With a defense attorney like Ghouliani who needs investigators?
It is not a crime if you preface your request for money by saying “Please”. An armed society is a polite society.
I think they have. From a case in which an unarmed man asked for money:
There must be some affirmative conduct on the part of the defendant, beyond the mere act of stealing, which communicates that he will immediately employ “physical force” if the victim “resist[s] … the taking of the property.” In Patterson v. State , 110 S.W.3d 896 (Mo. App. W.D. 2003), this Court listed multiple actions on the part of the defendant from which an implicit threat of force could be inferred. While not an exhaustive list, Patterson explained that a threat of force “may be implied from the fact that the defendant displayed a weapon, engaged in behavior that gave the appearance that he was armed, or used [a] phrase like, ‘This is a holdup.'”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/10/10/going-into-bank-and-saying-to-teller-i-need-you-to-do-me-a-favor-put-the-money-in-this-bag-not-armed-robbery/
Fantasyland got nothin’ on these boys…they grind exceeding small…
You’re missing an important step between 1 and 2:
- We didn’t do it.
- We didn’t do it, but even if we did, there wouldn’t be anything wrong with it.
- We might have done it but there’s not enough proof.
- We did it but it’s not a crime.
Also:
- Yeah, we did it, so what? What are you gonna fucking do about it, huh?
Ahhhhh…another cogent legal argument from the great lawyer himself…when will DiGenova weigh in? ONLY THE BEST!
For your edification, Rudy, you should peruse 52 U.S.C. §30121(a)(2). The moment Trump said, “Do me a favor,” he had already wandered into felony territory. The extortion is just icing on the cake - it’s not even an element of the crime.
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:52%20section:30121%20edition:prelim)
Semantics doesn’t change the reality, buddy.
Dang, how come they missed him???
This might be the weakest defense I have ever heard. It will go done in the annals of crime as the “pretty please” defense.
Weighing against viewing the impeachment proceeding through the prism of criminal law is this is not a criminal prosecution. If Dems start citing criminal case law and statutes to bolster their allegations then Republicans will wield that same cudgel and demand the proceedings hew to all sort of evidentiary bullshit in their favor, along with other criminal law based demands.
You’re right
mea Culpa
So … you’re a lawyer, then?
today I think of an old joke my immigrant Italian grand father used to tell me. decades and decades and decades ago lol. The Police caught the robber with a suitcase in his hands of stolen goods. the Police said gotcha. the robber said. who put that suitcase in my hands?
That is the view of a former US Attorney in the SDNY?
I ‘request’ he be disbarred.
The sainted Conservative Movement has broken down into a mass of juvenile delinquents making excuses for their illegal actions and vandalism against the Constitution. My whole life, all I’ve ever heard from the Republican Party were pathetic rants about "but was it his intent? or “but it’s not really against the law.”
Now they the GOP leadership has given up any pretense to being responsible adults, the conservative chorus just mimics the whines of a Russian Mafia hood who has been caught red handed mugging an old lady.
“Why is everyone being so hard on the lad? He never was taught right from wrong. It’s not his fault.” Everyone else in the world must abide by the law but the rich and fake Christians? Even migrant children must live in cages and drink from toilets, but not Donald J. Trump?
Exactly. That’s the essential thing here. Giuliani did it again. Between his admissions and Trump’s this is a festival of stupidity.
And Niki Haley says they are all honorable men. She is a honorable woman?
Yes, but while a criminal offense isn’t a prerequisite for impeachment, a criminal offense is certainly grounds for impeachment, I think.