FL - Former President Donald Trump indicted, 40 counts to classified documents and obstruction of justice, June 2023, Trial May 2024

[sds71]

@AnnaBower

NEW: Special Counsel Jack Smith seeks to limit disclosure of discovery related to classified docs case. Among the reasons: The materials “include information pertaining to ongoing investigations… which could compromise those investigations and identify uncharged individuals.”

 

[Smelly Squirrel]

Nauta would be a fool not to make a deal and flip Trump. I'd like to think prosecutors and Nauta would keep the deal confidential right up until trial. moo

Well, Weiselberg chose prison rather than flipping on Trump.

 

[Elliot_Alderson]

lol @ Biden Crime Family. I've lived in Delaware, minutes from the Bidens, my whole life and it's ridiculous he puts the whole family on blast like that. Lets be honest, Hunter is a stupid idiot but Beau was Attorney General and he was awesome. DT is the master of whatboutism. JMO

 

[MyBelle]

Well, Weiselberg chose prison rather than flipping on Trump.

Weiselberg accepted a plea deal that included prison. I'm betting if Bragg puts on the pressure, he'll testify against Trump and so will Nauta.

JMO

Trump Ally Could Face Perjury Charge if He Doesn’t Cooperate With D.A.

After bringing charges against former President Donald J. Trump, the Manhattan district attorney’s office is once again investigating Allen H. Weisselberg, 75.

www.nytimes.com

 

[SouthAussie]

RSBM

“There was an unwritten rule” to not prosecute former presidents and political rivals, Trump told supporters in a speech at his golf club in New Jersey.

I have never heard of that unwritten rule. Everything I have read says the unwritten rule is that presidents are not charged while they are in office.

"The U.S. Justice Department has a decades-old policy that a sitting president cannot be indicted"
Trump Russia Indictment Explainer

I guess what DT is trying to project (and, hence, make one of his 'facts') is that a president shouldn't be charged EVER. Not while he is in office. Not when he leaves office. No matter what he does.

 

[musicaljoke]

I have never heard of that unwritten rule. Everything I have read says the unwritten rule is that presidents are not charged while they are in office.

"The U.S. Justice Department has a decades-old policy that a sitting president cannot be indicted"
Trump Russia Indictment Explainer

I guess what DT is trying to project (and, hence, make one of his 'facts') is that a president shouldn't be charged EVER. Not while he is in office. Not when he leaves office. No matter what he does.

Presidents should be charged while in office, if warranted. Perhaps that law needs to change.

 

[10ofRods]

Presidents should be charged while in office, if warranted. Perhaps that law needs to change.

It's not even a law. It's just an Executive Branch policy (the Justice Department). Needs to be reframed, I believe. And I believe Biden has the power to do that, although obviously, this might not be the right moment.

imo

 

[SouthAussie]

Presidents should be charged while in office, if warranted. Perhaps that law needs to change.

If that unwritten policy changes, they will need to change the presidential pardon scheme also.

Because, I think, that is why DT is so frantic to get back into office. Self-pardon, self-preservation.

 

[MyBelle]

Trump's promise of payback for prosecution follows years of attacking democratic traditions

Donald Trump’s attacks on the justice system after his indictment on federal charges this week are the latest step in a now eight-year campaign by the former president and his allies against the traditions and institutions that have helped maintain American democracy.

apnews.com

As Donald Trump became the first former president to face federal charges, he and his supporters went through a familiar routine of mounting a victimhood defense in the face of unprecedented allegations of wrongdoing. But this time, the stakes are higher.

Trump upped the level of his claims and threats as he faces the potential of years in prison if convicted on 37 charges of obstruction, illegal retention of defense information and other violations. Hours after pleading not guilty, Trump claimed he is being targeted by the special prosecutor, who is nonpartisan, for political reasons and vowed to retaliate against President Joe Biden if he is elected president in 2024.

“There was an unwritten rule” to not prosecute former presidents and political rivals, Trump told supporters in a speech at his golf club in New Jersey. “I will appoint a real special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president in the history of America, Joe Biden, and go after the Biden crime family.”...

Apparently the idiot has forgotten about the Presidential pardon given to Richard Nixon by Gerald Ford.

JMO

 

[MyBelle]

If that unwritten policy changes, they will need to change the presidential pardon scheme also.

Because, I think, that is why DT is so frantic to get back into office. Self-pardon, self-preservation.

I think you are right and that is the reason he's desperately trying to get Bragg's indictment into federal court.

JMO

 

[SouthAussie]

Apparently the idiot has forgotten about the Presidential pardon given to Richard Nixon by Gerald Ford.

JMO

I was reading an opinion piece yesterday that said that Biden should pardon Trump (should DT be found guilty of Espionage charges), as long as we can be sure that military secrets did not get into other hands.

I don't think we can even be sure that NARA has all the presidential (and military) documents now. Not with the way DT liked to travel with some of his beautiful mind boxes.


This isn't the exact article, I can't find it again at the moment, but it is similar. And there are a number of other opinion articles out there that have the same opinion.

If Donald Trump is convicted, President Joe Biden should pardon him​

 

[Arkay]

If that unwritten policy changes, they will need to change the presidential pardon scheme also.

Because, I think, that is why DT is so frantic to get back into office. Self-pardon, self-preservation.

That, yes, but also because if he can sneak his way back to the presidency, he will be in charge of the DOJ and can poof away the whole case.

Which is why I dearly hope the case is over before the next election, if God forbid he should win again and wave his magic wand.

 

[MyBelle]

I was reading an opinion piece yesterday that said that Biden should pardon Trump (should DT be found guilty of Espionage charges), as long as we can be sure that military secrets did not get into other hands.

I don't think we can even be sure that NARA has all the presidential (and military) documents now. Not with the way DT liked to travel with some of his beautiful mind boxes.


This isn't the exact article, I can't find it again at the moment, but it is similar. And there are a number of other opinion articles out there that have the same opinion.

If Donald Trump is convicted, President Joe Biden should pardon him​

Gerald Ford was vilified--and he lost the election--because of the Nixon pardon. Years later, he received the Kennedy award. But what Trump has done is far more serious than Watergate. He's a corrupt businessman, corrupt politician, a liar without any moral compass. I don't see many wanting to give him a "get out of jail free" card.

JMO

Ford Wins Kennedy Award For 'Courage' of Nixon Pardon (Published 2001)

Former president, Gerald R Ford, overwhelmingly condemned in 1974 for pardoning his predecessor Richard M Nixon, is honored for act by John F Kennedy Library with its Profile in Courage award; Caroline Kennedy, daughter of Pres John F Kennedy, praises Ford; says he proved that politics can be...

www.nytimes.com

 

[SouthAussie]

That, yes, but also because if he can sneak his way back to the presidency, he will be in charge of the DOJ and can poof away the whole case.

Which is why I dearly hope the case is over before the next election, if God forbid he should win again and wave his magic wand.

If the US becomes an autocracy like that, I think it will cease to be a leader of the free and democratic world.

The Espionage charges already have the world's attention. And our politicians are staying quiet, which is significant. It is about National Security, for us (and for the US and others).



A classified document relating to an intelligence-sharing alliance of which Australia is a member was allegedly among documents in the former president Mar-A-Lago estate.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong was tight-lipped about the revelation when questioned over the weekend, stating the Five Eyes intelligence alliance was “important” but refused to comment further.
Aussie link to secret file ‘found at Trump’s resort’

 

[TootsieFootsie]

That part about trump not liking others "going through" HIS boxes really freaked me out.

I can't recall what post it was, but I took it to mean that it was before any boxes were legally taken back.
And that it wasn't those who were trying to get them back to where they should have been in the first place.

It made it sound like anyone could have looked at the boxes and that there was no system in place to restrict access.

So who was it at Mar-a-Lago who was interested in this going through the boxes.

Was it staff, family or anyone who happened to visit. Or just Trump, although it sounds that others were "going through" them.

I can imagine Trump wanting to have a look and maybe keep anything with his photo on and anything that he thought showed him in a good light.

And other stuff that he thought might impress people.

Or maybe I misunderstood and the ones he meant who were going through the boxes were the authorities ?

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I can imagine Trump wanting to have a look and maybe keep anything with his photo on and anything that he thought showed him in a good light.

On the other hand, what if one of the documents wasn't as fawning as he would like.
Would he have just left it there...

 

[anneg]

That part about trump not liking others "going through" HIS boxes really freaked me out.

I can't recall what post it was, but I took it to mean that it was before any boxes were legally taken back.
And that it wasn't those who were trying to get them back to where they should have been in the first place.

It made it sound like anyone could have looked at the boxes and that there was no system in place to restrict access.

So who was it at Mar-a-Lago who was interested in this going through the boxes.

Was it staff, family or anyone who happened to visit. Or just Trump, although it sounds that others were "going through" them.

I can imagine Trump wanting to have a look and maybe keep anything with his photo on and anything that he thought showed him in a good light.

And other stuff that he thought might impress people.

Or maybe I misunderstood and the ones he meant who were going through the boxes were the authorities ?

I think he was talking about not wanting his lawyers to look through the boxes for classified material.

From The Washington Post:
On May 11, 2022, a federal grand jury subpoenaed Trump to produce all classified material in his possession. Eleven days later, Nauta entered the Mar-a-Lago storage room and emerged 34 minutes later with one of the boxes of White House material, the indictment says. The next day, May 23, two of Trump’s lawyers met with the former president at the club. The attorneys told Trump they needed to search through his boxes to identify any classified material, which had to be handed over to the feds.

The indictment says that one of the lawyers, identified by people with knowledge of the investigation as Evan Corcoran, “memorialized” the session. Corcoran quoted Trump telling his attorneys, “I don’t want anybody looking through my boxes, I really don’t … What happens if we just don’t respond at all or don’t play ball with them?”

Trump went on: “Wouldn’t it be better if we just told them we don’t have anything here? … Look, isn’t it better if there are no documents?”

 

[Amonet]

I was reading an opinion piece yesterday that said that Biden should pardon Trump (should DT be found guilty of Espionage charges), as long as we can be sure that military secrets did not get into other hands.

I don't think we can even be sure that NARA has all the presidential (and military) documents now. Not with the way DT liked to travel with some of his beautiful mind boxes.


This isn't the exact article, I can't find it again at the moment, but it is similar. And there are a number of other opinion articles out there that have the same opinion.

If Donald Trump is convicted, President Joe Biden should pardon him​

Pardoning would definitely be preferable to Trump dying in prison. I might wait until three months into his sentence, or commute to six months house arrest or something though, in order that there still be a real sense of punishment for something done wrong.

 

[branmuffin]

If Trump is convicted of any of the charges that have significant prison sentences, I think it would be madness to exonerate him. As a Canadian, I've always thought that the US has a much more punitive justice system than many other industrialized, democratic nations. It is retributive rather than rehabilitative. I don't think Donald Trump is capable of being rehabilitated. He's a 77 year old malignant narcissist who plays the victim to his marks.

A pardon should be out of the question but a lengthy prison sentence should be, too. Perhaps DJT could spend one month in a federal prison where he becomes a number instead of the former president, then he can have his sentence commuted by the sitting President.

It would satisfy the bedrock of the American Justice System but with an ironic twist. In normal criminal cases, a crime against an individual is a crime against the State, however Trump has allegedly committed a crime against the State which in essence is a crime against every single American.

 

[d0lphin]

Pardoning would definitely be preferable to Trump dying in prison. I might wait until three months into his sentence, or commute to six months house arrest or something though, in order that there still be a real sense of punishment for something done wrong.

As a UK citizen, I don't understand why a pardon would be preferable to him dying in prison. Do you mean because of the reaction of the MAGAs? Personally I think that life imprisonment would be a fitting punishment, but as I said, I'm not from the USA so I may be misunderstanding.