Special Prosecutor Smith

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  • mickeyratmickeyrat Posts: 39,237
    https://apnews.com/article/trump-federal-election-interference-trial-televised-chutkan-60d4d87c4123b8bc4741a62364e988b7   Trump joins media outlets in pushing for his federal election interference case to be televised

     
    Trump joins media outlets in pushing for his federal election interference case to be televised
    By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER
    1 hour ago

    Donald Trump is pushing for his federal election interference trial in Washington to be televised, joining media outlets that say the American public should be able to watch the historic case unfold.

    Federal court rules prohibit broadcasting proceedings, but The Associated Press and other news organizations say the unprecedented case of a former president standing trial on accusations that he tried to subvert the will of voters warrants making an exception.

    The Justice Department is opposing the effort, arguing that the judge overseeing the case does not have the authority to ignore the long-standing nationwide policy against cameras in federal courtrooms. The trial is scheduled to begin on March 4.

    ``I want this trial to be seen by everybody in the world," Trump said Saturday during a presidential campaign event in New Hampshire. “The prosecution wishes to continue this travesty in darkness and I want sunlight.”

    Lawyers for Trump wrote in court papers filed late Friday that all Americans should be able to observe what they characterize as a politically motivated prosecution of the Republican front-runner for his party’s 2024 nomination. The defense also suggested Trump will try to use the trial as a platform to repeat his unfounded claims that the 2020 election that he lost to Democrat Joe Biden was stolen from him. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

    "President Trump absolutely agrees, and in fact demands, that these proceedings should be fully televised so that the American public can see firsthand that this case, just like others, is nothing more than a dreamt-up unconstitutional charade that should never be allowed to happen again," Trump's lawyers wrote.

    The request for a televised trial comes as the Washington case has emerged as the most potent and direct legal threat to Trump’s political fortunes. Trump is accused of illegally scheming to overturn the election results in the run-up to the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, by his supporters.

    Trump has repeatedly sought to delay the Washington trial date until after the 2024 election. But U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who was nominated for the bench by Democratic President Barack Obama, appears determined to keep it as scheduled.

    On Friday in Florida, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who is handling the separate classified documents prosecution of Trump, pushed back multiple deadlines in a way that makes it highly unlikely that case can proceed to trial in May, as had been planned. Trump is facing dozens of felony counts under the Espionage Act. He has pleaded not guilty.

    The news outlets wrote in their request to Chutkan last month that a lack of transparency can sow distrust in the legal system. They said that is particularly dangerous in a case where “a polarized electorate includes tens of millions of people who, according to opinion polls, still believe that the 2020 election was decided by fraud."

    “It would be a great loss if future generations of Americans were forever deprived of being able to access and view the events of this trial even years after the verdict, which would immeasurably improve the ability of future journalists and historians to retell accurately and meaningfully analyze this unique chapter of American history,” Rebecca Blumenstein, president of editorial for NBC News, wrote in a court filing.

    Some state courts allow cameras in the courtroom. The public has been able to watch proceedings held by the judge overseeing the Georgia election case against Trump and 18 co-defendants.

    Photographers have been permitted to take photos of Trump inside the courtroom during his civil fraud trial in New York, but the trial has not been broadcast.

    The Justice Department has said that knowledge that cameras are in the courtroom can affect lawyers and witnesses in “subtle ways" and lead to grandstanding. Noting the “ever-increasing acrimony in public discourse,” prosecutors said witnesses who testify on camera may also be harassed or threatened.

    "When a witness’s image is captured on video, it is not just a fleeting image, but it exists indefinitely," the government said. “Were there an appeal and retrial, witnesses who were subjected to scrutiny and harassment on social media may be unwilling to testify again.”

    The coronavirus pandemic led the federal courts to temporarily relax its rules, allowing the public to listen to many proceedings over the telephone or videoconference. The U.S. Supreme Court has continued to provide a live audio feed of its arguments since the pandemic began.

    The policymaking body of the federal courts adopted a new policy in September that allows judges to provide live audio access to nontrial proceedings in civil and bankruptcy cases. It does not apply in criminal cases.

    News outlets had previously asked the federal courts policymakers to revise the rules to allow broadcasting, at least in cases where there is an extraordinary public interest. The chair of the advisory committee last month agreed to establish a subcommittee to study the issue, though it's highly unlikely any rules changes would come before Trump's trial.

    ____

    Richer reported from Boston. Associated Press reporter Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.


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  • mickeyratmickeyrat Posts: 39,237
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  • gimmesometruth27gimmesometruth27 St. Fuckin Louis Posts: 23,303
    mickeyrat said:
    this would be amazing. the ultimate FAFO.
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • mickeyratmickeyrat Posts: 39,237
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  • mickeyratmickeyrat Posts: 39,237
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  • mickeyratmickeyrat Posts: 39,237
    gift article....


      Special counsel alleges Trump ‘sent’ supporters on path to Jan. 6 violence
    By Spencer S. Hsu and Devlin Barrett
    December 05, 2023 at 13:56 ET
    Federal prosecutors on Tuesday accused former president Donald Trump of a long pattern of lying about elections and encouraging violence, saying he “sent” supporters on Jan. 6, 2021 to criminally block the election results.
    In a new court filing, prosecutors working for special counsel Jack Smith went further than in their August indictment in attempting to tie him to that day’s violence, saying they intended to introduce evidence of his other acts both before the November 2020 presidential election and subsequent alleged threats to establish his motive, intent and preparation for subverting its legitimate results.
    “Evidence of the defendant’s post-conspiracy embrace of particularly violent and notorious rioters is admissible to establish the defendant’s motive and intent on January 6 — that he sent supporters, including groups like the Proud Boys, whom he knew were angry, and whom he now calls ‘patriots,’ to the Capitol to achieve the criminal objective of obstructing the congressional certification,” prosecutors alleged in a nine-page filing.
    [Subscribe to The Trump Trials, our weekly email newsletter on Donald Trump's four criminal cases]
    They added, “At trial, the Government will introduce a number of public statements by the defendant in advance of the charged conspiracies, claiming that there would be fraud in the 2020 presidential election,” laying the “foundation for the defendant’s criminal efforts.”
    Attorneys for Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
    Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges in what prosecutors say was a broad conspiracy to subvert the 2020 election by spewing a gusher of lies about purported election fraud and trying to get state local and federal officials to change the legitimate results to remain in power.

    continues.....

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  • mickeyratmickeyrat Posts: 39,237
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  • mickeyratmickeyrat Posts: 39,237
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  • mickeyratmickeyrat Posts: 39,237
    https://apnews.com/article/trump-capitol-riot-immunity-9528a29b2dbebb6ee4a4ebd26780f98c   Trump appeals ruling rejecting immunity claim as window narrows to derail federal election case

     
    Trump appeals ruling rejecting immunity claim as window narrows to derail federal election case
    By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and ERIC TUCKER
    2 mins ago

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is appealing a ruling that found he is not immune from criminal prosecution as he runs out of time to delay or even derail an upcoming trial on charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

    Lawyers for the 2024 Republican presidential primary frontrunner filed a notice of appeal Thursday indicating that they will challenge U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan's decision rejecting Trump's bid to derail the case headed to trial in Washington, D.C., in March. The one-page filing was accompanied by a request from the Trump team to put the case on pause so the appeals court can take up the matter.

    “The filing of President Trump’s notice of appeal has deprived this Court of jurisdiction over this case in its entirety pending resolution of the appeal,” Trump's lawyers wrote. “Therefore, a stay of all further proceedings is mandatory and automatic.”

    The appeal had been expected given that Trump's lawyers had earlier signaled their plans to pursue all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary, what they say is a legally untested question of a former president's immunity from prosecution. The argument that Trump was immune from prosecution for actions taken within his role as president had been seen as perhaps the most weighty and legally consequential objections to the case made by the Trump lawyers ahead of trial.

    But now that the argument has already been rejected by the trial judge, Trump's best hope at delaying the trial appears to be convincing the D.C. Circuit or the Supreme Court to pause the case while the higher courts consider his prosecutorial immunity claim.

    However, the rejection last week by a three-judge panel of the appeals court of Trump’s sweeping claims of immunity in civil cases accusing him of inciting the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2012, suggest he likely faces an uphill battle before that court. While it’s possible the Supreme Court may feel compelled to step in to address an unprecedented legal question, there’s also no guarantee the justices will take the case up at this stage.

    And though it typically takes months for appeals to wind their way through higher courts, the D.C. Circuit and the Supreme Court could quickly resolve the question of immunity if the judges want to, said Jessica Roth, a Cardozo School of Law professor who has been following the case.

    “It’s a very clean, narrow legal issue, and the issue has been fully briefed by the parties and very well laid out in the opinion so it’s not like considerable time is needed,” she said. “It’s a purely legal question that the courts could expedite and decide quickly.”

    Trump's lawyers have asserted that he cannot face criminal charges because the actions spelled out in the indictment fell within his duties as president.

    But Chutkan said that nothing in the Constitution nor American history justifies cloaking former presidents with immunity from prosecution for actions they took while in office.

    “Defendant's four-year service as Commander in Chief did not bestow on him the divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens,” Chutkan, an appointee of President Barak Obama, wrote in her ruling earlier this month.

    While the Supreme Court has held that presidents are immune from civil liability for actions within the scope of their their official duties, courts have never before had to grapple with the question of whether that immunity extends to criminal prosecution.

    Cheryl Bader, a former federal prosecutor, said she believes the immunity argument will be a losing battle for Trump, even before the conservative-majority Supreme Court.

    “I think based on the law and there being no constitutional provision giving former presidents immunity and based on the policy that we don’t want to have former presidents being able to commit crimes ... I don’t see how this ruling gets reversed,” said Bader, head of Fordham University Law School’s Criminal Defense Clinic.

    “This decision really put Trump in his place, it basically said he’s not a monarch and once he leaves office he gets no special treatment in the halls of justice,” Bader said.

    The case charges Trump with conspiring to subvert the will of voters in a desperate bid to cling to power after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden. It is the first of four criminal cases Trump is facing that's scheduled to go to trial, though it's possible the appeal of the immunity issue could delay the case.

    Special counsel Jack Smith has separately charged Trump in Florida with illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left the White House. Trump is also charged in Georgia with conspiring to overturn his election loss to Biden. And he faces charges in New York related to hush money payments made during the 2016 campaign. He has denied any wrongdoing.


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