Mark Meadows attempt to move to Federal Court FAILS!
That means we get to see his trial. And more, of course. This gives me hope.
Trump was waiting to see what happened with Meadows. This can’t look like a good outcome for Trump.
Mark Meadows will face the music in Fulton County…not federal court. https://t.co/fvnuRlwb4x
— Jack E. Smith ⚖️ (@7Veritas4) September 8, 2023
Open thread.
Update:
Trump’s pending motion to move his case to federal court right now: pic.twitter.com/Fp7qHqIR2b
— Jack E. Smith ⚖️ (@7Veritas4) September 8, 2023
SuzieC
Woot Woot! Television, baby!
cain
FAFO season has started with a bang!
ETA #2!!
hells littlest angel
How did America get sick of right-wing bullshit?
Gradually, then suddenly.
trollhattan
Donny can’t do shit for him if he’s convicted in state court, yes?
Suck it, cowboy.
Scout211
He didn’t even meet the “quite low threshold.” Ha Ha Ha. Huh, you mean trying to overturn an election using a corrupt conspiracy is not one of the duties of the COS?
And his testimony is on record.
hilts
Get ready for plenty of rage truth socialing from Trump on the toilet all through the night.
zhena gogolia
@Scout211: The “outer limits.” We control the vertical, we control the horizontal
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: As I understand it, even if the cases move to Federal Court, they still can’t be pardoned by a president.
But this is 10x better than federal court b/c its televised.
frosty
WaterGirl – Here’s your Friday cake-baking news. You called it earlier today!
WaterGirl
@frosty: Not exactly an indictment but I’ll take it! I thought something would break today.
And I hoped it wouldn’t be our democracy.
Alison Rose
@WaterGirl: Yes, even if it were moved, it’s still a state crime and affected by state law, so there would not be a federal pardon.
I just saw Neal Katyal on MSNBC note that the language of the ruling seems to say that no other such attempts would be successful either, that the judge was sort of telling all of them not to try it.
Scout211
@Alison Rose: This is from the NBC News online article:
ETA: added a paragraph
smith
Repeating from the thread below–
The judge’s decision looks really thorough (but IANAL). The only bit of Meadows’ actions the judge thought was related to his federal role was when Meadows asked someone for contact info for an official in PA. I’m guessing that this was in the context of messing around with fake electors, but maybe that context wasn’t stated. Anyway, this doesn’t bode well for any of the defendants who had federal jobs:
WaterGirl
@Scout211: Hmm.
But it does tell them that if what they were doing was outside the scope of their duties, they won’t find any love there.
By which I mean, all of them. Because as far as I know, subverting an election is not within the scope of duties – not even other duties as assigned. :-)
LAO
@WaterGirl: You are correct.
smith
@WaterGirl: It also torpedoes the cases of the two fake electors who want to somehow style themselves as quasi-federal officials.
Wyatt Salamanca
@WaterGirl:
The jury pool is also more favorable to the prosecution by keeping the case out of federal court.
Dangerman
They will call him Flipper, Flipper, faster than lightning,
No one you see, is dumber than he,
And we know Flipper, lives in a world full of wonder,
Flying there under, under the sea!
WaterGirl
@smith: yep. This is a good day for the rule of law.
LAO
I guess there is a consequence to ignoring the Hatch Act. Crazy.
WaterGirl
I would think for this ruling Meadows would have to be thinking. It doesn’t look good for him to get immunity, which was his biggest goal as I understand it, hoping to get the whole thing thrown out.
WaterGirl
@LAO: “nobody cares about the hatch act.”
I can’t remember who said that, but I’m glad to see them proven wrong.
LAO
@Dangerman: I don’t know, it seems fairly clear Meadows perjured himself during the hearing. I’m not sure he hasn’t disqualified himself as a potential cooperator.
Ken
@smith: Pity, that. I’ll need to rethink my plan to impersonate a federal official to get those unpaid parking tickets cancelled. Maybe if I pretend to be a diplomat….
WaterGirl
@LAO: Yep!
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
Whomp-Whomp!
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl: Kellyanne Conway.
Scout211
@LAO: Question for you. Will Fani Willis be able to use Meadows’ testimony from this hearing as evidence in the RICO case? He all but confessed to following Trump’s orders to engage in the conspiracy.
WaterGirl
I think I had mentioned that I’ve been on pins and needles waiting to see what would happen with Meadows. So this feels like a big Joe Biden deal to me.
Anonymous At Work
Meadows’ trial will be with Cheesey-bro and The Kraken Karen, since I think he requested a speedy trial.
I think Cheesey-bro and Meadow’s primary trial strategy is to show up with “I’m with stupid” t-shirts and arrows pointing at Sidney Powell.
RepubAnon
@WaterGirl: In other words, blatant violations of the Hatch Act are, as a matter of law, outside the scope of a federal employee’s duties…
Nice to see laws actually applied to the facts.
Alison Rose
I keep seeing that clip of Navarro whining outside the courtroom about “they put me in handcuffs and they put me in leg irons” and it just makes me think of this and then I laugh at him even more.
SpaceUnit
These clowns are about to learn that their Fox News bullshit ain’t gonna play in a court of law.
Reminds me of when those three inbred goobers that murdered Ahmaud Arbery tried to claim they were victims of a woke mob. Lady Justice is a cold hard bitch.
wjca
@Scout211:
Which would seem to mean that they, like Meadows, can testify at length, and under oath. Both incriminating themselves and providing evidence against TIFG. And then get turned done.
Anonymous At Work
@Scout211: Yes. Subject to Hearsay objections, though. Will seriously hamper Meadows’ defenses and others that want to plant blame on Meadows indirectly.
I doubt Meadows or the others will testify in the main case, though. But this was a major blow against their possible defenses. The state electors are questionable as federal officials since they are the state’s electors. Meadows had the best chance and he lost.
dr. bloor
@smith: His request for input from both sides re: splitting some of the charges suggested a nuanced decision that Meadows barely deserved. Happily, the principle that “if it’s illegal, it’s not part of your job” has survived this round of judiciary Jeopardy.
Scout211
That was my thinking.
Ken
@Anonymous At Work:
“Your honor, I was misled by this seductress into committing an illegal act!”
“I had a guy here last week for robbing a convenience store who said the same thing. Didn’t help. By the way, you realize you just confessed to conspiracy, again?”
LAO
@Scout211: That’s an excellent question. I’m not sure what Georgia evidentiary rules are but my gut (applying NY law) is no because it’s not a “statement in furtherance of the RICO conspiracy “ but his testimony would be admissible against Meadows himself.
I’m sure greater legal minds will appear and hopefully provide their insight
ETA: statements in furtherance of the conspiracy are NOT hearsay.
Dangerman
He hears the train a-comin’, it’s rolling ’round the bend
And he ain’t seen the sunshine since he don’t know when
He’s stuck in Fulton County prison, and time keeps draggin’ on
HumboldtBlue
Someone is NOT happy.
catclub
@Scout211:
That is without even mentioning that supervising elections is NOT a proper part of the executive branch.
Martin
@Alison Rose: I had to deal with him all the fucking time in my job and there were few more entitled assholes among the faculty than he was. I am savoring this moment more than I should.
WaterGirl
@HumboldtBlue: boy, it’s really hard for me to believe that Trump knows who just security is who Lisa Monaco is who Andrew Weissmann is… all of those people. I think he’s being said names by somebody.
SpaceUnit
@HumboldtBlue:
Yep. That’s the sound of desperation.
And fear.
catclub
I think there was a report that the Grand Jury wanted to indict Lindsey Graham and the two ex-senators from Georgia in the conspiracy. But Willis did not do it.
I haz a sad.
Alison Rose
@HumboldtBlue: God, what a whiny little bitch this man is. How do his supporters think this is impressive? He sounds like toddler being put on time out.
Martin
@catclub: She can still indict. Let’s see who flips.
WaterGirl
@catclub: I don’t know whether the grand jury helped determine that it would be a RICO case or if they just also thought those guys should be indicted. I’m guessing it’s the latter.
but I wonder is is Willis could come back later and charge them separately just not as part of the RICO case.
MattF
@WaterGirl: They’re on the ‘payback’ list.
Scout211
Pretty sure his minions do most of the shit posting for him. He seems to shit post in all caps and they use lower case semi-appropriately. He may be right there when they post, but I don’t think he wrote that.
WaterGirl
@Martin: I see we are thinking along the same lines. I’m thinking Lindsey Graham, or a previously sitting senator, would be a good get, that should buy you some thing if you have the goods on those people.
Anonymous At Work
@Ken: “I was providing intelligent advice on legal strategies that, while unconventional, did not contravene written laws. My advice was then given to someone who, my defense team and I strongly believe, is unable to safely use silverware by herself.”
Redshift
My understanding from the discussion song actual legal experts is that Meadows had the best chance of succeeding with this move. Which doesn’t mean no others will, but it seems pretty unlikely.
Dan B
@Alison Rose: Willis may have thought the RICO charges were more difficult to prove for Graham and the others but there are other charges that could be brought.
smith
@catclub: Yes — even if they could pretend it wasn’t political, it was still outside the scope of their duties.
WaterGirl
@Scout211: that was supposed to be fed, not the word that rhymes with fed (said) that autocorrect put in there!
Anonymous At Work
@LAO: I think most of what Meadows said goes to his state of mind. The possible perjury/outright lie would demolish his credibility, if he had any, should he testify. I don’t think there’s a furtherance of a conspiracy that cannot already be shown by “I set up the phone call that was recorded with my voice on the recording” and the like.
Scout211
New filing today from Guiliani
Any attorneys here like to comment on this pile of crap?
Baud
@Scout211:
bouillabaisse?
And they call us elitist.
LAO
@Scout211: lol, it’s a loser argument.
Barbara
Removal is for civil actions that could have been brought in federal court to begin with. Federal law might be a defense to a state law prosecution but using removal statute is bizarre.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Would you consider this to be the big Joe Biden deal that some of us think it is?
UncleEbeneezer
Novak Djokovic once again cements his place as the biggest, non-MAGA asshole athlete alive. He beat Ben Shelton, a 20-year old, American kid having his first big Major run at the US Open and then taunted Shelton after the match by mimicking the celebration Shelton had been doing throughout the tournament even though Shelton did nothing directed at Djokovic aside from play hard and push him to a tie-break in the third set. Shelton is also Bi-Racial which makes Novak co-opting his antics even more gross (Black athletes in tennis have their behavior policed and criticized constantly in ways that white players don’t).
WaterGirl
@LAO: is it a loser argument because Giuliani is a loser or because the argument itself is a loser? :-)
Baud
@WaterGirl:
What is this?
rikyrah
Too bad, Mark😂😂😂😂
Fani will see you in Court
MattF
@Baud: ‘There’s something fishy in here’.
Baud
@Barbara:
There’s a criminal removal statute.
Anonymous At Work
@WaterGirl: Deficiencies in indictment really require half-ass lawyering by prosecutors based on ultra-thin evidence that they are twisting, that anyone can see is twisting. Like that newspaper that got raided because of butt-hurt. Being a cultist and thinking the indictment doesn’t follow the cult’s dogma is a loser.
Guiliani’s admission of civil liability in defamation will also hinder matters, and I wonder if that’s the double jeopardy to which he is referring (erroneously).
JWR
Just now catching up on the days threads, so apologies if this has been discussed. (From The Los Angeles Times.) Now back to my blog kechup.
I wish they would require that only parents with kids in the schools be allowed to speak. Maybe issue a parent photo ID. ;)
WaterGirl
@Barbara: can you say more about that?
LAO
@Anonymous At Work: I don’t understand what you wrote. To be clear, if Meadows testified as a government witness in the Fulton County case, his testimony as to what Trump said to him or any directions by Trump would be admissible as non hearsay statements in furtherance of the conspiracy.
This would not apply to Meadows’ testimony in the removal hearing. But, of course his testimony from the hearing would be admissible against meadows himself, just not the other defendants.
Geminid
I wonder if Trump will comment on the Meadows ruling. I’d like to know what Meadows is up to. Trump might also want to know.
Scout211
On the CNN feed, they added this:
LOL. “Propensity to be truthful as a general matter” is the new “perjury.” LOL
WaterGirl
@Baud: the ruling about Meadows and state court versus federal.
LAO
@WaterGirl: the argument. But Giuliani is also a loser.
Alison Rose
@Dan B: I think this response was meant to be to another comment?
grumbles
@Anonymous At Work:
I believe this is officially known as the “Cheese and Crackers” trial.
(h/t Popehat)
WaterGirl
@LAO: I know, I was just being silly!
LAO
@WaterGirl: I got ya. I just like calling him a loser. I can’t help myself.
WaterGirl
@LAO:
Same for me! Hence my comment. :-)
Jackie
@WaterGirl: “Alternate Facts” Kellyanne Conway.
eta zhena gogolia beat me by a country mile. And probably countless others…
Scout211
The AJC reports that the grand jury recommended 39 indictments.
Sorry, I tried to post a nice neat chart but it didn’t post well.
There were some interesting people recommended for indictment, like:
Added: And this:
bbleh
I assume he’ll appeal. Wonder what 11CA will say. IANAL, but reading the opinion it seems like he made a really conscientious effort to determine the boundaries of “color of office.” (I like his cite of Scalia too.) But I guess I could see other judges drawing a different line, even saying “nah, he said he thought it was part of his official duties, so gotta presume it was, end of story.”
Still, kinda figuring there’s some new ketchup stains on some walls.
smith
@Anonymous At Work: Did he? I didn’t see that, only for Cheese ‘n Crackers, with rumors that Eastman might do the same. We do still have another important ruling coming up, I think, about the trial date for the other 17. We know at least two will go early, but I don’t know that it’s yet been determined if the entire gang of 19 will be tried together.
JWR
@HumboldtBlue:
Writing “MAGA” is like a tic with him, isn’t it? Like a case of uncontrollable hiccups.
Old School
@Martin:
Atrios confirms.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Yes, it’s a pretty big deal.
JPL
@Scout211: From what I read, some of the charges the Grand Jury wanted would not work with RICO>
Mike in NC
@JWR: Somebody needs to tell Fat Bastard the impeachments were real and can never go away.
Anonymous At Work
@LAO: I was thinking of trying to admit Meadow’s testimony into evidence directly against people other than Meadow’s portion of the conspiracy. No confrontation of the witness is major foundation for Hearsay.
And most of what Meadows said was about his own state of mind or was evidence that has an independent basis, like Raffensperger’s phone call or visiting the vote counting arena.
Mike in NC
Meadows needs to do hard time. He gave up a safely gerrymandered House seat just to be Fat Bastard’s Chief Enabler. Ten years at a minimum should get his attention.
Another Scott
@UncleEbeneezer: He’s also been on the side of those in Serbia who seem quite anxious to start up the war in Kosovo again.
Amazing tennis talent, but …
Grr…,
Scott.
Anonymous At Work
@smith: I thought? On this, I could easily be wrong. I thought he requested speedy trial AND removal.
Anyone? Bueller?
WaterGirl
@Jackie: @zhena gogolia:
Just the two of you, I think! I knew it was someone arrogant and smarmy, I just couldn’t recall who. Thank you!
WaterGirl
@Baud: Glad to hear you think so, too!
Jackie
@Geminid: It’s not a matter of if, but HOW SOON!😂
Meadows being denied removal to federal court probably sinks TIFG’s chances of being moved – should he request it.
Geminid
@JPL: I hope we’ll find out more about Perdue’s and Loeffler’s roles. They needed to stay on Trump’s good side because they wanted his support in their elections, so they couldn’t hang back like Kemp and Raffensperger did.
After getting crushed by Kemp in last year’s Governor primary, Perdue is pretty much out of politics. I saw that Kemp threw Perdue a bone by appointing him to the Stone Mountain Memorial Park board. He oughta fit right in there.
glc
@WaterGirl: Meadows, as it happens. “Nobody outside of the Beltway”
WaterGirl
@glc: You are so right!
Link
I wonder who said it first, him or KellyAnne Conway.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl: I thought you meant WE were arrogant and smarmy!
WaterGirl
@glc: Karma is a bitch!
terraformer
this is a level of winning the likes of which this country has never seen before
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: You know I didn’t! I would never think that. Sorry about the poor phrasing.
Alison Rose
In case you were wondering, watching your cat try to lick up a bit of wet food stuck to her nose is extremely funny.
She eventually got it.
Jackie
@WaterGirl: Kellyanne. I think it was when she was questioned about the Hatch Act while hawking Ivanka’s clothing line while on the WH lawns.
Meadows wasn’t COS until much later.
WaterGirl
@Jackie: Yeah, from the article it looks like Meadows said it in Aug of 2020.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@Baud:
sounds like crudité to me
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@JWR:
he’s known to like show tunes:
Jackie
@Alison Rose: We used to put a blob of peanut butter on our GSD’s snout – just beyond easy reach of her tongue. She’d lick from the front while walking “towards it.” Then she’d switch to windshield wiper mode – which helped her eventually reach it all. Funnier than hell! She always forgave us – because PEANUT BUTTER!
Ryan
Eh. Close ehough.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeZRYhLDLeU
Jackie
Is Kari Lake a loser/winner? Apparently TIFG contacted Blake Masters and strongly suggested he not run for senate – leaving the way for Lake.
Doesn’t this suggest Lake isn’t on TIFG’s short list for VP? All that couch surfing at MAL for naught? (Which rumor says pissed Melanoma off) 🤔🤭
Saw it on the NYT so no link
Alison Rose
@Jackie: Ewwww are they banging?
wjca
Nah. Just heavy petting….
Although I suppose it wouldn’t be that surprising if she’s been spending a lot of time on her knees. (Gratuitous Marilyn Monroe quote.)
Jackie
@Jackie: Found a snippet of the NYT article on RawStory: https://www.rawstory.com/trump-blake-masters/
Barbara
@Baud:
Found it.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/1455
Bases are here:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/1442
Basically, it protects US officials from being prosecuted by states in connection with official federal actions.
It’s still bizarre that he would try to invoke it.
Jackie
@Alison Rose: I can’t imagine Kari being that desperate!!! And, obviously TIFG is terrified of Melanoma for ??? so I doubt he’d dare – at least at MAL.
Ken
Product placement. He’s probably making as much off the baseball caps as from his golf courses.
smith
@Jackie: I hope Masters doesn’t listen. It would be greatly entertaining to see a MAGA-palooza to the death, and it wouldn’t hurt our guy any either.
Geminid
@Jackie: I always figured Kari Lake was on her own short list for VP, but not Trump’s. Lake lacks the requisite status for the job, and is too personally ambitious to be a reliable running mate.
Someone like Governor Noehm would be likely choice. Trump might not be able to get a Senator to run with him, except maybe Tuberville who’s too dumb to recognize a toxic tinhorn when he sees one.
lowtechcyclist
@grumbles:
I prefer “Cheese and Kraken.”
Jackie
@smith: Me, too. Although in MAGA GQP AZ, not getting TIFG’s endorsement AND TIFG endorsing Lake…
I think Gallegos will beat either, regardless.
And should Sinema run as an Indy, she’s likely to pull from GOP voters – she’s persona non grata for Democratic voters.
Scout211
She’s all the gossipy political reporters are talking about right now. Trump is appearing with her this weekend and she is formally endorsing him. The political reporters claim that this means she’s ahead in the “veepstakes.”
Jackie
Exactly. She’s a Loser. And only one LOSER allowed on the ticket! 😉
Jackie
@Scout211: Ms Googly Eyes “put TIFG on Mt Rushmore!” Flattery and gushing adoration are necessary requirements for his VP short list.
BUT will Melanomia allow an attractive younger? woman be on the ticket?
prostratedragon
@Ken:
“Life’s Full of Consequence”
wjca
And Trump is someone who would simply love to hobnob with an actual football Head Coach.
Betsy
@trollhattan: It’d be the same state charges even if it did get removed to federal court, so that wouldn’t have changed the pardon ability, anyway.
Jackie
For a hilarious take on Fani Willis’ reply to Gym Jordan’s “demands,” Digby’s post is a Must Read!
https://digbysblog.net/2023/09/08/you-dont-spit-into-the-wind/
...now I try to be amused
@grumbles:
“Jack E. Smith” on Twitter called it the appetizer trial.
Danielx
@HumboldtBlue:
Wonder if anyone has broken it to him that MAGA has become an acronym for My Ass Got Arrested.
unctuous
@Scout211:
Meadows: “Everything I do for Trump is part of my federal government job description!”
Judge and everyone not in the Trump cult: ”Um, no.”