January 6th legal proceedings and investigations megathread

[emailking]

Seems bad. Appeals court is going lightning speed but Trump can appeal en banc and then to SCOTUS with like 30 and 45 delays before "deciding" to do so, so the trial is most likely getting delayed now.

SCOTUS can easily decide to reject Cert in an appeal like they have done to many of Trump's petitions. Also being delayed doenst mean delayed past election.

A Trial in like August would be worse for Trump than a trial in March

True but the issue is Chutkan legally cannot continue preparations for the trial until these privileged appeals are finished, including the time he's allotted to decide whether he wants to appeal. So if I've mathed that right, even with instant decisions it's going to be mid March (after the trial start date) when it's back in her hands.

But yeah a delay of a few months might ultimately be worse for him. I think it also makes it even more certain he'll be the nominee.

[emailking]

I just wonder whether there's anything with regard to the trial or a possible verdict in conjunction with the timing of the election? Ergo, would the trial have to paused and/or the announcement of a verdict delayed when the election is just weeks away? Imagine a conviction around October 25 or so.

There's no law or existing policy that would require such, but it's ultimately up to the judge whether to delay for that reason. She has said his candidacy should have no effect on the proceedings so I don't think any such decision would come from her.

[emailking]

I don't see why the appeals court would be the weak link here. Smith got a favorable draw for the appeal and they're fast tracking that, the full court will likely fast track as well given its history of doing so. SCOTUS could take however long they want but they could still decide quickly. Just because they don't want to deviate from the normal process doesn't imply they want to slow walk it.

[emailking]

I've calmed down. It seems like a delay of 1-2 months or the summer at the most based on listening to several legal experts. There's also a possibility of no delay at all if the appeals court removes the stay which would allow Chutkan to restart trial preparations while SCOTUS appeal plays out.

[emailking]

Trump: ‘May they rot in Hell. Merry Christmas’

Former President Trump in an unusual Christmas message on Truth Social called for various people he sees as “looking to destroy” the nation to “rot in Hell.”

It was one of several Christmas messages on the former president’s preferred social media platform going after President Biden, special counsel Jack Smith and other political opponents throughout Monday.

The opponents included world leaders and people in favor of the use of electric cars.

“Merry Christmas to all, including Crooked Joe Biden’s ONLY HOPE, Deranged Jack Smith,” Trump began in a Truth Social post at 2:38 p.m. EST. 

Trump frequently describes Smith, who is prosecuting the former president over his actions connected to the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, as deranged. The Supreme Court just Friday said it would not immediately consider a request by Smith to make a determination on Trump’s insistence he is immune from prosecution because he was taking presidential actions at the time.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4376797-trump-may-they-rot-in-hell-merry-christmas/



Here are the Christmas posts in question.

JOE BIDEN’S MISFITS & THUGS, LIKE DERANGED JACK SMITH, ARE COMING AFTER ME. AT LEVELS OF PERSECUTION NEVER SEEN BEFORE IN OUR COUNTRY???

WHY DID THE UNSELECT JANUARY 6th COMMITTEE OF POLITICAL HACKS & THUGS ILLEGALLY DELETE & DESTROY ALL OF THE EVIDENCE THEY USED TO WRITE THEIR FAKE REPORT. WHY DO THEY NOT SHOW THAT I USED THE WORDS “PEACEFULLY & PATRIOTICALLY” IN MY SPEECH? THEY ACTUALLY PRETENDED THAT THESE WORDS WERE NEVER UTTERED. CROOKED POLITICS!!!

THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN, LIED TO CONGRESS, CHEATED ON FISA, RIGGED A PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, ALLOWED MILLIONS OF PEOPLE, MANY FROM PRISONS & MENTAL INSTITUTIONS, TO INVADE OUR COUNTRY, SCREWED UP IN AFGHANISTAN, & JOE BIDEN’S MISFITS & THUGS, LIKE DERANGED JACK SMITH, ARE COMING AFTER ME, AT LEVELS OF PERSECUTION NEVER SEEN BEFORE IN OUR COUNTRY??? IT’S CALLED ELECTION INTERFERENCE. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

[about 5 other similar Merry Christmas posts not included]

Merry Christmas to all, including Crooked Joe Biden’s ONLY HOPE, Deranged Jack Smith, the out of control Lunatic who just hired outside attorneys, fresh from the SWAMP (unprecedented!), to help him with his poorly executed WITCH HUNT against “TRUMP” and “MAGA.” Included also are World Leaders, both good and bad, but none of which are as evil and “sick” as the THUGS we have inside our Country who, with their Open Borders, INFLATION, Afghanistan Surrender, Green New Scam, High Taxes, No Energy Independence, Woke Military, Russia/Ukraine, Israel/Iran, All Electric Car Lunacy, and so much more, are looking to destroy our once great USA. MAY THEY ROT IN HELL. AGAIN, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

[emailking]

Trump tells Jack Smith to ‘go to hell’ as campaign prepares Supreme Court challenge
The former president’s legal team is expected to challenge a landmark Colorado ruling at the highest court

Donald Trump spent Christmas Day telling his perceived enemies to “rot in hell.” The next day, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president told the man leading federal investigations into his attempts to overturn 2020 election results and withhold classified documents to “go to hell”.

In the middle of a posting spree on his Truth Social account, Mr Trump launched familiar attacks at special counsel Jack Smith, suggested his appointment is unconstitutional, and repeated his conspiracy theory that the multiple criminal indictments and lawsuits against him are coordinated by his rival President Joe Biden to keep him out of office.

“Biden’s Flunky, Deranged Jack Smith, should go to HELL,” Mr Trump wrote on Tuesday.

The former president’s latest screed against the special counsel comes days after the US Supreme Court rejected Mr Smith’s request to fast-track a hearing on whether Mr Trump can claim “presidential immunity” as a legitimate defence in his federal election conspiracy case.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-jack-smith-supreme-court-hell-b2469713.html



Here is the go to hell post.

Biden’s Flunky, Deranged Jack Smith, should go to HELL. He is helping his Corrupt and Incompetent President to destroy America through Weaponization and ELECTION INTERFERENCE! Smith is a Crooked Prosecutor who shouldn’t even be allowed to be in the position he is in—It is Prosecutorial Misconduct. The Great Ed Meese from the Ronald Reagan Era has him figured perfectly! https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/12/20/jack-smiths-special-counsel-appointment-is-unconstitutional-former-attorney-general-tells-supreme-court/

[emailking]

Special counsel Jack Smith seeks to block Trump from making 'political attacks' during trial
Smith also asked the court to prohibit Trump from blaming law enforcement for the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Special counsel Jack Smith filed a motion Wednesday in Donald Trump’s federal election interference case seeking to block him from making political arguments and referring to conspiracy theories during the trial.

“The Court should not permit the defendant to turn the courtroom into a forum in which he propagates irrelevant disinformation, and should reject his attempt to inject politics into this proceeding,” the filing reads.

Smith asked the court to prohibit Trump from advancing "a theory of selective or vindictive prosecution or to otherwise improperly inject politics into the trial."

Smith pointed to Trump's arguments that he is only being prosecuted for political reasons.

...

Additionally, Smith seeks to have the court prohibit Trump from telling the jury arguments he's made publicly that others are to blame for the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, "including law enforcement, military forces, unidentified secret agents, and foreign influence."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/special-counsel-jack-smith-seeks-block-trump-making-political-attacks-rcna131303

[emailking]

Recordings, emails show how Trump team flew fake elector ballots to DC in final push to overturn 2020 election

Two days before the January 6 insurrection, the Trump campaign’s plan to use fake electors to block President-elect Joe Biden from taking office faced a potentially crippling hiccup: The fake elector certificates from two critical battleground states were stuck in the mail.

So, Trump campaign operatives scrambled to fly copies of the phony certificates from Michigan and Wisconsin to the nation’s capital, relying on a haphazard chain of couriers, as well as help from two Republicans in Congress, to try to get the documents to then-Vice President Mike Pence while he presided over the Electoral College certification.

...

The new details provide a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the chaotic last-minute effort to keep Donald Trump in office. The fake electors scheme features prominently in special counsel Jack Smith’s criminal indictment against the former president, and some of the officials who were involved have spoken to Smith’s investigators.

The emails and recordings also indicate that a top Trump campaign lawyer was part of 11th-hour discussions about delivering the fake elector certificates to Pence, potentially undercutting his testimony to the House select committee that investigated January 6 that he had passed off responsibility...

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/28/politics/recordings-trump-team-fake-elector-ballots/index.html

[emailking]

Trump's immunity and double jeopardy appeals are in a privileged class that can be heard pretrial. Venue is not.

[emailking]

I think the logic is he should not have to be bothered with a trial if he is right about being immune. Not because it's more efficient to do the appeals pre-trial.

[emailking]

https://twitter.com/AWeissmann_/status/1742593412149174499

https://twitter.com/AWeissmann_/status/1742613580468326707

[emailking]

Trump team seeks to grind D.C. election interference trial to a complete stop
Trump's lawyers want the special counsel to be held in contempt for providing them with discovery material and filing motions ahead of deadlines.

Attorneys for former President Donald Trump are once again pushing to delay his federal election interference trial, telling a judge that special counsel Jack Smith and federal prosecutors should be held in contempt for filing motions ahead of deadlines and continuing to provide Trump's team with discovery.

John Lauro — a Trump attorney who has argued that Trump's election interference trial should be delayed until 2026 — filed a motion Thursday calling for the special counsel to be held in contempt for what Lauro called an "unlawful" production of discovery, accusing federal prosecutors of "partisan-driven misconduct."

...

Lauro argues that Smith cannot keep filing because U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan paused proceedings in the case in December while an appeals court considers Trump's contention that he can't be prosecuted because of presidential immunity, though the March 4 trial date is still on the books.

...

There was nothing in the order that barred federal prosecutors from continuing to proactively provide discovery or file motions even though the deadlines were lifted.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/trump-team-seeks-grind-dc-election-interference-trial-complete-stop-rcna132257

[emailking]

Opinion: This surprise argument could derail Trump's effort to delay the Jan. 6 trial

As all eyes watched every word filed by Donald Trump and federal prosecutors ahead of next week’s crucial arguments on immunity, a third party slipped in the side door with a brief that may dramatically foil the former president’s efforts to leverage the issue for maximum delay.

The watchdog organization American Oversight, which is not a party to the case, successfully petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to accept its friend-of-the-court brief on the ground that it provides a “unique perspective.”

Indeed it does. The brief makes the apparently compelling argument that the court shouldn’t be hearing this appeal at all because it lacks jurisdiction — that is, the power to consider it in the first place. If the court agrees, it would mean dismissing the appeal and returning the case to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, abruptly aborting Trump’s best opportunity to delay the federal Jan. 6 trial.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/opinion-this-surprise-argument-could-derail-trump-s-effort-to-delay-the-jan-6-trial/ar-AA1mqH16

[emailking]

Special counsel probe uncovers new details about Trump's inaction on Jan. 6: Sources
Aides allegedly said Trump was "not interested" in doing more to stop the riot.

Special counsel Jack Smith's team has uncovered previously undisclosed details about former President Donald Trump's refusal to help stop the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol three years ago as he sat watching TV inside the White House, according to sources familiar with what Smith's team has learned during its Jan. 6 probe.

Many of the exclusive details come from the questioning of Trump's former deputy chief of staff, Dan Scavino, who first started working for Trump as a teenager three decades ago and is now a paid senior adviser to Trump's reelection campaign...

...

Sources said Scavino told Smith's investigators that as the violence began to escalate that day, Trump "was just not interested" in doing more to stop it.

Sources also said former Trump aide Nick Luna told federal investigators that when Trump was informed that then-Vice President Mike Pence had to be rushed to a secure location, Trump responded, "So what?" -- which sources said Luna saw as an unexpected willingness by Trump to let potential harm come to a longtime loyalist.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/special-counsel-probe-uncovers-new-details-trumps-inaction/story?id=106131854


A couple key takeaways. The tweet about Mike Pence didn't do his job (led to the calls to hang him) came from Trump's thumbs. The tweet calling for the rioters to stay peaceful was sent by Scavino.

[emailking]

The arguments for the appeal for trump's immunity & DJ claims before the Circuit Court are tomorrow at 9:30 AM Eastern. Audio will be streamed live here:

https://www.c-span.org/video/?532581-1/dc-circuit-court-oral-arguments-president-trumps-immunity-claims

Trump is planning to attend the hearing.

[emailking]

Tanya Chutkan, the judge overseeing Trump's federal election interference case, appears to be victim of 'swatting'
Police and fire trucks responded to reports of a shooting at Chutkan's home, but police determined no shooting had taken place.

Police and fire trucks showed up Sunday night at the house of Tanya Chutkan, the federal judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s election interference case after she appeared to be the target of an attempted "swatting" attack.

Police confirmed to NBC News that they responded to false reports of a shooting at a house that a witness identified as Chutkan's home. A law enforcement official also confirmed that it was Chutkan’s home and that she was home when police arrived at her residence.

A police report obtained by NBC News said that officers with the Metropolitan Police Department responded to a call just after 10 p.m. ET that referenced a shooting that occurred at the location. Once authorities arrived at the scene, an unnamed subject said she "was not injured and that there was no one in her home."

Police "determined no shooting took place," a police spokesperson told NBC News. It's unclear from where or from whom the call to emergency services originated.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/tanya-chutkan-judge-overseeing-trumps-federal-election-interference-ca-rcna132856

[emailking]

Really hope they catch these *******.

[emailking]

There's been an upsurge in swatting against public figures recently.

[emailking]

The Court brought this up yesterday, in the impeachment trial he argued now is when he would be accountable, but now he is arguing is that impeachment was the time when he could have been held accountable.

[emailking]

From what I've been hearing from him on TV, his position is basically that if the if the decision is unanimous with 1 opinion and it's done really well then SCOTUS may not want to even bother with this. And not that I've hear him say this, but I think Trump's lawyer arguing that the President can have opponents assassinated and be immune* makes it even less likely that SCOTUS wants to get in the muck on this, they can just let the Circuit opinion stand.

*without impeachment & conviction

[emailking]

Jack Smith Can Access Trump’s Twitter DMs, Court Rules

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Twitter’s appeal of a previous ruling that gave Special Counsel Jack Smith access to former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account—without telling him—as part of Smith’s election interference investigation.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2024/01/16/jack-smith-can-have-trumps-twitter-dms-court-rules

[emailking]

Judge rejects Trump request to hold Jack Smith in contempt in election interference case
Earlier this month, attorneys for Trump asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to hold Smith in contempt for filing motions ahead of deadlines.

The judge overseeing the federal election interference case against former President Donald Trump has rejected his request to hold special counsel Jack Smith and his office in contempt.

Earlier this month, attorneys for Trump asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to hold Smith in contempt for filing motions while the case is stayed pending Trump’s appeal on presidential immunity grounds.

Chutkan, however, said in her opinion and order Thursday that she agrees with Trump that Smith’s filings place a "cognizable" burden on him, and that although it was "not a major burden" for Trump's team to have to review Smith's filings, and that she would now forbid the special counsel from making substantive pretrial motions without permission going forward.

Chutkan has ordered that both parties be required to seek her permission before filing additional pre-trial motions while the stay order remains in effect.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/judge-trump-election-interference-case-declines-hold-special-counsel-j-rcna134536

[emailking]

I don't know. But here is what Weissman thinks, pulling from several comments he's given about this. Keep in mind this decision will either have to stand the test of time as it may be referred to many similar cases in the future, or it will be reviewed by SCOTUS. Either case they want it to be bullet proof. Moreover, while all 3 judges think his argument is BS, it seemed from the orals arguments they have different rationales in getting there, and they may be trying very hard to get a single unanimous decision which makes it less likely SCOTUS will want to take the case.

[emailking]

Yes if it's not tonight then next week or they're really putting March 5 in Jeopardy, even if they release the stay.

[emailking]

Trump’s DC Judge Signals Delay Likely in Jan. 6 Trial by Scheduling a Different Case for April
With progress toward trial in the Washington, DC election-subversion case against former President Donald Trump on pause, the judge overseeing the case has added a different trial to her spring calendar

The federal judge presiding over the Washington, D.C. election-subversion case against Donald Trump has scheduled a different case for trial in her courtroom this spring, signaling potential delays in the trial of the former president.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Wednesday entered an order scheduling the trial of alleged Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack participant Anthony Mastanduno to begin on April, 2, 2024. Mastanduno has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Trump is charged with four federal felonies in the case alleging he obstructed the 2020 presidential election and has pleaded not guilty to all charges. His trial is scheduled to begin on March 4.

https://themessenger.com/politics/trump-chutkan-trial-date-jack-smith-washington-dc-election-case