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Jack Smith Has Set a Trap for Trump (statuskuo.substack.com)

submitted 1 year ago by be_excellent_to_each_other@kbin.social to c/politics@lemmy.world

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And it’s based on his “advice of counsel” defense

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[-] OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee 132 points 1 year ago

I hate the terminology of 'prosecutor set a trap' or 'perjury trap' if you remember when Mueller wanted to get Trump to testify under oath. It might be a trap in the sense of catching someone, but it gives off this sense of plotting and scheming to unjustly nab an unknowing innocent being that was just going about its business, like when you trap a rabbit or something.

It's not a trap. Trump doesn't have a good defense because he did do the thing he is accused of. A horseback cavalry charge against a machine gun isn't "a clever trap by the machine gunner" one side just has the tools to win, and the other side doesn't.

[-] khepri@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago

Yeah, it's much more like a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" thing than a trap. Or a "backed yourself in to a corner" you might say, or, "completely fucked yourself and the prosecutor knows it and is going to use it". But it's only setting a trap in the sense that any airtight prosecution tactic based on rules and evidence that leaves the defendant no way out could be called a 'trap'

[-] stringere@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

I'd put just a bit more distance in there. Trap, to me, implies bait or deception being used to lure something or someone into a place or situation of your design.

Jack Smith did not design the situation that the defense team placed themselves in. I am reasonable sure he's overjoyed that they did.

The OP article does make a good case for exactly how that defense will fail in multiple ways, from a legal standpoint.

[-] PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee 15 points 1 year ago

You're right, the term dilemma would be better used here.

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[-] be_excellent_to_each_other@kbin.social 104 points 1 year ago

Just this image alone made me LOL!

[-] Asafum@feddit.nl 29 points 1 year ago

Just came to the comments to say the same lol I love that aside from it being a checker piece, he's somehow already down to just one even though smith only moved one pawn one space lol

[-] ArugulaZ@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago

Are you allowed to move a pawn just one space for its first move?

[-] BangelaQuirkel@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

Yes

[-] crusa187@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago

It’s extra funny if you view it with 4D glasses on

[-] HWK_290@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Same here, brilliant!

[-] someguy3@lemmy.world 41 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

“advice of counsel” is a tough defense to assert. It comes with some preconditions that could prove highly damaging to Trump as well as legal hurdles that the jury could quickly find render the defense unavailable to him.

one thing that disappears right away is your right to assert that your communications with those lawyers are “privileged.”

Skipping a bunch of the other items why it's tough and going for the trap:

flipping attorneys is problematic, normally, because even if they agree to squawk, prosecutors normally can’t put them on a stand and ask them to testify about communications with their client. That’s because the attorney-client privilege belongs to the client. It isn’t something attorneys by themselves can decide to waive.

But here, again by putting advice of counsel at issue, Trump himself has waived the privilege.

In short, Jack Smith appears to have leveraged the advice of counsel defense by naming a bunch of lawyer co-conspirators. This could permit him to crack open the black box of the conspiracies, should any co-conspirator cooperate.

[-] relative_iterator@sh.itjust.works 41 points 1 year ago

If we could lock him up before election season really kicks in that would be great… otherwise I’m scared for our democracy.

[-] o_oli@lemmy.world 30 points 1 year ago

First president elected from prison. The crazies uniting behind their martyr.

[-] xapr@lemmy.sdf.org 24 points 1 year ago

Plot twist: he can still run (and be elected) from prison.

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/06/trump-running-for-president-prison-00090931

[-] jordanlund@lemmy.one 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Won't happen.

First Republican debate is 8/23. We won't even have a trial date for the Jan. 6 stuff until 8/28.

Primary calendar is here:

https://www.frontloadinghq.com/p/the-2024.html?m=1

Trump has 2 trial dates set so far, New York in March and Florida in May.

1st trial is 15 days after Super Tuesday.

2nd trial is before just a handful of states.

[-] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

Which is fucking insane why are they pushing the trails so far out?

[-] jordanlund@lemmy.one 12 points 1 year ago

Caseload. The D.C.courts have 800 cases pending for 1/6 alone, not counting any other crimes.

NY most likely has similar load issues. The Florida case has the added bonus of needing lawyers with security clearances.

[-] mateomaui@reddthat.com 9 points 1 year ago

Well, can't those 800 douches move to the back of the line? They should be making way for their leader.

[-] PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

Wow, 800 January 6 cases? That's going to make a lot of people happy.

[-] Zorque@kbin.social 17 points 1 year ago

If you weren't scared before, you haven't been paying enough attention.

[-] elbarto777@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

But why? Didn't Biden beat him? Not that I'm a fan of Biden, but the majority of Americans dislike Trump more than Biden.

[-] Zorque@kbin.social 22 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The crazies have not been getting less crazy, and they're doing their best to convert as many fence-sitters as possible.

But its not just about who wins and who loses the presidential election. There's also down-ticket races, as well as the increased extremism that this ongoing spectacle is pushing on all parts of the political spectrum.

[-] sawdustprophet@midwest.social 5 points 1 year ago

If we could lock him up before election season really kicks in that would be great

Just going to point out that convicting and jailing him does not disqualify him from holding office, and would likely just embolden his base.

[-] ThirdWorldOrder@lemm.ee 31 points 1 year ago

I was in civil court before and almost fucked up by submitting previous emails from a former lawyer of mine. Glad my attorney caught it and mentioned the shitstorm it would start.

What I don’t understand is how someone who has been dealing with lawsuits his whole life could be so stupid?

[-] metallic_substance@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago

Look who you're talking about. The man is highly capable of manipulating idiots and racists, but he's no mastermind

[-] Elderos@lemmings.world 18 points 1 year ago

It is actually easier to manipulate people if you're ignorant and over-confident. It is much easier because you don't have to lie and adapt your speech, you just do you.

[-] Xeelee@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

He can only manipulate people who want to be manipulated.

[-] OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee 17 points 1 year ago

What I don’t understand is how someone who has been dealing with lawsuits his whole life could be so stupid?

He has $40 million worth of legal advice, it's not being stupid or uninformed. They're giving the best possible defense, and it's a very bad one.

[-] jonne@infosec.pub 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Eh, he's not exactly hiring the best lawyers. In any other situation the best law firms would be jumping at the chance to defend a former president, but due to past behaviour (not paying, not following advice, committing additional crimes, asking lawyers to commit crimes for him), he's only hiring rubes and crazies.

[-] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

he hasn’t been dealing with lawsuits.

His lawyers have been dealing with lawsuits his whole life.

It’s the same with his businesses- the ones that are successful are successful in spite of him, because somehow he got someone competent to work under him.

But he really is an idiot, and totally incompetent at everything he touches. Except maybe reality tv, because people just eat up shitty assholes there

[-] Xeelee@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

There's one thing he's good at: making assholes feel good about being assholes. That's the one thing he's built his entire political career on.

[-] be_excellent_to_each_other@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

Absolute truth here. From the moment he got into office, it seems like "loudest asshole in the room" has become a persona every Republican has embraced.

[-] Piecemakers3Dprints@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

That closing phrase, though... 🤢😅

[-] Weirdmusic@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Even then, he was surrounded by highly competent entertainment types who knew what they were doing. All Drump had to do was turn up and say his lines.

[-] expatriado@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago

came for the politics, stayed for the photoshop

[-] grahamsz@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago

Also the "Narrator" segments which are inexplicably read in Morgan Freeman's voice in my head

[-] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

[Narrator]: that’s because I am Morgan Freeman, and I read this aloud, just for you.

[-] qprimed@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

is there any other option?!

[-] grahamsz@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

Narrator: There was no other option. It was Morgan Freeman all the way down.

[-] NielsBohron@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Ron Howard as in Arrested Development

[-] ArugulaZ@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

Definitely not Ron Howard as Opie doing the narration.

[-] NielsBohron@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Narrator: But she did find that she was being honored at an award show dedicated to the achievements of young people in the entertainment business.

Maeby: I'm getting an Opie?

Narrator: And it did boost her esteem.

Maeby: Hey!

Narrator: The only bigger honor would be having an award like that named after you, I guess.

[-] neoman4426@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

Ron Perlman in his role as the narrator of the majority of the Fallout series is the default narrator for me. I've heard a lot of people also have Ron Howard as the Arrested Development narrator as their default internal narrator

[-] be_excellent_to_each_other@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

I assumed it was AI generated based on a prompt, but my apologies if I'm maligning anyone's art by saying that. It's a fantastic bit of art no matter how it was made IMO.

[-] elbarto777@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Photoshop. Sure.

[-] atempuser23@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

It’s completely possible for Trump to lose this case and have it thrown out or negated. This is a real and vital test for the rule of law. I am not confident the grand experiment in law and liberty will survive.

[-] Hypnoctopus@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 year ago

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHA Trump knowing how to play checkers hahahahaha

[-] EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

His opponent playing chess, Trump has a single checker piece in play on his side. This thumbnail goes hard tbh.

[-] Kbin_space_program@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

Trick that I expect Trump to pull that the article doesn't talk about:

Trump will pull presidential privilege, national security, or the ever popular "I don't remember" when asked to explain details.

[-] jonhanson@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

"I plead Covfefe"

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this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2023

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