January 6th legal proceedings and investigations megathread

[Gass3268]

At this point Trump wants to actively be jailed, right?

[Ferguson97]

At this point Trump wants to actively be jailed, right?

I think he’s basically testing the waters on how far he’ll be allowed to go, since he doesn’t care about a $10,000 fine. He’s more or less daring the judge to jail him pretrial as a power move. “You know you wouldn’t dare… what are you gonna do about it?”

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

At this point Trump wants to actively be jailed, right?

If he's under house arrest a Mar-a-lago, he has the prefect excuse to avoid flyover country (which he hates) and far fewer opportunities to fail at teleprompter reading. In a sense, it would be a win for him.

[emailking]

https://twitter.com/AWeissmann_/status/1719818068669444331

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

https://twitter.com/AWeissmann_/status/1719818068669444331

January 15 seems a little late, no? He would have known he wasn’t going to continue in or be restored to the presidency regardless of his views on the merits of his legal claims.

[emailking]

Yeah I was a little confused by that but one air he was pretty adamant it's a big deal.

[emailking]

https://twitter.com/hugolowell/status/1720242058177224869

Filing says they'll go all the way to SCOTUS. (They'll almost certainly lose in the Circuit court.)

[Yoda]

At this point Trump wants to actively be jailed, right?

I think he’s basically testing the waters on how far he’ll be allowed to go, since he doesn’t care about a $10,000 fine. He’s more or less daring the judge to jail him pretrial as a power move. “You know you wouldn’t dare… what are you gonna do about it?”

I think Chutkan's plan should be to keep exponentially raising the fine on trump each time he breaks the gag order, as putting him in jail for a day is what he wants so he can portray himself as a persecuted martyr and whip his fans into a frenzy. Hit him where it hurts - his money. $10k this time, $50k the next, $250K next, $1 million next, $10 million and so on. We all know trump is cash poor. It will quickly get to a point where he can't afford to threaten anyone involved in the case anymore.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

At this point Trump wants to actively be jailed, right?

I think he’s basically testing the waters on how far he’ll be allowed to go, since he doesn’t care about a $10,000 fine. He’s more or less daring the judge to jail him pretrial as a power move. “You know you wouldn’t dare… what are you gonna do about it?”

I think Chutkan's plan should be to keep exponentially raising the fine on trump each time he breaks the gag order, as putting him in jail for a day is what he wants so he can portray himself as a persecuted martyr and whip his fans into a frenzy. Hit him where it hurts - his money. $10k this time, $50k the next, $250K next, $1 million next, $10 million and so on. We all know trump is cash poor. It will quickly get to a point where he can't afford to threaten anyone involved in the case anymore.

He would just refuse to pay, and then litigate that. Instead, I expect her to give him ample rope to hang himself, and then drop the hammer once she knows no remotely credible court will disagree with her. Assuming Trump's acolytes don't kill her first.

Currently, he is appealing the gag order, wants a ruling from the appeals court (who seem to be in no hurry) by 11/10, and wants a stay while he appeals to the Roberts' court.

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cadc.40232/gov.uscourts.cadc.40232.1208567646.1.pdf

[emailking]

Former Trump State Department appointee sentenced to 70 months in prison after assaulting police officers at US Capitol

A former appointee of Donald Trump was sentenced Friday to 70 months in prison for his violent role on January 6, 2021.

Federico Klein, a former State Department appointee, was found guilty following a bench trial before Judge Trevor McFadden this summer of multiple counts, including assaulting multiple police officers that day.

“Your actions on January 6 were shocking and egregious,” McFadden, also a Trump appointee, said during Friday’s sentencing.

According to the judge, Klein assaulted an officer during an initial breach on the Capitol grounds, telling the officer “you can’t stop us.”

McFadden also detailed several other assaults on officers from Klein, many of which occurred in the lower west terrace tunnel, one of the most violent scenes that day.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/03/politics/federico-klein-trump-state-department-january-6-us-capitol

[emailking]

Chutkan's gag order has been stayed by the appeals court with a hearing for November 20. It will probably go back into effect then, but until then Trump is probably going to go wild on TS.

[2016]

Chutkan's gag order has been stayed by the appeals court with a hearing for November 20. It will probably go back into effect then, but until then Trump is probably going to go wild on TS.

It is absolutely insane that this Gag Order has been frozen! Do you have a Justice System in the US or not? Your System should not allow a guy like Trump consistently ranting and intimidating witnesses.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Chutkan's gag order has been stayed by the appeals court with a hearing for November 20. It will probably go back into effect then, but until then Trump is probably going to go wild on TS.

It is absolutely insane that this Gag Order has been frozen! Do you have a Justice System in the US or not? Your System should not allow a guy like Trump consistently ranting and intimidating witnesses.

It's a temporary stay until Trump's lawyers make their arguments.  Nothing unusual.

[emailking]

Special counsel Jack Smith opposes televising Trump federal election subversion trial

Special counsel Jack Smith opposes televising the federal election subversion trial of former President Donald Trump in Washington, DC, according to a filing late Friday.

Prosecutors wrote that federal courts are expressly prohibited from allowing proceedings in a courtroom from being broadcast or even photographed and that although the public was allowed to access some proceedings through teleconferences during the Covid-19 pandemic, the exception ended in September for criminal trials.

In a long-shot attempt, a group of media organizations, including CNN, asked the federal judge overseeing the case, Tanya Chutkan, for permission to broadcast the trial given its historic nature. In a separate petition to the judge, NBCUniversal Media argued that the long-standing rule against cameras in federal criminal trials, which dates to the 1940s, is outdated and would violate the First Amendment if strictly enforced in the Trump case.

One of Trump’s attorneys in the case has also supported the idea of broadcasting the trial, telling CNN’s Dana Bash, “absolutely I’d like to see that.” The former president’s trial is scheduled for March 4.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/03/politics/special-counsel-cameras-courtroom-trump-federal-election-subversion-case/index.html

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

After Eday Trump is likely to go to prison is just a little under 370 days

[emailking]

Trump ‘stands alone in American history for his alleged crimes,’ special counsel says

Donald Trump “stands alone in American history for his alleged crimes” related to trying to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election, special counsel Jack Smith’s office said in a court filing Monday.

“No other president has engaged in conspiracy and obstruction to overturn valid election results and illegitimately retain power,” Smith’s office said in the filing.

In it, Smith formally opposed bids by Trump’s lawyers to dismiss his four-count federal election interference indictment in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

...

“The defendant also claims that he could not have known his actions were criminal because, in the past, others who have questioned, challenged, or protested election results were not prosecuted,” the special counsel wrote.

“But the defendant stands alone in American history for his alleged crimes.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/06/trump-unique-in-us-history-for-alleged-crimes-jack-smith-says.html

[emailking]

Steve Bannon to Find Out His Prison Fate

Steve Bannon, the former White House chief strategist and a top Donald Trump ally, is set to discover whether his appeal over his contempt of Congress conviction will be successful.

Bannon was sentenced to four months in jail in October 2022 after he was convicted of two counts of contempt in connection to his failure to abide by a congressional subpoena issued to him by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack.

Oral arguments will be heard at an appeals court on November 9. Bannon has not served any custodial time pending the results of his conviction appeal.

Bannon launched an appeal against his conviction while arguing that he was not able to explain his reasoning for defying the subpoena. David Schoen, Bannon's lawyer, told the Court of Appeals that Trump had invoked executive privilege on October 5, 2021, which prevented Bannon from testifying or handing over documents, and that Bannon was told by his former attorney, Robert Costello, he could not waive it.

https://www.newsweek.com/steve-bannon-appeal-contempt-congress-prison-1841091

[emailking]

Smith filed several motions today: the response to Trump's motion to dismiss the case on Constitutional grounds, the response to Trump's motion to dismiss the charges for vindictive prosecution, and a guide for Chutkan to prioritize Trump's tidal wave of frivolous motions. He is asking for the immunity motion and the double jeopardy motion to be handled ASAP so they can be fully appealed before the planned trial date.

[emailking]

https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1722012657291542792

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/11/08/donald-trump-appeals-federal-gag-order/71507646007/

In her order, Chutkan said Trump could continue to criticize the Justice Department and presidential rivals such as former Vice President Mike Pence, a former rival for the GOP nomination. But Trump wants to comment to 100 million followers on social media about the judge, prosecutors and potential witnesses for what he calls a political prosecution.

"The court repeatedly expressed concern that President Trump’s comments might inspire independent third parties to engage in threats or harassment toward witnesses, prosecutors, or court staff," Sauer wrote. "The defense emphasized that the prosecution had submitted no evidence of such harassment."

This last part is a lie - and I was not able to find a single mainstream news source that labeled it as such. Not even USA Today, the same source I'm quoting above, which ran this story on October 26th:
DOJ asks federal judge to reinstate Donald Trump's gag order in election conspiracy case

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered Trump on Oct. 16 not to comment about court staff, prosecutors or witnesses in her case. But she suspended the order Friday while he appeals her decision.

During the suspension, Trump commented on social media Tuesday about former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

But that's not all the government has presented.
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.258149/gov.uscourts.dcd.258149.120.0.pdf

As the Court explained (id. at 41, 60), targeted
disparagement of this sort can pose a real danger even when it does not explicitly call for
harassment or violence, as repeated attacks on a perceived adversary are often understood as a
signal to act against that person—much like King Henry II’s famous remark, in reference to
Archbishop Thomas à Becket, “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?” which resulted in
Becket’s murder. See, e.g., United States v. Smallwood, 365 F. Supp. 2d 689, 696 n.14 (E.D. Va.
2005) (explaining the idiom). Such risks are far from speculative here, the Court found, given
uncontradicted facts submitted by the Government showing that when the defendant “has singled
out certain people in public statements in the past,” it has “led to them being threatened and
harassed.” ECF No. 103 at 66-67.1

1 Shortly after being assigned to the case, the Court itself received a racist death threat
explicitly tied to the Court’s role in presiding over the defendant’s case. See United States v. Shry,
No. 4:23-cr-413, ECF No. 1 at 3 (Criminal Complaint) (S.D. Tex. Aug. 11, 2023) (caller stating,
among other things, “‘If Trump doesn’t get elected in 2024, we are coming to kill you, so tread
lightly, b***h. . . . You will be targeted personally, publicly, your family, all of it.’”). This
incident, like many of the others the Government cited, was widely publicized and surely well
known to the defendant.

[emailking]

In a filing today Smith makes clear they are going to feature prominently the violence on Jan 6 during Trump's trial and make the argument that he stoked it in order to use it to continue the obstruction of the election. This was a big unknown as his charges are not directly dependent on the Jan 6 violence. Smith did speak about the J6 violence when he unveiled the indictment though.

[Crumpets]

They're still arresting people... and as far as I know still haven't identified the pipe bomber.

https://twitter.com/FBIWFO/status/1722990235712119016

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

In a filing today Smith makes clear they are going to feature prominently the violence on Jan 6 during Trump's trial and make the argument that he stoked it in order to use it to continue the obstruction of the election. This was a big unknown as his charges are not directly dependent on the Jan 6 violence. Smith did speak about the J6 violence when he unveiled the indictment though.

The filing:
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.258149/gov.uscourts.dcd.258149.140.0.pdf

On January 6, 2021, "[l]ives were lost; blood was shed; portions of the Capitol building
were badly damaged; and the lives of members of the House and Senate, as well as aides, staffers,
and others who were working in the building, were endangered." Trump v. Thompson, 20 F.4th
10, 35-36 (D.C. Cir. 2021), cert. denied, 142 S. Ct. 1350 (2022).  Yet publicly, the defendant has promoted and extolled the events of that day. While the violent attack was ongoing, the defendant
told rioters that they were "very special" and that "we love you." In the years since, he has
championed rioters as "great patriots" and proclaimed January 6 "a beautiful day." In this case,
though, the defendant seeks to distance himself, moving to strike allegations in the indictment
related to "the actions at the Capitol on January 6, 2021." ECF No. 115 at 1. The Court should
recognize the defendant's motion for what it is: a meritless effort to evade the indictment's clear
allegations that the defendant is responsible for the events at the Capitol on January 6. Indeed,
that day was the culmination of the defendant's criminal conspiracies to overturn the legitimate
results of the presidential election, when the defendant directed a large and angry crowd—one that
he had summoned to Washington, D.C., and fueled with knowingly false claims of election
fraud—to the Capitol to obstruct the congressional certification proceeding. When his supporters
did so, including through violence, the defendant did not try to stop them; instead, he encouraged
them and attempted to leverage their actions by further obstructing the certification. Contrary to
the defendant's claims, then, the indictment's allegations related to the actions at the Capitol are
relevant and probative evidence of the defendant's conduct and intent, and they are neither
prejudicial nor inflammatory. His motion to strike them from the indictment must be denied.

[emailking]

Trump Asks Judge to Televise Federal Election Trial
The request to Judge Tanya Chutkan was short on legal arguments and long on bluster, and it faces an uphill battle as federal courts generally prohibit cameras.

Lawyers for former President Donald J. Trump have told a judge that she should permit his trial on federal charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election to be televised live from the courtroom.

It was the first time that Mr. Trump has formally weighed in on the issue of whether to broadcast any of the four criminal trials he is facing. His motion to Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who is overseeing the federal election trial in Washington, came after similar requests made by several media organizations and was filed late on Friday.

A judge in Georgia who is handling Mr. Trump’s state election subversion case has said that proceeding will be televised. But the request to Judge Chutkan is likely to face an uphill battle given that federal rules of criminal procedure — and the Supreme Court — generally prohibit cameras in federal courtrooms.

Mr. Trump’s motion for a televised trial came in a filing adopting his bombastic and combative style.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/11/us/politics/trump-federal-election-tv-trial.html

[2016]

Trump again attacks Special Counsel Jack Smith and his Family during New Hampshire Rally
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/11/11/politics/trump-jack-smith-family-attacks/index.html

For how long is Trump be allowed to do this!