There is no joy in Trump world this bright August morn. Donald Trump had requested that the trial in the January 6 election interference case go forward in 2026. His argument was that he was busy. Too bad, said Judge Tanya Chutkan. “Setting a trial date does not depend and should not depend on a defendant’s personal and professional obligations…Mr. Trump, like any defendant will have to make the trial date work, regardless of his schedule.” Wow. Sounds like this judge may have a concept of a legal system where one size fits all. That’s not going to wash with Trumpty. He’s used to special treatment, has been his entire life. About the only person before Chutkan who called him out on his b.s. was his brother Fred, the night he dumped the mashed potatoes on Donald’s head.
Now this development would be alarming enough in Trump world, but for La Genius, Alina Habba’s comments yesterday. Trump’s demand for a trial in 2026 was based upon the fact that there was a pile of documentation “as big as the Washington Monument” to study and his lawyers desperately needed the time. Then Habba opened her mouth.
She just destroyed his “we need years to prep for trial” argument hahaha https://t.co/hgCkOo9SLx
— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) August 28, 2023
I agree with Habba, “these are not complicated facts.” No, they are not. Your client is guilty as hell. That’s plain. Plus, you’re not looking so good yourself.
Meanwhile, prosecutors in the four indictments are jockeying for scheduling positions like bridesmaids trying to catch the bridal bouquet. Forget about unprecedented, this is just plain wild. New York Times:
While Judge Chutkan noted that she had already spoken to the judge in the Manhattan case, the fact that three of the four criminal cases confronting Mr. Trump could go before separate juries in separate cities within weeks of one another reflects the extraordinary nature of the former president’s legal situation.
Mr. Trump has made no secret in conversations with his aides that he would like to solve his uniquely complicated legal woes by winning the election. If either of his two federal trials is delayed until after the race and Mr. Trump prevails, he could seek to pardon himself after taking office or have his attorney general dismiss the matters altogether.
In remarks from the bench, Judge Chutkan, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, played down arguments made by Mr. Trump’s lawyers that they needed until April 2026 to prepare for the trial given the voluminous amount of discovery they will have to sort through.
If the judge needed an argument, she could have used Habba’s.
“Mr. Trump, like any defendant, will have to make the trial date work regardless of his schedule,” Judge Chutkan said, adding that “there is a societal interest to a speedy trial.”
That’s the final word on that. Meanwhile, Matt Gaetz is calling for a vote to censure the judge, because he’s upset that the trial begins the day before Super Tuesday. And that, my friends, is a wake up call. It’s time for the GOP to get real. They are in trouble plenty. Is it Trump or is it the party? We’re going to find out.
It’s been mentioned here and elsewhere but the plain fact is that ANYONE has had (probably) at least three-fourth’s (if not more) available to them ever since Congress sent the criminal referral to the DOJ. With very few redactions ALL of the January 6 Committee’s reports and supporting exhibits and documentation was made available online (or in print if one is like me and prefers that method and has room to keep all the volumes) to anyone who cared to dig in and look. As for redacted stuff like grand jury testimony and closed door testimony, including issues where the J6 Committee had witnesses that refused to answer you can be damned sure Trump’s lawyers were in the loop on all of it. And, once DOJ took over and compel witnesses to provide evidence and appearances before the grand jury again, Trump’s lawyers knew just what was provided/said or when and why some witnesses took the fifth in front of the grand jury.
They had all this BEFORE the indictment. “Officially” they may only be getting some grand jury material now but hell, as I said Team Trump already knew damned near all of it. Add in that Smith’s approach has been both in FL and now in DC to provide a “road map” (what evidence will be introduced, witnesses called, what’s known as “order of proof” which means in what order given evidence will be introduced and witnesses called) as part of Discovery instead of waiting until weeks before trial (which it what’s customarily done) and Team Trump has no excuses for not being ready.
I had my hopes on judge Chutkan starting the trial in January, with jury selection before Christmas but what the hell. I still believe that as the afternoon and evening unfolds the sh*t storm I predicted last night is a coming! Trump has himself a human version of a lapdog down there in FL but in other places he’s got judges who know his game-playing delay tactics all too well and THEY have been preparing solid legal arguments that should hold up on appeal on why trials will happen much sooner than Trump wants.
Not a bottle of Heintz anywhere to be found at baby huey’s residence.
“Setting a trial date does not depend and should not depend on a defendant’s personal and professional obligations…Mr. Trump, like any defendant will have to make the trial date work, regardless of his schedule.”
and
“Mr. Trump, like any defendant, will have to make the trial date work regardless of his schedule, there is a societal interest to a speedy trial.”
do seem the last words on the matter.
And, for felon PO1135809, a decision that he can’t change on appeal.