Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

In after Baud. Damn.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

I really should read my own blog.

Fani Willis claps back at Trump chihuahua, Jim Jordan.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

… among the most cringeworthy communications in the history of the alphabet!

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Glad to see john eastman going through some things.

DeSantis transforms Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Republicans in disarray!

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Thanks for reminding me that Van Jones needs to be slapped.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / This and That Related to Indictments

This and That Related to Indictments

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This post is in: , ,

First, a quick but vague announcement.  Imm (Immanentize) has graciously agreed to do a zoom this week for/with anyone who is interested in talking about and potentially learning more about legal stuff related to theMAL case.  eg. Will the trial really start on the August date?  (No.)  And much more.  Happy to have other Bj attorneys participate, as well, in addition to non-attorneys like me who can use a primer.

We are tentatively talking about Thursday or Saturday FRIDAY evening.  Is anyone besides me interested?

Okay, moving on.

I laughed.

Trump smells a rat!  More gangster talk from the head of the Trump Crime Syndicate himself!

Oh, and something interesting related to the Hunter Biden case:

It’s really great to have a person of integrity as Attorney General again.  These days, I recoil at images of Bill Barr even more than I do at images of Trump, and that’s saying something.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

110Comments

  2. 2.

    Joy in FL

    I am interested.
    I think either day is ok. I can say for sure after I get home and check my calendar.
    Thanks, Imm!

  3. 3.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I don’t do zooms, but the one thing I would say to non-lawyers following this case is that there are going to be a lot of motions and orders flying around.  Most of these will be routine even if their titles are something portentous.  Please wait for someone to say whether the motion or order is significant or out of the ordinary.  It will save everyone a lot of agita. There will be big and important things, but most won’t be.  Save your strength.

  4. 4.

    WaterGirl

    @NotMax: Great!  I should have been more clear.  We don’t get to vote on which day – Imm is figuring out which day will work with his schedule.  So we’ll get the day we get. :-)

    Just trying to give folks a soft heads up/

  6. 6.

    bbleh

    Okay, so CLEARLY both Reinhart AND Weiss are DEEP-STATE OPERATIVES collaborating with the Democrat Party AND the Illegal Biden Administration* to prevent the American People from learning the TRUTH about the Fake Boxes Hoax and the five MILLION dollars that Ukraine personally paid Biden himself!!

    * (Marybeth made me take out the part about the Illuminati, but for sure they’re part of it.)

    (Oh and yeah a Zoom with lawyers who know what they’re talking about might be fun! Whenever.)

  9. 9.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    It will save everyone a lot of agita.

    I caught a bad case of agita once, kept me in bed for three weeks.

    Oh wait, that was influenza. Never mind. ;-)

    (Seriously, good advice!)

  11. 11.

    Scout211

    In other Republican crime news, George Santos bail backers will be revealed Thursday, judge orders

    The identities of the people who guaranteed Rep. George Santos’ $500,000 bond in his criminal fraud case will be revealed Thursday at noon ET, a federal judge ordered Tuesday.

    Judge Joanna Seybert’s order in U.S. District Court in Long Island came less than two weeks after the Republican lawmaker’s attorney argued that the bail backers’ identities should be kept private because of the “media frenzy” surrounding the case.

    Other sealed documents in the case, including Seybert’s full written order, are also scheduled to be unsealed Thursday, according to a docket entry in Santos’ case.

  14. 14.

    NotMax

    Let me just throw this into the mix. Reminder: IANAL nor do I play one on the intertubes.

    To any with their hair on fire about a Florida jury ipso facto being in the tank for Dolt 45, keep in mind

    • A Florida grand jury voted that charges were warranted.

    • While it is not impossible any jury may find him not guilty on all counts, I would discount that outcome (based on what we know from the indictments themselves, plus Smith’s care and diligence as a prosecutor) as being so infinitesimal as to be ignored as occurring IRL.

    • Might – stress might – wind up with a hung jury, in which case a new trial could take place. Hung jury on all counts, however, strikes me as implausible.

  15. 15.

    caringandsensitive

    @Scout211: I thought he said he’d rather be in custody than reveal the names. Perhaps he was being less than truthful

  16. 16.

    SiubhanDuinne

    What a great idea to have Immanentize offer Trump Crimes 101. I can participate on either day, so whatever is better for him would be fine. Thanks for setting things up!

  19. 19.

    bbleh

    @NotMax: [sigh] there you go, spoiling some perfectly good agita …

    Is it irresponsible to be agitated?  It’s irresponsible not to!

    ANYway, what I REALLY wanna know, is, who are these “attorneys and allies” Trump is sending to find out about Meadows, and where is he sending them?

    “Hi Mr. Smith, my name is, uh, Kared Jushner, and I’m, um, a reporter for, uh, the court! Like, a court reporter?  And I need to know, uh, whatever the people in your investigation are saying? Like, uh … [flips ostentatiously through blank notebook] some guy named Meadow?  Is that right? Or Meadows? What’s he said? And can you give me copies of interview notes or depositions?  For the court!”

  21. 21.

    WaterGirl

    @Scout211: Oh, yay on finding out the names of the Santos creeps who paid his bail.  There’s a good chance there might be some funds related to Republican House members.

    That’s my theory, anyway.

  24. 24.

    Mousebumples

    I don’t Zoom but if there’s a coinciding live blog, I may be able to stop by Saturday night. Thursday is definitely booked – Saturday is uncertain. (yay for out of town relatives visiting with uncertain plans, lol /sarcasm)

    Thanks for coordinating to bring down the median Juicer blood pressure!

  28. 28.

    RaflW

    Legal news!

    A federal judge in Arkansas on Tuesday struck down the state’s law forbidding medical treatments for children and teenagers seeking gender transitions, blocking what had been the first in a wave of such measures championed by conservative lawmakers across the country…

    Dist Court Judge Moody Jr. in Little Rock said the law both discriminated against transgender people and violated constitutional rights for doctors. He also said that the state of Arkansas had failed to substantially prove a number of its claims, including that the care was experimental or carelessly prescribed to teenagers.

    “Rather than protecting children or safeguarding medical ethics, the evidence showed that the prohibited medical care improves the mental health and well-being of patients…”

    —

    The law had been enjoined since 2021, but this ruling now settles the case (pending appeal, of course).

  29. 29.

    Geminid

    @WaterGirl: This will be interesting. The question may become, who gave the three guarantors the money? Who is trying to buy Santos’s silence? Santos has little value in his own right. I think it’s what he knows that motivates his backers now.

  31. 31.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @bbleh:

    I read somewhere several days ago that somebody said they were mostly or entirely family members.

    Wait, I thought they all perished in the Holocaust. Or 9/11.

  32. 32.

    H-Bob

    I hope Smith is prepared to bring up Trump swiping art works from the embassy in Paris in rebuttal of  assertions by Trump’s lawyers that Trump didn’t know he was taking government property or that he thought it belonged to him.  I also would be surprised if Trump also didn’t take artifacts belonging to the country from the White House.

  33. 33.

    Parfigliano

    Gotta love how Meadows talking to The Feds about an attempted coup is seen as ratting out.  Its always GOP before Country with the GOP.

  35. 35.

    tobie

    Is Imm Immanentize? I’ve been away for for some time so don’t recognize the name. The topic does sound interesting and I’d try to arrange to be at a Zoom session but I’ll be away over the next two weeks.

  37. 37.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Ob open thread, as somebody likes to say: An interesting thread on the making of the Blues Brothers. The only factoid that surprised me, and I can’t believe I’ve never seen this picture before

    All The Right Movie @ATRightMovies 9h

    At the time of filming, Pope John Paull II was in Chicago and visited the set. This resulted in the image below of Belushi kissing the Pope’s ring…

    I’m still wondering if I’m falling for a spoof

  40. 40.

    WaterGirl

    @tobie: Yes, the very same.  I go with Imm because I can never remember how to spell his nym. :-)

    Assuming that you have spelled it correctly, I have added it in parentheses in the post up top.

  44. 44.

    MomSense

    A zoom on this sounds great.
    I’m so annoyed by the fire garland now crowd after that awful WaPo article.

  45. 45.

    MomSense

    O/T VP Harris is going to be on Joy Reid’s show tonight to discuss the end of Roe v Wade one year later.

  46. 46.

    Matt McIrvin

    @MomSense: I’m starting to see speculation that Garland and possibly Biden are conspiring to protect Trump. Very Kendzior-esque.

  47. 47.

    WaterGirl

    @MomSense: “Some people say…”

    I did not read the article, but it’s bullshit if they didn’t also interview and hear from “some people who say the other thing”.  Especially since they love to both sides EVERYTHING!

  49. 49.

    Suzanne

    Yes, I would love to attend. I probably will be at yoga on Thursday. So Saturday would be awesome.

  50. 50.

    Scout211

    @bbleh: I read somewhere several days ago that somebody said they were mostly or entirely family members.

    That might have been his attorney’s statement.

    Link

    In court filings, Santos’s lawyer Joseph Murray has indicated that at least one bail sponsor was a family member, but feared they would back out of the bond if their identities were disclosed. One of the three people who originally agreed to sponsor the bond already dropped out, Murray said.

    Some have raised questions as to whether the bond was paid — including partially or indirectly — by Guo Wengui, an exiled Chinese billionaire facing federal fraud charges that Santos began to vocally defend shortly before his indictment.

  51. 51.

    Baud

    I too will be hosting a Zoom to talk about the MAL case, except instead of Zoom, it’ll be on OnlyFans and instead of talking, it will be an interpretive dance.

  52. 52.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @MomSense: You might like this piece from Teri Kanefield. I was especially glad of this part at the end:

    Most people don’t slog through a long, confusingly written article, which leaps around in time and presents sensational headlines.

    I have trouble reading long-form articles on-line, and the Post site is especially bad, so I wasn’t sure if my impression that this was a badly written, badly organized piece was fair, and I’m generally a fan of Carol Leonnig. But MSNBC is off and runnin

    ETA: from the Kanefield piece, emphasis mine

    I assume that the people saying this genuinely believed that the article proves that Garland was wrong. I would hate to cynically suggest that, in our current click-driven media environment, they were aiming for engagement and clicks.

    I do wonder: If there is disagreement within the DOJ: Garland on one side, others against him, why do people assume Garland is wrong? Maybe the people running to the press in violation of DOJ policies should be a little more suspect.

    I also wonder why these disgruntled insiders chose this moment to go to the press.

  56. 56.

    Geminid

    @Jackie: The principals in this matter may be using “cutouts.” For instance, if someone like investor Andrew Intrator, Santos’s biggest backer in 2020, is trying to keep Santos quiet, he’d probably use an intermediary to guarantee Santos’s bail.

  58. 58.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud:

    I too will be hosting a Zoom to talk about the MAL case, except instead of Zoom, it’ll be on OnlyFans and instead of talking, it will be an interpretive dance.

    Pantsless, of course.

  63. 63.

    Dangerman

    @Baud: OnlyFans? There WILL be pants worn, right?

    I think it was Robin Williams that said that cocaine was God’s way of saying you had too much money. Might have been Richard Prior. Whatever.

    But I’m here shaking my head at the stupidity of hopping on to an unqualified vessel to go look at the Titanic. Stupid motherfuckers with too much money.

    ETA: Jay got there faster.

  64. 64.

    Scout211

    In good news:

    A federal judge strikes down Arkansas’ ban on gender-affirming treatment for trans youth

    An 80 page ruling!

    WashingtonCNN — 
    A federal judge on Tuesday struck downArkansas’ ban on gender-affirming treatment for transgender youth, dealing the strongest blow yet to a state prohibition on such care.

    In an 80-page ruling, Judge James M. Moody Jr. said that the state’s “Save Adolescents from Experimentation Act” violated the US Constitution and that the 2021 law cannot be enforced by state officials.

    “Rather than protecting children or safeguarding medical ethics, the evidence showed that the prohibited medical care improves the mental health and well-being of patients and that, by prohibiting it, the State undermined the interests it claims to be advancing,” the judge wrote.

    . . .
    Moody had temporarily blocked the law from going into effect in July 2021, and an eight-day trial took place last year in the case.

    The lawsuit had been brought two years ago by four transgender adolescents in Arkansas and their families, as well as two doctors who provide gender-affirming care to trans youth in the state.

  72. 72.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @RaflW: Hopefully this will the the first of many:

    “This ruling offers an enormous relief to transgender youth and their families across Arkansas and across the country,” said Chase Strangio, Deputy Director for Transgender Justice at the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project. “In state after state, transgender people are being forced to fight for our most basic rights, including access to the health care many of us need to live. This victory shows that these laws, when tested by evidence, are indefensible under any standard of constitutional review. We hope that this sends a message to other states about the vulnerability of these laws and the many harms that come from passing them. We’re so thankful for the bravery of our clients and the tireless work of advocates in Arkansas.”

    “This is the first final decision in the country in a case challenging a ban on medical care for transgender youth, and it could not be a more resounding victory for the transgender minor plaintiffs and their parents.  This important victory will be enormously helpful in the many other pending challenges to similar bans in other states. The ACLU did a superb job in this case, which has now set a precedent that other courts are likely to follow,” Shannon Minter Legal Director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights told the Blade Tuesday afternoon.

  73. 73.

    BeautifulPlumage

    @Baud:  “It’s my dick in a box oooh oooh”  is what you seem to be describing. Is this the song you’ll be using for your sans-pants dance?

    eta-corrected typo

  75. 75.

    Ken

    @bbleh: somebody said they were mostly or entirely family members.

    Remind me which House Republicans were calling themselves the “Five Families”, showing either absolutely no, or entirely too much, awareness of history.

  77. 77.

    Ken

    @Scout211: An 80 page ruling!

    Well, it’s the law. He can’t just say “You dumbasses, absolutely every doctor and psychiatrist I spoke to said your stated reasons for passing this law were complete garbage.”

  78. 78.

    Ohio Mom

    @schrodingers_cat: I had not heard anything about it. I will have to Google the details.

    I am having a moment of pity for the Biden’s, who will have to graciously welcome and host Modi, all while knowing much more about what scum he is than I could possibly imagine (after all, I do not get PDBs).

    ETA: Almost Retired has done my research for me, off to read the link.

  79. 79.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Omnes Omnibus: And this one, also from Elizabeth de la Vega (former Fed Prosecutor) is from only a minute ago:

    Don’t worry about a hung jury in Trump’s classified docs case right now, for cryin’ out loud! A lot is going to happen between now and a trial. Just let the process unfold and don’t get freaked out by people who like to get attention by coming up with some interesting “take.”

  82. 82.

    Dangerman

    @Baud: So, you’re saying it’s going to be a kind of pole dance; use proper safety gear, I hear those things can be dangerous

  85. 85.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: At the time of filming, Pope John Paull II was in Chicago and visited the set. This resulted in the image below of Belushi kissing the Pope’s ring…

    He didn’t mean to kiss it, he was trying to Polish it with his tongue and missed … :^p​

  86. 86.

    TS

    Seems to be compulsory to now talk about who appointed a judge before their remarks/rulings can be considered.  This does not sound like a democracy, nor like a balanced legal system. It would seem republicans believe only judges appointed by republicans are fit to oversee any case The lasting legacy of Mitch McConnell will be the “trump appointed judges” – they will be around for 50 years.

  88. 88.

    Dopey-o

    Wake me up for the sentencing hearing. I’m pretty confident that nothing we hear in the trial will be surprising.

    (Lighting candle to Murphy the Trickster God in 3….. 2…… 1……)

  92. 92.

    Geminid

    It’s primary day in Virginia and polls just closed. The Blue Virginia news site (bluevirginia.us) is doing a live blog covering results.

    Democrats have some hard-fought Senate primaries, in part because of redistricting. In Tidewater, Senate heavyweights L. Louise Lucas and Lionel Spruill are in a close race. In Prince William County, former Delegates Joyce(?) Carroll Foy and Haya Ayala are contending in a district centered 30 miles south of DC.

    In the Charlottesville-Albemarle County-based 18th Senate District, young progressive Delegate Sally Hudson is trying to unseat veteran Senator Creigh Deeds.

    But the race catching the most attention is just south of Richmond, where former Delegate Lashrecse Aird is trying to topple the notorious Senator Joe Morrissey.

  94. 94.

    prostratedragon

    Jim@52: Seeing as things are moving apace now, I don’t get the point of airing this speculation now anyway. Unless of course it’s to try to undermine Garland, or perhaps Wray or Biden.

  95. 95.

    Another Scott

    @Geminid: Jennifer.

    Some of the TV ads in the Ayala / Foy race were surprisingly brutal.  It’ll be interesting to see who comes out ahead.

    Politics ain’t beanbag, as they say.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  98. 98.

    Geminid

    @Another Scott: Some ads in the Hudson-Deeds race are pretty rough also. A couple Charlottesville friends are keeping me up with the gossip, and that’s even rougher. It’s too bad; they are both good candidates, just in different ways.

  99. 99.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    This bit about Meadows from his attorney in the Rolling Stone article really kills me:

    “… Mr. Meadows has maintained a commitment to tell the truth where he has a legal obligation to do so.”

    I hope his wife gets this message…lol! At least his attorney makes it clear that Meadows isn’t to be trusted outside a court of law. What a line…

  100. 100.

    Another Scott

    @Another Scott: From BlueVirginia.US

    9) SD33: Jennifer Caroll Foy (D) vs. Hala Ayala (D) – Interesting primary in this deep-blue district between two former delegates and former candidates for statewide office; also, a proxy battle between Dominion Energy (which heavily backs Ayala) and Clean Virginia (which heavily backs Carroll Foy).

    Ayala was the Democratic Lt. Gov. candidate last go round. Unfortunately, Dominion seems to have their tentacles in almost every big-name candidate in the state, and they love throwing their weight around. It’ll be interesting if Foy can defeat her.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  102. 102.

    mrmoshpotato

    Soviet shitpile mobster conmanbaby is having a fat, orange, fascist SAD!

    Awwww……cry harder, you dumbshit who could’ve continued criming if you didn’t run for President!

  103. 103.

    prostratedragon

    The picture of the Blues Brothers and the churchman, likely the Pope, looks like it was taken in City Hall, which was a location used in the movie.

  104. 104.

    Geminid

    @rekoob: It also looks like goofball Senator Amanda Chase has lost her Republican primary. Gaah! What a mess she was.

  105. 105.

    bbleh

    @Scout211: @Ken: I could never have been a lawyer, much less a judge, because I would NEVER have the patience to write a careful, detailed, appeal-proof 80-page decision rather than calling them into court and screaming at them about how completely full of shit they are.

  106. 106.

    Anyway

    @Layer8Problem:

    Sure, who he’s visiting, what line he’s pushing, what he’s soft-pedaling.

    All of the above, and TBH the menu at the dinner. The WH culinary team has interesting um, fusion, dishes.

  108. 108.

    JoyceH

    I believe it was Santos himself who claimed the bond was paid by family members. Personally, I suspect his “wealthy family” is as fictitious as everything else about him – his mom was certainly a domestic in Brazil.

  109. 109.

    catclub

    @bbleh: much less a judge, because I would NEVER have the patience to write a careful, detailed, appeal-proof 80-page decision rather than calling them into court and screaming at them about how completely full of shit they are.

     

    How about this?  One party’s lawyer offers Judge $10k to fix the case, other party’s lawyer offers $15k to fix it. Judge calls both parties into chambers, ostentatiously returns $5k to second lawyer, then says, “Now I will just decide the case on the merits.”

  110. 110.

    catclub

    @Dangerman: ​
     

    I heard them say on the radio, you were putting your life in your hands on that vessel. Actually you were putting your life in the hands of the person who installed and greased the O-rings.

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