Prosecutors made the unusual decision this week to remain almost entirely mum about the order in which they planned to call their first witnesses in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial in New York.
Joshua Steinglass, a prosecutor working on behalf of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, said Friday evening he would let Trump’s attorneys know the name of their first witness on Sunday night, the day before opening arguments in the case are set to begin, according to a report from the courtroom. Trump’s defense team had asked for the names of the first three witnesses that prosecutors would call.
…
“Mr. Trump has been tweeting about the witnesses," Steinglass told Judge Juan Merchan. "We’re not telling them who the witnesses are.”
Blanche then asked Merchan if he could have the information if he promised Trump would not post on social media about the witnesses, to which Merchan replied that he did not believe Blanche could make such a vow.
Agree to the terms, and then when Trump inevitably intimidates the first witness, throw his ass in jail until the trail is over. I don’t understand why they have to continue to give him special treatment for every single step of the trial. Either the trial process was never meant to handle all possible types of defendants, or it’s being applied differently to this case. If it’s the former, overhaul the judicial system to make it fit all types of cases, if it’s the latter, throw the case to another court where it will be applied equally.
Because the US “justice” system is very conservative and Frank Wilhoit was absolutely right in this characterization:
Trump is in the in-group no matter what and anyone who displeases the fascist man-child and his cult in any way is in the out-group. No matter what.
There’s this but also they have to give him every possible consideration because any possibility where they end up having any kind of misstep gives him the opportunity for either a mistrial or to have the whole damn thing thrown out on appeal so they have to make sure they get their ducks in a row perfectly before doing absolutely anything. Otherwise you’re going to have that little dehydrated mango get off and be out and running around on atechnicalityy.
No they don’t. They pretend that they do but they actually don’t.
You don’t get a mistrial for your actions having the consequences prescribed by the law.
I know it feels like that because everyone has adopted the media’s deference to lunatics and crooks, but you cannot get a mistrial without an extremely serious breech of rules.
It’s an excuse for treating him with kid gloves, not a valid reason for doing so.
They really don’t, no. This isn’t Congress where you just make up the rules yourself as you go along. This is a court of law where what you can and cannot do is clearly defined. That can not only bind you from misconduct but also protect you from negative consequences of following the rules.
That’s not how “getting off on a technicality” works. For that to happy, someone has to make a mistake that is against the rule. Holding him accountable for his words and actions according to the letter of the law can’t set him free.
I’m frankly sick and tired of everyone using that completely invalid excuse every time he shits on the whole concept of law and a just society without incurring any consequences.
ENOUGH!
Unless you have a really good lawyer. But none of them will work for him at this point.
It sucks, but I don’t believe anything will happen to him. The secret service will never let him go to jail with the commoners. The best we can hope for is house arrest, frozen assets, and limited WiFi. He will stil run for office and his people will vote for him. It would make a funny tv show to have a president who couldn’t leave his home and had every visitor and phone call vetted and monitored.
There’s a motion being proposed to remove secret service for any individual who gets themselves convicted of a felony.
Of course the Republicans will ensure that it will fail to be passed, but it’s still an interesting thing to think about.
Well, at least then maybe his communications detail could keep him and his cronies on encrypted systems. I know someone who worked on his detail, and they were always chasing Trump’s people down to stop them from using unapproved unsecured channels.
Funny on TV, not in real life 😭
He can go to a military prison where it wont be an issue. Throw him in solitary or under armed guard and he can waste away his life reading cat and the hat and other reading level appropriate books.
The won’t give him the contempt of court charges he deserves. Acknowledging that at least allows them to make better decisions even if they aren’t doing the right thing.
Fuck this two tiered justice bullshit.
The rich and powerful never get treated with the same distain and lack of dignity that the non-wealthy in this country are treated with in our fucked up judicial system. And Trump has proven it over and over again as he never sees any real consequences for what he’s done.