After the Trump-appointed judge ruled against their nonsense defenses, Bannon’s legal team ended up calling no witnesses and, predictably, Steverino got guilty verdicts to match each of his shirts. Peter Navarro is next.
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bbleh
Republican politics at its purest: all performativeness, no substance, and total disregard for the law.
There’s a mandatory 30-day minimum sentence, but it could go up to a year. Each. I hope the judge throws the book at him.
Dangerman
FAFO.
Mike in NC
Two years in the Big House for “Trump’s Brain” would be very satisfying.
brendancalling
Let him rot in there.
rikyrah
Lock his filthy unkept azz UP!!
Violet
Can someone explain the sentencing is not until October 21?
Violet
Can someone explain why the sentencing is not until October 21st?
Gravenstone
One of the resident lawyer types over at TPM was projecting a conviction by 2 PM. Looks like he was close.
Scout211
Good news but as we discussed downstairs, October 21st for sentencing gives him a long time to work on his outraged martyrdom.
I read early this morning that his attorney asked the judge to ask all the jurors if they’d watched the hearings last night. I haven’t read anywhere to see if that actually happened.
He was featured in a few video clips last night and in the clips he seemed to imply that he had inside information about Trump’s plans if he lost the election.
mrmoshpotato
@bbleh:
Glad there’s a minimum.
Same.
And, it’s still hilarious that he’s going to prison for CONTEMPT!
LMAO! Dumbass.
oldgold
He is going to appeal. He is not going to be locked up in the near term, if at all.
Immanentize
@oldgold: I disagree. There is really no viable appellate issue. I know these are not normal times. Still, I think he goes in at sentencing.
trollhattan
If “all politics is local” then we elected ourselves a doozy to city council (NB not my district, y’hear?)
Oh, you “live” here but you, your family and your stuff happen to sleep elsewhere? Checks out.
IIRC he’s had a raft of issues with the supermarkets, including non-payment of wages. But we need more bidnezmen in government.
mrmoshpotato
@oldgold: Probably, but way to poop on our parade.
BlueGuitarist
Meanwhile, no jail time for Colorado trumper who admitted casting a ballot for his wife, who has been missing for 2 years.
Are all the known cases of voter fraud Republicans?
mrmoshpotato
@BlueGuitarist:
Most definitely. What’s the story behind her disappearance?
oldgold
@Immanentize:
The pre-trial rulings are going to be the basis of the appeal. There is enough there to make the appeal viable.
@Immanentize:
SiubhanDuinne
@Immanentize:
YAAL,IAN. Can you please explain (slowly, simply, pretend we’re in kindergarten, etc.) just why there’s a three-month hiatus between conviction and sentencing?
Ken
First they came for the unwashed antisemitic assholes, and I didn’t say anything because HE’S GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY.
HumboldtBlue
The Kansas City Star has had enough of Hawley:
JaySinWA
@Immanentize: So you don’t see him as appealing?/
His lawyer seems less than excellent. Inadequate/ineffective counsel might be his best hail mary. I wonder if he has funds to do anything but pro-bono?
trollhattan
The 2022 World Athletics Championships wrap this weekend in Eugene, OR–so near yet so far. Among the most amazing performances was the breaking of Michael Johnson’s looooong-held American record in the 200M by Noah Lyles. It was also the rare US sweep, with zero Jamaicans on the podium in stark contrast with the women’s 100 & 200M, in which they grabbed five of the six. Yowza.
NBC
trollhattan
@mrmoshpotato:
Has anyone checked the ballot box?
Sister Golden Bear
@Gravenstone: Juries love to deliver verdicts on Fridays, since no one wants to come back next week. Juries also love the free lunch that’s provided to them. Ergo the timeframe of the verdict was reasonably predictable.
Omnes Omnibus
@Immanentize: No privilege. No compliance. Not a lot of issues for an appeal.
JaySinWA
@mrmoshpotato:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/colorado-man-suspected-wife-s-death-cast-ballot-trump-her-n1267416
JaySinWA
@Sister Golden Bear: I can’t say any of the free lunches I got on jury duty were loved or memorable. YMMV
Sister Golden Bear
@SiubhanDuinne: Some of the time may be needed to prepare a sentencing recommendation (which is not done by the judge)?
Omnes Omnibus
@oldgold: Which rulings were even arguably erroneous?
WereBear
@SiubhanDuinne: there’s a bio of the convicted for the judge to consider at sentencing
Immanentize
@oldgold: i don’t think so. Which motion? Which one is he likely to prevail on? The judge gave the defense super wide latitude to argue shit that was completely inappropriate and would have, in any other case, been shut down pronto.
Remember, the standard for success on appeal is generally “harmless error” which is judged by whether there is overwhelming evidence of guilt. I just don’t see it.
I do expect them to work very hard to put off sentencing until after the election. We shall see.
Scout211
Bannon’s attorney thinks there is grounds for appeal. Or this is posturing.
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne: Part is the pre-sentence investigation that leads to a sentencing recommendation. Part is the court’s schedule; this is not the only case that this judge and these lawyers are working on.
West of the Rockies
Totally subjective, but I’d prefer Navarro be the one who takes it in the shorts. At least the repugnant Bannon looks like he’s enjoying himself. Navarro, for my money, looks like an enraged true believer and zero fun at parties.
Of course, I would love it if they both ended up behind bars for two years (consecutive sentences).
oldgold
@Immanentize:
The Judge’s pretrial rulings based on the Licavoli case are what the appeal will focus on.
The Judge said on several occasions that in his view the six-decade-old Licavoli D.C. Circuit ruling was probably incorrect under present legal standards, but that as a trial court judge he was obligated to follow the precedent until and unless it was overturned.
I think that is a pretty good basis for an appeal.
dm
I hope he gets the bare minimum 30 days.
…..Because he decides to sing, sing, sing to the investigators and the grand jury.
Anyway
@trollhattan:
Yes, I was glued to the teevee. Noah Lyles was amazing. Loved the 1-2 by the Jamaican women too. The Eugene crowd is so appreciative.
JaySinWA
@dm: Not unless that weasel has evidence to back up his song. I don’t think he is a reliable narrator. I’m not sure anyone would trust him to tell the truth, so he needs to back it up with something beyond his words.
Miss Bianca
@BlueGuitarist: If you’re talking about the Barry Morphew case, that’s because DA Linda Stanley was so incompetent that she botched the case completely. Oh, and her law license has been suspended.
She should never have been elected in the first place. She had ethics and basic competency challenges that were so bad that her own sister wrote a letter to my paper saying not to vote for her! Even our Sheriff endorsed the encumbent, a Democrat appointed by Gov. Polis, which earned him a lot of wrath from the hard-right-wing nutjobs here.
But Stanley had an R next to her name, and she flapped her gums about God and guns and the Constitution, none of which she appears to understand in the slightest. And that’s all it took for everyone to say, “Yup, I’m votin’ fer HER!” And, well, here we are.
Tom Levenson
@Sister Golden Bear: When I was on jury duty in Manhattan, back when we still complained that we had to use quarters instead of dimes in the pay phones, we had to go get lunch for ourselves. (I wasn’t empaneled; this was just for the several days before they cut me loose for getting dinged at every voir dire.
rikyrah
@BlueGuitarist:
While I’m all for prosecuting voter fraud….
wife’s been MISSING FOR 2 YEARS??
Did they dig up the man’s backyard to try and find her?
James E Powell
@Omnes Omnibus:
In movies & TV shows lawyers always have a lot of free time because they appear to be working on one case at a time. I recall trying to explain to clients that this was not reality.
rikyrah
@trollhattan:
I actually saw that race. He was just GONE!!
HumboldtBlue
Gavin Newsom:
Immanentize
@SiubhanDuinne: I thought I did this in a prior thread, but it seems I dreamt that….
The time — especially after a guilty verdict after trial — is mostly spent on the creation of the pre-sentence report. This is put together by the “probation department” which really has little to do with probation but rather is the office that investigates an offender (either after plea or verdict) in order to recommend the appropriate sentence in line with the federal sentencing guidelines. The calculation of the guidelines range include enhancements (added points for bad things on your record like priors or violence or — in Bannon’s case, failure to accept responsibility). A defendant can also get points taken off the calculation for good things (like limited involvement in a multi-defendant crime, cooperation, specific mitigating factors, etc.)
In the end, the probation officer makes a report which adds up the negatives and the positives and then applies it to the sentencing guidelines range. Bannon already had a lot of enhancements (prior conviction and, I suspect he will fail to accept responsibility). I don’t see many mitigators, but who knows (he may have a brain tumor or something).
During this calculation,bathe prosecution sends a report to the probation office with it’s recommendation of the range and the defense can (should!!) submit a brief outlining why the range should be low. This may include medical reports, examples of great goodness, discussion of childrens’ needs for their papa, letters from moms, etc.)
In this case, there were two guilty verdicts for two charges. I am not sure about this in this particular case, but another thing in many cases in which there are multiple findings of guilt, the probation office will also recommend whether the two crimes should be punished concurrently (the sentence for each happening at the same time) or consecutively (one sentence only being served after the first is finished). My guess is that in this case, the charges will have to run concurrently.
All this takes 2 months or so. Then it is a question of the availability of all the lawyers and the Judge. The defendant normally has no say in the convenience of the sentencing date.
Does that help?
cbear
Oftentimes, depending on location, court, crime(s) etc., there’s a presentence investigation report (PSIR) prepared by probationary services in that area which gives the judge a recommendation before sentencing.
HOWEVER, if you’re poor or a POC they usually just lock your ass up right away!
White-collar fucks like Bannon–not so much.
Bannon’s PSIR: “TOTAL ASSHOLE. MAX HIM OUT!!”
WereBear
@rikyrah: Incarcerated while it’s investigated.
Miss Bianca
@mrmoshpotato: Briefly, Suzanne Morphew disappeared under suspicious circumstances two years ago. Her husband was always a suspect but wasn’t arrested until after the competent DA who would have been able to get a conviction was replaced by the incompetent one who fucked up so bad that even the defendant’s *lawyer* complained about it – although it meant that her client walked. And now can’t be tried again because of double jeopardy.
Just another example in the long, long list of “Republicans who are the reason that we can’t have nice things.”
Immanentize
@JaySinWA: I think Bannon’s lawyer is just fine, not great but pretty good; but had nothing — zero, zip, nada — to work with.
tom
@Immanentize: is multiple-shirt-wearing an enhancement?
Immanentize
@Omnes Omnibus: They tried to create a “you prevented our defense” appellate issue with the Trump letter, but the Judge ruled correctly on that one and even that issue would not survive a harmless error analysis because the judge allowed defense counsel to talk about it and waive it around.
mrmoshpotato
Stephanie Miller reading the orange manbaby’s whining from last night
The voice she’s doing is hilarious.
Immanentize
@Scout211: That is just defense counsel bloviation in order to maintain their fee.
topclimber
IANAL, but would Congress be allowed to issue another subpoena and hold Bannon in contempt if he ignores it even after he serves his 30-to-365 days for the first evasion?
Immanentize
@oldgold: I don’t because there really wasn’t a serious willfulness defense in the case. Remember, Bannon did nothing in response to the subpoenas. He did not assert a privilege, he did not appear and claim any privilege (executive or 5th), and he did not move to quash the subpoenas. Nor did he testify at trial to put that issue into the appellate record. There is nothing but smoke.
ETA Just because there is a viable issue in any given circuit, or some hole in the law that should be plugged does not mean every case is appropriate for raising or deciding that issue.
JaySinWA
@Immanentize: I may have misled you about a prior conviction. I corrected myself in the previous post, Bannon was not convicted of fraud in the build the wall case. He was pardoned before trial. He was charged in a domestic abuse case but the charges were dropped, so I don’t know of any prior convictions
oldgold
@Immanentize:
There was no defense because of the rulings based on Licavoli.
This appeal is happening and has a reasonable chance of succeeding.
Scout211
Thanks. Good to know.
lowtechcyclist
@JaySinWA:
You would have to phrase it that way.
BlueGuitarist
@JaySinWA:
@mrmoshpotato:
@Miss Bianca:
@rikyrah:
Thanks Miss Bianca for the info at 38!
NYT (i know):
Dorothy A. Winsor
Bannon is working a lot of harm, not only in the US, but around the world. A spell in jail would be useful
Felanius Kootea
What’s that Seinfeld meme? Eats popcorn: “that’s a shame.”
Tony G
@SiubhanDuinne: Yeah, as a non-lawyer that sounds totally ridiculous to me. Why not sentence him on Monday?
S Cerevisiae
@mrmoshpotato: I still remember Andy Sekris (sp?) doing trump tweets as Gollum on the Colbert show, that was epic.
NotMax
He’ll look absolutely fabulous in two jumpsuits.
//
karen marie
@Omnes Omnibus: Three months is a long time. A presentence report typically (in Massachusetts) takes less than two weeks. The judge must have had a reason but that part of the trial wrap-up isn’t available online. Sometimes it’s to give defendant time for a quick appeal but my understanding is his attorney said appeal would be filed after sentencing. I thought that was odd too because, for instance, in Massachusetts (jurisdictions can differ wildly) a defendant has 10 days after a conviction to file a notice of appeal.
Burnspbesq
@Immanentize:
Did the defense put the alleged advice into evidence (or at the very least make an offer of proof)? If not, then the advice-of-counsel issue isn’t properly preserved.
karen marie
@Tom Levenson: Lunch is typically only provided during deliberations to speed things along.
Omnes Omnibus
@karen marie: This is federal court. Nothing happens quickly.
karen marie
@Immanentize: in 35 years of transcribing criminal trials I’ve never seen it take two months. Sentencing is rarely put off longer than two weeks. It’s usually either the same day or the following week.
Captain C
@tom: Going through life smelling like rancid bologna definitely is.
karen marie
@mrmoshpotato: Can’t understand a word she’s saying.
karen marie
@Omnes Omnibus: Learn something new every day.
RSA
@rikyrah:
Based on the photos, I’m wondering whether prison might be an improvement in personal hygiene. (Apologies if this counts as a kind of looks-shaming.)
trollhattan
@rikyrah: Yes he was. What a turn and stretch!
Was lucky enough to see Michael Johnson from the stadium–USTF Championships and USTF Olympics Trials. Truly an athlete for the ages. If Lyles has taken his crown, it’s well earned. I’m sure they’ve spoken.
FloJo’s record, still intact. :-)
trollhattan
@RSA: It’s consensus: the man could use a good hosing-off. Everybody wins.
cain
@S Cerevisiae: Even better was when reading trump tweets in the Joker voice. So good.
JaySinWA
@BlueGuitarist: Thanks for the updated info.
Is that correct? From a link in the NYT article the Denver Post indicates that the case was dismissed but not with prejudice, so a new case could be tried.
Of course it is probably problematic to refile after mucking things up this badly.
J R in WV
Off topic sad report:
Our
1 year old11-year old lab mix, Alice was put down this morning. Our long time (35 years now!) Vet and I decided she wasn’t happy with her current health situation. She lost her sight rapidly within the past 3 weeks or so, and had other symptoms aligned with SARDS, sudden acquired retinal degeneration syndrome, aka blindness. First she bumped into a car door when we got home one afternoon. Evidently puppers can lose their sight in just a couple of days.Yesterday she went up the hill (brave puppy!!) to visit the neighbors, but when she got home she was a terrible mud ball and wxtremely freaked out. She cried all night off and on. So this morning neighbor helped me load her into the car, destination Vet hospital. I cried like a baby, again when I told Wife, again when we mentioned it at Wife’s Dr appointment. I’m pretty tearful right now actually. Gonna make another drink now.
Clashes with the other good news about Bannon — fuck that motherfucker. Alice was a sweet, brave, delightful puppy who will be missed in our little hollow. She loved the woods!
edited to correct fat fingers typo. Alice was 11, not 1.
trollhattan
@J R in WV: I am so very sorry. My condolences to you all, and fond farewells to sweet Alice.
zhena gogolia
@JaySinWA: oh that’s just perfect. Kill your wife then have her vote for trump
ukko
@J R in WV: You did right by her, my deepest condolences.
Miss Bianca
@JaySinWA: Oh, wow, I will have to review those articles, that info is news to me!
dm
@JaySinWA: The prosecutors aren’t fools (though I did say “sing”, so you’re right to bring it up). Bannon would have to provide very useful evidence to get such a reduced sentence.
I wouldn’t put it past him to have recorded phone conversations, for example. Handing over his phone(s) full of interesting text messages to interesting people.
Here’s hoping we get to find out.
Wyatt Salamanca
July 20, 1969 – The Eagle has landed
July 22, 2022 – The Bannonista has landed
Hopefully, far worse things are in store for Bannon down the road.
Miss Bianca
@J R in WV: Oh, no! How sad. So sorry to hear it. I guess she just wouldn’t have been able to adjust to being stone blind in your type of environment. Poor little pupper.
JaySinWA
@zhena gogolia: He was sure that she would have wanted to vote for Trump, so it was okay./s
StringOnAStick
@J R in WV: That’s so sad. It’s sounds like she just couldn’t adjust or understand her sudden blindness and was completely traumatised by it. You did the right thing to free her spirit from a body that could no longer serve her. I’m sorry for your loss.
zhena gogolia
@J R in WV: so sorry 😢
HumboldtBlue
@J R in WV:
Aww man, have some love from the Lost Coast.
prostratedragon
@Sister Golden Bear: I had them calculating the quality of the sandwiches when they got the case early afternoon. Figured there was no way it would take them long otherwise.
JaySinWA
Some apparently are. From above:
RaflW
I suppose his fanbase will eat this up, but it’s nonsense: “[T]he gutless members of that show trial committee, the J6 committee, didn’t have the guts to come here and testify.”
That’s right, bathtub ginboy (he looks like he drinks gin by the bathtub, rather than that he makes it). The “didn’t testify” because, well, there was nothing they needed to say. Congress has the power to compel document production, and you thumbed your rheumy nose at them.
Jay
@J R in WV:
so sorry JR.
Uncle Cosmo
@trollhattan: Fire hose, fully clothed. Turn off the heat in his cell & let him dry out on his own time. Oughta be good for a case of pneumonia.
Villago Delenda Est
Self-described Leninist whining like TFG throwing a tantrum about a “show trial.”
Villago Delenda Est
@J R in WV: So very sad. Deep sympathies, JR.
RaflW
@J R in WV: Oh, dear. How very sad. You made a tough decision, and I hope you know that it was made with love and caring.
Dan B
@J R in WV: Sorry to hear about your sweet girl. It must have been terrifying for her to lose her sight. No reason to prolong her misery. Get hugs.
Zeecube
@J R in WV: So sorry for your loss. Rest in Peace, Alice.
JaySinWA
Not sure what he was making but the hot tub failed the acid test:
https://www.wonkette.com/steve-bannons-ex-wife-her-coke-dealer
-boyfriend-and-a-hot-tub-full-of-acid-the-usual
Baud
@J R in WV:
I’m sorry.
Scout211
@J R in WV: Oh J R, I’m so sorry about your pup. That really sounds like an awful disease and it must have been a hard decision to make. 😢
UncleEbeneezer
@J R in WV: So sorry to hear that. I can’t imagine losing a dog at such a young age. Deepest condolences to you.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@J R in WV: I am so sorry
CaseyL
@J R in WV: I am so sorry. It’s awful to lose a youngster, but you did the best thing you could for her.
Burnspbesq
Sweet! The D.C. Bar has filed an ethics complaint against Jeffrey Clark.
https://lawandcrime.com/2020-election/jeffrey-clark-trumps-man-at-the-doj-now-faces-ethics-charges-for-false-statements-in-draft-letter-on-election-outcome/?utm_source=mostpopular
Geminid
With Bannon’s contempt trial in prospect, the Washington Post published an article on the contempt of Congress trial of G. Gordon Liddy in 1974. Liddy’s “plumbers” had broken into the office of Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist in 1971, not long after Liddy hired on at the White House. They were looking for information by which they could publically discredit Ellsberg. The break in team came up empty, but when Watergate prosecutors found out about the crime and disclosed it to the judge trying Ellsberg under the Espionage Act, the judge made the story public and then dismissed Ellsberg’s charges on account of government misconduct.
A House subcommitee wanted to hear about the break in from Liddy, but when he appeared he told the lawmakers “I respectfully decline to take the oath as a witness.” The commitee and then the full House voted to cite Liddy for contempt.
The Justice Department charged him with contempt in March 1974. The trial was a short one and the judge found Liddy guilty. Because Liddy was already serving an 80 month to 20 year sentence for his Watergate crimes, the judge gave him a suspended sentence and a year probation.
But Liddy was a smartass:
Raoul Paste
@J R in WV:
Condolences and hopeful wishes for better days.
jnfr
@JaySinWA:
I didn’t even get a lunch. Everything was still shut down.
stinger
@J R in WV: Oh gosh. Condolences.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@J R in WV:
My condolences to you and your wife for the loss of your young girl. Poor puppers.
Old School
@J R in WV: My sympathies about Alice. She was a good girl.
Immanentize
@Miss Bianca:
Uh, the law would like a word?
J R in WV
Thanks all for your sympathy. She was a really swell puppy, everyone will miss her in the hollow, neighbors, other dogs, all of us. So sweet.
Thanks again!
If you intend to live with cats and dogs, you have to confront the fact that they don’t live that long compared to us two-legs. It’s really hard, but there it is. We still have two puppies and two cats — the cats are old now, the pups are young. We will be getting middle-aged cats as needed.
The last time I saw the vet who helped us today, I took in an injured box turtle — he looked up and said delightedly “You brought me a turtle!” and told me his wife had a compost pile in the back yard that attracted lots of box turtles, and that mine would be happy there. A great doctor and a good friend.
You all take care!
raven
@J R in WV: Aw man, I’m so sorry.
Ruckus
@rikyrah:
I wonder if any of his fellow inmates will really, really not like having to be around someone who seems to not like showering. We had one guy in boot camp who wouldn’t shower. He found out first hand what 79 other people who have to live with Mr. No Shower felt about this. The hard way. We understood then what the very stiff bristle brushes and lye soap was for, assisting those of inferior cleanliness with a lesson on cleaning every square inch of one’s skin. It is rather difficult to live with 79 other people in a confined area while not one of them will talk or deal with such a smelly bastard.
Ruckus
@trollhattan:
Noah Lyles run was an amazing thing of beauty to watch.
Kristine
@J R in WV: What an awful thing to happen to a pup and for you to go through. I am so very sorry.
Ruckus
@J R in WV:
Been away for a while today. So sorry to hear about your pup.
I have a neighbor with a 9 1/2 yr old german sheperd support dog with failing back legs. Had cancer removed from right leg about 4 months ago now the left leg has a growth. Poor pup has a hard time staying standing. I think he’s going to have to do the same as you.
Miss Bianca
@Immanentize: Late back to this thread, but have I mentioned that IANAL? ; )
WaterGirl
@J R in WV: Oh, J R, I am just seeing this.
My heart breaks for you. So young, so sudden, so shocking. Fuck. I am so sorry. Tears for all of you, and for Alice, a sweet girl whose life was tragically cut short. Fuck fuck fuck.