President Trump won several more weeks to file some motions in his D.C. election interference case, but the March 2024 trial date will remain the same, a federal judge ruled on Friday.
Judge To Trump: Explain Why You Think The Law Doesn’t Apply To You
Why doesn’t she just dismiss it out of hand, and hold him in contempt?
It’s a great question to him, actually.
Seemingly we are all taking a class in Federal Criminal Procedure, the Judge is our professor and the Trump lawyers are naive students winging class preparation.
Look at it this way – she’s forcing TFG’s attorney to up their billable hours. It wouldn’t surprise me if TFG’s attorneys have probably already burned through a good portion of that retainer, so they’re not keen on filing any more motions than they absolutely have to (because they now know there won’t be any more money). And three weeks isn’t much of an extension of time when you consider the trial is in March.
If she gives them every reasonable accommodation, it makes it harder for Trump to come back with an appeal later. If she just shuts Trump’s team down without allowing them to present enough rope to hang their case, an appeals judge might rule they have a legitimate reason to move the case up to the next bracket. If she dots all her 'i’s and crosses all her 't’s, they have less compelling arguments to make for an appeal.
Does the news of his revealing info to an Australian billionaire figure into any of this?
Trump’s lawyers said the report ‘lacks context’ but there is NO context he could reveal stuff to another blabbermouth (billionaire told EIGHTY people) ‘after’ he was President.
Trump lawyers’ repeated question:
Trump lawyers’ repeated answer: Yes!
I guess, but I’m sort of sick of him getting accommodations and treatment the rest of us would likely not get. At what point will it be demonstrated that there is equal justice under the law?
Sir, this is the internet. We are all experts in federal criminal procedure, and the judge is the truant student who is not following our sage and unimpeachable understanding of the topic.
At least this week. Last week I was an expert on mixing and matching eastern bloc and NATO-standard logistics; next week I’m scheduled to be an expert on how climate change is altering the local weather effects brought on by this year’s El Nino cycle.
No matter what Trump is going to appeal, after all she is a NON-WHITE FEMALE passing judgement on ‘him.’
Judge Chutkan has set Trump up for the, “ Do you know who I am?” defense used most recently by Lauren Take ‘n’ Tug Boebert.
Judge Chutkan does not look kindly on non-serious questions or moronic motions. Her and SC Counsel Smith’s replies to Lauro’s BS “if the President does it, it’s not illegal” motion to dismiss should both be entertaining and illuminating - both for the rest of the Judiciary and us gawkers in the cheap seats.
“Still, the court will allow the defense an opportunity to explain why it believes that
CIPA’s statutory text and Circuit precedent do not govern this case,” Chutkan wrote.
“This should be good,” she said to herself without writing it down.
The rope she gives them will hang them. If she gives enough, the lawyers themselves may end up swinging along with Trump.
Honestly, I would say he’s getting the same accommodations that anyone who has the money to burn on expensive lawyers gets. He’s just making them file idiotic motions. The courts (excepting perhaps Judge Cannon’s) are generally letting them make the stupid arguments and then shutting them down, following the same procedure they normally go through.
It’s just a matter of having lawyers at his beck-and-call who can file ALL the motions instead of relying on one public defender drowning under dozens of separate cases running simultaneously. (Which of course is its own problem.)
I’m sick of that too. The way I see it, we are witnessing an unfortunate intersection between an inertia-dampened legal system, celebrity/sports culture (where the general public sees even legal conflict as entertainment or a sporting event), and the long-standing growth of the power of the presidency in the US. Implicit in the efforts to increase that power is the assumption of trust in the occupant of the office, and checks and balances against that power have not always been made clear, much less tested as they are being now.
I do think that justice will eventually be meted out appropriately in this and other cases, but the fact that we’re having to deal with prosecutions against a former president (when so much legal and ceremonial power and authority is granted to them) is creating an unprecedented situation. Procedures are being defined and redefined as we watch, on how to deal with fascists in high places. We’re a living example of why democracy has to be actively preserved, not just put in place and looked at with admiration from afar.
She’s keeping her powder dry for the hearing on the not-a-gag-order on Oct. 16.
I guess Leonard Leo knows what he is doing, but delay doesn’t necessarily is the best strategy, a quick trial assuring Trump’s acquittal would help Trump more as he can further advance the narrative of the witch hunt.
I’m not so poor that I’d need a public defender, but I’m not at all rich either. Definitely not as rich as what tRump says he is. I still don’t think I’d get the same treatment.