Trump’s appeal of judge Tanya Chutkan’s denial of his “Presidential Immunity” claim is set for oral arguments on Jan. 9. Rather than kick back over the holidays Jack Smith and his people have been working, and yesterday dropped off some extra reading for the the panel at the District Court of Appeals. And boy did he zing Trump!
It’s times like these when I wonder if there’s a switch in the IT room at Mar A Lago, or maybe a bit of software in the software (soft-minded-ware?) of Truth Social that aides sometimes use to prevent him from posting something until he can be convinced to tone things down to bat-sh*t crazy insanity. Or they can edit it down to something he’ll accept being posted. As you know it still gets wild. Like his Christmas message. Now? I’m thinking that will look like a warm & fuzzy missive compared to what’s coming. I can just imagine Trump getting himself all psyched up to work the crowd at a New Year’s Eve blowout at his tacky club. Lot’s a people all dressed up to the nines (and having paid through the nose for a ticket to the event of course) celebrating the New Year. Sucking up to him. You know the drill. He was probably counting down the hours like a kid does to Christmas morning and opening the presents.
Newsweek says Trump will be “stung” by Smith’s legal brief filed on Saturday the 30th. As I’ve indicated, “stung” is putting it mildly. Smith doesn’t pull any punches in the brief, which starts with stuff like Trump’s claim that he can’t be held to account for crimes he committed in office “threatens the democratic and constitutional foundation” of the country. Oh, but that’s just for starters:
In the brief, prosecutors wrote that the presidency “plays a vital role in our constitutional system, but so does the principle of accountability for criminal acts—particularly those that strike at the heart of the democratic process.
“Rather than vindicating our constitutional framework, the defendant’s sweeping immunity claim threatens to license presidents to commit crimes to remain in office. The founders did not intend and would never have countenanced such a result.”
That’s strong stuff but not the best and most pointed part. Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissman who I suspect you’re familiar with wrote on social media this latest brief by Smith is “VERY geared” towards SCOTUS who will be asked to hear the case. He has a couple of important things to say and I’ll start with the one that prompted me to say Smith seems to made a point of raining on Trump’s New Year parade (causing the sprinkler systems to go off in the Mar A Lago ballroom so to speak) with a quite pointed dig:
In another post on X, formerly Twitter, Weissmann said that in the filing, Smith “slyly notes that Trump himself previously told the [Supreme Court] in a case where he sought (unsuccessfully) immunity from a state grand jury subpoena that he [would] NOT be immune post-presidency and [would] not be thereafter ‘above the law.'”
Maybe Trump’s lawyers haven’t told him about THAT part of the filing. Yet. However, having said on the record to SCOTUS in another case (which I ask you to notice Trump LOST) related to Trump’s Presidential Immunity delusions of grandeur at some point they’ll have to. If only to prepare him for the worst. Not to mention get Trump to sit down and work with him right away on his SCOTUS appeal when he, as he almost certainly will loses with the DC Court of Appeals. Here’s why Trump’s going to have to be told specifically about this and how bad this filing is for him.
First, as had already been reported the Court of Appeals will be asked to lift the stay judge Chutkan enacted to put pre-trial work on hold while Trump appealed. If the pundits I hear and read, lawyers (unlike me) who know this stuff and who have practiced this kind of law in front of these judges and Justices are correct there’s a good chance the Appeals Court will lift the stay. That would improve the chances of Trump’s DC trial actually happening in March. Especially since jury selection will be a painstaking process, and with the stay lifted the District Court can move forward with screening prospective jurors right away.
The linked article notes that Smith included some seriously damning (for Trump) hypotheticals that would be possible if Trump’s view of his “immunity” were to be accepted by the courts. It quoted Weissman saying the brief “skillfully used chilling and difficult hypotheticals to persuade the court to find that criminal immunity does not apply at all—as opposed to immunity within the outer perimeter of presidential functions” (emphasis added):
The filing claimed that Trump’s assertation “would grant immunity from criminal prosecution to a president who accepts a bribe in exchange for directing a lucrative government contract to the payer; a president who instructs the FBI director to plant incriminating evidence on a political enemy; a president who orders the National Guard to murder his most prominent critics; or a president who sells nuclear secrets to a foreign adversary.”
Not to be outdone, George Conway chimed in:
“Also: ‘a president who sells nuclear secrets to a foreign adversary,'” attorney George Conway wrote to his 2.2 million followers on X. “Interesting choice of hypotheticals.”
However, what will really freak Trump the f**k out is that he’s counted on a lengthy appeals process. Even if he could delay things (as in finally losing, AGAIN eventually with SCOTUS) until well into February he can blow the March trial date out of the water. Pushing things into March itself (theoretically possible) would blow the DC trial entirely. Down in Florida his pet federal judge “Loose” Cannon will insist until the last possible moment his trial down there is set for late May. She will of course wind up finding a way to to blow THAT off and there goes any chance of Smith getting Trump into court before the election.
So what specifically will freak Trump the f**k out like I just said? This:
“Now, the special counsel has asked the court to issue that mandate five days after they decide the case, which would force Trump to act quickly and decide whether or not to appeal to the Supreme Court. I suspect he will. And that takes us, really, to where we started. Much of the question of timeline here depends on the will of the Supreme Court to bring these issues to decision quickly.
You can bet the farm Trump will use every hour of those five days when he loses his appeal. He was counting on a lot longer time to sh*t or get off his fake gold toilet of delay.
Again, one has to ask what the next explosion on Truth Social will look like. Maybe Smith didn’t mean it to be so, but over the weekend before New Year’s he pretty much said to Trump “F**k your Happy New Year!” You don’t think Trump is screaming and throwing things right this very minute? As I said, I can’t help but think Trump’s staff has some technological means of preventing him from lashing out online until his lawyers can give an “okay – this won’t get him into worse legal trouble.”
Make no mistake however. Smith has lit off a legal Roman Candle up Trump’s fat orange ass. Don’t forget that thing I mentioned about using Trump’s own argument in a (losing) SCOTUS effort to claim immunity already. Ruined his holiday and “bigly” celebration in the process. Oh, Trump WILL respond.
It might well be his most epic meltdown yet. Stay tuned folks because this could one hell of a fireworks show for New Years.
Now that’s gotta be the Democrat’s battle cry for 2024, your “… zing Trump! …”. It’s context specific and covers all bases.
Maybe someone with the right resources and skills can make a video. Of a “Mister Bill clay doll of Trump sitting at a defense table with clay dolls that look like his lawyers. And someone with a Mr. Bill voice talking about “What’s that? Another motion that is going to send me to prison? Followed of course by the Trump doll being picked up, slammed onto the table and being smashed by a gavel to the classic “Oh Noooooooooooo! (I’m not sure what would be funnier – a Mr. Bill voice or a Trump variation on it)
Condemned by his own words.
Priceless – and poetic.
Trump’s own horcrux, killed moments ago by none other than Trumpdemort himself. How priceless and poetic INDEED!
I cannot think of a better holiday gift for trump than to shoot him down legally with his own words.
I hadn’t heard this one before but there’s always a Trump quote in which he’s screwed himself. Happy New Year to us all!