Donald Trump news and discussions

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Trump hit with sweeping indictment in alleged effort to overturn 2020 election

Source: ABC News

Former President Donald Trump, bent on staying in power, undertook a sweeping "criminal scheme" to overturn the results of the 2020 election, including repeatedly pushing lies about the results despite knowing his claims were false, and doubling down on those falsehoods as the Jan. 6 riot raged, a sweeping federal indictment alleges.

This is the third indictment faced by the former president, who -- as the Republican frontrunner in the 2024 presidential race -- continues to insist that the vote was rigged.

Prosecutors say the alleged scheme, which they say involved six unnamed co-conspirators, included enlisting a slate of so-called "fake electors" targeting several states; using the Justice Department to conduct "sham election crime investigations"; enlisting the vice president to "alter the election results"; and doubling down on false claims as the Jan. 6 riot ensued -- all in an effort to subvert democracy and stay in power.

The six alleged co-conspirators include several attorneys and a Justice Department official. The sweeping indictment, based on the investigation by special counsel Jack Smith, charges Trump with four felony counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-indicte ... =101612810

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[wjfox]

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The judge assigned to Trump's Jan. 6 case is a tough punisher of Capitol rioters
Source: ABC

WASHINGTON -- The federal judge assigned to the election fraud case against former President Donald Trump has stood out as one of the toughest punishers of rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attack fueled by Trump's baseless claims of a stolen election. She has also ruled against him before.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, a former assistant public defender who was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama, will oversee the case accusing Trump of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in the two months leading up to the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.

Chutkan has often has handed down prison sentences in Jan. 6, 2021, riot cases that are harsher than Justice Department prosecutors recommended.

snip

She rejected his arguments that he could hold privilege over documents from his administration even after President Joe Biden had cleared the way for the National Archives to turn the papers over. She wrote that Trump could not claim his privilege “exists in perpetuity.”

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/jud ... -101926213

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The New Trump Indictment Will Supercharge His War on American Democracy
by David Corn
August 2 2023

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) Even after all these years of Donald Trump’s extremist attacks on American democracy and decency itself, the four-count criminal indictment handed down by a federal grand jury on Tuesday that accused the former president of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results still is a shocking development. It would be quite the capstone to the Trump era. Yet despite these criminal charges, the Trump era is not yet over. There are motions and presumably trials (in this case and others) to come, as well as the entire 2024 election. Trump has not left the building. And whatever happens in the various courtrooms, a key question remains: Will this latest—and most serious—indictment of Trump do anything to break his hold on the paranoid and irrational imagination of tens of millions of Americans?

Of all the Trump indictments—which also cover his payment of hush money to a porn star to cover up an alleged extramarital affair and his alleged theft of classified documents—this new set of charges addresses the most fundamental threat he has posed on American democracy. He falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen from him. He schemed to overturn legitimate vote counts. And he riled up his followers to such an extent that thousands stormed the Capitol and violently tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power—a bedrock principle of American society.

But this alleged crime was not Trump’s doing alone. He had millions of accomplices: all those Americans who bought his bogus claims about the election.

Trump was only able to promote the biggest con of his career because there was an audience of Republican voters who believed his bunk. The GOP establishment did not oppose Trump’s disinformation operation—his assertions that he had actually won the election and his many unsubstantiated allegations of fraud—because it feared the party’s base. After the 2020 election, as Trump poisoned the national discourse with his conspiracy theories, Republican leaders did not counter his lies out of fear of alienating Trump’s voters. This afforded Trump the political space to mount assorted and overlapping plots to retain power.

Read more here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2 ... emocracy/

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To read the full indictment:

https://www.justice.gov/storage/US_v_Tr ... r_257.pdf

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Trump arrives at DC courthouse to face charges he tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election
Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has arrived at the federal courthouse in Washington to surrender to authorities on charges he plotted to overturn his 2020 defeat in the presidential election.

The early front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination will appear before a magistrate judge on charges including conspiracy to defraud the United States. The courthouse sits within sight of the U.S. Capitol that his supporters attacked on Jan. 6, 2021, to stop Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory.

It’s the third criminal case filed against Trump this year, but the first to try to hold him criminally responsible for his efforts to cling to power in the weeks between his election loss and the Capitol attack that stunned the world as it unfolded live on TV.

Trump’s motorcade made its way through D.C.’s crowded streets, using lights and sirens — a journey documented in wall-to-wall cable coverage once again.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/trump-indict ... 9b3d870070

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Judge in Trump's Jan. 6 case gives attorneys 2 weeks to propose trial date
Source: ABC News

The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump's Jan. 6 case has given the two sides two weeks to propose a trial date.

In her first scheduling order filed in the case Friday morning, Judge Tanya Chutkan gave prosecutors until Thursday to propose a trial date and provide an estimate of how long they think it will take to make their case at trial.

She also ordered Trump's team to respond to that filing by Thursday, Aug. 17, and propose their own trial date and estimate of how long it will take to put on their defense.

In addition, Chutkan said she will not require Trump himself to appear at the upcoming status conference that's scheduled to take place on Aug. 28.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/judge-trumps- ... =102020238

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[raklian]

Good luck to the Trump lawyers who have to explain to a "no-nonsense" judge.

[raklian]

"No-nonsense" judge sounds about right.

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'He's delusional': Trump lashes out at Mike Pence--a key figure in elections case
Source: raw story


David McAfee August 5, 2023, 5:39 PM ET

Donald Trump on Saturday lashed out at Mike Pence, who happens to also be a key figure in Trump's criminal elections case, saying his former vice president went to the "dark side."

Trump, who is scheduled to speak later in the day, posted the rant on his own social media platform, Truth Social. Pence is also running against Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

"WOW, it’s finally happened! Liddle’ Mike Pence,......................


The attack comes as Trump has been warned about his naming and shaming comments when it comes to the criminal case. Special Counsel Jack Smith previously flagged one of Trump's vague threats in the course of seeking a protective order against the former president.

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/trump-pence-dark-side/

[wjfox]

Pathetic.

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Donald Trump says he will ask the Judge to step aside

8 minutes ago

Donald Trump has said he will ask the judge in his election fraud case to step aside on what he called "very powerful grounds".

He claimed that "there is no way I can get a fair trial" unless she does.

His call came after the prosecution requested a court order that would limit what he can publicly say about the case.

The judge, Tanya Chutkan, was appointed by former President Barack Obama.

Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, on Sunday morning, describing the case as "the ridiculous freedom of speech, slash fair elections case" and saying that his legal team would immediately be asking for recusal of the judge.

He give no details of his grounds for asking her to step down.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-66422516

[raklian]

Pathetic.

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Donald Trump says he will ask the Judge to step aside

8 minutes ago

Donald Trump has said he will ask the judge in his election fraud case to step aside on what he called "very powerful grounds".

He claimed that "there is no way I can get a fair trial" unless she does.

His call came after the prosecution requested a court order that would limit what he can publicly say about the case.

The judge, Tanya Chutkan, was appointed by former President Barack Obama.

Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, on Sunday morning, describing the case as "the ridiculous freedom of speech, slash fair elections case" and saying that his legal team would immediately be asking for recusal of the judge.

He give no details of his grounds for asking her to step down.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-66422516

He will be DENIED again.

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Vox has published a recent article on the whole January 6 indictment situation. While not presenting anything particularly new or startling, it is a good summary of how the Justice Department finally arrived at the point of issuing an indictment. This includes some reporting of behind-the-scenes arguments about the criminality of Trump's actions. Here is a link to that article:

https://www.vox.com/politics/23817168/i ... -election

This is a large and sprawling case. Taken individually, some components of what Trump and his gang did are not necessarily all that criminal in nature. It is when you consider those actions in their totality that it becomes clear that Trump was trying to hold onto power through what amounted to a coup. This was premeditated and done in contempt of any constraining laws that might have applied. Violent protestors putting pressure on Pence and other elected officials were but a part of this coup attempt. As the article reminds us, also involved were forged documents created in an attempt to give Pence some cover in throwing out legitimate electoral college votes and substituting those pro-Biden votes with faked pro-Trump votes.

"Coup" may not be a legal term that shows up anywhere in the law books, but the word very much seems to apply. Something that was a source of much debate on this forum shortly after January 6.

Trump is entitled to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Still, there has been so much evidence presented in the second impeachment process and in the work of the January 6 investigation committee that I think voters can and should come to a decision that Trump acted improperly in the most profound sense imaginable. Republican voters need to face that reality and choose an alternative standard barrier. Unfortunately, such exhortations are likely to fall on deaf ears. Ears deafened by the cult like qualities of Trump's supporters. It is really all rather frightening. Especially if one is a person who values living in a democratic society.

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Donald Trump expected to be indicted in Fulton County election probe this week, county insiders say

ATLANTA — Many people in Fulton County are preparing for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to announce an indictment against former U.S. President Donald Trump for allegedly trying to overturn the results of the 2020 Presidential Election in Georgia.

This would be Trump's fourth indictment this year.

An Atlanta-area lawyer tells 11Alive he believes Willis could indict Trump this coming week. It would be a state indictment and could be the most significant out of all the indictments since someone can only be pardoned on federal charges.
“I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have."

That infamous phone call between the then president and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger happened on January 2, 2021. Almost three years later, bright barriers surround the perimeter of the Fulton County Courthouse in preparation for Trump's possible indictment for election interference in Georgia.

https://www.11alive.com/article/news/sp ... 2d86dd4777