January 6th legal proceedings and investigations megathread

[politicallefty]

At this point there is no reason for Tulsi, Peterson or Van Drew to even respond to what Pelosi or any other Obama-Biden Democrats say since they clearly are finished electorally with the Democratic Party. On principle it's better to lose your position for telling the truth as opposed to keeping it for co-signing dangerous behavior. If Republicans behaved like Obama or Biden did I couldn't remain a part of the party.

Spicy take.

Van Drew left the Democratic Party on his own. When did Speaker Pelosi call Tulsi Gabbard or Colin Peterson names like Kevin McCarthy has now done to members of his own party? No time in public that I can recall. Pelosi has played her hand brilliantly every step of the way. She reached her hand out in bipartisanship and it was slapped away. All Kevin McCarthy cares about is what Trump wants. There is no other reason why he would've put Gym Jordan on the committee, the same way someone else was forced to step aside for him temporarily during the first impeachment hearings.

As much as I may disagree with them on politics, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger are patriots that are putting their country ahead of their own politics. Their elected careers are over. Kinzinger was probably screwed in redistricting, but Cheney had an ultra-safe seat and the #3 spot in Republican leadership. She was likely a future Speaker. That's over. What other motivation would there be if not for love of country and belief in the Constitution and the rule of law?

[politicallefty]

There's no way Trump gets the death penalty.

This is a case where I think the death penalty should be on the table, at least to put some serious fear in him. His crimes are practically treason.

[politicallefty]

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.

What panel was drawn for the upcoming arguments on January 9th? If the ruling from that case is against Trump, I would expect a swift denial for an en banc hearing. (Trump knows he would lose there, but I still think he would try it just to delay.) At that point, Smith would be on sturdier ground to ask SCOTUS to expedite.

[politicallefty]

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.

What panel was drawn for the upcoming arguments on January 9th? If the ruling from that case is against Trump, I would expect a swift denial for an en banc hearing. (Trump knows he would lose there, but I still think he would try it just to delay.) At that point, Smith would be on sturdier ground to ask SCOTUS to expedite.

-Florence Pan (Biden)
-Michelle Childs (Biden)
-Karen Henderson (George H.W. Bush)

Interesting. Henderson is quite conservative and has heard multiple cases involving Trump. There's certainly a high chance she'll be a vote for Trump here. We don't know much about the other two except that Biden appointed them. I'd be interested to hear what Lindsey Graham has to say if Childs is the one that writes for the panel and completely shreds Trump's arguments.

[politicallefty]

For all the talk of Trump's defense team being dumber than a bag of bricks from people here and elsewhere, I think they've actually done reasonably well in their efforts to delay all of Trump's trials but the weaker New York one.

Agreed. And I think the judge outsmarted them on that one. They thought March 25 was just a placeholder and they'd be able to move it at the hearing last month because of the other trials, and the judge was like, nope everything is delayed so no reason we can't just go ahead and use the placeholder and you already decided not to appeal the immunity issue so it's on. lol

I mean I think this is also a testament to how the judicial system can be easily gamed. Each presents its own issues - in J6, it shows how you can just keep appealing and then kick can to SC if you'd like. In GA, if you throw flimsy accusations out against the prosecutor, you can get it delayed. And in FL, if you have a sympathetic judge to your cause, you can get it delayed. A normal functioniong judicial system should not have let a lot of this happen.

When you have money. That's nothing new. As for delays, it's pathetic when otherwise fair judges fall for what's going on. I'm not surprised SCOTUS is on board with Trump's delay tactics (or Judge Cannon for that matter), but it's sad to see other judges fall for it.