Late May seems ... kind of late? I was listening to some qualified people talk about March as a reasonable time frame, both for the defense to prepare, and for the trial to wrap up before the election. Having it in May means that the outcome of the Republican primary will probably be known, very possibly with Trump as the presumptive candidate. Which then allows the defense to yell about "b-b-but presidential candidate, you can't hold him responsible for anything!"
Well, we've already seen that that "logic" applies when Step 2 is "Become president." That precedent was already successfully set; might as well try to wedge it open further.
Keep in mind that this is a Trump appointed judge and she's essentially all in on the Trump train. There have been articles in the past month or so speculating what she'd do, whether push this off until after the election (which is what Trump wanted, and if he won, he'd make sure it went away or got buried, and would basically destroy her reputation as a credible judge, so that would play into her career) or have it before the election, which is obviously what Trump did not want. I think she's splitting the difference here, having it before the election, but months after what Jack Smith had requested.
FTA:
In an order issued in Ft. Pierce, Fla., U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon says the evidence in the case is "extremely voluminous and will require substantial time to review" and includes classified and top secret documents that require special handling procedures. She also says the case meets the legal definition of a "complex" case, requiring a more extended trial schedule.
This sounds like she's trying to appease both sides as much as possible with minimal damage to her credibility, reputation, and career.
She's a federal judge with a lifetime appointment. Her career is a settled matter, and impacts to credibility and reputation are much less relevant. She has a clear incentive for former President, Donald J. Trump, who appointed her, to become president again, in order to alleviate any repercussions to her behaviors while ajudicating this case. IANAL, but it really seems like she should have recused herself on this basis, especially when combined with her previously getting smacked down for showing preference to this same defendant, in a different case.
The only thing she has to do is ensure that she does not create grounds for a mistrial. We already know that if the case does not go the way the defendant wants, he will appeal. That will go to the Eleventh Circuit cout of appeals, which contain many Republican appointees, and of those, many are Trump appointees.
The layers of conflicts of interest around this defendant and the judges available to oversee his many cases are broad and deep. Considering that this is a criminal case, I think that it would be absolutely reasonable to have some oversight by the ICC.
Let’s be honest, Trump is never actually going to go to court. He will be found in contempt and then he’ll post something on Twitter and nothing will happen.
What does being before or after the election changes really? It's not like he can just cancel a criminal investigation into himself lol that would be a level of corruption way too fucking obvious even for the stupidest of conservative. Right?
If there was illegal activities, so be it. Man up and own it. Stop saying this is political on social medias. It doesn't matter. Nobody can change a thing about it. All he does is rile up his cult and might lead to violence. Why would a president would do that? That's dangerously anti-democratic and prone to more charges. No?
Yes, the system is flawed. Yes, Republicans have embraced corruption, and their voters are accepting it due to the combination of the culture war and their perception that if someone doesn’t display shame or remorse, they must have done nothing wrong. The Republicans in the US Senate declared in Trump’s impeachment trial that the President is above the law as long as the Senate says so.
I don’t know how our country will continue to function when the system of checks and balances has completely failed. We are on a very dark road right now.
It’s not like he can just cancel a criminal investigation into himself lol that would be a level of corruption way too fucking obvious even for the stupidest of conservative. Right?
This is exactly what he’ll do, and his supporters will go along with it 100%.
He wouldn't even have to instruct the Justice Department in any way. He'd just give himself a blanket pardon, and the sane people will for some reason be caught off guard by this, and stand around scratching their heads, saying, "Wait ... can he do that?" while he just goes on to do even worse things.
Maybe not that long but there are a ton of documents and motions associated with the case that will be put forward. All of the classified documents have special handling requirements and will have back and forth CIPA discussions about what needs to be included in the record or not etc. That this court in Florida doesn’t have that much experience running. Things that make giving the defendant a fair trial so he has less to stand on when he and his followers call it a witch hunt.
I have mixed feelings on this. On one hand, she didn't delay it until after the election which is wonderful. However, I am not confident that the trial will be over by the election. Trumps team will keep trying to delay the clock with jury selection, continuances, etc. which may push it past the election.
edit: typo
I feel the same way. However, one sliver of light in this is that he likely will also be dealing with several other high profile federal and state cases at that time also. The road leading up to the election is going to be very busy and stressful for him, and people are going to be calling him out on that. Or at least I’m hoping it will go that way.
Honestly… That does seem like a legit fair amount of time to prepare for a trial. And in some weird way frees up his time for when he said he would be super busy so… Eh?
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