35 thoughts on “How Do I Indict Thee? Let Me Count 30 Ways”

  1. Donald Trump indicted by Manhattan grand jury on more than 30 counts related to business fraud | CNN Politics

    Donald Trump faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud in an indictment from a Manhattan grand jury, according to two sources familiar with the case – the first time in American history that a current or former president has faced criminal charges. [continues]

    the guardian:

    Trump was expected to appear in court for his arraignment on Tuesday, Trump’s lawyer Susan Necheles said. At that point he would enter a plea on the charges. New York’s police have been told to all report for duty on Friday and be prepared to deal with “unusual disorder”, according to a memo seen by NBC.

    It is unclear whether Trump will be handcuffed at his appearance but he will be fingerprinted, photographed and processed for a felony arrest. His legal team is expected to vigorously fight the charges, and a timeline for a potential trial remains unclear.

    […]

    Thursday’s indictment is not the only legal woe for Trump. He also faces jeopardy over his election subversion and incitement of the January 6 attack on Congress; his attempts to overturn the 2020 result in Georgia; his retention of classified records; his business dealings; and a defamation suit arising from an allegation of rape by the writer E Jean Carroll, which Trump denies.

    [continues]

  2. There is no bottom to the cess pit of what used to be a political party, now the gqp is a cult of ignorance and hate.  To gather together and profess solidarity with a professed criminal under indictment for bribing a key part of his sordid life to win an election is just another day.  Instead of running as fast as possible and as far as possible, they now cozy up and cover themselves in the night soil of crime.

  3. Watching the violent and vicious attacks on Bragg spewing out of FOX Faux News last night, stoked by Dear Leader, one can only assume they’re trying to get him killed. Years of venom aimed at Nancy Pelosi only got her husband’s head bashrf in, so they’re hoping to put more points on the board this time.

  4. For grins I tuned in Morning Joe, first time in a couple of years.  I had hopes it was not as insipid as before. Nah, still lame and a waste of time.
     
    I am still trying to figure out why America is now doomed for indicting a criminal for crimes.  You would think bringing charges against the orange moron turned the U.S. into a third world country by reading the major media output.  Jokes aside about what the IQ45 did as president.  The U.S. is not in crisis because a mafia don is indicted. I am waiting for him to be indicted as a traitor.

  5. This is not PolPot or Putin shit. It’s US Constitution shit. Article I, Section 3, Clause 7. Congress.gov. 

    Article I, Section 3, Clause 7:
    Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.

    While the Constitution authorizes the Senate, following an individual’s conviction in an impeachment trial, to bar an individual from holding office in the future, the text of the Constitution does not clearly indicate that a vote for disqualification from future office must be taken separately from the initial vote for conviction. Instead, the potential for a separate vote for disqualification has arisen through the historical practice of the Senate. The Senate did not choose to disqualify an impeached individual from holding future office until the Civil War era. Federal district judge West H. Humphreys took a position as a judge in the Confederate government but did not resign his seat in the United States government. The House impeached Humphreys in 1862. The Senate then voted unanimously to convict Judge Humphreys and voted separately to disqualify the Humphreys from holding office in the future. 

    Senate practice since the Humphreys case has been to require a simple majority vote to disqualify an individual from holding future office, rather than the supermajority required by the Constitution’s text for removal, but it is unclear what justifies this result beyond historical practice.

    The second impeachment trial of Donald Trump saw the President’s attorneys argue that the dual punishments of removal and disqualification are linked. They asserted that removal and disqualification are not separate or alternative punishment[s] but instead that removal was a condition precedent to the further penalty of disqualification. As such, the President’s attorneys argued that as a textual matter, there can be no impeachment of former officials because the necessary punishment of removal is not available when the official has already left office. The House managers rejected this interpretation during the impeachment trial, arguing that the punishments are indeed separate and have been historically treated as such. Linking the two punishments defies logic the managers argued, for [i]f a law sets out two possible penalties and one of them becomes unavailable, that does not mean that the offender is exempt from the penalty that remains.Ultimately, the Senate’s decision to exercise jurisdiction over the second Trump impeachment appears to be an implicit rejection of the President’s position.

    The Senate’s power to convict and remove individuals from office, as well as to bar them from holding office in the future, does not overlap with criminal remedies for misconduct. Indeed, the unique nature of impeachment as a political remedy distinct from criminal proceedings ensures that the most powerful magistrates should be amenable to the law. Rather than serving to police violations of strictly criminal activity, impeachment is a method of national inquest into the conduct of public men for the abuse or violation of some public trust. Impeachable offenses are those that relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the society itself. 

    Put another way, the purpose of impeachment is to protect the public interest, rather than impose a punitive measure on an individual. This distinction was highlighted in the impeachment trial of federal district judge Alcee Hastings. Judge Hastings had been indicted for a criminal offense, but was acquitted.In 1988, the House impeached Hastings for much of the same conduct for which he had been indicted. Judge Hastings argued that the impeachment proceedings constituted double jeopardybecause of his previous acquittal in a criminal proceeding. The Senate rejected his motion to dismiss the articles against him. The Senate voted to convict and remove Judge Hastings on eight articles, but it did not disqualify him from holding office in the future. Judge Hastings was subsequently elected to the House of Representatives.

    So as republicans (SFB Jr, e.g.) ironically liken this to actions of totalitarian leaders retaliating against their political opponents they might take their pocket Constitution and reading glasses out and shut the fuck up.

  6. tearful lindsey “Tammy Bakker/oral roberts” graham pleads: “Give the president some money to fight this bullshit,” Graham urged. “This is going to destroy America.”

    Lindsey Graham Gets Emotional Begging Fox News Viewers To Donate To Donald Trump | HuffPost Latest News

    [tweets that tell the story]

  7. Pitiful, he sounds like Jim Baker selling fake condos.

    Lindsey Graham (FOX) : “They are trying to drain him dry. He’s spent more money on lawyers than most people spent on campaigns. They’re trying to bleed him dry. Donald J. Trump dot com. Go tonight. Give the president some money to fight this bullshit! This is going to destroy America!”

  8. I thought they wanted him gone, too.  Orange Adolf cost the GQP; many candidates were lost in 2020 and 2022, thanks to an outbreak of Orange-itis.  

    Why are they circling the wagons?  

    Could it all just be for show?  

    Could it be because they know Bragg can finally rid the party of him, but they want to make the MAGAts think they were still in his corner? 

    Could it be because they are afraid Bragg can’t rid the party of him, and they need a public record of loyalty to him?

  9. They’re in a bad way because of all the rampant blackmail.   Lindsey Woolsy:   “If we elect him we’ll destroy the party. “. But that was before the golf game.     

  10. “Why are they circling the wagons? “

    BiD,

    money, votes & power but most of all for money.

  11. December 31, 2022, Mary Trump tweeted that the country will run out of beer when her uncle would be indicted. 
     
    I am sure there are more than a handful of people just now prying an eye open to check and make sure it was all not a dream.

  12. $10m for a $1B billionaire is 1% of his “worth”. That’s a rounding error. Screw him and Lindsey. 

  13. She wrote stuff like this to stir up Jan. 6 riot. 

    Marjorie Taylor Greene tweet: “I’m going to New York on Tuesday. We MUST protest the unconstitutional WITCH HUNT!” 

  14. Not a beer drinker….  but I will be opening a nice bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon to celebrate with Rick this evening!
     
    Remember when trumpie said that he was smart and paying your taxes was for chumps…   anyone listening to Lindsey and donating $$$ to SFB is, IMHO… most definitely a chump! 

  15. i’d rather see dipshit prosecuted in Georgia for blatantly trying to rig the election
     
    The jubilation of some is as bizarre to me as the indignation of others, it all makes us look like a bunch of hillbillies

    “if the shoe fits”, eh?

  16. Holding back a bit on the joy because I don’t wanna jinx it

    I won’t believe it until i hear a jury foreperson say, “Guilty”.

    Or until I hear on the news that his plane has touched down in Dubai or Moscow or wherever.

  17. bink, historian mark updegrove opined on the joylessness aspect of the indictment in that the “indictment reflects back on the state of the country.”

    here’s some of what he said according to ABC’sgoodmorningamerica:

     In his official proclamation of a pardon, Ford contended that “it is believed that a trial of Richard Nixon, if it became necessary, could not fairly begin until a year or more has elapsed. In the meantime, the tranquility to which this nation has been restored by the events of recent weeks could be irreparably lost by the prospects of bringing to trial a former President of the United States.”
    Trump now becoming the first president on the brink of a criminal trial permanently changes how he is remembered, Updegrove said.
    “In the photo gallery that will be in that book, you are going to see as one of the larger photographs the mugshot of Trump, based on these proceedings. That’s a pretty big deal. That in itself is a pretty big deal,” Updegrove said. “It becomes a symbol, more or less, of the Trump presidency, not just a reflection of this particular aspect of Trump’s legacy. It’s the bigger picture of Donald Trump.”
    More broadly, Updegrove said, Trump’s indictment reflects back on the state of the country.
    “There was a time when honesty and integrity were the bedrock of the presidency,” he said, citing George Washington and the myth of the cherry tree, or Abraham Lincoln’s “Honest Abe” nickname, contrasted with Trump’s habit of falsehoods.
    “Now Trump has been indicted with other possible indictments to come,” Updegrove said. “One has to wonder, does the morality of our president still matter to the American people or does it just matter that your side wins?”

  18. It’s a win-win for the arch-conservatives, ultimately: they get to collectively play the role of the ideologically persecuted, have the figurehead they resent disgraced for them, while asserting ownership of dipshit-era policy victories like restricting reproductive freedom for tens-of-millions(and counting!) of women.
     
    …get a few virginal trolls to feed some conspiracy theories into the preferred disinformation channels, and the base will be foaming at the mouth, as desired

  19. That was nice re-living that Mickey Mouse Show opening.  It came on every afternoon after school on our ONE television station.  CBS, channel 5.    That, and “Crusader Rabbit” a 15 minute cartoon…….i forget if “Winky Dink” was a 5 day a week or just Saturday.   

    Meeska, Moose-ska, Mouseketeer
    Mouse cartoon time now is here.

    And Cubby, that little dork, went on to play drums with Karen Carpenter.

  20. I’m not predicting anything as a result of the NYC Grand Jury indictments. I’m also not predicting how the Willis or Smith indictments will turn out. But I hope the SonofaBitch gets stung by one of them. Oh, and FUCK him.

  21. Sturg, Karen was a force of nature. Played drums sometimes love while singing (try THAT sometimes), voice of an angel, fucking brilliant songwriter. But I’m watching Joni accept the Gershwin award for 2023. Asked to sing a song, she sang one of George’s best from Porgy & Bess – Summertime”  … Hush Little Baby … Don’t you cry. Class, I tell ya. It really doesn’t get better. 

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