My best guess here is that two news items from today are connected. First, the Wall Street Journal published a story this morning detailing how Jack Smith is in the final stages of his investigation, then Donald Trump’s lawyers sent a letter to Merrick Garland explaining how they need to meet with him ASAP. Trump posted said letter on Truth Social.

First, the Journal:

Special counsel Jack Smith has all but finished obtaining testimony and other evidence in his criminal investigation into whether former President Donald Trump mishandled classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort, according to people familiar with the matter.

Some of Trump’s close associates are bracing for his indictment and anticipate being able to fundraise off a prosecution, people in the former president’s circle said, as clashes within the Trump legal team have led to the departure of a key lawyer.

In recent weeks prosecutors working for Smith have completed interviews with nearly every employee at Trump’s Florida home, from top political aides to maids and maintenance staff, the people said. Prosecutors have pressed witnesses—some in multiple rounds of testimony—on questions that appeared to home in on specific elements Smith’s team would need to show to prove a crime, including those that speak to Trump’s intentions, and questions aimed at undermining potential defenses Trump could raise, they said.

The special counsel team conducted a flurry of grand jury interviews in recent weeks that appeared to tie up loose ends, the people said.

Now here is the part that got Trump’s attention, most probably.

The Wall Street Journal couldn’t determine whether Smith has decided whether to charge Trump, or if he has presented a recommendation on the matter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, who would make a final decision on any such charges. A spokesman for Smith declined to comment. A Trump spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment but has previously described the probe as a politically motivated witch hunt.

So Trump got on the phone to his lawyers and his lawyers wrote a letter to Merrick Garland and had a courier run it over to the DOJ.

By inference, apparently Joe Biden and Hunter Biden have been treated fairly.

In any event, we shall see if the attorney general will meet with these lawyers of Trump’s. If “the ongoing injustice” to Trump is the substance of their meeting with Garland, that would be very interesting to hear about.

Personally, I would like to hear more from Tim Parlatore, the lawyer that recently left Trump’s team and see what light he could shed on any of this. My sense of that is that we’ve only heard and seen the tip of the proverbial iceberg. I think Parlatore could provide a lot of interesting insight.

Help keep the site running, consider supporting.

13 COMMENTS

  1. Unless I’m mistaken on the law, the ONLY role Merrick Garland is allowed to play in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s work is to either approve or reject a recommendation to file charges. Anything else, such as discussions on what Smith should or should not do would be interfering in Smith’s work. As in Obstruction of Justice. What Bill Barr did is not what the law provides for. Garland will follow the law both in letter and spirit. My only worry is that for political reasons which shouldn’t factor into things he might balk at approving Smith’s filing federal charges against Trump, or even some others.

    If Trump’s lawyers have issues with Smith/his investigation then the proper and LEGAL thing for them to do is request a meeting with Smith to discuss the case and register any complaint they have. If they have a credible legal leg to stand on Smith will give it due consideration and perhaps might shift his plans some. But the point is it’s improper for Trump’s lawyers to go over Smith’s head. Because legally Garland can’t mess around in Smith’s day to day work. As I said, all he can do is approve (or not) charges, and publish Smith’s final report when it’s completed.

    22
    • Yes, you’re correct. Garland can, legally, only approve/disapprove charges but he has drug his feet this entire time. I get the feeling he just wants to get this investigation out of the way, not file charges, and let the criminal fuck go free to commit more crimes. I hope I am surprised and the sh*t gibbon ends up facing some very serious criminal charges, and jail time, but I’m not getting that feeling. When people even start saying there might be political reasons not to do the right thing I start thinking political reasons will carry the day.

      11
      0
      • Spike, I don’t think Smith came all this way from another country just to play with Trump . Garland called him in for a reason .

  2. Garland would be foolish to fall for an obvious end-around. I’m sure he’ll let Smith take this case wherever it leads. As Ty Cobb said last week, trump stands a good chance of going to jail on obstruction. If he stole the documents to shop them, and Smith can prove it, he may land an espionage charge and be going away for a long, long time. Let’s hope.

    29
  3. Translation: “Wah! That meanie Jack Smith is being unfair”
    That letter was obviously dictated by the Orange Ape himself.
    The only difference from one of his Truth Social brain-farts is no misspellings or randomly capitalized words.
    And he’s correct, no other president in history has been treated this way.
    And you wanna know why? They weren’t farking criminals.
    Well, maybe Tricky Dick Nixon was close, but he had a shoe-shine boy Jerry Ford to pardon him.

    • I agree that tantrumthinskin wrote the letter himself or dictated it. No self respecting lawyer would send that ‘unlike President Biden’ bellyaching nonsense….I’m sorry but the typical MAGAt MUST be a super insecure, whining, victim-card playing, white grievance, everyone-is-against-me, Karen, b/c I can NOT figure out how any conservative male can listen to tantrumthinskin for a second without getting douche chills and swearing off politics until the GOP finds their balls and tosses that loser to the curb like whining sack of shit he is.

  4. I suspect the only roadblock at this point is the decision as to what venue in which to press charges. I know, it sounds minor, but We-thePeople really cannot afford the DOJ to guess wrong on the point because double jeopardy. I would think they could cgharge the absconding in DC and the willful retention (and cashing in) in Florida in a separate indictment (s), but IALAL.and I clearly see why they would prefer to try him in DC if possible.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

The maximum upload file size: 128 MB. You can upload: image, audio, video, document, spreadsheet, interactive, text, archive, code, other. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop files here