Is Trump in Legal Jeopardy?
Perhaps the better question is: How much legal jeopardy is President Trump really in? All we know for a fact is that he is facing a number of lawsuits and several ongoing investigations in various places around the country.
We also know that there is significant desire on the part of the left to file time-consuming, money-consuming and reputation-damaging lawsuits for purely political reasons. Such suits may get thrown out by the courts. Or if there is a trial, they could be won by Trump fairly quickly.
The most political and frivolous cases are those tying Trump to the riot on Capitol Hill. They provide anti-Trump/anti-Republican grist for the anti-Trump/anti-Republican media mill but are the least likely to be won by the prosecution. I doubt that anyone NOT on Capitol Hill January 6th will face trial.
Normally, we could look to the media’s legal analysts to professionally opinion as to the seriousness of the specific cases. But since we know that the media spins the coverage for the maximum negative impact on Trump, we cannot rely on those opinions – even from so-called legal experts.
The case that is getting the most attention these days is a duo-deal involving the New York State Attorney General and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York City. They both focus on the Trump Organization and its top executives – including Trump and his children. Attorney General Letitia James and U.S. Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. announced that they would work together developing both civil and criminal actions.
Vance has convened a “Special” Grand Jury to deal with the case he has developed. I emphasized the word “special” because it does have significant meaning. It enables the Grand Jury to investigate the case much longer than the normal 45-day limitation. Vance has already extended the deadline to September – and could extend it further.
The empaneling of a Grand Jury is bad news for the Trump Organization. The first problem is the unfair nature of Grand Juries. The United States and Liberia are the only two nations that have a Grand Jury system. That should tell you a lot.
As judicial scholars note, the Grand Jury’s purpose is to investigate and PROSECUTE. They are not designed to render justice. In the Grand Jury system, only the prosecution can present evidence. There is no opportunity for the jurors to hear defense facts and rebuttals. In the court-of-public-opinion, it would be like watching MSNBC all day. You never hear from the other side.
Grand Juries are so prejudicial to the rights of a defendant that the popular expression is that prosecutors could use a Grand Jury to indict a hamburger. That saying reflects the facts that Grand Juries indict 99 percent of the time. Even though juries that hear all the evidence in a case will acquit a high percentage of the defendants indicted by Grand Juries.
Right or wrong, that means there will be at least one indictment – and probably more – by the Vance Grand Jury. Although the elitist media salaciously report that Trump is likely to be indicted, they are reporting irresponsible speculation because it is unknown who Vance will be going after – Trump, his Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, members of the Trump family or the Trump Organization as a corporate defendant. Given the political motivations involved, however, it is hard to image that a guy like Vance will not want to notch a presidential conviction on the handle of his political pistol.
The press hypothesizes that Trump could get up to 25 years in prison if convicted of the crimes that are only vicious media speculations at this point. “Innocent until proven guilty” has never been a standard within the Fourth Estate. Quite the opposite.
For obvious reasons, the press emphasizes the most extreme punishment. In civil corporate infractions, prison time is not an option. And even in criminal cases – such as Vance is pursuing – jail time is exceedingly rare.
Far too often, the biased media reports as if a person is guilty until the real result proves otherwise. Even such Trump haters as MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough cautions his media colleagues against convicting folks in the court-of-public-opinion based on desire more than the facts. He points to several cases, including the prolonged reporting of White House Advisor Carl Rove’s “anticipated” indictment and conviction. Neither occurred.
We witnessed more than two years of Democrats and their media pals talking about Trump’s conspiracy with Russia as if it were a fact. After a $35 million investigation, Special Counsel Robert Mueller found no evidence of a criminal conspiracy between Trump and the Russians. The two years of misreporting was political propaganda.
On the question of obstruction of justice, Mueller made no finding. This left the decision to his bosses at the Department of Justice. They determined there was insufficient evidence to pursue the accusation.
The other problem with the Grand Jury system – at least today – is that there is no longer any obedience to the law by the lawyers. So as not to harm the reputation of innocent people, Grand Jury deliberations are to remain secret. Not even revealing who is being investigated. It is a criminal felony to leak Grand Jury information.
Today, the lawyers use illegal leaks to influence public opinion without fear of any legal consequences. That is much of what you are seeing reported today – selective leaks designed to maintain a flow of mendacious negative narratives against Trump.
It is not possible to predict what will come out of the Grand Jury deliberations in the future since we have no idea the nature of the case. But I do feel confident that there will be indictments and the leaks and unfair coverage will continue unabated.
So, there ‘tis.
Not if Moscow Mitch and his band of traitorous merry men can help it!
Why did they vote against the 1-6 commission ?Why are they protecting AntiFa and BLM? Inquiring minds want to know.
Ben, you are a dumb jacka$$. There was never any intent to look into wrongdoings by Antifa and BLM in that 1-6 Commission. It was merely another attempt to politicize anything anti-conservative.
Richard,
I understand some of my posts are confusing for people, especially conservatives.
The joke was that you conservatives claimed that AntiFa and BLM were responsible for the violence at the Capital. Republicans do not want to investigate 1-6, hence Republicans are protecting AntiFa and BLM.
Once again, Mr. Dover offers his usual twisted-logic arguments in proof of nothing tangible – as is the common practice of those bending to the Far Left. He’s a junior AOC…
Mr. Trump is the Greatest President America ever had
back in revolutionary times ,these “leftist commies” would have been hunted down and hung ! They are ALL traitorous pos. As A “retired” marine (E-8) I am completely disgusted with these “people” who dump on the greatest nation to ever exist ,and the many who gave their LIVES to ensure the freedom for these VERY sick beings to bad mouth America. O K ,iv’e “vented” …But if you don’t like America,LEAVE ! But, PLEASE do NOT return after you discover your commie “paradise” “ain’t” what you thought it would be !!!
Jack, a little grammar lesson for you today, things are hung, people are hanged.
Well history has proven the more they purport negative about president Trump the more successful he becomes. The deceptions are brought to light and the purveyors of such lose credibility, while the public gets educated.
No weapons formed against thee shall prosper!
As usual, you start with some exaggeration or outright lie, and then build your conclusions on that.
No real legal scholar would say that the grand jury’s purpose is to investigate and prosecute. The prosecutor does that. The grand jury has precisely one task – decide if there’s enough evidence for a trial. The result of that decision is an indictment, essentially permission for the prosecution to move forward. And your insinuation that it’s unfair and the fact that only the US and Liberia have it “should tell you a lot” is just conspiracy-theory talk. The grand jury adds a layer of protection for defendents, by preventing frivolous charges against potentially innocent victims by overzealous prosecutors. The fact that it usually returns indictments is precisely because the prosecutors spend so much time preparing cases and presenting the facts to the grand jury.
Just because the press says Trump could get X years in jail doesn’t mean he’s being called guilty until proven innocent. They look at the most obvious possible charges and speculate on the most obvious penalties. Trump himself led chants of “lock her up”, despite Clinton being cleared by a half-dozen long and expensive investigations. Live by the Press, die by the Press.
Trump is not being investigated for “purely political reasons”. He openly and brazenly broke the law while using his office to protect himself. He blackmailed a foreign country to try to create dirt on his political opponent. He channeled money from his inauguration fund into his own pockets. He played golf (literally a third of his time in office) at his own golf courses, where money flowed into his own pockets. He gave his own family positions in government, where they were free to take contacts with heads of state and classified information to further his business interests. He maintained business interests in his DC hotels where foreign dignitaries could (and did) shovel money straight into his pockets.
The fact that Trump is being investigated by New York is really his own fault. He’s been skirting the law for many years. What Trump did was run for President and bring a shit-load of scrutiny on his own business dealings. If he had never run for office, he could have kept his grifts under the radar, and continued with the occasional civil penalty (which in itself is an indictment of our criminal system and how we treat the rich versus the poor). Only when you fly too close to the sun do those wax wings melt.
It’s an outright lie to say that Mueller found no evidence of a criminal conspiracy. Only Barr’s summary said that. Mueller’s hands were tied, and even the redacted version of his report listed hundreds of contacts between the campaign staff and the Russians. The Mueller report explicitly states that it “does not exonerate” the President and explains that the Office of Special Counsel “accepted” the Department of Justice policy that a sitting President cannot be indicted. It lists five instances of obstruction by the President, and resulted in dozens of indictments against his senior campaign officials.
Trump spent his whole 4 years in office (and even before he was elected) telling his followers that the elections were rigged and the Democrats were stealing elections. He exaggerated his first win, saying that 10 million people voted illegally, with no evidence whatsoever (as is his normal practice, i.e. he’s usually lying). In the six months before the second election, he whipped his followers into a frenzy, encouraging right wing extremists to “exercise their Second Amendment rights”. You’d really have to be trying hard not to see that as a call to violence. He filed up to 60 lawsuits, which all got thrown out of court for lack of evidence, while telling his supporters that the election was stolen. He held rallies and sent out invitations telling supporters to go to the Capitol to stop Congress from counting the finally tallies. He went out on a stage and told everyone that they had to stop the steal, and he would be right there with them (of course, he wasn’t). He stopped the National Guard from supporting the Capitol police, and put members of Congress in harm’s way. He literally tried to stage a coup, and if it weren’t for his own incompetence, it could/would have worked. That is nothing short of treason, and Trump needs to be held accountable.
Just because Democrats are calling for Trump to be investigated doesn’t mean it’s a political witch hunt. Trump did real damage to our country, and needs to be held accountable. Obviously, the Republicans will not do that, evidenced by the cover-ups and suppression of dissent of those who don’t show absolute loyalty to Trump. The House and Senate Republicans have gone from condemning Trump’s actions immediately after Jan 6th to totally groveling before him and insisting that there be no investigation. And of course, some of them were complicit in Trump’s actions, and are just covering their own asses.
Trump was a disgrace to our country, and will get his day in court, and then his term in jail.
Joe,
Really, lay off the drugs and the liberal Kool-Aid…they really are bad for your health. Does your psychiatrist know that your back making comments online?
Instead of personal insults, try reading my post and disputing the statements… Fox News talking points don’t count – do some research before you try it, you might learn something.
Trump will rise above the attacks by the commiecrats And idiots like Ben will be crying their eyes out
Talking about legal trouble.
Army Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman offered to court-martial Michael Flynn, Donald Trump’s former national security advisor, after Flynn appeared to call for a military coup in the United States.
“With these seditious remarks Comrade Flynn may have crossed the line for recall to active duty and court-martial,” Vindman said on Twitter on Monday.
Vindman, who’s part of the Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, the legal arm of the Army that comprises serving officers, added, “As a JAG I’m qualified and also happy to prosecute this case.”
LARRY!!!!!!!! PLEASE READ!!!!!! SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!!
We FINALLY TOTALLY AGREE!!!!!!! Bipartisanship!!!’
No seriously. The points you make about the Justice System were on point!!!! That it happens to one of the most powerful men in the world should scare us all. Imagine now being a poor young man, particularly a poor young man of color. If the system is stacked against the most powerful man in the world, is there any hope for the disadvantaged ?
YOU WERE SOOOOO CLOSE!!!!!!!
You took a golden opportunity for a true bipartisanship and wrote another partisan piece. I’d like to say I’m disappointed, but I’ve come to expect it. Seriously, I don’t understand how you can make even the most bipartisan issue into a political hack job.
The left has been begging for years for criminal justice reform , the right is finally coming around to understanding how unjust the justice system is. The whole system is set up against the accused. Especially the accused that can’t afford the best of legal defense. And you are right, the idea that public opinion can be used in the criminal system is horrendous. It’s so bad in fact, a millionaire could take out a full page add in a National News Paper and advocate for conviction of five men that it turns out not to have committed the crime….
Oh SNAP!!!!
Now I get why you like to throw cheap shots into an otherwise bipartisan issue… it’s fun and it feels good!
I guess that’s two things we have in common.