One Trump case (mostly) done, three pushed back

Donald Trump’s lawyer during the Hush Trial, Todd Blanche, has said that the storey about Trump not paying his lawyers are nothing but lies.

[Is he forgetting the amount of money Trump owes Rudy Giuliani? Plus Blanche is being paid by the Republican party. (Why is that?)]

After the verdict, Maryland governor Larry Hogan [as well as Republican nominee for the US Senate] said on Twitter “Regardless of the result, I urge all Americans to respect the verdict and the legal process…. We must reaffirm what has made this nation great: the rule of law.” It didn’t take long for Trump backers to verbally abuse him with Chris LaCivita, a senior adviser to Trump’s presidential campaign saying “You just ended your campaign.” His Republican nominee called on the state GOP to censure Hogan “for his despicable and disgusting announcement.”

[This does show you that at least some Republicans do not care about the US justice system.]

Now that he is a convict, Trump was asked on Fox News about his comments about saying “lock her up” to Hillary Clinton but never did during his reign. “I didn’t say ‘lock her up,’ but the people would all say ‘lock her up, lock her up.’” He did say the phrase on multiple occasions in the fall of 2016.

The New York City Police Department is preparing to revoke Trump’s license to carry a gun. Trump’s New York concealed carry license was quietly suspended on April 1, 2023, following his indictment on criminal charges in New York.

Two of the three pistols he was licensed to carry were turned over to the NYPD on March 31, 2023, and a third gun listed on Trump’s license “was lawfully moved to Florida”. However, there is some talk of how it was transferred.

Trump could be in violation of multiple state and federal laws if he still possesses that third gun in Florida. Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon is a federal crime.

A Georgia appeals court has halted the election subversion conspiracy case against Trump and several of his co-defendants – a massive victory for Trump seeking to push further legal issues until 2025 if he can’t beat them altogether. The new order filed from the Georgia Court of Appeals is the latest indication that a trial in the state-level Georgia election subversion case will not occur before the 2024 presidential election. The court said the case will be on hold until a panel of judges rules on whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified. The appeals court is expected to rule on the disqualification issue by March 2025, though it could issue a ruling sooner.

[This was supposed to be a possible slam dunk case.]

Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee who is presiding over the classified documents case in Florida, has made it much less likely that a decision in that case will be reached before November 5. In a series of unusual moves, Cannon has allowed third-party groups unaffiliated with the case to argue in court, delayed some hearings without setting a new date, and scheduled additional ones, including one regarding a gag order request to limit Trump’s rhetoric about law enforcement. She also allotted more time to hear arguments about Trump’s request to declare special counsel Jack Smith’s appointment invalid.

[This was also supposed to be a possible slam dunk case.]

There have also been serious delays in the federal election interference case, as the Supreme Court still has to make a decision about Trump’s claims of presidential immunity. The trial date can’t be set by Judge Tanya Chutkan until after SCOTUS reaches a decision, and the court’s decision might leave room for further delays.

[This was also supposed to be another possible slam dunk case.]

On the day of the 80^th anniversary of “D-Day”, Trump opened his big mouth [again] by stating that the people trying to come into the US from the southern border is the “biggest invasion” ever.

In an Interview, Trump shockingly said “Hard to believe, they [Democrats] have some states passing legislation where you can execute the baby after birth. It’s crazy.” No state has passed or is passing a law that allows the execution of a baby after it is born. Killing a person after birth is illegal in every state.He also said “This is — every legal scholar wanted this [ban abortions] to be where abortion should be.” Actually, many legal scholars interviewed after Roe vs Wade died wanted it preserved.

In the beginning of his revenge tour, Trump has called for the indictment of members of the January 6 committee.

[They were just doing their job. I doubt if any sane prosecutor would look into this.]

Trump has joined the popular video-sharing app TikTok, a platform he once tried to ban while in the White House. “We will leave no front undefended and this represents the continued outreach to a younger audience consuming pro-Trump and anti-Biden content,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement about the campaign’s decision to join the platform. As president, Trump tried to ban TikTok through an executive order that said “the spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned” by Chinese companies was a national security threat. The courts blocked the action after TikTok sued.

[While the US government (mostly) sees TikTok as a security threat, he doesn’t anymore. Expect quite a few Republicans now to switch sides and support TikTok.]

Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in Arizona where he is accused of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results. A grand jury in Arizona handed up an indictment in April against Meadows and 17 other associates of Trump over their efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, including the fake electors from that state and several individuals connected to his campaign.

A federal judge ordered Steve Bannon to report to prison by July 1, giving the former Trump adviser a short window to get a higher court’s intervention. Bannon was convicted of contempt of Congress in 2022 after failing to provide documents and testimony to the House Select committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, Trump Insurrection. He was sentenced to four months in prison.

The Washington, DC board that oversees attorney discipline recommended that Giuliani, the former personal attorney to Trump, not be allowed to practice law in the nation’s capital.

Lawyers Blanche & Emil Bove, who are representing Trump at his trial and appeal, are both partners at Blanche Law, which FEC filings show has been paid approximately $4.9 million by Save America between April 2023. Save America—the main PAC paying Trump’s legal bills—has spent $50 million on legal fees since Trump was indicted in Manhattan on March 30, 2023.

A federal judge Carl Nichols, ordered Steve Bannon to report to prison by July 1, giving the former Trump adviser a short window to get a higher court’s intervention. Bannon was convicted of contempt of Congress in 2022 after failing to provide documents and testimony to the House Select committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, Trump Insurrection. He was sentenced to four months in prison. The judge had initially paused the sentence while Bannon appealed the conviction. Last month, however, a DC Circuit Court of Appeals panel unanimously rejected several challenges Bannon made to the case, and prosecutors immediately asked Nichols to send Bannon to prison to begin serving his sentence.

Two former FBI officials have reached a tentative settlement with the Justice Department to resolve claims that their privacy was violated when the department leaked to the news media text messages that they had sent one another that disparaged Trump. Peter Strzok, a former top FBI counterintelligence agent who helped lead the bureau’s investigation into potential ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, was fired in 2018 after the anti-Trump text messages came to light. Lisa Page, a former FBI lawyer, voluntarily resigned that same year.

Crazy but true: With Trump’s felony conviction, he can be the president but can’t be a barber in Florida [his home state]. Technically, he can’t be allowed into many western countries because of his conviction [38 of them]. Even as a president [if elected], he will needs exceptions to visit any of them. But, as you know, Trump or any president, don’t travel outside of the country as much.

As well: Trump would still get Secret Service protection even in prison. It would be difficult for anyone with a felony conviction to get security clearance. But presidents do not need to obtain security clearance.

The Wisconsin attorney general filed charges against three allies of Trump accused of taking part in the effort to put forth a slate of fake electors and usurp the 2020 presidential election, according to online court records. The men – Kenneth Chesebro, a right-wing attorney who helped devise the fake elector plot; Jim Troupis, a former Trump lawyer; and Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign official – are each facing a single forgery charge.