Trump says he’s going to be arrested on Tuesday.
Trump writes on Truth Social that he expects an indictment on Tuesday and calls for protests. https://t.co/TGi6fwhOR8 pic.twitter.com/sOvTRqPI5c
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) March 18, 2023
This could very well be true. There have been a lot of signals that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is about to indict Trump. Manhattan prosecutors requested meeting with law enforcement to go through the details about how arresting a former president would work.
The former president has around-the-clock Secret Service protection, raising questions about how routine procedures — such as fingerprinting — would work amid a coterie of armed guards and obvious security concerns surrounding an ex-president. Fox News, citing a source, said that Manhattan prosecutors had requested a sit-down Thursday to “discuss logistics for some time next week, which would mean that they are anticipating an indictment next week.”
I understand that if there is an indictment, Trump’s lawyers would be notified first, before the indictment is made public. S it’s possible Trump has been notified that he will need to surrender, or at least be available to be taken into custody, on Tuesday.
This would indicate that Trump intends to stay and fight rather than flee the country. He seems to believe an indictment will boost his election chances. Ed Kilgore at New York magazine:
Whether an indictment would hurt Trump’s campaign is a separate issue. Trump certainly does not think it would end his reelection bid. In fact, he told the Associated Press that criminal charges wouldn’t deter him in the slightest. “Oh, absolutely, I won’t even think about leaving,” he said this week. “Probably, it’ll enhance my numbers.”
That may sound like just another outlandish Trumpian brag, but it’s actually entirely plausible — in the short term at least. There is no reason to assume that a criminal indictment will change any minds among the MAGA faithful. Trump clearly benefited from both of his congressional impeachments among rank-and-file Republicans. And Trump’s base has been instructed for years that the “deep state,” with its tentacles extending into every branch of government, is determined to remove him from the picture in order to resume its persecution of “patriots” and its globalist destruction of the U.S.
It’s also the case that the Stormy Daniels payoff story is an old one that everybody’s heard. It’s also among the least interesting of the many legal problems Trump is facing now. There are arguments floating around that it’s to Trump’s advantage that this is the case going forward first, because he can so easily claim this is just old fake news, and Alvin Bragg is just grasping at anything to stop Trump from being elected POTUS again. We’ll see. See also Josh Marshall, Does It Matter That the Stormy Case Goes First?
In other news, yesterday a Washington DC district court judge ordered that Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran has to testify to Jack Smith’s investigation. Corcoran can’t claim attorney-client privilege because of the crime-fraud exception.
I will always remember and celebrate the day of Trump's arrest. The Champagne will flow.
On the subject of Corcoran, he's just the latest example of what many media wits tell us the acronym M.A.G.A should really stand for.
"MAGA" SHOULDN'T mean "Make America Great Again," they say.
They opine that what "MAGA" should REALLY stand for, is "Make Attorneys Get Attorneys!"
Kinda corny – but I like it!
About the likelihood of him being charged this week:
I'm well aware that many political and legal "experts" are saying that the case involving Orange Julius' tryst with Stormy is probably the weakest link in a possible legal chain of "The (Non-MAGA) American People v. Donald John tRUMP" trials, but I'm of the opinion that anything that might help divert that miniscule, compassionless tRUMP "minds" focus away from his goal of destroying democracy in America for his ego's own benefit, is a good thing.
A GREAT thing, even!!!
The more trials tRUMP has to deal with, the more tribulations he'll have to try to deal with!
Truly, the more, the merrier!!!
But tragically, there aren't enough tribulations in this world for a deserving creature like Donald John tRUMP to have to face.
Think about this:
Without these legal diversions, if things break tRUMP's way in the next few years, he may very well be remembered by history as "The Single Most Destructive American In History."
In my opinion, he might very well already be there.
Who's worse? Benedict Arnold? Jeff Davis?
OH, PUHLEEEEEASE!
Not enough bad shit can happen to tRUMP.
And sadly, not enough will…
Lock Him Up!
Sprinkle in a little George Soros.
I've been thinking how baffling it must be for semi-literate types, i.e. MAGAts, that the names George Soros and George Santos are so similar.
Seems like Bragg notified court police to coordinate with other law enforcement because sometime next week, they're gonna lower the boom. It may be that cops in NY contacted the Secret Service. Keep in mind the USSS does not work for Trump – they aren't there to protect Trump from an indictment. Just a guess, but Trump's lawyer observed that avoiding the feds could only go on for so long unless Trump goes into hiding, which makes running for office difficult.
So they went the other way – they're trying to get maximum publicity and try to get the press to cover it as a "witch hunt." Republicans – at the moment – are lining up behind Trump to scream that this is political. I'm guessing the politicos will watch the polls closely – when voters shift from supporting Trump to supporting DeSantis, the GOP congress-critters will change their tune. Then it will be: "We need to let the judicial process run its course." (DeSantos is watching how this event plays with voters very closely, I suspect.)
Again my opinion: Trump wants riots in NY to "protest" his arrest. That's why he posted, probably as soon as he thought he had a date. J6 shows Trump's gangster mentality – I think Trump would arrange and finance violence if he could. The problem is that people around Trump (many having just received a summons to appear before a federal Grand Jury) won't be eager to take the lead in planning riots on Trump's behalf. Trump's lawyer(s) have likely heard Trump argue that the charges will go away if there's enough violence. Again, only in my head, I think the lawyers have told Trump that they will withdraw from the case if they suspect that Trump is involved in affecting the trial by intimidation or force.
As I see it, this is only the first criminal case – one of several. Trump knows it. He wants them all to go away so I expect Trump will try (if he can) to bring on -not unrest – but chaos in NYC. As much as he can as soon after the indictment so there is no doubt what it's about. Trump won't give the orders directly – his lawyers won't touch it. What Trump wants may have to happen spontaneously – and next week will be the test of how much the J6 convictions of Proud Boy leaders and others will have on "patriots" with AR15s. But Trump will throw everything he can at NYC as soon as possible.
Josh Marshall (in the link) pointed out that the prosecutors are not coordinating, despite the fever dreams of the Trumpsters. GA seems to be close to announcing charges – next week would be a good time but who knows? I'd like it to be obvious with several criminal cases announced that the genie isn't going back in the bottle regardless of how much civil unrest the Trumpsters bring. (And if the feds have the most violent groups infiltrated and schemes get busted with arrests before anyone gets hurt, that will further discourage 'revolution.' Very few of these 'patriots' want to risk years in jail. They want to shoot unarmed liberals in the back.
The "value" of this trial will be the sex and lies. Americans are fascinated with who else is doing it with who and how. (Not the most noble American characteristic.) Daniels will testify re the sex. Cohen will testify re the payoff. Cohen will also testify about the other payoff through the National Inquirer. Trump won't take the stand but his defense will be (as floated by his attny) Trump did NOT have an affair – he was extorted by an evil woman he hardly knew and paid 130K to silence her from talking about what never happened. Yeah, right. The point is – though the events are not important – the press will love it and the public will eat up every lurid detail. And it's barely the first act of what's happening in trials.
On Corcoran: the judge not only ruled that the Trump lawyer has to appear before the federal Grand Jury. AND she gifted the federal prosecutor with the written notes from Corcoran on which she based the decision that there is not attorney-client privilege because (I'm guessing) the notes showed they were planning a crime. I gather that handing over notes like that is unusual but within the judge's power. Corcoran may squeal like a stuck pig, but it's done. The prosecutor has the information even if Corcoran goes 5th Amendment. If Corcoran stonewalls and the prosecutor has the goods, he's inviting criminal charges himself. On the other hand, if he testifies against Trump…. Don't think the judge did not have this in mind.
I'm wondering if Wiesselberg will factor into Trump's prosecution. I'm no lawyer, but I vaguely remember reading that when you agree to a plea deal with a cooperation agreement in exchange for reduced charges and a fixed reduced sentence that it usally carries with it a provision to cooperate in any and all investigations where their testimony could have a bearing. It would exclude them from prosecution for any involvement in the crime being investigated, but could violate their original plea deal if they did not testify fully and truthfully..
My understanding is that Wiesselberg is still bound by the conditions of any agreement until the complete terms of his sentence has been satisfied. And if anybody knows what the financial mechanics were in hiding the hush money in Trump's books. It would be Wiesselberg. It would be a shame to pull the rug out from under Wiesselberg after he's done a stretch on Rikers and is headed to a leisurely period of court supervision.
It's sorta like going to the market shopping for a good avocado or a cantaloupe mellon. You've got to squeeze them to know if they're ripe. The same dynamic applies to Wiesselberg.
Next Episode:
Watch the south rise again ! | ?
or
The TV zombies are gonna break laws for Putin and pals.
Joyce Vance makes a really good point. Trump’s lawyers conceded that he will follow normal procedures if he has to surrender to the Manhattan DA’s office. There won’t be a stand-off at Mar-a-Lago. The law is closing in.
But it’s Fanni Willis and the indictments to come from the Peach State that I think will make the action in NY seem like a small appetizer. Georgia law lets their grand jurors speak, in limited fashion about what’s coming, and the bits that have come out portend that the indictments are “massive” and will be like a huge earthquake hitting MAGA world. It’s going to be explosive, far outshadowing Stormy Daniels.
I’ve read also that the BS moves by Georgia Republicans to reign in prosecutors probably won’t affect this, since the law won’t take effect for at least a year.