January 6th legal proceedings and investigations megathread

[GeorgiaModerate]

Trump's rants are the epitome of fear itself.

One of the most interesting fields of legal play here, as to Trump's state of mind, is that Trump is going to contend that he relied on the legal advice of Eastman about the rogue elector scheme. And then there are the parade of lawyers who told Trump that Eastman was nuts. How does the attorney client privilege play out here?

I've seen some commentary that says if Trump wants to raise an advice-of-counsel defense, he'd have to get on the stand and testify, and there's zero chance his lawyers will let him do that.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Is Trump trying to get the judge to detain him and play the martyr card?

[GeorgiaModerate]

THERE IS NO WAY I CAN GET A FAIR TRIAL WITH THE JUDGE “ASSIGNED” TO THE RIDICULOUS FREEDOM OF SPEECH/FAIR ELECTIONS CASE. EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS, AND SO DOES SHE! WE WILL BE IMMEDIATELY ASKING FOR RECUSAL OF THIS JUDGE ON VERY POWERFUL GROUNDS, AND LIKEWISE FOR VENUE CHANGE, OUT IF D.C.

^ Trump saying there's very powerful grounds to remove the judge. Also several other all caps paragraphs this morning and also said Pelosi is a witch and will go to hell someday.

My 7th great aunt was the most famous of American witches, and a very fine person. Pelosi may be a witch, but she is not going to hell.

Has any Pub politician ever got a change of venue out of DC for crimes committed in DC because DC has too many Dems? That obnoxious lawyer of his doing the media rounds spinning like a top played the West Virginia card on Face the Nation today. Why WV? Because it is representative of the entire nation. That is what he actually said. Who knew?

It may well represent the mythical nation that exists in the minds of Trump and his supporters.

Fun facts from the Census Bureau (July 1, 2022 population estimates; numbers will not sum to 100% due to some people in multiple categories):

DC: 46.2% White, 45.0% Black, 11.7% Hispanic, 4.7% Asian

WV: 92.8% White, 3.7% Black, 2.1% Hispanic, 0.7% Asian

Guess which one the Trump lawyer said is more diverse?

[GeorgiaModerate]

I doubt Trump would be in the courtroom though; he'd probably get a waiver to be in the field campainging during trial

Donald Trump's attorney called for the upcoming January 6 trial against the former president to be televised, arguing Americans deserve to see the proceedings.

Attorney John Lauro made the argument during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday" with host Shannon Bream. Lauro argued that prosecutors and President Biden's administration as a whole are seeking to withhold information from the public by sticking to the tradition of not having cameras in federal courtrooms.

"Would you be OK – would the president support – a televised trial?" Bream asked. "It would have to go through all sorts of hoops and rule changes and those kinds of things, but let the American people see every minute of it and decide for themselves."

"I personally would love to see that," Lauro responded. "I'm convinced the Biden administration does not want the American people to see the truth. They acted on it by filing this protective order, which is an effort to keep important information about this case from the press."

"I'm shocked, actually, that all the networks haven't lined up and filed pleadings already objecting to this very broad attempt by the Biden administration to keep information away from the American people," he added.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-attorney-calls-jan-6-151848412.html

I find it extremely unlikely that the judge would allow Trump to be absent during his trial.  I do agree that televising the trial is in the public's interest.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1688995093267480576

* Stocks up on popcorn *

[GeorgiaModerate]

More evidence of the obvious that Trump hates America.

Imagine if a Democrat said what he did right there.

Or most Republicans.  It would be a campaign-ending gaffe for any other candidate, but for Trump it's just a day ending in "y".

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/jamiegangel/status/1689360873750478848

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1689696118441967616

[GeorgiaModerate]

The local crystal balls seem to be converging on a Tuesday indictment in the Fulton County case.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1690011453984497664

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1690016534008057856

The judge seems determined to treat Trump like any other criminal defendant, which is good news for the rule of law.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Judge Chutkan for SCOUTS. This woman has made it crystal clear that she is not one to be f***ed with and she does not suffer fools.

Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts?

[GeorgiaModerate]

Atlanta-area prosecutors investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia are in possession of text messages and emails directly connecting members of Donald Trump’s legal team to the early January 2021 voting system breach in Coffee County, sources tell CNN.
...
Investigators in the Georgia criminal probe have long suspected the breach was not an organic effort sprung from sympathetic Trump supporters in rural and heavily Republican Coffee County – a county Trump won by nearly 70% of the vote. They have gathered evidence indicating it was a top-down push by Trump’s team to access sensitive voting software, according to people familiar with the situation.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/13/politics/coffee-county-georgia-voting-system-breach-trump/index.html

[GeorgiaModerate]

Atlanta-area prosecutors investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia are in possession of text messages and emails directly connecting members of Donald Trump’s legal team to the early January 2021 voting system breach in Coffee County, sources tell CNN.
...
Investigators in the Georgia criminal probe have long suspected the breach was not an organic effort sprung from sympathetic Trump supporters in rural and heavily Republican Coffee County – a county Trump won by nearly 70% of the vote. They have gathered evidence indicating it was a top-down push by Trump’s team to access sensitive voting software, according to people familiar with the situation.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/13/politics/coffee-county-georgia-voting-system-breach-trump/index.html

So not to sound like an idiot, but that’s very damning isn’t it?

Yes, for a few reasons.  It's a very clear-cut crime and it would seem difficult to have much of a defense if the prosecution has such tangible evidence.  It means that the members of Trump's legal team involved are pretty much certain to be indicted.  And it's evidence of a pattern of unlawful activity, i.e. a predicate act under Georgia's RICO law, under which Trump and other conspirators could be charged.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Excellent thread here from the AJC's principal reporter on the Fulton County investigation:

https://twitter.com/TamarHallerman/status/1690770233684889600

Unrolled version: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1690770233684889600.html

[GeorgiaModerate]

Donald Trump already does witness tampering to former GA Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan who is set to testify this week in the GA Election Interference Probe!

Yes, here's the post:

https://twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/1691093435816824832

Witness tampering is yet another predicate act under Georgia's RICO law, so Trump is digging himself a deeper hole.  It's also possible that Duncan is a witness (he's certainly a potential one) in the federal Jan. 6 investigation, which is not going to make Judge Chutkan happy.

[GeorgiaModerate]

FYI: Reuters issued a tweet saying Trump had been indicted by Fulton County.  The tweet has been deleted, and local reporters have confirmed that an indictment has NOT yet been handed down.  Tomorrow is the most likely day in any case.

[GeorgiaModerate]

FYI: Reuters issued a tweet saying Trump had been indicted by Fulton County.  The tweet has been deleted, and local reporters have confirmed that an indictment has NOT yet been handed down.  Tomorrow is the most likely day in any case.

The source of the tweet was reportedly a document that was briefly posted to the Fulton County Courts website and then removed, detailing the charges against Trump.  These reportedly include Violation Of The Georgia RICO Act, Solicitation Of Violation Of Oath By Public Officer, Conspiracy To Commit False Statements & Writings, and Conspiracy To Commit Forgery, among others.

I emphasize that this information is not yet confirmed.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/rumpfshaker/status/1691135669266010119

[GeorgiaModerate]

NEWS: the grand jury presentation in Atlanta is moving quicker than expected.  Some witnesses who were originally scheduled to testify tomorrow have been moved up to today.  It's possible, though not certain, that indictments will happen today.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Vaughn Hillyard (NBC) thinks the indications are that there will be charges tonight. Nothing confirmed of course.

Supposedly, Judge McBurney has said they're going past the normal 5PM deadline and told the reporters to go grab dinner for now.

Regarding the supposed document earlier today:

https://twitter.com/BrendanKeefe/status/1691182497210499073

[GeorgiaModerate]

Vaughn Hillyard (NBC) thinks the indications are that there will be charges tonight. Nothing confirmed of course.

Without hearing former GA Lt. Gov Geoff Duncans testimony?

I doubt that!

There are witnesses still at the courthouse waiting to testify tonight.

Duncan is reportedly testifying at this moment.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Vaughn Hillyard (NBC) thinks the indications are that there will be charges tonight. Nothing confirmed of course.

Without hearing former GA Lt. Gov Geoff Duncans testimony?

I doubt that!

There are witnesses still at the courthouse waiting to testify tonight.

Duncan is reportedly testifying at this moment.

From where do you get that, just asking

This is from one of the state's top political reporters:

https://twitter.com/bluestein/status/1691213532451188736

[GeorgiaModerate]

Stand by.  Judge McBurney has returned to the courtroom and things are expected to happen imminently.

[GeorgiaModerate]

MSNBC has a live feed from the courtroom.