Trump’s Legal Battles Intensify: Two Courtrooms Rule Against Him Today

Debarylife – On Thursday, the former president* had a pretty awful mid-afternoon. As a defendant, you’re pretty much adrift when you can’t even rely on Judge Aileen Cannon.

Two of El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago’s spurious motions for dismissal in two distinct courts were denied within hours of one another. For his part in attempting to rig the Georgia electoral vote in 2020, Judge Scott McAfee in Georgia refused to dismiss the lawsuit against him. Slightly to the south, Judge Cannon refused to drop the accusations against him related to the Pool Shed Papers scam. How much more razor-sharp a judge’s teeth can be than a snake’s? via CNN:

Trump may still be able to use the justification to defend himself in court, according to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s brief ruling on Thursday. To allow prosecutors to file an appeal with the 11th Circuit, Cannon withheld her final decision in the new order regarding special counsel Jack Smith’s request that she rule on the admissibility of the theory in court.

The “demand,” according to her, was “unprecedented and unjust.” Judge Cannon did not, therefore, jump out of the bag completely. However, conjecturing that Smith’s scathing verdict about the way she handled the trial would have led to some judicial independence is not absurd.

Regarding the former president*’s claim that trying to deceive the Georgia secretary of state into assisting him in cheating did not qualify as “political speech” protected by the First Amendment, Judge McAfee in Georgia was far less hesitant. From CBS News:

The defendants argued that the charges violated their First Amendment rights to petition Congress and to engage in political speech. Judge Scott McAfee dismissed this claim in a fourteen-page order.

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“Free speech, encompassing political discourse, is not devoid of limitations,” stated McAfee. “These excluded categories include speech that poses an immediate threat that the government can stop, speech that is essential to fraud, or speech that is part of criminal activity.”

In his ruling, McAfee stated that a jury alone is qualified to decide whether the actions or remarks of Trump and his associates “were carried out with criminal intent,” as the prosecution has asserted.

“Acknowledging the allegations as true for this pretrial challenge, as the court must, the speech alleged in this indictment is integral to criminal conduct and categorically excluded from First Amendment protections,” he continued. According to McAfee, defense lawyers have not provided “any authority that the speech and conduct alleged” constitutes political expression that is protected by the constitution.

The true story in Georgia is the ongoing attack on Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. In an attempt to prevent her from pursuing the issue further, or at the very least, to limit her options, the former president* and his legal team are working nonstop. via CNN:

Rebuked by the presiding judge, Willis has persisted in speaking out about the case in public, occasionally bringing up racial issues while juggling his reelection campaign and the prosecution of Trump and his fourteen co-defendants.

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However, some defense lawyers for well-known defendants are reluctant to attempt to silence her right now. In the short run, a gag order against one of Trump’s most formidable opponents could benefit him and his co-defendants politically. However, it could potentially backfire by undermining their attempts to have Willis removed from the case or by serving as motivation for Trump and other defendants who have openly criticized Willis to file a request for a gag order.

I must admit, reading that one of the former president*’s Georgian attorneys says the following about Willis makes me laugh pretty hard: “It seems that Willis is just ignoring Judge McAfee’s caution to discuss the issue in a public forum that was included in his disqualification order. Does anyone find that surprising?

While residing in the north, his client persistently bothers Judge Juan Merchan and his family, nearly daring the judge to issue a gag order against him. That Lady Justice is blindfolded makes sense. Does anyone want to watch this?