(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Roberts Declares Trump's Attempts to Corrupt his DOJ to be Off Limits -- because "Official Acts" [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-07-01 — — The devil is buried in the details, as they used to say, back in the good ole days. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-939_e2pg.pdf SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES Syllabus TRUMP v. UNITED STATES No. 23–939. Argued April 25, 2024 — Decided July 1, 2024 pg 16 TRUMP v. UNITED STATES Opinion of the Court III Determining whether a former President is entitled to immunity from a particular prosecution requires applying the principles we have laid out to his conduct at issue. The first step is to distinguish his official from unofficial actions. [...] pg 17 Critical threshold issues in this case are how to differentiate between a President’s official and unofficial actions, and how to do so with respect to the indictment’s extensive and detailed allegations covering a broad range of conduct. We offer guidance on those issues below. Certain allegations—such as those involving Trump’s discussions with the Acting Attorney General—are readily categorized in light of the nature of the President’s official relationship to the office held by that individual. Other allegations—such as those involving Trump’s interactions with the Vice President, state officials, and certain private parties, and his comments to the general public—present more difficult questions. Although we identify several considerations pertinent to classifying those allegations and determining whether they are subject to immunity, that analysis ultimately is best left to the lower courts to perform in the first instance. pg 21 The indictment’s allegations that the requested investigations were “sham[s]” or proposed for an improper purpose do not divest the President of exclusive authority over the investigative and prosecutorial functions of the Justice Department and its officials. App. 186–187, Indictment ¶10(c). And the President cannot be prosecuted for conduct within his exclusive constitutional authority. Trump is therefore absolutely immune from prosecution for the alleged conduct involving his discussions with Justice Department officials. Chief Justice Roberts continues with “his guidance” on how the lower courts might distinguish between Trump’s “Official vs Non-Official” acts, using this newly-baked principle, on the remaining charges/evidence that The Government has brought to bear against the former president, in their January 6th case. Those other areas offer a small glimmer of hope of being rules to be “Non-Official” actions, and they include [pps 24-25]: Trump’s alleged attempts to influence the Vice President’s oversight of the certification proceeding Trump’s interactions with persons outside the Executive Branch: state officials, private parties, and the general public communications that Trump and his co-conspirators initiated with state legislators and election officials in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin regarding those States’ certification of electors. HOWEVER, presuming the Special Prosecutor Jack Smith can provide sufficient rationale for why these other Trump activities should be deemed “Non-Official” acts by Judge Tanya Chutkan — her rulings will no doubt be appealed, and slowly, glacially make their way back the Supreme Court AGAIN — for their fore-gone 6-3 “stamp of disapproval.” IOW, the Fix is In, with respect to Trump ever facing actual Justice for his Insurrection incitement, and his refusal to leave office, when he plainly lost the Election. Why do I say that? Well one only need to look at the “crux of the case” being brought — that the Federalist Society installed-Court has now flatly deemed “off limits”: Trump’s discussions with Justice Department officials. What follows are just a few of those SCOTUS-approved “Official acts” — declared by fiat, by this activist King-making court: — — Trump to DOJ last December: 'Just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me' by Jeremy Herb, CNN — July 31, 2021 (CNN) Former President Donald Trump pressured acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to declare that the election was corrupt in an attempt to help Republican members of Congress try to overturn the election result, according to notes of a December 2020 call Trump held with Rosen and acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue. During the December 27, 2020, call, Trump pressured Rosen and Donoghue to falsely declare the election "illegal" and "corrupt" even after the Justice Department had not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud. "Just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen," Trump said on the call, according to Donoghue's notes. [...] And if that “admission of guilt” is not enough evidence of Trump’s guilt — there’s this incriminating tidbit, jotted down for posterity, later on during that DOJ arm-twisting — to just play-along with the “Stop The Steal” scheme … Trump floated firing more DOJ officials Trump suggested during the call that he might replace Rosen with then-Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark, who had who reportedly urged Trump to make him acting attorney general instead of Rosen. "People tell me Jeff Clark is great, I should put him in," Trump said, according to Rosen's notes. "People want me to replace DOJ leadership." [...] www.cnn.com This was the only thing that prevented the novice president from succeeding with his plan to install acting AG Clark, to falsely “declare the 2020 Election was corrupt”: Justice Department lawyers threatened mass resignations if Trump appointed loyalist to pursue election claims by Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal — October 8, 2021 Top Justice Department lawyers and White House counsel Pat Cipollone threatened mass resignations during a White House meeting in which they opposed President Donald Trump’s plan to install a loyalist as acting attorney general to help him overturn the election results through voter fraud investigations. The lawyers told Trump they would resign if he carried out his plan to replace Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen with Jeffrey Clark, the acting head of the Justice Department’s civil division. They also said that every assistant attorney general in the Justice Department would also resign, and resignations could extend to U.S. attorneys and other Justice Department officials. [...] Clark had spoken with Trump multiple times about challenging election results and asked his superiors to send a letter to Georgia officials stating, without support, that the Justice Department had identified significant concerns that may have affected the election outcome. Besides Cipollone, lawyers in the Jan. 3 meeting included Rosen and his deputy Richard Donoghue. Cipollone told the president the plan would be a “murder-suicide pact” because of the likely chain reaction of resignations . [...] Erin Burnett Outfront — Transcripts — July 30, 2021 [...] LAURENCE TRIBE, HARVARD LAW PROFESSOR: These contemporary notes by the Acting Assistant Attorney General's deputy are compelling evidence that the President was committing several different crimes for violating crimes relating to stealing elections, crimes relating to pressuring of government officials to engage in political activity, violations of 18 U.S. Code Section 610, violations of 18 U.S. Code Section 2383. I could recite a lot of them. But the point would really be not to simply enumerate a laundry list of crimes, but to say that we now know from firsthand evidence with the cooperation of the new Justice Department that is finally finding its sea legs that the President was engaged in an ongoing conspiracy to overturn the results of a free and fair election. If it lead up to the insurrection, it puts the insurrection in context . It shows what his motives were in rallying people in this violent mob to sack the Congress. It was all part of a plan to say, I don't care if there was no real corruption, just say there was. Say the election was stolen and then turn it over to me. That is criminal activity . (Inaudible) … [19:25:04] Sounds damning, eh? Nevermind! They are now all “Official” presidential duties. — — Roberts effectively declared these abuses of power to be non-starters, as they fall under their wonderland rubric of Trump’s Official acts — and thus out of bounds, for bringing any sort of criminal accountability. IOW anything goes for the next Trump DOJ, assuming the worse case scenario. Oh by the way, Roberts has also deemed as off-limits, Smith taking into consideration Trump’s “motivations” for any of these Official Acts … tucked away in Footnote pg 32: What the prosecutor may not do, however, is admit testimony or private records of the President or his advisers probing the official act itself. Allowing that sort of evidence would invite the jury to inspect the President’s motivations for his official actions and to second-guess their propriety. As we have explained, such inspection would be “highly intrusive” and would “ ‘seriously cripple’ ” the President’s exercise of his official duties. Motivations of a President Shall Not Be Questioned. (This might cramp his style.) Welcome to the ushering in the Federalist Society’s “imperial presidency” — their Court, their rules. Unless, and until, we can somehow stop them. — — A few other citations of Trump’s “now Official” acts, pressing his DOJ Officials to commit crimes, designed to carry out his own selfish corrupt motivations, to never leave office: FYI, assuming history still matters. — — [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2024/7/1/2250413/-Roberts-Declares-Trump-s-Attempts-to-Corrupt-his-DOJ-to-be-Off-Limits-because-Official-Acts 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/