The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case has canceled any remaining court deadlines after prosecutors said they need time to assess “the appropriate course going forward” after the Republican’s presidential victory this week.
Nothing has changed re: Trump's status as a regular citizen, and the DOJ's memo only applies to sitting presidents. The DOJ and Jack Smith were prosecuting criminal conduct. In winding down these cases now, they are voluntarily refusing to prosecute someone they believe is a criminal when their role was to do so on behalf of the people. Likewise, the judge is voluntarily abandoning his duty to expediently seek justice on behalf of the people.
The proper course here would be to continue to treat him as a regular criminal, not delay anything, and on January 20th, decide then if you want to quit.
This preemptive compliance is doing 90% of Trump's work in creating an authoritarian state where he is above the law. Don't just roll over, you hacks, do your jobs.
There's actually a good video by Legal Eagle on this issue. Basically if they keep the cases open, the new DOJ can dismiss the case with prejudice in January (since it will be impossible to finish the case before due to appeals processes and similar), and if they drop the charges without prejudice, the crimes will be past statute of limitations in 4 years, so it's impossible for trump to face any consequences now. But if they stop the prosecution now, at least they might have a chance to do a concluding report a la the Mueller report just better, documenting the crimes and evidence. It's shit but theoretically the best outcome possible now.
The problem is it's not clear who could enforce a judgment on him. If DC police tried to arrest him, they wouldn't get through the door. Him being president makes it very difficult, as a practical matter, to actually punish him in any way.
They won't. There's no point. The Trump SCOTUS will throw anything they do out. The only thing that Biden could do is use the powers SCOTUS granted the presidency to round them up, throw them in a gulag, and declare the election null and void. And he won't do that.
This just further cements that there are multiple different levels of law depending on your money/wealth/power/influence. Any normal individual does this, with this much proof, and they would've seen the inside of a jail cell before the cuff-marks faded away.
Clavell's novel Noble House woke me to this. It's about the English occupying Hong Kong and the drama between them and the Chinese, the cultures and economies.
This Chinese dude is bitching about the fucking stupid English notion of "equal before the law, rich or poor".
"Why else would I strive to be rich if I'm to be treated as a peasant?!"
Much to think on there.
(Clavell wrote the Asia Saga books, starting with Shogun. I highly recommend them.)
The president is not, nor should, be above the fucking law. Where are the checks? Where are the balances? This country was literally founded on this idea (among many others)! Set the right precedent and put this fucking crook in jail!
In 1776 they definitely would be checked. We lost our way. Money outweighs principles. Money was important back then, but it wasn't above (known) principles. We did have slavery and suffrage. It would be nice that those did not exist in our history. But those are eventually changed.
This crap is not what we were founded on. The Republicans are not patriots. They are cowards.
Ignore the fact that after 1776 people tried to make George Washington King and the only reason we didn't have a king now is because Washington turned it down in favor of a huge portion of the gdp.
People really need to abandon the mythology that the founding fathers were incredible thinkers with profound morals compasses when most were drunken criminals with some good ideas in-between objectively horrible ones.
This isnt the last word. Smith is working out "the appropriate course for this case", and the judge is giving him until Dec 2. We will hear from him again, before Trump takes office.
He's a smart guy, he may figure out a way to make these last few months interesting.
Nothing will happen.
I appreciate the optimism, but you’re kicking your acceptance further down the road.
If they were actually going to hold the fucker to account, they’d have done more by now. At this point? Attempting to prosecute the president-elect just weeks before he steps into power to ‘save America’? That’s just giving the conspiracy nuts validation to start shooting.
All I know is he's smarter than you or I am. I have no illusions that Trump will ever get what he deserves, but I'll at least wait to see what actually happens in that filing before raging.