Trump likely committed felony obstruction, federal judge rules

[brooklynite]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by JudyM (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: Politico

A federal judge ruled Monday that former President Donald Trump “more likely than not” attempted to illegally obstruct Congress when he tried to subvert the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021.

U.S. District Court Judge David Carter made the determination in a ruling that orders 101 sensitive emails from Trump ally John Eastman be turned over to the House’s Jan. 6 select committee.

“Based on the evidence, the Court finds it more likely than not that President Trump corruptly attempted to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021,” Carter wrote.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/28/trump-judge-felony-obstruction-insurrection-00020918

[Achilleaze]

1. Republican traitors to USA deserve justice

Lock them up

[gab13by13]

2. The select committee doesn't have the authority.

If DOJ were investigating Eastman those emails would not be going to the select committee, they would be going to DOJ.

[Escurumbele]

33. Any traitor of the USA deserves justice, it just happens that the traitor business is flourishing in

the republican party.

[efhmc]

3. And so?

That is my jaded thought every time any items about TFG's crimes come up.

[Jetheels]

7. Haha, mine is looking for the word "retired" judge, "retired" senator...

Or if it’s an Onion piece?

[maxsolomon]

4. It will be appealed.

And that decision will be appealed.

And so on up to the SCOTUS.

At which point the Select Committee will have issued its report.

[Fiendish Thingy]

6. It only took 6-8 weeks for Trump's appeals to reach SCOTUS- that would be mid May

Which will likely be smack dab in the middle of the committee’s televised hearings.

[maxsolomon]

8. I'm sick of this abuse of the courts.

Exposing the flaws in the Judicial System by constantly running out the clock has made me a cynic. You might be able to tell.

[Evolve Dammit]

11. SOP for the Orange Mob Boss and crime family. For decades

[pandr32]

17. Total legal exploitation

This in itself should be a crime.

[Evolve Dammit]

28. Goes all the way to the Supremes now. No mechanism to recuse, let alone remove someone.

It's broken. Unless you're poor and follow the rules.

[jaxexpat]

42. "Unless you're poor and follow the rules", In which case you are the one who gets broken.

The only functional mechanisms in the judicial system are the thumbscrews put on you by the unwritten laws of "traditional" pay-as-you-go justice.

[calimary]

39. Way to string it out and ask for delay after delay after delay.

Schmuck is used to playing for time like that. You string it out as long as possible til the opponent runs out of money and the case winds up being dropped long after most observers have forgotten about it, and settle for as little as you can get away with.

[Justice matters.]

46. Congress should legislate a fast-track lane for appeals.

But Senate repugs would not vote for it. 🤬

[SayItLoud]

29. Who needs the televised hearings? (Rant don't read if you don't like rants)

No one on DU, no one with common sense, no one who cares about our Democracy. We already KNOW how corrupt TFG is and his cohorts.

So the televised hearings will be a new version of impeachment 1 & 2 .

We will all learn even more about TFG and his traitors. We will burn up DU and every site with "can you believe, It's worse than I thought, they can't get away with this, they must be held accountable...bla bla bla.

His Cult will still claim it's a witch hunt it will rev up the base of morons and sadly we will once again have a grab bag of messages (all valid) but not focused. Shotgun vs rifle. They have "Radical Left", "Those immigrants stealing your jobs", "CRT"...and we have: "Look how corrupt they are, if you care about Democracy. Sadly those two message of our barely got us control of House/Senate. It's midterms and we still are messaging the same messages.

Sorry about the rant but it's been one of those days.

Peace.

[calimary]

40. Totally get that.

You pretty much called it, based on past track record of certain individuals we already have the misfortune of recognizing.

[lagomorph777]

44. Yup.

I'm sorry to say, but I have no faith in DOJ.

Congress can put on a show, which only our side will watch, or even be aware of. So what?

[Chainfire]

5. And my finding, is hat "more likely than not" this will go no further than the NY case.

[CentralMass]

9. I have come to the conclusion that tRump is not going to be pursued on any of this.

[RipVanWinkle]

10. That's what I've been saying since I joined this board.

That's why I sometimes end a post with "wake me up when he's (Trump) been indicted".

Someone has decided not to prosecute Trump. For what reason, I don't know, but, the following is my personal speculation:

1. A political calculation - a politician higher up in the food chain from the prosecutors doesn't want to rile up Trump's base.

2. A safety issue - Trump threatened the prosecutors.

3. A financial reason - Trump bribed the prosecutors.


Wake me up when Trump has been indicted.

[Evolve Dammit]

14. All distinct possibilities Welcome

[sop]

32. Another bit of (wild?) speculation: Trump is a protected federal Confidential Informant.

Here's an interesting and informative article about Trump's ability to miraculously avoid any prosecution for so many years (judge for yourselves if this is plausible):

"What happens when a Confidential Informant becomes President?"

"That’s the thing about Confidential Informants: they are confidential...The only way to know for sure if Donald John Trump is a Confidential Informant is if he admits it himself (unlikely), or if law enforcement comes forward (illegal). But the circumstantial evidence is compelling. The pattern is: 1) Trump deals with mobsters as usual; 2) Law enforcement begins investigating Trump; 3) Mobsters suddenly get busted, while 4) investigation into Trump is scuttled. This happened three times that we know about...I can conceive of no scenario in which Trump was not a CI, and a top echelon one at that. He’s avoided indictment too many times. No one is that lucky."

https://gregolear.substack.com/p/tinker-tailor-mobster-trump

[calimary]

41. Oooooooooh, that's MOST interesting!

Certainly helps explain a few things.

[RipVanWinkle]

43. Quite possibly the most plausible explanation

of why Trump has never been indicted, and probably will never be indicted.

[lagomorph777]

45. The biggest target of all is Trump himself.

Prosecutors going after big fish would not spare the biggest fish of all.

No, they have been told he's too big; he'll sink the boat.

[spudspud]

12. Trump is untouchable.

Our leaders have shown they lack the fortitude to bring him to justice. It's all just kabuki theatre at this point.

[L. Coyote]

13. HUUUGE.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

15. Lock him up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Though he may ask Pooty Poot for asylum.

[CentralMass]

16. ...

[jalan48]

18. Sounds serious.

[Ford_Prefect]

19. Would ya think a guy from Queens would do such a thing? Ya, You betcha!!

He did that other thing. Y'know, the first thing.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

20. Wow. Quite the limb for a judge to go out on. Judge Carter must have seen quite some evidence. . .nt

[mysteryowl]

21. Come on DOJ, America needs movement on this!

Now

[NewHendoLib]

22. Likely?????

[Weegee7]

23. Lock him up!

Right wingnuts claimed Hillary was the criminal one.
It was Trump.

[2fast4u]

24. This is about piercing Attorney Client privilege

The privilege doesn’t cover criminal acts, so a finding of criminality is required to force Eastman to turn over the docs.

I wouldn’t count on this being upheld. The law is VERY reluctant to invade the privilege. Also, Judge Carter has a bit of a reputation for creative rulings and being overturned. He was the one that ordered LA to put everyone on Skid Row into housing - before he was reversed by the 9th Circuit.

[ificandream]

25. It was way way more than "likely" given all he did to withhold evidence.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

26. K&R. Headline made my day.

Here comes 'da judge!.............

Thanks for posting, Brooklynite.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

27. I had fun skimming this opinion and the judge did a great job on the crime fraud exception

I just skimmed the opinion. I am law geek and I had to read this opinion. here is a link to the opinion
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840.260.0.pdf

The judge bent over backward to find that Eastman had an attorney client privilege with TFG and that Eastman did not waive such privilege when Eastman improperly used Chapman University's email system. These were close issues and the judge gave the benefit of the doubt to Eastman and TFG.

The discussion of the crime fraud exception really made me smile

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

I love the last page of the opinion

Link to tweet

[Stuart G]

30. Thanks for posting K & R..So, who will indict Donald Trump?? You got it correct, Joe Biden through

his Attorney General Merick Garland. I suspect (I don't know a thing) that Joe is thinking about this every day
because his experience in government is great and his love of the United States is greater. I don't think Trump
will get away with it. This will take time, lots of time, but once there is an indictment, Donald Trump's popularity
will sink lower than we can imagine. If he is found guilty, then even lower

[Botany]

31. Bob Mueller put up 10 solid cases of Trump obstructing justice with the expectation that he would ..

...be prosecuted after he left office.

[andym]

34. If indictments are brought-- Trump's men will be first just like Nixon's

and that will be needed so that an ironclad case can be brought against Trump. A former President has never been prosecuted before so the case will have to be open and shut to not look like political opportunism by a Democratic administration.

Ironically, an indictment will make Trump more popular than ever among his supporters as Trump will insist he is a martyr in the culture wars. So, no matter what happens, expect Trump to run in 2024. If nothing else, he will want to pardon himself, regardless of the legality of that act.

[Paladin]

35. So...How about we DO SOMETHING about it?

You know---just for a change of pace.

[Pepsidog]

36. Yea, so, after 2 years of Mueller I'm not holding my breath waiting for a Trump indictment.

You see, we are all under the mistaken assumption that no one is above the law. We know that Republican Presidents are definitely above the law. No doubt a Democratic President would have been indicted, tried, and convicted by now.

[Jack-o-Lantern]

37. Trump has proven beyond a doubt that he is truly untouchable.

("Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be gisappointed”).

[onecaliberal]

38. Yawn.

[JudyM]

47. Locking

Dupe of https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142895175

Please continue discussion in that thread.