I can't keep my fingers still! While we wait for the indictment – likely tomorrow – let's look at some tidbits from over the weekend and breaking news from moments ago!
First the Breaking News: The Case!!
It looks like the clerk at Fulton County accidentally posted the indictment a bit too early. Minutes ago, it appeared briefly on the county website before quickly being taken down. It listed 12 charges for a single defendant, one djt. It was first reported by Reuters. You heard it here first (or maybe second)!
Well, well, well. Look who was caught with their hand in the coffee jar.
Apparently there are texts and "other court documents" that show that T****'s lawyers planned to access the machines in the days ahead of January 6. Plans were discussed in the Whitewash House with T**** present in that "unhinged" meeting you may recall from the January 6 hearings.
Misty Hampton, a local elections official sent a "letter of invitation to Coffee County, Georgia" to several on T****'s direct team, including Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, as well as to Giuliani's close associate, former NYPD Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik. The machines were accessed by T**** operatives for several hours. You may recall that Hampton further impeded the certification of Georgia's votes for Biden by refusing to validate a recount by the deadline.
We knew about this breach, and other lawsuits have arisen from this breach, but this is solid evidence that T****'s team was directly and intimately involved in the break-in.
Come on, Fani Willis, come on!
Our Ms. Willis 💖
Here is a great write-up about our hero, Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis. She is a bulldog, and just the type of person we need to lead the charge. Please read it (thanks, Big Sister Resister Pagrs for the link).
Side note: I found myself getting choked up at a commercial. No, not the terrible abused dog commercial. The one where a black woman eyes the photo on the wall of the law firm she is applying to. The photo is of a dozen or so old white men. She steels herself to meet with the interviewer, the senior partner in the firm. Door opens, it's a woman, warmly welcoming in the candidate.
Not too very long ago, this was an impossibility. Fani Willis is not only a bulldog, but a trailblazer. Read about other black female legal trailblazers here.
Gawd, I just love that a black woman will be instrumental in putting this odious misogynist racist in prison.
The Judge
It's not clear that he will be the presiding judge, but it would be great if he is. Judge Robert McBurney looks to be like a fair jurist. He has been overseeing the case so far, so we will see if he will continue on the case.
"...this is not the behavior of an innocent man."
He may be barred from trying to influence witnesses in his federal cases, but T**** has been panic-tweeting (errrr, truth-socialing) to try to convince witnesses in Georgia not to testify. He specifically targeted former Republican Lt. Governor Geoff (not Jeff, LOL) Duncan. Combined with his verbal vomit directed in Fani Willis's direction, as Jonathan Chait notes in the New York Magazine, "this is not the behavior of an innocent man." Ummmm, it might also be illegal.
Since we may have lots to talk about next week, I thought it would be good to get small update in!
Updates about Indictment #1, the New York State hush money case:
Trial is set for March 25, 2024.
Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg said in a radio interview that he is amenable to changing the date of this trial, provided the judges agree, to let the federal cases go forward first.
Updates about Indictment #2, the federal classified documents case:
Trial is set for May 20, 2024.
On Thursday, T**** and his co-defendent Walt Nauta pled not guilty to the additional charges stemming from the superseding indictment. The third co-defendent, property manager Carlos DeOliveira, did not enter a plea. His arraignment hearing was rescheduled to Tuesday, August 15 because he does not yet have a Florida attorney.
Updates about Indictment #3, the Conspiracy to Defraud the United States, Conspiracy to Obstruct, and Conspiracy Against Rights case:
The next hearing date is set for August 14, 2023, when a trial date will be set.
Special prosecutor Jack Smith will request trial date for January 2, 2024. He estimates the trial would take four to six weeks. He is interested in a speedy trial. Aren't we all! We'll see what Judge Tanya Chutkan says on Monday.
Evidence of the conspiracy came to light with the New York Times's acquisition of an internal campaign memo authored by T**** attorney and co-conspirator #5, Kenneth Chesebro. The memo outlined the plot to create slates of fake electors in contested states. In the memo, Chesebro clearly acknowledges that the plan would not pass legal muster, but promoted it as a way to "buy time" and maintain attention on the claims of voter fraud.
T****'s lawyers have made a fuss over Smith's request for a protective order, limiting what T**** can disclose publicly. They are making it into a First Amendment issue, which his lickspittles will lap up like ...well, like yesterday's spittle.
But on Friday, Judge Tanya Chutkan laid down the law, telling his lawyer, "I caution you and your client to take special care in your public statements about this case. I will take whatever measures are necessary to safeguard the integrity of these proceedings." She went on to assert, "The more a party makes inflammatory statements about this case which could taint the jury pool … the greater the urgency will be that we proceed to trial quickly."
mic drop
Side note: I watched a little of the talking heads on cable news, and a couple of the legal experts said that Judge Chutkan has a reputation in Washington that "the judge don't play."
And yanno, every criminal defendant has restrictions placed upon them. As the judge said, his First Amendment right to free speech was "not absolute." Watch him push the envelope. He already seems to be daring her to arrest him.
Did you ever wonder? Where is Mark Meadows? He didn't appear in the indictment. Chris Christie believes he has already flipped. If so, this is not good for the defense. OOOOOhhhh I wanna see him on the witness stand!!
Update on Impending Indictment #4, the Georgia election interference case:
Fulton County has been gearing up, with road closures and barricades at the courthouse.
Speculation is that the indictment may come down this week. Fulton County D.A. Fani (pronounced fawn-y) Willis is presenting witness testimony to an Atlanta grand jury on Tuesday.
You know I'll be right here to bring it all to you! See you next time! Same Resister time, same Resister channel!
Does anyone else feel energized? That's not quite the feeling. I am not sure how to name this emotion. Energy, vindication, sadness, pride, happiness, patriotism, anticipation, stirred up with a heaping cup of schadenfreude.
More than the other cases, this one gives me big feelz. djt is finally forced to face his accusers for the ultimate in crimes against the nation. This is a huge moment for our county.
He appeared in the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse yesterday, steps away from the United States Capitol where the blood of his crimes lies. If he cared to look up as he arrived, he might have spotted the Capitol Dome. If he listened real close, he might have heard echos of the screams of law enforcement officers being beaten.
After he was arrested and fingerprinted for the third time in five months, he made his way from the basement to the courtroom. It was there that he appeared before the judge.
He was arraigned in front of Magistrate Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya. This woman, an immigrant from India, held power over him. After making him wait 15 minutes past the scheduled start time (yummy!), she read him his rights and the charges against him.
He awkwardly stated his name, in response to her questions. "Donald J. Trump — John — Donald John Trump," and his age, "seven seven... 77."
He answered other of the judge's questions, among them, "Have you taken any medications which would make it difficult for you to understand today’s proceedings?" ("No"), and he heard the possible 20+ year jail sentences (extra yummy – how many of you believe that his lawyers ever made him aware of the range of possible jail time?). He also made a plea ("Not guilty" in case there was a question).
Some of the best moments was when she referred to him as "Mr. T****." He is just another private citizen, in court to face charges for January 6 like a thousand thugs before him. Apparently he was "irked" at her calling him "Mr.," and it put him in a foul mood. Good! Let him stew and boil.
Judge Upadhyaya also made him aware of the conditions of his release. As in the previous arrests, the prosecutors didn't request that he be restricted in travel, and he wasn't required to surrender his passport. But the conditions that were placed were pointed. In effect: 1. Do not commit a crime, and 2. Do not try to influence a witness. In addition, the judge required that T**** not retaliate against witnesses or obstruct the administration of justice. She warned him that he could be arrested if he does so.
He signed a document agreeing, but these conditions will be difficult for him. Coercion, retaliation, obstruction, and criminal acts are his bread and butter. Not influencing a witness will tie him in knots.
In addition, the judge took up a couple of scheduling matters. She ordered the parties to come up with a requested date for a trial start date, and she set the next hearing for August 28. That hearing, and everything after, will be before Judge Tanya Chutkan, an immigrant from Jamaica. Another powerful woman, she will rule over him and the rest of the proceedings, in this, the most important case in the history of the United States. How sweet our system!
Unfortunately, we aren't able to see any of this for ourselves, as cameras aren't allowed in Federal cases. By all accounts from those who were there, he was a small man, all alone, very much un-powerful. You might even say impotent.
We are able to understand the arraignment hearing only through the eyes of the few journalists who get seats in the courtroom. Here are a few of the accounts:
Reading others' words is all we got, but wholly inadequate. We need to bear witness to these proceedings with our own eyes and ears. We deserve to witness this trial and not have a handful of journalists and sketch artists describe it or have to skim a dry transcript. It's important for the world to see, especially all Americans, including the MAGAt crowd. There is no spinning when it is in front of the American people live and in bright full-color Justice-O-Rama.
Law professor Neal Katyal, writing in The Washington Post agrees with me. One way to get cameras in the courtroom is to have Congress pass a statute allowing it. How does that happen? By We the People asking. Demanding. Go to Resistbot and write to your Members of Congress (it works across messaging apps or regular text), and ask that they pass a law to allow for cameras to be in the federal courthouse for this case, at least. Send the word "Resist" to 50409 and the bot will take you through the process.
A note about his behavior: He seems to think this is a game. Hours before his arraignment, he truth-socialed, "“I need one more indictment to ensure my election!" Just wait, Mr. T****. It's coming this month!
And a note about more feelz: though we didn't see the inside of the courtroom, we saw the outside. I was moved by the protesters holding signs, signs they held in my stead. If I could be in Washington, I would be, protesting alongside as afforded by our First Amendment.
How Sweet the Art
Cameras weren't allowed in the courtroom, and the Defendant was escorted in and out of the building through back doors, so there are no photographs or video of yesterday's hearing.
This was the first sketch that emerged from the arraignment. That bearded guy on the left? That's Jack Smith. Apparently the two made eye contact at least once.
Courtroom sketch from August 3 hearing sketch by Bill Hennessey
...and a meme dump. Thanks to my sister resisters for sending me many of these!
The Justice Train keeps barreling down the tracks toward Accountabilityville. Now at its third stop, the District of Columbia. There's only one passenger: America's Most Wannabe.
A couple weeks ago, T**** was served with a "target letter," indicating that he is a target of another federal investigation. A target letter often precedes an indictment, so for two weeks, we've been on pins and needles, waiting for the federal indictment surrounding the events that occurred on January 6, 2021. Yesterday, it came.
The Indictment
It is important to remember that this indictment – as all felony indictments – was agreed upon by a majority of between 16 and 23 citizen members of the federal Grand Jury of the District of Columbia. The members of the Grand Jury have to find that there is probable cause that a person committed a crime. No one person has the power to bring charges. The MAGAt crowd doesn't care to understand this; they are a hopeless cause.
It is another well-written, concise short story outlining the two months preceding January 6, 2021. It doesn't take long to read the 45-page document. Read it here. And if you want some nifty annotations served alongside, read the New York Times's version here or CNN's here. Please do read it. We have another historic document, one that outlines the criminal acts of a president of the United States in the attempt to subvert the will of the people and overturn the results of a free and fair election.
The Charges
There are four federal felony charges against the single defendant, D***** J. T****.
Conspiracy to Defraud the United States
Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding
Obstruction of and Attempt to Obstruct an Official Proceeding
Conspiracy Against Rights
Count One: Conspiracy to Defraud the United States. T**** is accused of conspiring to use all kinds of "dishonesty, fraud, and deceit" to prevent the government from its processes of certifying the election results.
Count Two: Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding. The Defendant is accused of conspiring to attempt to interfere with the certification of the electoral vote on January 6, 2021.
Count Three: Obstruction of, and Attempt to Obstruct, an Official Proceeding. Without conspirators, he is accused of outright obstruction and impeding the certification of the electoral vote. Counts two and three have been used to successfully convict other defendants for their January 6 doings.
Count Four: Conspiracy Against Rights. He is accused of conspiring to "injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate" United States citizens of their right to vote and to have their votes counted.
The evidence for all the counts is laid out in pages 3-42 of the indictment.
Jack Smith's Statement
Shortly after the indictment was unsealed, Special Prosecutor Jack Smith appeared before the cameras for a brief statement. He entreated all Americans to read the indictment for themselves, and he lauded the law enforcement agents who defended the Capitol that day, as well as the many agents and attorneys working on the People's behalf to bring justice. He also reminded us that the Defendant is presumed innocent until found guilty by a jury of citizens in a court of law.
Does anyone else have a crush on this man?
Watch his less-than-three-minute statement here:
The Unindicted Co-conspirators
There are six co-conspirators, who are unnamed and unindicted (a legal note: in an indictment, if you name them you must indict them and if you indict them you must name them). It's easy to guess who most of them are, based on what we know from the January 6 Congressional Hearings last year. They are described well in the indictment itself.
Co-conspirator 1: Rudy Giuliani
Co-conspirator 2: John Eastman
Co-conspirator 3: Sidney Powell
Co-conspirator 4: Jeffrey Clark
Co-conspirator 5: Kenneth Chesebro
Co-conspirator 6: described as a "political consultant," pundits so far do not know who this person is. This co-conspirator helped with the Pennsylvania piece of the plot. When I heard "political consultant" in the context of a criminal charge, my mind went immediately to Roger Stone. He had his fingers all over these shenanigans. Newsweek is speculating that it is Ginni Thomas. Oooh that it would be her and that she would be charged! Other names bandied about: Steven Miller, Steve Bannon, or the pillow salesman.
To remind you who the known nefarious players are, theWashington Post can refresh your memory.
All Indictments are Not Created Equal
This indictment is not just another tick-box on T****'s legal list. What makes this one more grave than the others? This goes to the very bedrock of our democracy. It concerns the aspects of our democracy that we hold most sacrosanct: the right to vote and have our votes counted, the peaceful transfer of power, and the rule of law. These pillars hold up our republic. Without them, it's in shambles. This person must be prosecuted and he must be held accountable. If not, then what?
The Judge
Judge Tanya Chatkin, federal district judge for the District of Columbia, is an immigrant from Jamaica. She was appointed to the district court in 2014 by President Obama. Previous to that, she was a District of Columbia public defense attorney. She has overseen many January 6 cases and is known for meting punishments that often exceed prosecutors' requests. She also ruled against T**** in hearings surrounding the release of documents where T**** tried to exert executive privilege. She was the one to write, “Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.” Go, Tanya!
Given her extensive public defender background, I believe she will be a resolute, fair judge. And wouldn't it be delicious if a strong immigrant woman of color is the one to pronounce sentence on this odious person?
What about the co-conspirators? Why aren't they charged?
It's apparent that Smith wants this to be a streamlined, speedy case. Charging the co-conpsirators adds a layer of complexity that would slow things down. Not charging them also gives them a chance to flip. If not, there will be time to charge them later. The statute of limitations still has a couple of years left.
What is smart about this case?
It's clean - four simple charges. Obstruction is a clear, easy charge. Smith just needs to prove two or more people planned a crime, even if the crime isn't successful or even carried out. It's a straightforward charge, and from the indictment, it appears there is plenty of evidence. It leaves open the path to charge the co-conspirators later or give them the opportunity to make a plea deal and cooperate.
What is missing?
A charge of sedition and a charge of incitement. Why weren't these charged? Most likely because it would be too hard to prove, and there are First Amendment issues that come with his words on that day. The charge of conspiracy is much easier to prove and convict. If charges are never brought for sedition, history will surely put them there. And in the end, maybe it doesn't matter as long as the madman is in jail.
Though the indictment doesn't outright say that he incited the mob to attack the Capitol, it says that he exploited the riots to further pressure lawmakers to implement his plot. When you think about it, this may be even a more serious charge.
"The Defendent's Exploitation of the Violence and Chaos at the Capitol" starts on page 39 and is a frightening read. Among the absurdities: calls were made throughout the day to lawmakers, even as they were being escorted to safety in underground bunkers. Long after the mob had been evicted from the building, co-conspirators were calling and emailing lawmakers, as well as Pence's counsel, as late as 11:44 p.m., asking them to suspend the Electoral Count Act and delay the certification.
Thankfully, Pence took his oath to the Constitution seriously, Congress reconvened, and the election was certified in favor of Joe Biden at 3:41 a.m. on January 7, 2021.
The Pence Factor
Maybe the most sobering, if there is such as thing as "most" with regard to January 6, is that the indictment gives us a very good snapshot of T****'s relentless badgering of Vice President Mike Pence and his resistance to T****'s pressure to subvert the will of the people and commit illegal acts. The fact that Pence is named throughout and that his "contemporaneous notes" are offered into evidence suggests that he cooperated fully with the investigation. The Pence factor is outlined concisely starting on page 32.
Some of the more startling bits about Pence in the indictment:
T**** was more vocal about Pence and his supposed role in certifiying the election than I remember was outlined in the hearings. For example, on December 23 he retweeted a memo titled "Operation PENCE CARD," which falsely asserted that Pence could disqualify the electors from the disputed states.
A Merry Christmas phone call from Pence was turned into another pressure campaign to reject the electoral votes on January 6. Pence pushed back, saying, "You know I don't think I have the authority to change the outcome."
On New Year's Day, five days before January 6, Pence was again goaded by his boss. Pence again pushed back and the Defendant told him, "You're too honest." Shortly after that conversation, djt tweeted about the "BIG protest rally in Washington, D.C."
On January 5, in a private meeting between Pence and T****, Pence again refused to agree to the plan. T**** "grew frustrated and told the Vice President that he would have to publicly criticize him. Upon learning of this, the Vice President's chief of staff was concerned for the Vice President's safety and alerted the head of the Vice President's Secret Service detail." OMFG
On January 5 and 6, in multiple tweets, T**** set up his mob to believe that Pence did have the authority and implied that Pence would indeed do this.
After the last entreaty to Pence, and Pence's last refusal, at 11:15 a.m. on the morning of January 6, T**** decided to re-insert comments (comments that his advisors had had him remove), singling out the Vice President and again falsely claiming that he had the authority to reverse the electoral certification.
Giuliani and Eastman also invoked Pence during the January 6 rally, falsely claiming to the mob that Pence could and should reverse the states' certification.
And after all that, the Defendant told the mob that "fraud breaks up everything, doesn't it? When you catch somebody in a fraud, you were allowed to go by very different rules." And he sent them to the Capitol saying, "We fight. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell you're not going to have a country anymore."
We know the rest of the story.
"Hang Mike Pence!" photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
A few other bombshell tidbits from the indictment
There was some new stuff or stuff I hadn't fully understood before that became clear after this reading. There were also some just plain elegant bits scattered around.
The purpose of the Conspiracy. In black and white it states, "the purpose of the conspiracy was to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election by using knowingly false claims of election fraud to obstruct the federal government function by which those results are collected, counted, and certified." Pretty f弢king serious stuff.
T**** has a right to lie. It says so right on page 2. "The Defendant had a right, like every American, to speak publicly about the election and even to claim, falsely, that there had been outcome-determinative fraud during the election and that he had won." It's just that, well, you can't use deceit and lies to intimidate, threaten, obstruct, and undo free and fair elections.
The Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 is fittingly invoked for Count 4. The House of Representatives's history website explains that this law made it a crime for anyone to "deny any group or individual 'any of the rights, privileges, or immunities, or protection, named in the Constitution.'" "Anyone" includes the president of the United States. "Any individual" is you and me.
The heroine poll workers Shaye Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman will forever be cemented in the history books. You remember them from the hearings, telling their story of false accusations from the leader of the free world about their actions while working the polls in Georgia. Their ugly encounter with Rudy Giuliani, and the death threats that followed, are outlined (though they are unnamed) on page 14.
Not only lies, but threats: paragraph 31 on page 16 reminds us that not only did T**** try to pursue Georgia officials to "find" some 11,000 votes that he did not receive, but he threatened the Georgia Secretary of State with a "criminal offense."
Clarification of the fake electors scheme: the indictment clarifies the fake elector scheme. It's now clear to me that the fake electors around the country were duped ("tricked" is the word Smith used). They were told that their slate of certificates would "be used only if the Defendant succeeded in litigation" in each state. That being said, all of the fraudulent Michigan "electors" have recently been charged in that state for their part in the scheme.
The New Mexico piece. It wasn't brought up in the Congressional hearings, as far as I remember, but T**** and his co-conspirators sought to also fraudulently certify New Mexico for T****, even though he had lost by more than a 10% margin there. Because there was no pending litigation in New Mexico regarding contesting the results, T****'s campaign "filed an election challenge suit in New Mexico at 11:54 a.m., six minutes before the noon deadline for the electors votes as a pretext so that there was pending litigation there at the time the fraudulent collectors voted." In the end, New Mexico did not convene a set of fake electors.
The list of people who told the truth – that there was no fraud and that Joe Biden won the election – is extensive! Look at pages 7 and 8 for all the times T**** was told he was wrong.
The Jeff Clark affair. As you recall, Jeff Clark was a low-level attorney in the Attorney General's office, but one supremely lip-locked T**** ass-kisser. The indictment illustrates that Clark was admonished over and over to not make contact with the Whitewash House "to guard against improper political influence." Not only did he continue to make contact to the point of willingness to accept an acting A.G. job in the waning days of the presidency, he tried to blackmail the sitting acting A.G and Acting Deputy A.G. to send a draft letter containing false statements to state officials by saying he would decline the Defendant's offer of the position of Acting Attorney General if they did so.
"That's why there's an Insurrection Act," is what Jeffery Clark said in response to concerns that there would be riots in the streets if the election was overturned. Dude. Really?
"Give that to the next guy," is what T**** said in response to a foreign crisis and that his administration didn't have time to mount a response. Though there's tons of evidence that people told him that he lost, this is good evidence that he knew inside his head that he had lost.
Really, read the whole indictment for a clear, concise summary of the evidence.
What's clear
This document makes it clear that the events on January 6 were just the coup de grâce of the months-long attack on our democratic processes and principles. In fact, the fact that Smith didn't charge for the actual insurrection on January 6 illustrates the previous machinations more starkly.
My hope, though, is that someday somehow he is charged with sedition. It's only right.
Possible Punishment
Count 1 has a punishment of up to five years in prison.
Count 2 and 3 are both punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Count 4 is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
There are no mandatory minimums for any of the charges. If convicted on all charges, the sentences could in theory be consecutive, but as in any criminal case, the judge has leeway in the ultimate sentence.
T****'s reaction
*Yawn* it's the same ol' thing. Witchhunt blah blah blah. He called it "prosecutorial misconduct" and "election interference." But this time he also said that the indictment is “reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, the former Soviet Union, and other authoritarian, dictatorial regimes.” First, gross. And second, project much?
Denials with regard to the substance of the charges? *crickets*
The Effects on the 2024 Campaign
For a "witch-hunt" that is a "fake" left-wing conspiracy to derail his campaign, it seems to be failing. The multiple indictments haven't affected his ranking in the polls against his GOP rivals. With each indictment, his poll numbers against other GOP candidates goes up. As do his coffers, though his PAC is bleeding dollars with the massive legal bills.
He has his eye, as always, on the bottom line. He will milk this for more money from his poor (in the literal and figurative sense) supporters and have them bankroll his defense.
Tomorrow the 45th president* of the United States will be arrested for a third time and will appear before a magistrate judge in the District of Columbia to be arraigned on charges of defrauding the United States and denying rights to her citizens. Tomorrow the Defendant will enter a plea for these, the latest of scores of felonies charged against him.
After that, Judge Tanya Chatkin will set a trial date.
The citizens of Washington, D.C. are more liberal in general, so a jury more sympathetic to the People and less to the Defendant will be likely.
Co-conspirators will be flipping? Perhaps. They may have already. Eastman's lawyers have already confirmed that his is Co-conspirator #2. I could have sworn I read Giuliani's attorneys also confirmed, but I can't find it now. In any case, perhaps the six can get a deal, but they should certainly be punished in some fashion whether they flip or not. Prosecutors: please use the example of Watergate.
Cameras in the courtroom? Not for the arraignment, but media sources are clamoring for cameras to be allowed for the trial, as well as for the documents trial. I believe we should all be witness to this trial. It is a crime against every single United States citizen. We, the victims, should be able to face our would-be oppressor.
What about the other cases?
Fani Willis of Fulton County, Georgia, has promised an indictment by the end of this month for T****'s criminal actions to try to interfere with that state's election. Strap in. It's gonna be a tilt-a-whirl over the next several months.
The New York Times has made this for you to keep track of the various and sundry criminal cases levied against the 45th president* of the United States (thanks, big sister resister Pagrs for this nifty interactive tool!).
The Bottom Line
It's important to remember that 1,093 other people have had federal charges brought against them for their actions surrounding January 6. The ringleader and instigator, who had sworn to uphold the Constitution, should be punished bigly.
This week, Special Prosecutor Jack Smith issued a superseding indictment for the federal documents case. Three more counts levied against the orange one (for a total of 40 federal charges!), and a new defendant emerged. Read the superseding indictment here. By definition, this one replaces the previous indictment, and as such contains the same information as the original story which you have already read. This one, however, contains information about the whole destroy-survelliance-video scheme with the new co-conspirator, Carlos De Oliveira. This new stuff starts on about page 27.
Who is Carlos De Oliveira?
Mr. Oliveira, 56, is the third co-defendant in the documents case. He is an immigrant from Portugal, and by all accounts a very low-level employee. He has been employed at Mar-a-Lago for more than a decade, rising up through the ranks to be a property manager of the resort. He worked as a valet before moving to the manager position shortly after the return of his private citizen boss to his private residence in Florida. It appears that he is so low-level that many of T****'s aides had never heard of him. And yet, he is a player in the center of the scheme to destroy video evidence of the unlawful retention of classified documents, leading to the first-ever federal indictment of a United States president.
To summarize:
The story goes like this: T****, wanting to ignore the subpoena for documents and knowing that the authorities were coming to retrieve them, conspired with his buddies Walt and Carlos to 1) move the documents around to obstruct efforts to find them, and 2) find incriminating video evidence (also subpoenaed) and destroy it.
What happened?
As you already knew, T****'s lawyer was preparing to comply with the subpoena and prepared to go to Mar-a-Lago to search for the documents requested by the government. T**** dispatched Nauta to move the boxes. Nauta and (we know now) Carlos De Oliveira moved about 64 boxes hither and yon. They didn't tell the attorney.
Nevertheless, the attorney found 38 documents and prepared them to be returned.
When the FBI arrived on June 3, 2022 to find and collect the documents, they noticed security cameras near the storage room. A few weeks later, on June 24, another subpoena arrived requesting footage from those security cameras.
That same day, Nauta abruptly changed his travel plans, abandoning plans to travel with T**** to Illinois and instead headed back to Mar-a-Lago. He told various stories to various people, trying to keep the reason he was there a secret.
Around the time he was making his travel plans, he contacted De Oliveira and "Employee 4" (reported to be IT employee Yuscil Taveras) in preparation for the scheme. The next evening, when he arrived, Nauta and De Oliveira walked through the hallways with a flashlight looking for the cameras whose evidence they wished to find and destroy.
Side note: they need to watch more Mission: Impossible. It isn't a great look to record the evidence of the crime on video devices while committing the crime of attempting to destroy evidence on those very same devices.
Finally, De Oliveira pulled "Employee 4" aside and asked him how long video was stored and that "the boss" wanted the server deleted.
OK, I'm no federal prosecutor, but this seems like pretty good evidence of conspiracy to obstruct justice. Ya think?
I guess the parties agreed with that sentiment. A couple weeks after the FBI's raid, T**** was assured that De Oliveira "was loyal" and soon promised De Oliveira that he'd provide him an attorney.
Carlos De Oliveira: another very small fish flailing in this huge polluted pond. I feel for the guy getting caught up in this shit, forever in the history books as a lackey and a dupe. But he had a chance to cooperate, so let the games begin.
Was he offered a chance to flip?
Yes. He reportedly met with prosecutors in a "queen for a day" meeting to discuss the evidence and offer him a chance to cooperate. It became evident to the prosecutors that he was not being truthful during the meeting, and so charges were brought. Sigh. There's no accounting for the irrational loyalty that T**** demands and receives. Weird. It makes me think maybe there is something else justifying the loyalty. Like money? Threats?
So what happened to the video footage?
By all accounts it was not deleted and the feds have it in evidence. It undoubtedly documents the original crime of hiding the evidence as well as the crime of trying to find the evidence of hiding the evidence in order to destroy the evidence of hiding evidence. Where's Tom Cruise when you need him?
T****'s lawyers met with prosecutors this week about the January 6 matter. Later, he truth-socialed that his lawyers "had a productive meeting with the DOJ this morning, explaining in detail that I did nothing wrong, was advised by many lawyers, and that an Indictment of me would only further destroy our Country." Given that any contact from T**** is contact with the Upside Down, I hold these words with the same seriousness as an episode of Love Island.
His attorneys met with the prosecution days ahead of the documents indictment as well. 😉
Hey! So what's happening with the Stormy Daniels case?
Trial is set for March 25, 2024.
What about Fulton County, Georgia?
Charges there are pending and expected to be filed in the coming weeks. But we've been saying that for a while. Stay tuned, resisters!
The Yelling Yellowy Yahoo requested an "indefinite" delay of trial. He wants it to happen after the election, when, presumably, he wins, he would make it all go away. Prosecutor Jack Smith said no way, Jose. The judge hasn't made a ruling on the motion.
The investigation continues. We knew already that the investigation has been ongoing, and the grand jury was talking to more witnesses with the possibility of new indictments. The New York Times reports that there have been witnesses testifying about boxes of documents that may have been stored in T****'s other Florida golf clubs at Doral and Jupiter. ABC News reported on Friday that a low-level staffer has been sent a "target letter," which is a warning of imminent indictment. It has to do with the handling of surveillance tapes.
He's been foaming at the mouth, as per usual, but the judge has been restrained in her admonishment. As in, no admonishment. Prosecutor Smith also has been silent. They don't want to give him any more ammo for victimhood if they appear to impinge on his 1st Amendment rights. Read about it in The Washington Post.What makes me so angry is that Smith and others are in real danger from the nut jobs that hang on T****'s every word.
Walt Nauta pleaded not guilty. A trial date has not been set. His attorneys have asked for a delay. It's been a scramble for Nauta to get a lawyer, period. He finally got one, Sasha Dadan, who The Washington Post says specializes in "criminal defense, family law, personal injury and traffic tickets," but presumably not espionage. In any case the attorney will need security clearance before the proceedings can truly get underway.
There is a hearing expected Tuesday, July 18. It will concern the handling of the classified documents at the center of the case. And as such, it probably will not be public.
In the impending FOURTH indictment news, son-in-law Jared Kushner testified in front of the grand jury and was questioned about any acknowledgements that his wife's daddy made about the understanding that he lost the 2020 presidential election. Reporting indicates that Kushner stated he thought T**** really did believe the election was "stolen," but this contradicts other witnesses. Alyssa Farah Griffin, for example, testified to this during the Jan 6 House Committee hearings. According to the New York Times, "Repeating an account she provided last year to the House select committee on Jan. 6, she told prosecutors this spring that Mr. Trump had said to her in the days after the election: Can you believe I lost to Joe Biden?
'In that moment I think he knew he lost,' Ms. Griffin told the House committee."
In 2024 election news, T**** is wavering on if he will debate in the first GOP showdown. You best stay away. Cuz you'll be eviscerated, you moron. Chris Christie would destroy him. Christie has not been holding back in his criticisms of him, calling him a "liar and a coward." Christie's Super PAC taunted T**** with the questions "Are you a chicken or a loser?"
I predict the GOP will continue to eat their own as they work out the adolescent "Freedom Caucus" part of them (which may take years), and Biden will win re-election easily.
Speaking of Freedom Caucus. Empty Gee (thanks sister resister Anne for the nickname for Marge!) was kicked out of the caucus last week. It bears the question: is she too crazy or not crazy enough for them?
Early this week, CNN acquired the audio of the conversation T**** had with staffers, a writer, and a publisher while he showed them a classified document. You read a bit of it in the indictment. It hits different when you hear it!
Indeed. Now we have a problem. Nothing a couple of Cokes can't fix. Crimes go better with Coke.
There's a bonanza in that tape.
He admits to knowing it was secret, saying plain as day, "Except it is like, highly confidential. Secret. This is secret information." Furthermore, he admits knowing he could've declassified it but he can't now.
His defense of the day is that "there was no document."
It was Mark Meadows's memoir that the writer and publisher present at this meeting were researching. Advance copies of the book has come out in the last day or two. What's inside undermines T****'s claims that he made to ABC News that it was "just bravado" and that he "was talking and just holding up papers and talking about them, but I had no documents. I didn’t have any documents."
There were at least four people in the room that day, the writer and the publisher, and two aides. Nauta may have been standing by, ready to fetch Cokes.
Those four will tell us different.
Seriously, those people must have known this was a big no-no! Can you imagine sitting there and having him bring out a document labeled "Secret?"
If his boss is paying his bills, this may be one reason when he can't find an attorney. Cash up front, please!!
Speaking of mounting legal bills, T**** may be committing more crimes in the very attempt to defend this one. He is diverting funds donated to his campaign over to his PAC, which he is using to pay for his defense. It's unclear so far how illegal this scheme is, but Chris Christie has ripped him for it, calling him the "cheapest S.O.B. I've ever met."
Case progress: Judge Cannon rejected the prosecution's request to keep the witness list secret, and she also has set a hearing for July 14 to discuss how to handle the classified materials.
A headline this week: "T**** Wins Election." Ok, it was for an rural Oregon fire district. And he won by a roll of the dice after he tied in a write-in vote. But he won!
It would be great if they forced him to go fight fires in rural Oregon. Hey! Maybe that will be part of his prison duties.
He'd be a natural out there. Remember his plan to rake the forest floor for fire control?
Hey, Donnie. It'll get hot. Don't forget the Cokes!
