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A fair and balanced way to call Trump's bluff. [1]

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Date: 2023-08-18  

An opinion piece by Glen Kirschner raises a fascinating question — Has Trump already broken the pretrial conditions for remaining out of jail, and if so what should Judge Chutkan do about it?

When Trump was arraigned in the DC election-fraud case, the magistrate judge (Moxila Upadhyaya) stated that the “most important condition” of Trump’s release would be that he not commit any state or federal crimes before and during the trial.

After hearing that condition directly from that judge on August 3, he went on Truth Social on August 14 declaring that a witness in the Georgia trial should refuse to testify:

I am reading reports that failed former Lt. Governor, Jeff Duncan, will be testifying before the Fulton County Grand Jury. He shouldn't.

Like Kirschner, I’m convinced that this constitutes witness tampering, and should be interpreted by Judge Chutkan as a crime.

But is it wise for her to simply throw Trump behind bars until his trial convenes (in January at the soonest)? I think not...at least in a political sense.

If she does nothing, that would show weakness. And we all know Trump (like other mob bosses) tests people for weakness — and continues to push them to violate their norms until they have lost their integrity.

I believe she should use her discretion to find a middle-ground solution to this bluff Trump has laid out for her to react to. How about fifteen days home confinement — with a possibility of release again if he adheres to the terms of his pre-trial release during the confinement period.

Home detention would be an embarrassing outcome for Trump and he certainly might use it to whip up his base to do all kinds of nasty things. But it would be the first tangible sign for him that our court system is not something to be trifled with.

And who knows, Trump may even continue to commit crimes while in his home confinement — and at that point, the judge could throw him into a white collar prison for 45 days to see if he can stay on the wagon for 6 weeks. Ratcheting up the punishment could be the best way to show him the error of his ways.

If Trump is confined, Michael Cohen could finally be able to feel vindication that Trump is getting a measure of reckoning for his life of crime.

And so could we, the voters.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/18/2188069/-A-fair-and-balanced-way-to-call-Trump-s-bluff

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