(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Stop moving the Overton window. Trump Trials MUST proceed regardless of election calendar [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-22 Every time a media member says “the court has effectively immunized Donald Trump” or “No judge would hold a trial during an election”, they are doing work for the Trump defense Not only are both factually wrong, they extremely dangerous to democracy. I’ll prove it why they are factually incorrect. 1. “No judge would hold a trial during an election”. Oh really? Senator on Trial: Day Twenty-One Reporters covering Bob Menendez’s federal corruption trial at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Federal Courthouse in Lower Manhattan had trouble returning to New Jersey after power problems at Penn Station led to massive New Jersey Transit delays. That followed a day of federal prosecutors giving jurors a specific timeline of his alleged acceptance of bribes, using text messages, photographs, and web searches. Jurors have a day off today, again, and the trial will resume on Monday. Sen. Menendez literally had a primary while he was on trial. He didn’t participate, but he could have. He is actually in office. There is no rule or precedent that says if a politician is indicted, the campaign season is somehow a neutral zone where nothing can happen. Why does the fact that a Presidential nominee, a co-equal branch of national government, deserve special treatment? Spoiler Alert: He doesn’t. 2. The court has effectively immunized Donald Trump The Supreme Court has currently done no such thing. And unless they issue a stay, they have not done this unless Judge Chutkan allows politics the play a role in her judicial decision making. Chutkan will be able to immediately schedule a trial the moment a Supreme Court decision is released unless she is directed to make a determination as to what is and what is not an official act. Let’s break both of those down. SCOTUS says no immunity at all (unlikely) If she is not directed to complete a finding of fact, there is no precedent as to why she should defer her trial due to the election calendar. She stayed she would give the participants seven months to prepare. Four months passed before the immunity appeal, so 3 months are left. So the trial could start in late September if SCOTUS issues a ruling next week. But that would be in the heat of the election you say? Trump didn’t have to appeal. He could have started the trial in March. He could have joined Jack Smith in asking the Supreme Court to take the case directly. A full appeal process was his choice as a defendant. More power to him. But he doesn’t get to the dictate the calendar due to the delay. There is one simple logical test that makes this timing issue an absurd notion. What if Donald Trump was indicted for rape or murder? Would anyone with a straight face say “well there is an election coming up so we are going to have to delay the case until that is finished “? We know the answer is absolutely not. So why on earth would an insurrection/sedition case be held to a different standard? I already proved a bribery case doesn’t outweigh a trial schedule, and this is clearly worse. There is no valid or logical reason to let Trump’s occupation dictate a trial schedule. And when people pretend that it does because the media clutches pearls, or the GOP is whispering in their ear, it moves the Overton Window and Democrats should be pushing back hard on this, not promoting it by saying the SCOTUS delay is equivalent to immunization. They are creating the immunity out of fear and favor. Fact Finding Scenario The fact finding scenario is even easier. Fact finding will require hearings, in whatever form Judge Chutkan deems fit. And Jack Smith has every right to call witnesses and present his case. And the judge has the right to create a full record. If the Supreme Court decides there is some immunity for Mr. Trump’s official acts, the dispute would most likely next return to Judge Tanya S. Chutkan to distinguish which alleged actions in the indictment count as official and which as private. To the extent prosecutors and defense lawyers disagree about how to consider some of Mr. Trump’s conduct, such a proceeding could preview parts of any eventual trial, including potential witness testimony about his words and deeds. But Professor Buell said that if the judge ultimately ruled against Mr. Trump on one or more such matters, he probably could not appeal back up to the Supreme Court before a trial. Courts usually treat disputes over the nature of evidence as matters to be appealed after a guilty verdict, he said. Oh you don’t believe me? Well I present to you Aileen Cannon, who is holding five days of hearing on whether the special counsel law is legal even thought that has already been adjudicated at least 3 times. So can you imagine how much evidence and witness testimony would be required to figure out what and what doesn’t constitute an officials act? In other words, Judge Chutkan or Jack Smith can essentially hold almost the entire trial as a result of the Supreme Court’s instructions. Every witness they planned on calling, could be called here. And they could then simply place these facts into the record in the trial whenever it occurs. Essentially, a directive to determine which acts are official would be a direction to effectively start the trial, and Judge Chutkan would not be obligated to maintain her 3 month promise prep as these would be pre-trial actions and defense. She would simply be following the guidance a corrupt Supreme Court gave her. ——— We as a country, especially Democrats and the media must stop treating Donald Trump like some type of exceptional citizen. Every exception we are presented with is actually not novel if we take two seconds to think about history and/or logic. Stop moving the Overton window with conjecture and start telling America the facts [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/22/2248011/-Stop-moving-the-Overton-window-Trump-Trials-MUST-proceed-regardless-of-election-calendar?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/