Donald Trump: Classic or Dud?

So indicted for 38 counts, not 7 as was previously reported. Oof.

I mean this guy's reputation is that no matter how dumb he appears to be he at least knows how to play "the system", be it show business, political media, the law, tax codes, etc., and yet here he is declaring that he's committed a federal crime, providing proof of said crime, and acknowledging that he knows it's a crime, all while he's being recorded...may be the only time I say this but I really didn't think Donald Trump was that stupid

lmao when matt levine thinks you've done crime in an amusing way, you know you're in trouble

"is you taking notes on a criminal conspiracy" etc., but it is kind of great that every time trump sort of hinted to his lawyers that they should do crimes, they took copious notes like "i took this to be a hint that we should do crimes," and handed them right over.

— Matt Levine (@matt_levine) June 9, 2023

Don't forget he at one time was saying all the documents were planted

At least this halfwit gets it:

The problem for Trump -- you can "but Hillary" and "but Biden" all you want, but they have Trump on tape admitting he is showing classified documents that have not been declassified and he is showing them to people without proper clearance.

— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) June 9, 2023

https://i.imgur.com/eq0BnoG.png

"beautiful mind paper boxes" is such an amazing phrase

you know how everyone searches the Fed transcripts for [laughter] when they come out.

that but for federal indictments pic.twitter.com/PBSqD3AM0m

— modest proposal (@modestproposal1) June 9, 2023

he has the worst attorneys

If only Guided By Voices could write a melody for it

xpost

his florida judge might delay it, or his heart might explode, but ... is this guy going to jail?

Oh, mesh gear fox
Pull out another paper trick from your beautiful mind box

"Now we have a problem" is a good name for a politics thread. Or, you know, Trump thread.

jesus christ

https://i.imgur.com/c3GitK1.png

idk what even to say at this point, I'm starting to believe he actually may go to jail

Leaning towards dud these days.

Wasn't there a quote from fucking Kid Rock about being shown maps and thinking "Should I be seeing this?"

I thought dud up until the indictment was unsealed. now he's definitely classic

Possible candidate for Mount Rushmore of self-pwn.

― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Friday, June 9, 2023 8:39 AM (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

see what happens when Pat Robertson stops praying for you for one day

Hey, buddy, want to COMMIT SOME CRIMES together? I’m going to show you some stuff that’s COMPLETELY ILLEGAL.

lol

Special Counsel Jack Smith's indictment against former President Trump includes photos of documents boxes stored in various places at Mar-a-Lago. pic.twitter.com/Mz5zJvJjCM

— Arden Farhi (@ArdenFarhi) June 9, 2023

on a stage and next to a toilet bowl

Well, sure, you need something to read while you're on the can.

"Donald Trump had illegally kept documents concerning U.S. nuclear programs and its potential vulnerabilities to military attack, the 49-page indictment showed."

seems significant that these docs were not just some crank's theory about how to invade iran.

Smith's remarks to be streamed here (and elsewhere I'm sure)

https://www.justice.gov/live

One of a zillion problems for Trump here is that the absolute true believer conspiracy nuts aside, all of the actions described and/or caught on tape align perfectly with the Trump we all know so well. Like, you know exactly what the little self-satisfied smirk on his face was when he was saying these things, and everything described is entirely in character. Even the stuff that seems sort of generically unbelievable — "Nobody would do that!" — becomes completely believable in the context of it being Trump.

Nauta seems like he's fucked and there is no way he is going to go down and not say, "Trump told me to do this."

I could totally see Waltine taking however much heat is needed for Dear Leader.

I hope that Jack Smith has a voice to go with his grand inquisitor looks.

as strong and supple as Mueller's.

I cannot even fathom what kind of legal defense they're gonna try here

I cannot even fathom what kind of legal defense they're gonna try here

It may well involve a white Bronco.

do you know who his parents are?

Good morning!

Straightforward enough statement from Smith, about all I'd expect.

The legal defense will be " I am innocent, Jack Smith is a pedophile, when you are famous they just let you do it, fake news, Benghazi, Biden, Hunter."

I cannot even fathom what kind of legal defense they're gonna try here

― frogbs, Friday, June 9, 2023 3:04 PM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

delay

whatever his defense is, i assume it will involve a comedic blundering into another wholly unnecessary but predictable crime.

Nauta seems like he's fucked and there is no way he is going to go down and not say, "Trump told me to do this."

as trump used to tell the families of dead troops, 'he knew what he signed up for'

I mean look the Stormy Daniels stuff is, J6 I think would be kind of hard to prosecute for, Georgia could even be a slap on the wrist given the friendly judges he's sure to get, but this here feels like the one thing even Trump may not be able to get away with, and it's such an open and shut case too

The responses from loyalists seem to be primarily (1) it's not a crime, as President he could and did declassify all this stuff; (2) the transcript of the tapes is inaccurate, taken out of context, misleading, etc.; and (3) even if it was a crime, Hillary and Joe did so much worse.

I think I read somewhere that the nature of the crime and the DOJ means that delay tactics aren't as effective as they are in a traditional criminal trial. This was in the New Yorker earlier today:

This case is going to have severe timing issues. The Trump people will want to drag it out to put off any punishment and because they hope he can be President again before any punishment comes. And the government may want this to wrap up before the campaign heats up. I have heard people say that federal prosecutions are harder to delay. Is that accurate?

Yes, federal prosecutions are harder to delay. The federal rules are a little more pro-government when it comes to the timing of proceedings than is true in most state courts. But there are two wild cards. The first is the judge. The judge still has a fair amount of say over the scheduling and calendaring of pretrial matters. Wild card No. 2 is how complex the pretrial proceedings are. And, again, that is something the government will have a fair amount of control over based on how it chooses to charge the case. Are the charges going to invite a ton of pretrial wrangling over expert witnesses and CIPA and the spectre of graymail? If you are the government and timing is a priority to you, that too will shape some of your decision-making to try to reduce the possibility of time-consuming, contentious pretrial fights.

Whole interview is pretty good at laying out the nuts, bolts and potential bullshit: https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-legal-dynamics-of-trumps-second-indictment

on the other hand this guy did fire the FBI director who was investigating him and publicly said exactly why he was doing it and nothing happened so who knows what's gonna happen here

beautiful mind, paper boxes, can't lose

So, what stands out to me is the number of Espionage Act charges: 31! I was expecting 10-15 or so, but 31 shows that DOJ will be pursuing a VERY aggressive strategy in this case. That has some strengths, and some drawbacks. Here's what it tells me, in no particular order.

— Secrets and Laws (@secretsandlaws) June 9, 2023

xxpost what do you mean nothing happened? The Greatest Witch Hunt in History happened.

chotiner interview good as usual, but i think it was done before we knew who the judge is (which is not good news)

Hard to imagine there’s a lawyer on Earth who can get him to stop posting at this point. pic.twitter.com/npBOWtGp2q

— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) June 9, 2023

Who is he talking to with these Truth Social assplosions?

"His lawyers house in Boston" what

lol did Biden move his boxes AFTER being asked to return specific classified documents? I don't think so.

7. Nauta is f'd. Unless he's hoping Cannon or a Trump election will save him, I'd start plea talks real quick if I were him.

— Secrets and Laws (@secretsandlaws) June 9, 2023