Trump Legal Troubles

[Danny Bateman]

Don't know much about this guy but the video is worth watching.

 

 

[Mike Mcdee]

5 hours ago, Danny Bateman said:

Don't know much about this guy but the video is worth watching.

 

 

Legal Eagle does amazing, well sourced deep dives into complex, relevant issues. He is currently suing the White House. 

 

 

[knapplc]

 

[TGHusker]

Now the Biden justice dept will have to decide what to do with all things trump

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/bidens-doj-must-determine-whether-trump-should-be-prosecuted/ar-BB1aPz8p

 

Quote

 

Although Biden has said that prosecuting a former president would be a “very unusual thing and probably not very good for democracy,” he also vowed in an NPR interview in August that he wouldn’t “interfere with the Justice Department’s judgment of whether or not they think they should pursue the prosecution of anyone that they think has violated the law.”

With Republicans likely to retain control of the Senate, Biden’s nominee for attorney general will be sure to face tough questioning during confirmation hearings about the new administration’s intentions toward Trump. And Republican-led committees could strike back by amping up the investigations of Biden and his family’s finances that they’d already begun.

It’s a real question because on Jan. 20 Trump will lose the immunity from federal criminal indictment that sitting presidents are granted under Justice Department policy. Prosecutors could revive the investigation into campaign-finance violations that resulted in a three-year sentence for Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen and re-examine the instances of possible obstruction of justice that former Special Counsel Robert Mueller uncovered in his probe into Russia’s 2016 election interference.

 

 

[RedDenver]

Just now, TGHusker said:

Now the Biden justice dept will have to decide what to do with all things trump

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/bidens-doj-must-determine-whether-trump-should-be-prosecuted/ar-BB1aPz8p

 

 

Trump will pardon himself (and probably his family and maybe the rest of his administration) before he leaves office. Biden's DOJ will be unable to do anything.

[knapplc]

3 minutes ago, RedDenver said:

Trump will pardon himself (and probably his family and maybe the rest of his administration) before he leaves office. Biden's DOJ will be unable to do anything.

 

He has to be convicted to be pardoned. He can't just issue blanket "get out of jail free" pardons to anyone he wants.

[Moiraine]

2 minutes ago, knapplc said:

He has to be convicted to be pardoned. He can't just issue blanket "get out of jail free" pardons to anyone he wants.

 

 

I read that's debatable, at least for himself.

[knapplc]

Just now, Moiraine said:

 

 

I read that's debatable.

 

Even if he could, he has zero pardon power over state prosecution. And Cuomo isn't about to pardon trump for anything.

 

[RedDenver]

5 minutes ago, knapplc said:

 

He has to be convicted to be pardoned. He can't just issue blanket "get out of jail free" pardons to anyone he wants.

According to legal experts I've been reading, there's no "convicted" requirement nor is there any requirement that the pardon be applied to any specific crime, so Trump can indeed do blanket "get out of jail free" pardons to anyone he wants.

 

[RedDenver]

2 minutes ago, knapplc said:

 

Even if he could, he has zero pardon power over state prosecution. And Cuomo isn't about to pardon trump for anything.

 

Correct. But if Trump has a federal pardon that ends SDNY from investigating or bringing charges. NY state could still do something, but I doubt it'll amount to anything more than maybe state tax fraud. Trump is part of the rich elite, so extremely unlikely anything happens to him.

[knapplc]

3 minutes ago, RedDenver said:

Correct. But if Trump has a federal pardon that ends SDNY from investigating or bringing charges. NY state could still do something, but I doubt it'll amount to anything more than maybe state tax fraud. Trump is part of the rich elite, so extremely unlikely anything happens to him.

 

I don't think so.

 

Quote

 

Moreover, the federal government needn’t prosecute Trump to secure a modicum of justice for his criminal conduct. Manhattan Dist. Atty. Cyrus Vance Jr. has been developing a criminal investigation of Trump for a welter of state tax, fraud and financial crimes. The investigation is moving forward apace; Vance is likely to reach charging decisions within a few months. And because a president can’t pardon himself (or anyone) for state crimes, his Article II powers would have no effect.

 

In fact, if Trump is smart, he might stay his hand because last year New York changed its laws just with him in mind. The state’s double jeopardy rules used to prohibit the prosecution of someone for conduct that was the subject of a federal pardon. No longer — expressly because of Trump’s corrupt and pernicious use of the pardon power. Should the president pardon himself, it would be a poke in the eye with a sharp stick in New York, an invitation for Vance to double down.

 

 

This article goes on to say that Biden may choose not to prosecute him in an effort to heal the country, but I think that ship has long since sailed. No person should be above the law. 

[RedDenver]

14 minutes ago, knapplc said:

 

I don't think so.

 

 

This article goes on to say that Biden may choose not to prosecute him in an effort to heal the country, but I think that ship has long since sailed. No person should be above the law. 

There's some debate about whether a president can pardon himself, which would ultimately need to be resolved by the Supreme Court, but lots of Constitutional scholars agree that self-pardon is granted because the President's pardon powers are so broad in the Constitution.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-pardon-explainer/explainer-can-trump-pardon-his-associates-or-himself-idUSKBN27O0FT

 

[Moiraine]

3 minutes ago, RedDenver said:

There's some debate about whether a president can pardon himself, which would ultimately need to be resolved by the Supreme Court, but lots of Constitutional scholars agree that self-pardon is granted because the President's pardon powers are so broad in the Constitution.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-pardon-explainer/explainer-can-trump-pardon-his-associates-or-himself-idUSKBN27O0FT

 

 

 

This is an instance where I feel modern times doesn't excuse the authors for f#&%ing up. There is no advancement that makes it make sense to have given the president this much power.

[knapplc]

4 minutes ago, RedDenver said:

There's some debate about whether a president can pardon himself, which would ultimately need to be resolved by the Supreme Court, but lots of Constitutional scholars agree that self-pardon is granted because the President's pardon powers are so broad in the Constitution.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-pardon-explainer/explainer-can-trump-pardon-his-associates-or-himself-idUSKBN27O0FT

 

 

Yeah, I read that article. I don't think it's giving a full picture of a scenario that would end up in the courts to decide.

[TGHusker]

1 hour ago, Moiraine said:

 

 

This is an instance where I feel modern times doesn't excuse the authors for f#&%ing up. There is no advancement that makes it make sense to have given the president this much power.

If it ends up in the court, and our original intent justices look at 'original intent', I'm thinking they have to side against trump on a self pardon. The original intent of the frames was to NOT set up a royal or kingly all powerful executive.