Writes Alan Dershowitz, in
"For all you Trump haters popping champagne over this dubious indictment, here's EXACTLY why it may collapse" (Substack).
If the attorney general appointed by the incumbent president authorizes the prosecution of the president's chief election rival, the evidence of a serious crime should be overwhelming.
His guilt should be clear beyond doubt, so as to avoid any reasonable suspicion that the prosecution was motivated, even in part, by partisan consideration.
The paradigmatic 'gun' must indeed be 'smoking'....
When his son-in-law Jared Kushner was summoned before the grand jury, it was widely expected that he might provide that smoking gun, but he apparently said the opposite: that Trump actually believed he had won....
But perhaps, most notably, Smith's case against Trump is novel, untested and unique.... Our Constitution prohibits ex post facto prosecutions – that is prosecutions that are not based on clear rules easily knowable to defendants at the time of the alleged offenses.
Put simply, the law must be clearly established by firm precedents....
Yes, Smith is known for his creativity, but creativity has no proper role in the criminal justice system, especially when it comes to prosecuting political opponents....
५३ टिप्पण्या:
The "justice system" cannot be corrupted by prosecutors.
It can only be corrupted by judges allowing these specious cases to go forward.
This case is going to be decided by a judge appointed by Barack Obama who was in Hunter Biden's law firm and who is a Democrat. There's no conflict of interest there, right? She's already ruled against Trump in a previous January 6 case.
How many Hillary donors will be allowed to sit on Trump's jury?
The "justice system" that Dershowitz thinks isn't already corrupted is beyond repair already. A sitting Supreme Court justice lied in her confirmation hearing by claiming that she cannot define what a "woman" is. That's perjury.
It's a joke that he's even pretending there is something left to corrupt.
Isn't that the Left's goal? Chaos and collapse? And then a leftwing strongman takes over and has dictatorial powers. Like shutting down the economy in order to save us from global boiling. Or how about requiring people to wear masks and get shots?
When the juries are deliberating in FL and DC, I certainly hope the MAGA crowd surrounds the federal courthouses. The Left did that in Minneapolis during the Derek Chauvin trial and the Left never complained then. Turnabout is fair play.
As I have written many times, if we lose the Rule of Law in this country then we are finished. I think we are at that point and all thanks to the Dems.
So they have now moved Hunter Biden's immunity from all prosecution plea agreement to a Delaware court, where it will certainly be approved.
But we don't have a corrupt justice system, we have a Just Us system that is working perfectly.
https://assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/rSg62K7G0F1Q/v0
In Exhibit 1, it lists all of his activity at Burisma and Ukraine, simply to bring it into the scope of this plea agreement on a couple of minor tax charges, to give him immunity. This is exactly how the billionaire oligarch in Ukraine that Hunter and Joe protected got off the hook, and was able to return to Ukraine a free man, after paying a minor fine. This is after stealing billions from the people of Ukraine, who are not the richest people in Europe, BTW.
They are certain that they can crush us. That they can steal every election from now until Doomsday, and maybe they are right. We have gone to way of the USSR. I think that the fly in the ointment will be lack of support for the military adventurism, which will greatly degrade the US's standing in the world, since it is based on the idea that the US can win any war at any time, and ultimately, undermine the dollar fatally for the US budget.
That's when all bets are off. When the hyperinflation hits. That disaster will be traced to this day.
The voice of reason. Unfortunately for him, he’s speaking to the unreasoning. It’s as though way too many Democrats and NeverTrumpers saw “Too Gun: Maverick” and took to heart the admonition “Don’t think, just do.”
Duh, I wonder what Trump's got on Dershowitz.
Whoolly analysis from Dershowitz, with his grand pronoucements followed by lots of "mays". Includung on Trump's state of mind.
That said, I am surprised I have not yet read a defense aling these lines:Trump's primary goal was to prevent Congress from certifying the electoral college result. That involved votes in Congress. Even with the failure to substitute state electoral slates and to stop the votes altogether, lots of Republican Representatives and Senators voted no on no evidence whatsoever. At trial why can't a bunch of these creeps testify as to why they voted no, explaining it was independent of the defendant and any co-conspirator. I think that's the heart of the argument that the indictment criminalizes politics. Perhaps that's why the indictment is for criminal conspiracy, which does not have to succeed, or even have good prospect of success.
The tribes seem to be breaking down (Blacks, hispanics, etc going more right) but the news entertainment choice affinity isn't. That's business model driven.
Prosecutors (presumably at the behest of Team Biden) keep shoveling that shinola.
But then Biden operates best in an environment when corruption is in the air that everyone is forced to breathe.
Of all the great legal minds Althouse could have quoted on the indictment, she chooses Dershowitz.
Nuff said.
Does any intelligent person, whether right or left, think that the tactics being used against Trump will ultimately enhance the legitimacy of our legal system?
Can any intelligent person fail to perceive how these prosecutions distort the political process by which Republicans select a candidate?
Who benefits when the legal system is perceived to be illegitimate? Who benefits when an electoral outcome has been brought about through the legal machinations of the victorious party?
A damaged legal system, and a damaged political system will only benefit the clever nihilists who see opportunity in chaos and discord. These are bad times.
The mere fact that the release of these "indictments" is repeatedly and precisely timed to bury embarrassing Biden news (which the MSM obediently does) should be enough to have them thrown out without further ado. In this case, of course, the Archer testimony and the Fitch downgrade.
Democrats don't care or are even so dumb they don't know about it. The corruption of this regime is so gross and they are so inept that bad times are coming. The old saying is that "bad times make good men; good men make good times; good times make weak men; weak men make bad times."
Look at your leftist commentators here. Celebrating the lawless behavior of the regime.
I see Dershowitz's viewpoint. Imagine Trump as Samson in the temple and it is the Philistines who collapse the temple in order to get Trump, thereby getting themselves all at the same time.
This will be a disaster for this Republic. The left has turned america into a banana republic-and dem voters cheer it on.
Why is it so difficult to see the totalitarian roots of all this maddness?
If this continues, the next insurrection will be a real one. I don't say that as a trump supporter, or a supporter of violence.
It sickens me to think that this will be the only way out. But the left, with support from many in the GOP, have decided that show trials and brute force will win the day.
It will mean martial law, and armed insurrection.
I have heard people say that the Court will strike down any conviction of Trump.
But the dems are openly at war with the court, as it is the last institution to stand for free speech.
The insanity, and I mean that word in its full sense, of this prosecution is beyond understanding- unless you view it in terms of the lefts own corruption, and the exposure of it.
This may well end this Republic as we have known it.
It is an open, and unsettling question as to what will exist after this 'case' is over.
It's so charming that Dersh thinks Dems give a rat's ass about any of that. They WANT the Republic to collapse. That's the goal.
If the attorney general appointed by the incumbent president authorizes the prosecution of the president's chief election rival, the evidence of a serious crime should be overwhelming.
Naah. It's Trump ferchrissakes...what more do you need...?!
In the history of the USA have we ever had a case in which a President brought criminal charges to incarcerate his principal opponent in the up-coming election?
The US is not a democracy, it's a banana republic.
and Biden is the real crook.
All y’all are babbling about law without recognizing it is all moot in our system. Juries of our peers rule. Well a jury of political opponents rules in this case…
It’s a cult. Just look at readering’s post. Complete nonsense founded on mind reading of Republicans.
If Trump actually believed he had won the election, how would that justify the unlawful actions the indictment alleges? Dershowitz doesn’t explain that, and would have if he had a good explanation.
I didn’t chose to quote that because of where D ranks as an authority. I chose to quote it because it was well conceived and written.
People of the left did not use to side with aggressive prosecutors. Process used to matter to such people.
“Evidence related to Trump's alleged illegal retention of classified materials at Mar-a-Lago are strong, but the supposed crime itself is rather technical and relatively minor.”
The evidence is “strong” but the crime is only “supposed.”
From the article:
"In order to establish the underlying charges, the government would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump himself actually knew and believed that he had lost the election fair and square.
That he intended to subvert the will of the people.
I doubt they can prove that."
Get the right judge and jury and you don't need to prove anything.
The Democrats are getting a two-for-one deal here. Besides throwing dirt on Trump, they will be calling for packing the Supreme Court after the conviction is throwing out for failure to state a legitimate crime per the US Criminal Code.
“People of the left did not use to side with aggressive prosecutors. Process used to matter to such people.”
Exactly what “process” do you think Trump is not being afforded? Cruel neutrality wants to know.
“ People of the left did not use to side with aggressive prosecutors. Process used to matter to such people.”
Those days are long gone. The Left did not use to hate Free Speech. Or trust the FBI.
For his entire term, these same lefties were ADAMANT that Trump was not mentally capable enough to be President, but if they really believed that, how could he be mentally capable of committing these crimes?
“[Democrats] WANT the Republic to collapse.”
That’s true of some of them. But some of them think America is so powerful and strong that nothing they do can hurt it. That belief reminds me of children who think that their parents are all powerful and invincible. They’re sure that kids can’t possibly do anything to hurt them. But children can do a lot of damage to their parents and Democrats can do a lot of damage to our country.
Ann Althouse said...
"I didn’t chose to quote that because of where D ranks as an authority. I chose to quote it because it was well conceived and written."
To paraphrase Mandy Rice Davis: She would say that, wouldn't she.
Ann Althouse said...
"People of the left did not use to side with aggressive prosecutors. Process used to matter to such people."
Where is Deshowitz (or anyone else) complaining about "process"? Deshowitz is arguing that the prosecution will not be able to prove Trump's intent. He is arguing the merits. Which of course will be decided by the jury after a full trial.
Looks like the Left and the Democrats want to win by any means neccessary. Including jailing their political opponents.
Of course people like that woud never break election laws to win or simply allow unqualified people to vote Democrat in 2020. That's unpossible.
"People of the left did not use to side with aggressive prosecutors. Process used to matter to such people."
It's global warming, err, now "global boiling." Biden is doing whatever they want, and they know Trump won't, and what isn't justified when it's "Earth in the Balance"? It doesn't matter to them that the science doesn't add up, or if they are fudging the numbers to scare people, if they are wrong, they are still in complete control, probably without so much as a "oops, my bad."
I remember the summer of 1988 when I went to Montreal and it was 104 degrees. We rode on the jet boats in the "champaign rapids" of the St Laurence, standing waves, no rocks, and drank Campari on somebody's beautiful lawn on a hill overlooking the city, I remember it vividly. Well, if you look at the temperature records for Montreal that summer, the highest temp is mid 90s, and that's only one or two days. 1988 was a very hot summer, and if it happened now, they would be claiming that the apocalypse was here this minute. But the July heat wave seems to be already over, and it was in the high 40s last night, with a high in the low 70s today, as it has been all week, and no more hot days in sight in the forecast. It doesn't matter, the truth doesn't matter.
"Deshowitz is arguing that the prosecution will not be able to prove Trump's intent. "
His intent doesn't even matter. Political speech is not a crime, Lèse-majesté is not a crime, criticizing the government is not a crime, criticizing Joe Biden is not a crime. There can't be a crime here due to the First Amendment. But no doubt a DC jury will find him guilty without even needed any evidence, just the opportunity. Which everybody already knows, which is the point for retrying Trump on charges that he has already been acquitted of by the Senate. That was the jury if his peers, this is going to be a jury of his enemies, and he will go to prison. Under the law they are charging him, he could even face the death penalty.
"The evidence is “strong” but the crime is only “supposed.”
What is funny is that Anthony Blinken ran the Penn/Biden Center, and paid Joe Biden a million dollars to teach a class, nobody seems to remember him teaching it, but let's say he did, the other thing was that there were classified documents that Biden, who had never been president with the power to unilaterally declassify, had no right to hold. The Penn/Biden center was financed heavily by the Chinese, and Chinese nationals had keys to the offices, we know this. They were able to go in there unsupervised.
Hunter Biden had access to classified documents that were in Joe Biden's garage. Hunter Biden wrote some pretty astute analyses of the political situation in some out of the way places, foe his paying clients, pretty astute for a crack head. It is no stretch to imagine that he was cribbing off of the classified documents to which he had unfettered access.
Obviously in both these cases, Joe Biden was monetizing his access to these documents. Therefore, under the first rule of propaganda, it's important that his opponent be accused of that first, to make it difficult and confusing for people to accept that it was really Joe who was doing it.
In both of these cases we have strong documentary evidence that the Bidens did these things. What we have against Trump is procedural wrangling turned into a process crime, and another crime based on criminalization of political speech which by even going to the state of mind part of the argument, is to dignify the accusation beyond what it is worth.
But Hunter is about to get complete immunity from prosecution from a Delaware judge, this time. And Trump is going to go to jail for Joe Biden's crimes. That's the America we have become.
"how would that justify the unlawful actions the indictment alleges? "
Give an example. Do you mean the part where he was charged with "insinuation"? Seriously.
Left Bank of the Charles said...
"Exactly what “process” do you think Trump is not being afforded?"
Bingo.
Why is he talking about intent?! There is no subversion of the right to vote. That is only something that a State office holder could be charged with IF that State illegally changed its electors in Trump's favour.
"People of the left did not use to side with aggressive prosecutors. Process used to matter to such people."
When was that? Who was that? I'm sure there were some honest liberals here and there, but process has been a tool for a long time. Example: lawfare. And check with Mike Flynn.
Of course, the left doesn't want its prosecutors to be "aggressive" when it suits their politics. Example: Hunter.
checking all my mattress tags
ya never know
Blogger Mutaman said...
Of all the great legal minds Althouse could have quoted on the indictment, she chooses Dershowitz.
Nuff said. <
Mutaman is a good example of the leftists here and in the Democrat party who care, or know, nothing of the law but celebrate the lawfare against Trump. Does it even occur to you that Smith's prosecution of the Governor of Virginia, another Republican, was reversed 9-0 by the Supreme Court ? That was including the Democrats on the Court.
"Ex post facto" means something. It's not George Costanza saying "Was that wrong?" Conspiring to put fake electors in Washington and have the VP illegally overturn an election was illegal when he tried it, as the conversations among the conspirators show.
“Evidence related to Trump's alleged illegal retention of classified materials at Mar-a-Lago are strong, but the supposed crime itself is rather technical and relatively minor.”
“The evidence is “strong” but the crime is only “supposed.””
Well, no. That indictment (signed by Asst Special Prosecutor and DOJ Counterintelligence and Export Branch chief Jet Bratt) skipped a lot of things:
- The requests by the Archives came from the FBI (presumably from the Counterintelligence Division,sister org to his branc). This COOPERATION was ordered by the FJB WH.
- Trump’s attorneys requested additional time and rolling production (standard for this type of document production). These requests were denied by Bratt. Their failure to comply was the basis for the MAL search warrant - which was caused by Bratt’s refusal to work with Trump’s attorneys.
- The documents marked classified ultimately found by the MAL search warrant were mixed into boxes chronologically with documents related to conversations that Trump had had in the Oval Office. When he was done with the call/meetin, his desk was cleared and put in those boxes. Those boxes appear to have been unopened since then, until opened by the FBI. There were better than a hundred of these boxes.
- This sort of searching through this sort of boxes is typically the job of the Archives, that is supposed to take control over all documents not specifically claimed as Personal records. They did this for Clinton, GW Bush, and Obama. They didn’t for Trump. So everything left over was treated personal records - which is presumably his prerogative.
- Archives has no power to declare anything Presidential records. That is solely at the discretion of the outgoing President.
- The documents that were known to have been marked classified (but were not mentioned in the indictment) in Trump’s possession implicated both Bratt’s DOJ branch and the FBI CD in their misconduct in Crossfire Hurricane, Carter Page FISA warrants, etc. They were formally ordered declassified by Trump. It has been suggested that they were the real reason for the MAL raid.
My husband checked CNN's "front page" this morning (insofar as that term applies).
Every story, every one, was about Trump. There was not a word about Archer's testimony.
They ask why on our side so many think the media can't be trusted.
There are two kinds of people, those who produce wealth according to their means, and those who take wealth according to their power. Beiden is in the latter, but many defend the corrupt. Beiden steals money, that is worse than being vulgar.
There are two kinds of people, those who produce wealth according to their means, and those who take wealth according to their power. Beiden is in the latter, but many defend the corrupt. Beiden steals money, that is worse than being vulgar.
Michael K is a good example of an aged MD who absorbs just enough law to be dangerous to himself. Harmless to those he insults.
Hey, for sure, I am going to pay attention to what Alan Dershowitz believes about DJT after his suspicious work to keep Jeffrey Epstein out of jail.
Two of Epstein's girls claimed that they had sex with Dershowitz - Virginia Giuffre and Sarah Ransome. Dershowitz denied Giuffre’s claims, calling her a “prostitute” and claiming he never met Sarah Ransome. He who twists facts to keep bad folks out of jail just never seems to get involved with the dishonesty of his friends such as Jeffrey Epstein and Don Trump.
It's a rare day when I want to call for three cheers for Alan Dershowitz.
Biden and his crew are the current version of "A Man for All Seasons'" Roper:
“William Roper: “So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!”
Sir Thomas More: “Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?”
William Roper: “Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!”
Sir Thomas More: “Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!”
Ann Althouse said...
People of the left did not use to side with aggressive prosecutors. Process used to matter to such people.
Do you really think that this is a "right"/"left" dispute? That's a dumb, simplistic dichotomy. I mention this, because your choice of quoting Dershowitz (you've explained your choice; satisfactorily, I think) notably defies the "right"/"left" dichotomy from the outset.
Trump-defender Alan Dershowitz self-identifies as politically progressive. Dershowitz proudly and repeatedly states that he never voted for Trump and does not ally himself politically with Trump.
Devoted conservative Liz Cheney, with a Congressional voting record that consistently supported Trump, believes that Trump is such a dangerous criminal he must never be allowed near the White House ever again. And she did much to advance what has become the latest criminal case against Trump.
Both Dershowitz and Cheney are well-educated, thoughtful, skilled lawyers. And of course it isn't just those two avatars of how the right/left dichotomy breaks down with Trump. There are countless others.
Michael K said...
"Mutaman is a good example of the leftists here and in the Democrat party who care, or know, nothing of the law "
I suspect I could come up with hundreds of clients, many adversary attorneys, and a few judges who would dispute this statement.
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