How Hutchinson Converted Skeptics To Thinking Trump Might Be Prosecuted After All - TPM – Talking Points Memo

Former President Trump’s speech at the Ellipse was many things — low-class, loaded with conspiracy theories, reckless.


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1422015
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well you kinda have to be willfully obtuse not to see that he was trying to get large numbers of people killed to create enough chaos to make a gargantuan power-play to overthrow the government …

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But what does the prissily smug Jonathan Turley think?

Also, where the hell is Dershowitz hiding out while he plots Ghislaine Maxwell’s suicide?

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Well I guess the testimony warranted a surprise hearing then.

Cannot expect it, but hoping for a couple more regardless.

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Until Garland actually goes after any of the big names, I will remain skeptical that he has the guts to do the job that is needed. The DOJ has had all the time that Congress has had to build their case and has nothing but street thugs to show for it.

It’s on Garland to prove that he deserves the job he currently has, because to this point he’s one of the most disappointing of Biden’s appointments for me personally.

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At the end of the day, the changing minds of legal commentators and even DOJ officials matters less than whether or not enough Trump voter supporters (and, to a lesser extent, the GQP leadership) have had their minds changed. If those living in MAGAland continue to support Trump, even his prosecution and conviction will not notably change the political landscape nor heal the division in this country. Sadly, he will be a martyr to their cause. …sigh

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So, now it becomes clear. Trump intended to ride in glory right up to the Capitol, surrounded by his rabid, heavily-armed mob. Then he and they would stride, Caesar-like, into the joint session of Congress and blather on endlessly about how he won the election and they had to vote to confirm this fact. All the while his armed cultists would have surrounded and occupied the chamber, providing a visible and audible threat to the lawmakers.

How unAmerican can you get? Can this possibly be legal or excuseable??

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That hearing was the equivalent of the Watergate hearing where Mr. Butterfield says Nixon tapes everything. Jaws dropped that day too. And it was all downhill for Nixon after that.

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The Dersh wants one more fling with Ghislaine before she does it.

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One can hope

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Well, the JanSix committtee does have the documentary videos from that British film maker now…

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Nope. Mens rea is just the state of mind necessary to form criminal intent. Trump did not have to know that he was doing a crime by inciting the mob to go do violence. He just had to have intended to incite the mob to go do violence.

Also, inciting the riot is a felony, but only a 5-year max. The big gun (so to speak) remains conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, which has a 20-year max, and for which almost all of the guilty parties sentenced for it so far are receiving in the neighborhood of 4-6 years in prison.

Incitement: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2101

Obstruction: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1512

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Doucheowitz prefers them quite a bit younger.

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Damn Trump!

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Let’s hope that the DOJ understands that NOT pursing these crimes will be far more dangerous to our democracy than going after trump and his minions. A lack of indictment will be just as good to trump as a not guilty verdict at trial. It will be total vindication and all that comes with it.

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Trump puts ketchup on everything, including the dinning room walls.

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I wonder how it would feel to be Cassidy Hutchinson, and have your testimony be the straw that broke Thump’s defense to put him in prison. Until her testimony yesterday, his indictment was much more in doubt. Now, thanks to her, it’s much more likely to happen.

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DOJ should do the easiest case first – the wire/mail fraud case arising out of TFG’s fake PAC scheme. It’s fairly straightforward, shouldn’t take more than a couple of weeks.

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You don’t have to hope. Fat Boy and his fellow miscreants are plainly and obviously being investigated for at least two federal felonies and probably more than that. But since Donnie didn’t personally beat any cops with a flagpole, they have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt (and, ultimately, an unreasonable Supreme Court) that he entered into an agreement with one or more others to make it happen. And since Donnie wasn’t so unfocused as to have reduced a criminal fuckin’ conspiracy to writing, that means prosecutors need to flip one or more of the people he was conspiring with. Meadows and Eastman both look like soft targets.

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“Indictments are not just about whether the case is legally provable, but about whether its in the public interest to charge,” he said.

It is in the public’s interest if anyone cares about keeping competent would-be dictators at bay.

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