(4 minute 30 second read)
Wow!
After reading the DOJ filing to the court “wow” is the perfect word to use. What is painfully obvious is that Trump’s attorneys were in way over their heads. It’s never a good look when the opposing lawyers, in this case the DOJ, correct your work. If anything, the submissions to the court that Trump’s lawyers have made make things worse for Trump and themselves. I suppose Trump can always appeal any verdict on the grounds that he had incompetent representation. His lawyers would respond that they were only doing what he wanted. If you haven’t read the DOJ filing, you should.[1] It isn’t a difficult read. I did have to look up a few words and legal definitions.
Not a big deal.
Similar/not similar
There were similarities to the case that I filed against a labor union and the filings made by Trump’s lawyers in at least one regard.[2] The bombastic, hyperbolic language used was there for people other than the court to read. (i.e. the target audience was people other than a judge or judges.) In the union the target was the supporters of the union administrative caucus. In Trump’s case the target audience was his supporters.
Trump plays the victim to his supporters at every opportunity AND he has lots of opportunities since he doesn’t work for a living. He, along with men and women like Senator Lindsey Graham, raise the specter of riots and civil war on a regular basis. His supporters threaten violence in social media and in real life. The threat of violence from his base is pervasive. It’s what they do.
Will it work?
History speaks to us.
We’ve never had a President or Vice President convicted and sent to jail. Trump would be the first. It’s also true that we’ve never had an insurrection at our Capitol before, always had a peaceful transition of power, never had a President stage a coup to try and overturn the results of an election either. We are living in unusual times.
Spiro Agnew, Vice President under Nixon and also a crook, came the closest to going to jail.[3] He ended up resigning as VP and pled no contest to a felony charge of tax evasion. As a part of his plea bargain, he served no time. Agnew had taken kickbacks up to and including while he was VP. Tawdry.
IMHO Trump is never going to go to jail. Whether he should or not will be immaterial. Now, just to be clear, in view of what he has done just regarding handling classified documents he and others should be charged and do time. Other people ARE likely to be charged and do time. The lawyer that signed the paper maintaining that there were no more classified documents in Trump’s possession comes to mind. Some may be granted immunity for their testimony. (Keep in mind that the DOJ says that they have multiple witnesses.) But to the main point I don’t think that Trump will ever do a day inside a federal prison.
Our political system isn’t set up for that.
Circle the wagons!
Prior to and after President Nixon resigning from office to avoid being impeached and found guilty in the Senate, people from top to bottom were making the case that he should go to prison.[4] People were then just as today maintaining that what Nixon did wasn’t wrong, including members of Congress that would not have voted to impeach him. We have a far different playing field today.
What Trump can do, and he is a master at doing, is drag out the proceedings in court as much as he can for as long as he can. He’s been involved in thousands of lawsuits. And yes, I mean thousands.[5] Justice delayed is justice denied.
Not always!
How’s that happen?
After President Nixon, aka Tricky Dick, resigned from office the new President Ford pardoned him of any and all crimes while in office.[6] Ford, as a member of Congress before he was appointed VP, would not have voted to impeach Nixon either. (Interesting side note. Ford is the only person never to be elected to the offices of Vice President or President. Ford was appointed VP to fill the vacancy left when Agnew resigned and became President when Nixon resigned. He lost his first attempt at being elected.) Those unique circumstances don’t exist today. The Trump Party isn’t in charge.
Yet.
What does justice look like?
So, what does happen should Trump end up being charged? What an incredible circus just figuring out the physical logistics would be and we have no idea of what the cost would be. What court would have jurisdiction? How will a judge and unbiased jury be found? Where would the trial be held? How many in the country accepted the not guilty verdict in the O. J. Simpson trial? What would be next?
Is a fair trial even possible? A big question is if Trump were to be tried and found guilty would President Biden pardon him for the good of the nation?
If Trump is charged that would certainly qualify as another first. MAGA heads will NEVER believe that the man is guilty of anything. Just like when Trump ran for office saying he would only accept the vote as being legal if he won. However, I believe that the majority of the country would accept a guilty verdict. Whatever happens, with Trump involved, we can count on a lot of chaos.
It’s going to be a three-ring circus.
[1] https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/22272789/doj-response-to-trump-special-master.pdf
[2] https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Published/991621.P.pdf
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiro_Agnew
[4] https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/house-begins-impeachment-of-nixon
[5] https://www.nickiswift.com/254813/heres-how-many-lawsuits-donald-trump-faced-during-his-presidency/
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford
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