Tfg can not be elected-if so, we will have Vance ensconced behind the Resolute Desk in no time-forever. Democracy dead.
Thank you very much for your insights and explanations. Your writing had instilled new hope that Trump may be held accountable for his actions and may suffer severe consequences for crimes he has committed.
Who knows... perhaps this IS exactly what they wanted: Trump out of the way, and immunity for a future R president to implement the Heritage Foundations dastardly plans?
What about sitting members of Congress and people like Ginni Thomas? Will there be any indictments for them? If not, regardless of the outcome in this election, we still have these people in charge of things when they should be in jail, imo.
Very hard to nail the Congress folks, esp with Speech and debate immunity. And I haven’t seen Ginni do anything actually illegal, even if her involvement is unethical given Thomas’s non recusal.
There’s been rumors for the past year and a half that Smith will be going after everyone else involved (Stone, Bannon , Flynn, etc) after he takes care of tRump and the 9 co-conspirators.
Thomas has done so much to take down democracy she should be boiled in oil.
Jay, I’d really like to thank Judge Chutkan for not postponing this trial just because of the election. And I’m counting on Jack Smith and his team to get the truth out there for everyone to see. Thanks for always keeping me informed and breaking it down so it’s easier for me to understand! Hope Riley is doing well 😊💖
I surely like this narrative better than yet another rambling and incoherent speech at a MAGA rally! The evil conspirator is back on the run, having been flushed out of his lair once again
Had SCOTUS released an expedited decision on Presidential Immunity #2, as requested by Jack in December '23, the trial date set for March '24 may have been met. The timing grievance lands squarely on the stained bench of SCOTUS, the equally reeking defendant and his stinkin' legal teams. *Updt, on a brighter note, Justice prevails in Colorado! Vote 💙 for more cases like this!
I find it pathetically humorous that the MAGA claims of “too close to an election!” are exactly and precisely because of Trump and his legal team’s attempt to delay as long as possible. Of course, they would have hoped to keep this information *out* of the public dialogue for at least 40 more days, but now they’ll just have to acknowledge that this “October surprise” is ALL their fault (which, of course, they never will…)
Thank you very much once again. This nation owes a debt of gratitude to Jack Smith.
There is delicious irony in the fact that it was Trump's own delaying tactics that placed the presentation of this evidence in front of the public in the last days of the election. Furthermore, Trump has made a standard practice of going to the court of public opinion to outflank the justice department. This evidence being presented to Justice Chutkan to rule upon is ending up performing precisely the same maneuver, but against him.
Jeff Tiedrich brought up something that has been on my mind since January 6. Mike Pence's Secret Service detail wanted to put him in a car and drive him away from the Capitol, a move that he steadfastly resisted so that he could be there for the certification. It was disseminated around Congress as the chaos mounted that Mike Pence would not be in attendance and that Chuck Grassley would oversee the certification process. I would really like to know what that was about, and if the two were related. Grassley might well have refused to certify the results, and then where would we be today?
SC Smith really leaned into Justice Coney Barrett's commentary in Trump v US,
when she noted the following:
"The defendant's conduct with respect to the elector scheme is inherently private, and not subject to immunity."
"Sorting private from official conduct sometimes will be difficult—but not always. Take the President's alleged attempt to organize alternative slates of electors. In my view, that conduct is private and therefore not entitled to protection."
So, there's at least four votes upholding that portion of Smith's indictment, and one wonders if either tRump enabler CJ Roberts or J "I love beer" Kavanaugh, or both can be won over for a deciding majority to uphold...any takers?
Also, Eric Herschman is actually mentioned by name in Smith's filing, all other principals are not. My sense is that "P9" is Boris Epshtyn, who's rôle in all this also matches Smith's description and what the former's activities were. Yes, I understand that the bulk of media writeups name "CC6" as likely Boris, but read the filing again, noting all the references to "CC6", then compare with Smith's own discussion of "P9". A bit of trivia, but still...
In an era when MAGAts are trying to rip away, warp and rewrite patriotism and destroy the common good, Jack Smith is an American Hero.
Best post of the year, thanks, Jay.
Nice to see the slithery Steve Bannon finally named in a bigly way.
The Supreme Court has work to do! Time to update that immunity ruling. Back to work, corruption kings!
I’d like to see a road map to void any immunity! What will it take? Presidents aren’t kings. Damn oligarchs.
I meant, to be clear, I hope the last sentence in my comment is a joke. I know yours isn't, lol.
I hope that last sentence was a joke. I leave it to the legal beagles like Jay to focus on whether or not there's any realism to my paranoia.
This is such a valuable post Jay! Your explanations help us all to understand. Justice must prevail and these fascists need to be imprisoned! Go Jack Smith!
Traitorous ex-presidents should be imprisoned for life. Tangerine Palpatine’s conduct absolutely fits the definition of treason:
“treason
noun
1. The betrayal of allegiance toward one's own country, especially by committing hostile acts against it or aiding its enemies in committing such acts.
2. The betrayal of someone's trust or confidence.
3. The offense of attempting to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance, or of betraying the state into the hands of a foreign power; disloyalty; treachery.”
Under the case law, treason itself only occurs during a time of war. That's why so many of the cases use seditious conspiracy, which is similar to treason but does NOT have to be an act done during war.
He should be in prison either way.
yes indeed. Off the top of my head, I think the distinction is that treason allows the death penalty while seditious conspiracy doesn't. The stronger law is thus reserved for more dangerous act. But I haven't looked at the case law recently.
Thanks for clearing that up for me Susan. I have been wondering why treason has not been applied in Trumps case.
Put me on that jury!
110%!!!!!!!
Thank you, Jay-just thank you. I hope people hear this and it’s not just preaching to the choir. Tfg can not be elected-if so, we will have Vance ensconced behind the Resolute Desk in no time-forever. Democracy dead.
Thank you very much for your insights and explanations. Your writing had instilled new hope that Trump may be held accountable for his actions and may suffer severe consequences for crimes he has committed.
I don't think this what the right wingers on the SC had in mind.
Interesting speculation.
Who knows... perhaps this IS exactly what they wanted: Trump out of the way, and immunity for a future R president to implement the Heritage Foundations dastardly plans?
What about sitting members of Congress and people like Ginni Thomas? Will there be any indictments for them? If not, regardless of the outcome in this election, we still have these people in charge of things when they should be in jail, imo.
Very hard to nail the Congress folks, esp with Speech and debate immunity. And I haven’t seen Ginni do anything actually illegal, even if her involvement is unethical given Thomas’s non recusal.
I hope Ginni Thomas gets nailed as well!
There’s been rumors for the past year and a half that Smith will be going after everyone else involved (Stone, Bannon , Flynn, etc) after he takes care of tRump and the 9 co-conspirators.
Thomas has done so much to take down democracy she should be boiled in oil.
wow. all the info processed and formulated in a way even I could follow. thank you!
Jay, I’d really like to thank Judge Chutkan for not postponing this trial just because of the election. And I’m counting on Jack Smith and his team to get the truth out there for everyone to see. Thanks for always keeping me informed and breaking it down so it’s easier for me to understand! Hope Riley is doing well 😊💖
I surely like this narrative better than yet another rambling and incoherent speech at a MAGA rally! The evil conspirator is back on the run, having been flushed out of his lair once again
Had SCOTUS released an expedited decision on Presidential Immunity #2, as requested by Jack in December '23, the trial date set for March '24 may have been met. The timing grievance lands squarely on the stained bench of SCOTUS, the equally reeking defendant and his stinkin' legal teams. *Updt, on a brighter note, Justice prevails in Colorado! Vote 💙 for more cases like this!
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tina-peters-sentenced-prison-election_n_66fee30de4b03185708ea145
Agreed 💯%!
I find it pathetically humorous that the MAGA claims of “too close to an election!” are exactly and precisely because of Trump and his legal team’s attempt to delay as long as possible. Of course, they would have hoped to keep this information *out* of the public dialogue for at least 40 more days, but now they’ll just have to acknowledge that this “October surprise” is ALL their fault (which, of course, they never will…)
Thank you! Making sure you saw this encouraging news on the side of Justice;
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tina-peters-sentenced-prison-election_n_66fee30de4b03185708ea145
Thank you very much once again. This nation owes a debt of gratitude to Jack Smith.
There is delicious irony in the fact that it was Trump's own delaying tactics that placed the presentation of this evidence in front of the public in the last days of the election. Furthermore, Trump has made a standard practice of going to the court of public opinion to outflank the justice department. This evidence being presented to Justice Chutkan to rule upon is ending up performing precisely the same maneuver, but against him.
Jeff Tiedrich brought up something that has been on my mind since January 6. Mike Pence's Secret Service detail wanted to put him in a car and drive him away from the Capitol, a move that he steadfastly resisted so that he could be there for the certification. It was disseminated around Congress as the chaos mounted that Mike Pence would not be in attendance and that Chuck Grassley would oversee the certification process. I would really like to know what that was about, and if the two were related. Grassley might well have refused to certify the results, and then where would we be today?
Thank you! This was so clear and helpful to me. I can follow your narrative even reading first thing in the morning! More cups of tea are on the way.
SC Smith really leaned into Justice Coney Barrett's commentary in Trump v US,
when she noted the following:
"The defendant's conduct with respect to the elector scheme is inherently private, and not subject to immunity."
"Sorting private from official conduct sometimes will be difficult—but not always. Take the President's alleged attempt to organize alternative slates of electors. In my view, that conduct is private and therefore not entitled to protection."
So, there's at least four votes upholding that portion of Smith's indictment, and one wonders if either tRump enabler CJ Roberts or J "I love beer" Kavanaugh, or both can be won over for a deciding majority to uphold...any takers?
Also, Eric Herschman is actually mentioned by name in Smith's filing, all other principals are not. My sense is that "P9" is Boris Epshtyn, who's rôle in all this also matches Smith's description and what the former's activities were. Yes, I understand that the bulk of media writeups name "CC6" as likely Boris, but read the filing again, noting all the references to "CC6", then compare with Smith's own discussion of "P9". A bit of trivia, but still...
I think the Herschmann mention is a redaction oversight!
You're right, as re-reading p. 149, there is a conversation noted between "P9" and "CC2", after which "Herschman" reported to the defendant, etc.
This all really makes the SCOTUS ruling even more egregious and disgusting, if that's even possible.