Fani Willis’ case looks like the best one— and the one that scares Trump the most… and for several reasons. Let’s start with the most obvious— he can’t pardon himself and neither can Biden or DeSantis. In fact, neither can Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. If he’s sentenced to prison, he’s going to prison. He can apply for a pardon to an independent pardon board… after he’s already served five years in prison. After all, as the indictment plainly states, “Defendant Donald John Trump lost the United States presidential election held on November 3, 2020. One of the states he lost was Georgia. Trump and the other Defendants charged in this Indictment refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump. That conspiracy contained common plan and purpose to commit two or more acts of racketeering activity in Fulton County, Georgia, elsewhere in the State of Georgia, and in other states… “At all times relevant to this Count of the Indictment, the Defendants, as well as others not named as defendants, unlawfully conspired and endeavored to conduct and participate in criminal enterprise in Fulton County, Georgia, and elsewhere.”
So what’s the case? Well there are 13 criminal charges, related to the attempted coup. He’ll be tried along with 18 others— none charged with treason— including Mark Meadows Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Jeffrey Clark, Kenneth Chesebro and quite a few other Republican scumbags. We’ll get to them below. But let’s stick with Señor T for a moment, who was charged with one count of violating the Georgia RICO Act; 3 counts of solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer; two counts of conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree; two counts of conspiracy to commit false statements and writings; two counts of false statements and writings; one count of conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer; one count of conspiracy to commit filing false documents and one count of filing false documents. If an impartial jury and impartial judge found him guilty of all of them and sentenced him according to Georgia’s sentencing guidelines, the fake ex-president would certainly die in prison, barring any special intervention.
John Dean said it’s “much bigger than Watergate… it’s of a whole different dimension… It goes to the very foundation of democracy. Nixon abused some powers, he exceeded his authority when he shouldn’t, but he wasn’t taking on the basics of the country, whereas Trump wanted to stay in office, he wanted to use Georgia and abuse Georgia as part of that plan, and so this is very different and much more serious and much more troubling.” Watch Dean’s 4 minute segment on CNN:
Senate Republicans were noticeably quiet, no doubt relieved that Lindsey Graham hasn't been indicted-- at least not yet. House leaders, more in thrall to Trump, melted down... as expected. The chair of their conference, Elise Stefanik (R-NY)— who still hopes Trump picks her as his running mate— spoke for all the House Republicans:
Bakersfield, California sad-sack Kevin McCarthy, the weakest and most inconsequential speaker in American history, can’t afford to get on Trump’s bad side again, so he jumped in with a very standard, rote party line tweet last night:
Amber Phillips noted that some of the case against Trump— the RICO indictment— “was originally designed to prosecute mob bosses who were leading complex criminal enterprises. Georgia’s version, which is one of the most expansive in the country, allows prosecutors to weave together several alleged crimes— in this case, conspiracy to defraud the state, false statements and writings, impersonating a public officer, forgery, computer theft and dozens of others— into one charge that carries up to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors allege the Trump campaign is the criminal enterprise and the scheme was to overturn the popular vote in Georgia. After a two-and-a-half-year investigation, prosecutors put together a 98-page indictment, with 19 defendants and 13 charges against Trump alone. The whole point of using this statute is to nab the big fish, say legal experts. ‘The goal of this criminal enterprise is to keep Trump in power, so it would be essential to have Trump indicted,’ said Clark Cunningham, a law professor at Georgia State University.”
Greg Olear catalogued many of the co-conspirators and accomplices and noted that there are 30 more so far unindicted co-conspirators, like Lindsey Graham and Ginny Thomas. The inside story about the Graham and Thomas non-indictments will make for some fascinating reading in days to come. I should mention, though, that aside from serving Justice, Ginni Thomas' indictment would have-- or will-- force her disgusting, corrupt husband to recuse himself from the case when it eventually comes before the Supreme Court. Here are 9 of the ones who have been indicted:
Rudy Giuliani
Mayor of New York during 9/11. Active participant in Trump’s fuckery in Ukraine. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm headliner. Alleged rapist and drunk. Four Seasons Total Asshole. I covered him in detail last week.
Mark Meadows
Trump’s final White House Chief of Staff. Tall, distinguished-looking fellow. Cassidy Hutchinson’s boss. Disappeared in the bushes giving an impromptu press conference. Disappeared in the proverbial bushes during the first three indictments. Uncharged but alleged voting fraudster. Per Hugo Lowell on my podcast, Meadows only got the job because he floated to K Street consulting outfits that he was being considered for it, and word got out to such an extent that, with few other willing options, Trump hired him. His is a real-life tale of making a wish on the cursed monkey’s claw.
John Eastman
Reactionary law professor not much liked by his students, who found him a dinosaur. Author of the infamous “Kamala Harris is not a U.S. citizen” lie published in Newsweek. The supposed intellectual in the gaggle of clown attorneys whose cockamamie legal notions Trump entertained after losing the election. During his appearance before the January 6 Committee, took the Fifth an unholy number of times, usually just spitting out the single word, “Fifth,” with such venomous contempt that it is now a running joke on The Five 8.
Kenneth Chesebro
Anakin Skywalker to Laurence Tribe’s Obi-Wan Kenobi, Chesebro went to the Dark Side, writing the legal memo that sparked the entire insurrection attempt. I have never seen his photograph, and I’m not entirely convinced this isn’t some jokey pen name; “Chesebro” is close to “Cheesehead,” which is what a fan of the Green Bay Packers is called, and one of the coup subplots was nicknamed the Green Bay Sweep. I guess he’ll have to show his face when he surrenders to police in Georgia, which he and all of his co-defendants must do by the 25th of this month. (Talk about Christmas in August!)
Sidney Powell
The Kraken lady with the Southern drawl, the bad sweaters, and the cans of Diet Dr. Pepper. She represented the traitor Mike Flynn and is being sued by Dominion for defamation. Even the other insurrectionists thought she had a screw loose.
Jeffrey Clark
Weaselly, sad-faced former acting attorney general arrested by federal agents in his underwear.
Mike Roman
Dirty trickster political operative and oppo researcher—a fourth-rate Roger Stone—formerly employed by the Kochs. If this were Scandal, he’d be the character who always wears shades and pops up every third episode in the Rosslyn parking garage with a flash drive and a burner phone.
Trevian Kutti
She did PR for R. Kelly and is tight with Kanye West. She’s the one who tried to strong-arm Ruby Freeman, showing up at her house and making vague threats of violence. Per WaPo:
According to court filings, Kutti told Freeman in a Jan. 4, 2021, meeting that “an armed squad” of federal officers would approach Freeman and her family within 48 hours and that she was there to offer help by connecting her to “very high-profile people that can make particular things happen … in order to defend yourself and your family.” Kutti allegedly warned Freeman that she was “a loose end for a party that needs to tidy up” and said that if she refused Kutti’s help that her “freedom and the freedom of one or more of your family members” would be disrupted, according to court filings citing police body-camera video.
Jenna Ellis
Self-styled “constitutional law attorney” with the blonde hair who was a fixture on Fox News before joining the Trump legal team. She was so close to Giuliani during the last few years of Trump’s presidency that she (apparently) caught covid from his pathogenic flatulence—a moment immortalized on videotape. Jenna Ellis: huffer of Rudy farts.
This went out early this morning from Mar-a-Lago (I was wondering, are people allowed to tweet-- or "truth"-- from prison in Georgia... and do they still have chain gangs there?)
Ginni Thomas testified to the J6 Committee that she "regrets" sending texts to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows after the 2020 election. We also know from the press accounts that between November 2020 and January 2021 the texts were all about keeping Trump in power. Also she was actively pursuing the fake elector scheme inn Arizona and Wisconsin. We also know that Clarence Thomas tried to stop Lindsay Graham from appearing before the GA grand jury. Were the Thomases working together? Eventually Graham testified. Lots of connections to the GA grand jury. Did Ginni and Graham flip? Maybe. Maybe not.
I know that ginni thomas is among the 5 most despicable bipedal himinids on earth, but what was her connection to and participation with the GA conspiracies?
Ditto miss lindsey. just curious.
Everyone seems to not mention that Mark Meadows was on that phone call to Brad Raffensberger. It was a conference call, and the first one to speak was Mark Meadows. He announced Trump, himself and the woman attorney, whose name I keep forgetting. I was impatiently waiting for the Georgia Indictment. Whoopie!
There's also the minor little fact that Trump was recorded on tape telling Brad Raffensperger:
"All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won this state, and flipping the state is a great testament to the country," Trump said. "I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break." "It's just not possible to have lost Georgia. It's not possible," Trump said.
https://www.axios.com/2023/08/15/trump-georgia-election-interference-call
It's the equivalent of a security camera at Best Buy showing the faces of criminal defendants taking a 47" TV out the back of the store into a waiting vehicle at 2 am.
I further note that Biden…