The case against Trump is complicated...

[Septua]

..beyond my comprehension.

But if the Department of Justice starts assertively mounting a criminal investigation of Trump, it could create delays in other Jan. 6-related trials because defense attorneys for hundreds of defendants could demand access to much of the evidence against Trump as part of the discovery process.


“It’s messy. It’s a headache. And it’s a huge undertaking,” said Pace University law professor Bennett Gershman, a leading expert on so-called discovery practices in criminal cases.

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/18/probe-trump-existing-jan-6-cases-00046274

[greymattermom]

1. We await two women with easier cases.

My bet is that Fani Willis will be first, followed shortly by Tish James.

[PJMcK]

22. Let's not forget E. Jean Carroll

Her case is going to see a courtroom very soon. If the DNA matches, Trump will be in a new kind of trouble.

[sarcasmo]

2. Politico should have called this piece, Trump is above the law.

[gab13by13]

3. I am tired of hearing the "discovery" excuse.

The entire world is aware of the evidence.

[Fiendish Thingy]

10. I know, you'd rather throw caution to the wind and risk acquittals or dismissals.

While convicting Trump is the ultimate goal, we need to put enough of the coup architects in prison that no wannabe fascists ever contemplate a coup again.

I’m fine with focusing on Meadows, Eastman, Clark, et al in the immediate future, with the goal of flipping one or more against Trump.

In the meantime, Fani Willis can keep Trump soiling his Depends, without triggering discovery issues for DOJ.

[Septua]

13. Risking acquittals

Trump tried to overthrow the government...and continues to perpetuate the rigged election bullshit while the states are trying to take unfettered control of the election counting. It is an extraordinary attack on democracy that has to be confronted.

If 12 jurors can't agree to convict, so be it. People need to know coups d' état are not permissible.

[Fiendish Thingy]

21. You don't think a rushed indictment leading to acquittal would strengthen Trump?

Putting people in prison is a far better deterrent to fascist coups than indictments that briefly dominate the news cycles, but end up with acquittals and cries of “exoneration!”

[gab13by13]

15. I just repeat what people like Laurence Tribe say,

he said Garland can wait and gather more evidence to make his case against Trump stronger but let's not make perfection the enemy of good. Tribe stated that time is not on Garland's side.

Bringing a solid case to trial and not getting a conviction does not mean the prosecution failed. It did its best and laid out its case for the American people to decide. 30% of the population believes that Trump did nothing wrong. With that statistic in mind DOJ should never attempt to bring Trump to trial.

[Fiendish Thingy]

20. Tribe's comments were balanced and measured, and he has recently expressed faith

That Garland will do the right thing in prosecuting Trump.

Using their deliberate, methodical approach to investigations and prosecutions, DOJ has a 97% conviction rate. I’d like to see that continue.

It’s not DOJ’s job to do it’s best, lay out it’s case, and “let the American People decide”; that would be politicizing a prosecution. DOJ’s job is to gather all relevant evidence, present it coherently, and obtain a unanimous guilty verdict from 12 jurors.

[Hotler]

4. "It's messy. It's a headache. And it's a huge undertaking," Can you imagine Patton saying that about

about the D-Day invasion.?

[Chainfire]

6. Patton?

[Hotler]

7. I'm missing this....

[Chainfire]

8. Patton had little to do with D-day.

His part of the invasion was as a decoy, a general commanding an army of rubber tanks in England. The general the OP was looking for was probably Eisenhower. Is it important? Probably not to most people.

[Hotler]

11. I used Patton because he was a kick ass guy and would not have said

anything like that. Neither would Eisenhower. Poor sarcasm on my part. Sorry

[Firestorm49]

14. No sweat, Hotler. We all got the point.

[Fiendish Thingy]

9. Patton didn't have to worry about due process

Neither do fascists.

[Chainfire]

5. So if we need to decide who to go after first

why couldn't it be the Generals instead of the privates? That whole argument sounds like BS to me.

[gab13by13]

17. Garland is being criticized because he used the pyramid prosecution,

He spent too much time prosecuting pawns while delaying even investigating the generals.

It would have been better had Garland used the wheel with spokes and a hub prosecution, just like the J6 committee did its investigations. It is possible that a Proud Boy or Oath Keeper could flip on Stone or Bannon, but no way it gets up to Trump from the mob.

Eastman could flip, Clark could flip but when would their trials happen? 2004? 2005. A Trump trial will never happen until late 2004 or 2005.

Fani Willis will even be pushing it to get Trump to trial before her term expires on Dec. 31st, 2024.

[Novara]

19. https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/07/16/what-doj-was-doing-while-everyone-was-whinging-doj-wasnt-doing

July 21, 2022: Merrick Garland suggests that those who claim DOJ should, but is not, doing a hub-and-spoke investigation are speculating, and calls the investigation “the most wide-ranging” investigation that the Justice Department has ever entered into.

From: https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/07/16/what-doj-was-doing-while-everyone-was-whinging-doj-wasnt-doing-anything/

[edhopper]

12. We won't prosecute

because Trump committed too many crimes?

WTF???

[jcgoldie]

16. He's too guilty

It's complicated.

[Novara]

18. fuck Politico

Most of the time they produce crap. This is one of those times. They are forgetting the reason most prosecutors start at the bottom and work their way up. Little people have more to lose by not cooperating and they have the dirt on those at the top of the crime syndicate.

For every "expert" they can find to say that the orange fuck will never be prosecuted, you can find two who say he will. None of them knows what the DOJ is doing. This is only opinion. Learn to separate opinion from facts and act accordingly.

Remember that the DOJ hired hundreds of lawyers to go after all the little people. They've already arrested more than 840. A quarter of those have been convicted so far. Getting through hundreds of prosecutions takes time.

Meanwhile, you can bet that the DOJ is working on Meadows and others much closer to the top.

[Justice matters.]

23. Should have started from the top down...

Could have subpoenaed the inner-circle to come appear in front of a DC GJ and identify cooperators for plea deals.

It's not like Hutchinson would have pleaded the 5th herself.

[jmowreader]

24. We couldn't have "started at the top"

About the only people Trump pays are the ones who keep him out of prison. This means if we want him to go to jail, the case we build against him has to be better than airtight. How we get there is by imprisoning the lower-level people around Trump