This is brutal for team ShitGibbon.
Jack Smith mentions “trial by public opinion” a shit-ton of times. Nice to finally see someone standing up to the orange kumquat’s bullying and stupidity.
Looking forward to Friday’s skirmish. :)
While I think plenty of people have been standing up to him, it’s good to see someone like Jack Smith put a name to what Trump has been doing.
Trump’s strategy is to conflate the legal battles and the political battles, all the while having them reinforce each other. I wonder what a gag order would do to this strategy?
There has to be a gag order in this eventually. Fucking Trump can’t help himself talking about his legal woes.
Whatever order comes down - protective, gag, or other - my main curiosity is “What happens when Trump disobeys that order?”
Yes, his tack here is to muddle legal with political, but his foundational approach to everything is “I’m going to do whatever I want, I dare you to stop me or apply any sort of real consequence.”
Whatever happens when Trump disobeys the judge’s order will be the canary in the coal mine, not just for this case, but for the literal future of the nation, and quite possibly the world.
Put him in jail for contempt.
He and his followers are full of fucking hot air. Enough. I’m bored.
Sure, that’s what would happen to any other person if they disobeyed a judge’s order like that. Will it happen to this defendant? Will a former president, who is running again for the office of president, be imprisoned for disobeying a judge’s order in relation to the criminal charges against him for trying - and very nearly succeeding - to overthrow the presidential election which he lost, and where part of that overthrow included marshalling a violent crowd to forcibly invade the Capitol?
Nothing short of imprisonment would prevent him from repeating the same offense. If he is not held for contempt, all bets are off. Certain people can do anything they want with impunity, including insurrection and treason, and beyond. It would be the literal end of democracy.
Judge Chutkan’s handling of previous Jan 6 related cases suggests that she is well aware of this. I hope she has the courage to put that awareness into appropriately firm action.
The request for a protective order will be handled late this week. The weekend of August 12/13, 2023, will be a turning point, one way or the other.
TLDR?
The conclusion sums it up nicely enough:
The Government has proposed a standard, reasonable order that will streamline the flow of discovery to the defendant while preserving the integrity of these proceedings. The defendant has proposed an unreasonable order to facilitate his plan to litigate this case in the media, to the detriment of litigating this case in the courtroom. Normal order should prevail. No oral argument is necessary. The Court should enter the Government’s proposed protective order.
