Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

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

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

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

Come on, man.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

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

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Trumpery Open Thread: Judge Cannon’s Friday Doc Dump

Trumpery Open Thread: Judge Cannon’s Friday Doc Dump

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Assuming TFG doesn’t stroke out first… Per Politico, “Judge sets Trump classified-documents trial for next May”:

Donald Trump will stand trial on May 20, 2024 — after most presidential primaries have elapsed — on charges that he hoarded military secrets at his Mar-a-Lago estate, a federal judge ordered Friday.

U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon appeared to split the difference between prosecutors’ request for a December 2023 trial date and Trump’s request to postpone the trial until after the November 2024 election.

Trump, who is mounting a bid to return to the White House, already faces a criminal trial set for March in New York on unrelated state charges of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 presidential election…

The new ruling from Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, largely sidesteps the issue of how the preparations for the trial in the federal case she is overseeing will interface with the demands of a presidential election campaign.

Cannon noted that Trump’s lawyers argued that the case would face “insurmountable prejudice in jury selection stemming from publicity about the 2024 Presidential Election,” but she found it “unnecessary” to address that issue “at this juncture.”

The judge’s order Friday also formally sets the trial to take place in Fort Pierce, Fla., which typically draws jurors from five counties along or near the state’s Treasure Coast. Those counties were more pro-Trump in the 2020 presidential election than was Palm Beach County, where federal prosecutors filed the criminal case. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and social club is located in Palm Beach County and the crimes — which include storing highly classified documents and obstructing the government’s efforts to retrieve them — were allegedly committed there.

While Cannon earned a reputation as being deferential to Trump due to her rulings in a civil case challenging the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago last year, her early rulings in the criminal case appear designed to chart a middle course between Trump and the government. She has so far avoided tipping her hand on most of the explosive legal issues likely to arise during the pretrial proceedings.

Prosecutors from Smith’s office had argued that the case should not be considered “complex” under federal law or put on a protracted timeline, but Cannon rejected that view, writing that she is “unaware of any searchable case in which a court has refused a complex designation under comparable circumstances.”…

Cannon indicated Friday that she anticipates further argument and briefing on the process for selecting a jury in the case…

There’s a pony in there somewhere!

Reader Interactions

129Comments

  1. 1.

    bbleh

    Well, with the writers’ strike and then production restarts, we need something to watch during spring.  Very nice of her to space things so evenly.

  4. 4.

    waspuppet

    You know, if I were accused of a crime, and I were totally innocent and running for office, I would want the trial out of the way well in advance of the election, so people would know about my total innocentness when they were deciding who to vote for.

    Of course, that assumes Trump is innocent (LOL), and that he’s actually “running for president” in the common meaning of that phrase, as opposed to what he’s doing, which is the equivalent of a burglar checking your front door to see whether it’s maybe unlocked before he breaks it down.

    While Cannon earned a reputation as being deferential to Trump due to her rulings in a civil case challenging the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago last year, her early rulings in the criminal case appear designed to chart a middle course between Trump and the government.

    That IS deferential to Trump, given that he has confessed to the charges on live TV multiple times.

  6. 6.

    Shana

    I wonder if convictions on the other trials, and this one happening after he’s mostly likely been chosen as the nominee is better for Biden or not. Of course there will be all the “Biden’s DOJ” bullshit, but I’m not sure how far that goes if there are other convictions out there.

  7. 7.

    MattF

    Not surprising, IMO. That lifetime appointment makes Cannon think twice about being known forever as Donald Trump’s very own Federal judge. Also, Smith has several pots on the stove including the J6 case. Everyone wants to get this one over with and move on. I think the upcoming J6 case is far more serious.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    @Ken:

    A lawyer would say “10 billable months to review discovery.”

    Normally, yes. With Trump, however, billable ≠ collectible.

  10. 10.

    Captain C

    @Baud: Unless they’re smart and get mother-huge retainers in cash up front.  Of course, they’re working for TFG, so YMMV…

  14. 14.

    Mallard Filmore

    @Captain C: 

    Apparently there are a shitload of docs.

    How much does one need to study each doc to determine whether, upon being seized at Trump’s club, they were government docs or military secrets?

    Maybe Trump’s defense will be “I didn’t know THAT document was in the box I stole.”

  15. 15.

    Ryan

    @Ken: Excellent point.  Months of unrelated security footage, in 1.0x time, not the 1.75x time most listen to podcasts.

  20. 20.

    Parfigliano

    Id bet money the trial does not begin 5/20/24.  It will get continued cause Trump will be less then 6 months out from Presidential election.  Campaign interference.   Continuance will be granted till after election.

  21. 21.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Parfigliano: It will probably be delayed past 5/20 (many trials are continued past the original trial date).  I do not agree with the rest of your prediction.

  22. 22.

    MattF

    So, Ben Shapiro describes ‘Barbie’ as ‘woke’ and ‘a flaming garbage heap of a film’. I may just have to see it.

  24. 24.

    trollhattan

    Remember who Trump has released from Pandora’s Box and what they are doing today.

    Chino Valley Unified teachers must tell parents if their child identifies as transgender under a fiercely debated policy approved by the school board late Thursday, July 20. The 4-1 vote in favor of the notification rule came at the end of a contentious, four-hour meeting that at one point saw the ejection of state Superintendent of Schools Tony Thurmond, who was led away by security officers to shouts of “kick him out.”

    Thurmond was there to address the Chino Valley Unified School District board before its vote on the parental notification policy, an issue that drew more than 300 people to Don Lugo High School. Parents and community members brought flags, T-shirts, and signs to wave during the meeting to show support for their side of the issue. The policy introduced in June requires schools to notify parents in writing within three days after their child identifies as transgender, is involved in violence or talks about suicide. Under the policy, schools will notify parents if their child seeks to change their name or pronouns or asks for access to gender-based sports, bathrooms or changing rooms that do not match their assigned gender at birth.

    Before his removal from the meeting, Thurmond told the board “the policy you consider tonight may not only fall outside of privacy laws but may put our students at risk.”

    School board President Sonja Shaw kicked him out after she said he continued to speak beyond his allotted one minute. “Tony Thurmond, I appreciate you being here, but we are here because of people like you,” Shaw said.

    Thurmond was not the only state official to weigh in on the topic Thursday. In a letter to the Chino Valley Unified school board Thursday evening, state Attorney General Rob Bonta warned that the notification policy potentially infringes on students’ privacy rights and educational opportunities. Each student’s right to choose when, how and with whom they share their gender identity must be protected, Bonta said in a news release.

    “By allowing for the disclosure of a student’s gender identity without their consent, Chino Valley Unified School District’s suggested Parental Notification policy would strip them of their freedom, violate their autonomy, and potentially put them in a harmful situation,” Bonta said. “Our schools should be protecting the rights of all students, especially those who are most vulnerable, and should be safeguarding students’ rights to fully participate in all educational and extracurricular opportunities.”

    https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article277531868.html#storylink=cpy

    All together now: they seem nice.

  27. 27.

    Baud

    @trollhattan:

    The policy introduced in June requires schools to notify parents in writing within three days after their child identifies as transgender, is involved in violence or talks about suicide

     

    I like how the tacked on the other two things, but didn’t change their three day notification policy.

    “Three days ago, you kid said he was going to kill himself.”

  28. 28.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud: I had no interest in it until I watched the trailer. I was laughing my ass off all through it. I wish I weren’t so averse to going to a movie theater. I’d be there!

  29. 29.

    Michael Bersin

    Because, Missouri:

    On being mean

    Missouri State Representative Mazie Boyd (r) decided to, well, use social media to weigh in on sundown town music.

    “…Prior to being elected, Boyd served in the White House as an executive assistant to the Director of Presidential Personnel John McEntee under the Trump administration, as well as a war room analyst for Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. She also worked as an intern for U.S. Senator Roy Blunt, and a communications assistant for the Congressional Office of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene…”

    Yes, that White House Personnel Office and that John McEntee.

  31. 31.

    Martin

    @Ryan: Going to be a few months before security clearances are completed to let them even view some of the evidence.

  33. 33.

    Old Man Shadow

    Assuming TFG doesn’t stroke out first…

    Jail or death. Doesn’t particularly matter to me.

    I can allow myself to believe in Hell whenever I think of him.

    But the thought of him spending twenty years alone sitting in a jail cell with his kids never visiting him does make me smile.

  35. 35.

    Maxim

    @Old Man Shadow: I can’t imagine him lasting long if he actually goes to prison. The psychological stress would be overwhelming on multiple levels, and his physical health (not good to start with, of course) would follow suit.

  38. 38.

    zhena gogolia

    @MattF: Oh, good, I have that already.

    ETA: I can’t say for sure, but I think there is still an original Barbie somewhere in my attic.

  39. 39.

    Roger Moore

    Almost certainly after the nomination will have been clinched.

    I guess this is potentially good for Trump- he won’t be on trial during the primary campaign- but it does the Republican party no favors. It would certainly suck for them for Trump to be convicted of a serious felony between clinching the nomination and the national convention.

  40. 40.

    Falling Diphthong

    It’s honestly surprising to me how virtually all of the Republican power class have just absolutely folded on doing anything other than hoping like heck one of the crimes Trump keeps confessing to will take him out before the election. In a permanent way, with no blood on their hands. And as he rides off into the sunset he’ll instruct all his followers to transfer their fervent support to the non-jailed Republicans, and give them money, and turn out to vote R all down the ticket.

    I’d like to see Scott and Hurd get some traction just because they’re willing to actually run against Trump, in a field full of people who are trying to brand themselves as “just like Trump, but smart, and I’m just going to conveniently stand here next to him so I’m available if something happens to him. Not that anything would! But, you know, if it did, I’m available to serve.”

  41. 41.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    Of course you all have to remember that for the next 8 months or so the poor paralegals who are employed by the shittiest lawyers on the planet (who probably pay shitty wages) will be having to trawl through 1 million pages of documents provided in discovery under the pressure of knowing that should they miss a single line in a single document that could be potentially, possibly, maybe exculpatory or otherwise then their arses will be thrown to the wolves and their bosses will blame them (in public) for the mistake.  They will be fired (for show) their reputations will be ruined and their shitty lawyer bosses will dine out for years telling their lawyer and judge friends how they could have won the case had it not been for that useless paralegal that missed that one document.  Trust me. The shitty lawyers representing a shitty client are going to blame the underlings. Never fails.  My heart goes out to those paralegals.

  42. 42.

    Falling Diphthong

     

    @Shana:

    I saw reporting this morning that a signifigant portion of his fundraising is going to legal fees.

    I keep being assured that he’s a billionaire business genius. Usually those people can afford lawyers.

  43. 43.

    MattF

    @Roger Moore: And any J6 conviction would come right around Election Day. I think a Florida trial about documents will be a sideshow compared to a J6 trial about treason.

  44. 44.

    Jackie

    This is a good read!

    “Washington Post: “The May date means the issue won’t dog Trump as much as he attempts to secure the GOP nomination. And his campaign insisted afterward that it was happy, spinning the date as a ‘major setback’ for the Justice Department.”

    “As for the GOP itself, it’s far less welcome news. Indeed, it raises the prospect of what’s more or less a nightmare scenario.”

    “The date could, again, be delayed. It’s not inconceivable that those delays could still kick it till after the election. But a trial date at the end of the primary schedule means the case could well be decided between when GOP voters have decided on their nominee and when general-election voters will decide the president.”

    “Trump might still face some adverse verdicts before then — as he did in the first Carroll civil case. But if he’s convicted of any felonies, it will most likely come long after the point of no return for the party in its nominating contest.”

    Gift link: https://wapo.st/3rDGBvg

  46. 46.

    Jay

    @Baud:

    they are morons.

    Decades ago, when I worked in Milwaukee, I had a clerk who was the first person to “get” the whole “here is a problem thing, I want you to figure it out and solve it, you can always come to me if you need to bounce ideas off or need help or guidance”.

    The “ethic” there at the plant pissed me off, and it was all through Milwaukee at the time. “The Bossman will tell you what to do, only do what the Bossman says”.

    So, I had given her empowerment, and she ran with it, became, not just in my eyes, but other Management, a “star” employee and really helped change the work ethic.

    I co-signed her mortgage, and she bought the first house any of her family had ever owned.

    She invited me to the house warming, but admonished me to “not say anything, if you see something”. It was a side split. Parents were downstairs, her younger siblings were across the hall, and her “roommate” contributed to the mortgage and shared her bedroom.

    On the Monday following, she came in to my office and said “what did you see?, You won’t say anything right?”

    I said that I didn’t see anything that would concern the company, her relationships with her co workers, and the rest of it was none of my business as long as she was happy.

    So the “enforcement” is teachers “outing” their students. That’s easy for a Teacher to ignore, if some MAGA shit child in the classroom complains, just play dumb.

  47. 47.

    Bill Arnold

    @Litlebritdifrnt:
    One million pages? The sticky part is the classified discovery (How does that work? Paralegals with security clearances for this material?) and that would be at most a few thousand documents, maybe a few hundred, yes?

  49. 49.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Jackie: I think that’s bad news for the country, to be honest.

    If they’d had the case in December, Trump could be a convicted felon with potential jail time or house arrest before the primaries. It’d give Republicans a chance to choose someone else.

    As it is, since he’s their nominee they’ll just rally behind him and become even more belligerent.

  50. 50.

    sab

    @Ryan: His lawyers mostly don’t even have security clearances yet. That takes up to two months. So eight months to review documents.

  52. 52.

    bbleh

    @sab: Pretty sure at least one of them has an interim security clearance at a standard level (probably TS).  Dunno if they all do yet, but interim clearances are gonna be processed quickly — like within days.  The ones that are gonna take a couple months are for more narrowly classified information, like codeword stuff, but there are very few documents of that type in the ones they retrieved from Mar-a-Loco.  Interim clearances will suffice for the large majority of it.

  53. 53.

    Cameron

    @Roger Moore: He could use that old bumper sticker from the Edwin Edwards – David Duke race: “Vote for the crook!  It’s important!”  Might even work for him.

  56. 56.

    waspuppet

    @Omnes Omnibus: I hope you’re right. Josh Marshall’s (secondhand from a prosecutor) take is that Cannon just saved Trump. Now the federal trials can’t begin until after the election, and then Cannon can say “PSYCH I’m moving my trial to 2025” and the feds can’t move anything up.

  58. 58.

    cain

    @Old Man Shadow: Imagine Trump wrapping up the nomination and then going to jail in October. I can see the GOP going for a SCOTUS challenge.. Not sure where that go. Everyone knows he’s going on trial and that he could be held guilty.

    I think we might see some serious violence at that point.

  60. 60.

    bbleh

    @MisterForkbeard: the base will do that regardless, the rest of the field is split, and the entire political establishment is too scared of the base to utter a peep.  He was right about shooting somebody on Fifth Avenue.

  61. 61.

    Ivan X

    @Maxim: You know, everyone talks about how shitty his physical health and diet are, and yet, the guy just keeps on living. He’ll probably live to be fucking 103, because the Dark Lord keeps propping him up.

  65. 65.

    Roger Moore

    @MisterForkbeard:

    If they’d had the case in December, Trump could be a convicted felon with potential jail time or house arrest before the primaries. It’d give Republicans a chance to choose someone else.

    As it is, since he’s their nominee they’ll just rally behind him and become even more belligerent.

    I don’t know if that’s good or bad for the country.  It would be really bad if Trump won.  More likely, though, running with a candidate who was convicted of a serious national security felony would hurt the party.  The true believers will stick with Trump through everything, but it would really hurt Trump, and any Republican who promised to stick by him, with the normies.  Convincing 1-2% of voters to abandon Trump would be enough to make the election pretty safe; 3-4% would probably be enough to make a big swing in the House and Senate.  Running a convicted felon for President and having the whole party pledge undying loyalty to him would quite likely cause a bigger swing than that.

  67. 67.

    Mike in NC

    @Omnes Omnibus:  Of all the fascist scum employed by FOX News, Levin is possibly the worst and a complete Trump-humper. His passing will rank up there with Rush Limbaugh’s.

  68. 68.

    geg6

    @Shana:

    I saw one yesterday that said most of of the money he’s making these days is coming via LIV Golf.  In other words, the Saudis.  Disgusting.

  69. 69.

    cain

    @MattF: Could be a feature not a bug – could keep delaying things until after the election. It would not surprise me if he put legal counsels that quit later.

  70. 70.

    Ivan X

    @Mike in NC: Happily, it won’t. Limbaugh got glossy supermarket/pharmacy special edition mags about him. Levin will be lucky if his family visits his grave.

  71. 71.

    cain

    @Roger Moore: While also yelling about law and order. It only makes sense if you believe that the whole thing is fake news and everything is politically motivated etc etc.

  72. 72.

    Tony G

    @waspuppet: The members of the Trump cult — also known as essentially the entire Republican Party — do not care whether Trump is guilty of the charges.  Actually, most of them will be proud if Trump is found guilty, because Trump’s crimes show that he’s fighting for Real Americans against the liberals and The Deep State.  (Obligatory Nazi analogy: When Hitler was convicted of treason in 1924 for the Beer Hall Putsch, and then spent only a month in prison for it, his fame and support increased dramatically.)

  73. 73.

    Maxim

    @Ivan X: Unfortunately, he does have genetics on his side; his mother lived to 88, his father to 93. He’s “only” 77, so in all likelihood he’s got at least a decade to go, barring other developments.

  75. 75.

    geg6

    @waspuppet:

    I don’t think that’s talking about actual rules or requirements for multiple federal prosecutions.  I think that’s just a norm.  And as we’ve seen, these days, norms seem to be broken.  Fuck norms.  If this dude isn’t a national emergency necessitating breaking some stupid norms, I don’t know what is.

  76. 76.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    should they miss a single line in a single document that could be potentially, possibly, maybe exculpatory or otherwise then their arses will be thrown to the wolves and their bosses will blame them (in public) for the mistake.  They will be fired (for show) their reputations will be ruined and their shitty lawyer bosses will dine out for years telling their lawyer and judge friends how they could have won the case had it not been for that useless paralegal that missed that one document.

    It’s been a zillion years since I was a paralegal, but it’s hard for me to see it playing out like that.  At least in the world that I was in, associates blaming problems on paralegals would have all but killed their chances of making partner.

    And publicly blaming one’s problems on paralegals would do worse and more inescapable damage to the lawyer’s rep than to the paralegal.  After all, if you’re a paralegal, you don’t have to keep being a paralegal for the rest of your life; there are plenty of other jobs at that level that your skills apply to.  Mediocre lawyers, not so much.

  77. 77.

    HumboldtBlue

    Also, may I put in a request for some company in the women’s soccer thread tonight, me talking to myself is fun, but sort of weird and of all things I don’t want to appear weird in front of this totally normal not-weird-at-all gaggle. Plus, the US women are playing.

  78. 78.

    Jackie

    @MisterForkbeard: I think “normal” non political republicans will be appalled that the Republican candidate is under MULTIPLE indictments and many will just not vote. Same with Independents. Couple that with realizing most republican candidates support heartbeat abortion laws and crazy overboard book bans… MAGA voters will vote. The rest? They don’t want the government intruding in their business.

  79. 79.

    Ruckus

    @Maxim:

    I wonder if he goes to jail (there is always hope!) if he would be allowed to mingle at any time with other inmates. He’d still be the ex president and any number of people in a jail situation may or may not like him so I’d think he might not be able to mingle. Now granted he thinks he’s better than everyone else on the planet but any rational human knows that he’s not. Of course actual rational humans don’t often get put in jail. Not never, just not often.

  80. 80.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @schrodingers_cat: Waiting for tightwad Tuesday (only $6 for an evening show)

     

    In the meantime try this link – the special effects and first hand accounts are well done.

  82. 82.

    prostratedragon

    @geg6:  That’s how I have felt about most of the talk about some clock that’s supposed to be determining the prosecution.
    Apart from maybe the actual Election Day itself I wonder whether DOJ is that much concerned, because of what you say.

  84. 84.

    kindness

    I have no faith in Judge Canon.  Once she seats a jury she is able to dismiss the case and it won’t be a reviewable move.  She can give any reason for dismissal and as we’ve already seen, it doesn’t have to make any sense.  She’s part of the cult.

  87. 87.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Kelly:

    Five other mask-wearing dickless wonders were sentenced to five days in jail for their role in Couer d’Alene

  90. 90.

    Roger Moore

    @cain:

    While also yelling about law and order.

    “Law and Order” has never been about enforcing the actual law.  It’s about enforcing the traditional social order under color of law.

  92. 92.

    WaterGirl

    @waspuppet: Cannon has absolutely no say about a trial for an indictment brought in DC.

    She can only fuck with the FL trial, and that alone.

    She can’t fuck with GA.  She can’t fuck with NY.  She can’t fuck with the Jan 6 indictments that are coming in DC.

  94. 94.

    Jackie

    @kindness: Sadly, you may be right.

    Thank goodness for the upcoming Fulton County and J6 indictments!

    I hope Cannon does the right thing – but if she doesn’t, TIFG isn’t safe from prison by a LONG SHOT!

  97. 97.

    strange visitor (from another planet)

    @Jackie: no. you should really try to go beforehand.  it’s literally three hours long…

     

    but totally worth it.

  98. 98.

    WaterGirl

    @Jackie: I also think there’s the whole “showing classified documents” cramming that won’t be part of the DC indictment re: na 6.  Or part of the MAL documents case.

    He showed documents at Bedminster, which is yet another jurisdiction.  Trump is going to experience the consequences, one way or another.

    Personally, I want to see him under house arrest.

  100. 100.

    Captain C

    @kindness: IANAL, but wouldn’t that give pretty much any US Attorney prosecuting a criminal case, and perhaps any civil attorney representing a non-MAGAt against a MAGAt, good cause to have her removed from any case she’s on, especially if the public and submitted evidence is damning?  I don’t think even she would fuck herself that badly, though maybe she a) figures eventually a Trumpist will be elected and promote her, and b) wouldn’t care if she had what amounted to a do-nothing judgeship with a full salary, with great bennies and retirement.

  102. 102.

    bbleh

    @kindness: that is indeed a possibility, but it seems increasingly clear that Jack “Sure That’s His Real Name” Smith is not putting all his eggs in one basket.

    (Just riffing here, but for fun the thought occurred that maybe he deliberately filed first in a Trumpy district in Florida just to dump a load of sh!t to attract all the flies — not to say these aren’t very significant charges and worth locking the guy up until he’s an orange corpse — and the big moves are yet to come.)

  104. 104.

    mrmoshpotato

    OT – A friend is arguing whether he’s upwind or downwind from some dead animal.  I told him to enjoy the stink nonetheless.

  105. 105.

    waspuppet

    @WaterGirl: Yeah technically, but there are norms. And I wish I were being sarcastic about that, but I’m not. Other judges can say “Tough shit I’m scheduling my trial for when I feel like it” but I don’t think they actually do.

  106. 106.

    smith

    @WaterGirl:  Josh Marshall talked to a former federal prosecutor about the potential for other federal trials to be delayed if the FL case is delayed or dragged out. He said that federal judges do prefer not to schedule their trial ahead of another one that has already been scheduled. So Cannon, along with TFG’s lawyers, could push any J6 trial off until after the election. However, I don’t think this would hamper either Alvin Bragg or Fani Willis from slotting theirs to go ahead anyway.

    Last I heard, some of TFG’s lawyers haven’t even applied for their security clearances yet. Also, TFG’s lawyers have put off a required conference about handling the documents, even to the extent of not returning phone calls from DOJ. I think we will see a cascade of delaying tactics from that side, regardless of what Cannon may be trying to do.

  107. 107.

    bbleh

    @mrmoshpotato: aw that is the worst.  and it’s summer.  they can be 50 yards away and it’s enough to gag you.  and it ain’t like you can go looking.

  108. 108.

    raven

    Some people here have been without power for 24 hours and another round of storms seemed to have knocked even more out. We’re lucky but people two blocks away have gone down.

  109. 109.

    Betsy

    @Omnes Omnibus: the 800 word  tweet screed says:

     

    Meanwhile, dark money Democrat billionaires are funding leftwing groups that are lobbying secretaries of state across the nation, as well as attorneys general, to keep Trump off the ballot, citing Sec. 3 of the 14th amendment.

    I mean, wonderful! Does anyone know if this is true in any small part?

  110. 110.

    Timill

    @Betsy: No idea, but I did see a suggestion that the 22nd amendment may require Trump to certify that he has not already been elected twice to the office of President…

  112. 112.

    bbleh

    @Betsy: I’d guess it’s up there with thousands of Inner City types from Philadelphia being bused (of course) to Nice Suburbs to vote fraudulently.

    They’ll believe any paranoid nonsense, no matter how facially absurd, because they know they are victims.  And therefore any action on their part is not only justifiable but necessary, even if it involves, oh, violently attacking police and ransacking the Capitol.  They were forced to do it, don’t you see?

  114. 114.

    Another Scott

    @raven: We had a thunderstorm here in NoVA around 4 AM.  It knocked over a tree (probably a silver maple) and about 500 of our neighbors lost power for about 6 hours.  It’s annoying and makes one really appreciate (and want) buried power lines.  (As long as one doesn’t have explosions, of course.)

    Thunderstorms at 4 AM aren’t supposed to happen…

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  124. 124.

    Death Panel Truck

    @Falling Diphthong: He’d tell his followers not to vote at all if he can’t be the nominee, especially if by some miracle it happens to be DeSantis. He doesn’t give a flying fuck about the Republican Party.

  125. 125.

    Jackie

    @Death Panel Truck:

    Don’t count off 3rd party. “If I don’t win, I’ll tear down the GQP” Or more likely, scream I was cheated and send his MAGA Deplorables after the GQP presumed winner.

  126. 126.

    catclub

    @smith: ​
    &nbsp

    ;Last I heard, some of TFG’s lawyers haven’t even applied for their security clearances yet.

    In a rational world, all that would be needed is a proffer agreement between the prosecution and defense that there are X documents, we can easily get a government expert to testify to the classification of each one. and we never have to look at the documents again.

  127. 127.

    catclub

    @Timill: ​
     

    22nd amendment may require Trump to certify that he has not already been elected twice to the office of President…

    If Trump had won in 2020, he was going to claim that since he was a harassed by the Mueller report during his first term, he deserves a third term.

  128. 128.

    mrmoshpotato

    @catclub:

    If Trump had won in 2020, he was going to claim that since he was a harassed by the Mueller report during his first term, he deserves a third term. 

    Hell, if Putin’s fat orange fascist bitch didn’t win in 2020, Dump was going to try overthrowing the government!

    Oh!  Wait…

  129. 129.

    VOR

    @smith:  I think we will see a cascade of delaying tactics…

    Delay is Trump’s standard MO. He drags things out in order to drive up the cost for the other party, drive them to settle or quit.

    In this case, he wants to delay until after the inauguration. Once he is President again, then he pardons himself and all the federal cases go away. Legal scholars say he can’t do that? IANAL, but AFAIK the Constitution doesn’t explicitly say a President cannot pardon himself and there is no prior case law. Not even Nixon tried to pardon himself. That case will have to go all the way to SCOTUS which could take years. Impeaching him again would be just as effective as it was the first two times.

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