The news was somewhat aflutter yesterday over Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner having appeared before the Grand Jury hearing evidence in the January 6 case. Well, it IS news and worth covering. The bulk of the discussion from news anchors and their legal talking head guests has been about reading tea leaves on how close Jack Smith is to an indictment(s) in the J6 case. After all, it’s standard practice to cast a wide net and slowly work your way up to the actual target(s) of an investigation. Kushner is, or at least was back on that awful day part of Trump’s inner circle.
Kushner had already admitted on the record that Trump had been told he’d lost the election fair and square and that the legal challenges were bogus. Smith however wanted to nail that down, and I rather doubt Kushner backed off on that point, especially as he knows others have almost certainly testified the same thing. However, Jared is reported to have offered a new twist, one to provide a little legal “cover” for Trump.
He’s reported to have testified said he isn’t sure Trump truly believed all the stolen election stuff was bogus!
In effect, if this reporting is accurate what Jared did was try to blow a hole in the “intent” aspect of the charges against Trump. As is so often the case with rich and powerful people, prosecutors wring their hands in “woe is me” fashion over their inability to establish intent. Unless they have video (with crystal clear sound) of the defendant saying “I know it’s illegal as hell but we’re doing it anyway” and then issuing the orders or even taking part in the crime, and then going before a Grand Jury or even in a recorded interview to a federal investigator/agent & after being reminded lying to a fed is a felony AGAIN saying “Of COURSE I knew it was illegal. Whatcha gonna do about it? Nuttin!!!!” Too often (so it seems to me and I think lots of others) prosecutors run off like a puppy that’s been kicked.
From the outset I’ve heard a bunch of legal eagles talking about “Intent” and how (sob) hard it is to prove. It seems like they have no more respect for average folks (and our common sense) than Trump does! The bottom line however is that sadly, rich and powerful people that can get good lawyers will make Intent, or rather lack of proof of it a cornerstone of their defense. Admittedly sometimes when the overall evidence is incomplete or a bit dicey it’s reasonable for a prosecutor to conclude it’s unlikely they’d win a case.
This is NOT one of those times.
This stuff with Trump is obvious to every non hard-core MAGA. Common f**king sense tells any normal person so. The only question is what evidence is admitted into as such during the trial and in this case legal experts seem sure a TON of incriminating (to Trump and others) will be allowed. That means jurors should in fact be allowed to look at all that evidence AND the issue of Intent and let good old-fashioned common sense loose for a romp around the jury room.
Basically, this isn’t something prosecutors should get to decide. The JURY should be the ones to decide it.
I don’t know about you but the J6 Hearings gave me the impression that Jared, and wannabe Princess Ivanka too weren’t going to go out of their way to be helpful, but neither was either willing to risk perjury. They also still harbored delusions of after some more time in NY high society purgatory they’d be allowed back into the room of the next generation of “Masters of the Universe/”Beautiful People.” If that meant throwing Trump under the bus if push came to shave either would do so.
Also, let’s not forget that unlike anyone else in the Trump family Jared knew what the inside of a federal prison looked like. He’d visited his daddy there and I’m quite certain even being on the visitor’s side of the glass was more than enough to convince him to do whatever it took NOT to be on is daddy’s side! How worried was he? Well, from the time “Jarvanka” made the decision to take a leave of absence from their “Fabulous” NYC lives to head to the WH and “play government” they started prepping for legal problems.
Hell, for Jared he probably was the driving force behind the move to DC, seeing it as a chance to grift his way out of the enormous real estate boondoggle he’s saddled his own family’s real estate empire with. (It took a while but as you know the Saudis did wind up bailing him out) The point is they got represented from one of DC’s top white collar firms and retained the services of none other than Jamie Gorelick, one of the partners. She’d wind up getting fed up with Jared due to the repeated embarrassments over his security clearance but another highly rated DC lawyer took them on.
For years I wondered if things got to choosing sides time would Ivanka choose daddy and the Trump Org. or Jared and their own family.
In any case, there’s no reason to doubt Jared repeated what he’d said previously which is that Trump had been told by people he usually listened to on some matters because they actually knew what they were talking about that he’d lost. And that the crazy sh*t Rudy G., Sydney Powell and even John Eastman wasn’t just crazy but could get HIM into legal hot water.
But reportedly (and he had to have been the one who talked – Jack Smith’s people or the Grand Jurors sure as hell wouldn’t have) there’s this new twist he sent out into the public domain. Much is made about Grand Jury secrecy and for most people talking about what goes on will get them into ten types of trouble. However, unless placed under an order not to talk to anyone but their lawyer (who also can’t go sharing most of the time) witnesses are free to confirm their appearance. And at least some of what they said.
Could it be that Jared, knowing how many attorneys in Trump World are compromised “leaked” this “Golly gee, yes Trump had people tell him the truth but I can’t be sure HE believed what those people were telling him” tidbit is sending a message to others on how to help Trump? To get them to say the same thing in their own words – that they saw Trump being told the truth but weren’t sure he actually believed it?
For the J6 case, it seems like Intent is the hill Trump intends to die on, and his lawyers will steal them some Johnny Cochran by revising “If the glove doesn’t fit, then you must acquit” to claiming the prosecution has failed to prove Intent, therefore “Without Intent, the prosecution must relent.” Or some such nonsense. Johnny has gone on to that courtroom in the great beyond so who knows what lame line they’ll come up with?
However let’s get back to Jared and what I think is his game now – an attempt to build an Intent shield around his father-in-law. I’m not an attorney but this might be playing with fire. Especially since Jared can’t be absolutely sure there was no one who would make a credible witness that has testified that Trump acknowledged the truth. In front of Jared. Which means Jared might face his own shiny charge of perjury!
Regardless I long ago got sick of this whole business about Intent. Murfster likes to write about actually having served on a couple of juries, and about other trials we all know about and that juries are pretty good at recognizing bullh*t when they hear it in court. Fair or not, while they will have an obligation to pay attention to Jared’s (and other’s) testimony when pressed on this he’s not got the kind of winning personality that will give a jury warm fuzzies. I for one can easily imagine one of those cartoon text bubbles appearing over the jury box with an arrow pointing from each juror’s head to it that reads: “Dude! Do you REALLY expect us to believe that sh*T?”
The point though is that it looks like Jared might be full enough of himself to try and play legal games with Jack Smith. This is a guy after all who thought he was smart enough to solve the middle east peace problem. But he’s way out of his league.
Keep an eye on this in the future, especially if you start hearing other Trump World folks saying what Jared seems to have said.
Intent is not going to be a problem. If Jack can prove (and he can) that TFG was told the election was fair, it doesn’t matter what he believed. There is also something called willful blindness – basically refusing to accept reality.
I agree Jared was probably trying to hedge his testimony to give the Orange Blob some wiggle room, but he is not a lawyer and not as smart as he thinks he is (Daddy had to buy his way into Harvard, he didn’t get there on merit).
“That means jurors should in fact be allowed to look at all that evidence AND the issue of Intent and let good old-fashioned common sense loose for a romp around the jury room.
Basically, this isn’t something prosecutors should get to decide. The JURY should be the ones to decide it.”
The only problem, denis, is you’re forgetting a key element of any trial: It’s the JUDGE who decides what the jury gets to hear and see and deliberate on. If the judge in a case decides a piece of evidence that might support the “intent” is “irrelevant” or “prejudicial” or even “hearsay,” then the evidence is tossed in the trash. Even if it “slides” into the proceedings, the judge can always tell the jury to disregard it (if a judge believes that jurors may have gone ahead and included such material in their deliberations, he can always vacate the verdict).
You know, Jar-jar and Princess would have much nicer lives if former guy were in a federal facility. I get it that Jar-jar is one of the dullest knives in the drawer but surely even someone having his rather low I.Q. ought to realize this. I cannot even imagine Princess begging him to try to save daddy-she knows who’s responsible for her lack of a meaningful social life and the decrease in her social standing. Yes, I believe she is that vengeful.
Hope special prosecutor just plays it straight and damn the torpedoes. Diapers 45… throws mud and turds on the wall to hide his intents. I think most sane folk have figured that out. Had 4 years to see his BS. His intent is quite clear. Obstruct and perjure and conspire. And basically the whole damn legal code included. Put every mofo on trial and squeeze: cooperate and repent otherwise hammer their azz and let the chips fall where they may. Was it the Saudi who saved 666 or Qataris??? Or UAE. Funny how they didn’t get along until diapers put them back on track on being their usual slimy and crappy selves. Government and top officials… and most of the $ ones that is. What average “joe” in those countries thinks… who knows.
he seems more and more like actual derp state as in deep mole for reasons…
derp
Someone needs to put a stake into vampire boy who traded God knows what for that 2 billion from the mass murderers with sheets on their heads in the desert.
I say dump him in the middle of the Gaza strip in his skivvies. With tattoos in Arabic on both his chest and back that read: I’m Jared Kushner. Trump’s son-in-law. Who gave Israel Jerusalem and moved the U.S. Embassy there!” Whatever happens to him happens.