Hunter Biden is convicted of gun crimes; Trump's election-theft lawyers face charges again, this time in Wisconsin; another one of Fani Willis's RICO trials goes off the rails.
I fully expect Biden to pardon Hunter if he goes lame duck, regardless of what he says now. Which is also a norm (see Roger Clinton). A bad norm, but a norm. The norm Trump is flouting is by giving instapardons, not by handing out pardons to friends and political connections.
I have to disagree with the notion that Trump wouldn't have been prosecuted if he was less prominent. I think that that's true for some of the cases, the New York criminal case most likely, but its important to note that the classified documents case absolutely would have been prosecuted if he were the former assistant undersecretary of whatever and he did the same things.
The lying on the form is not a tricky argument. I have an unalienable, constitutional (dare I say God given?) right to tell my wife I only had two beers. But if I tell a federal park ranger I only had two beers, I can catch a 1001 charge on top of my alleged riding a bicycle while intoxicated charge.
I think it depends on if there is some kind of materiality component to the charge and even without that I don't think it's that clear.
Imagine the form asked people to disclose every instance of gay sex they'd had or every donation they'd ever made to the democratic party. I think there would be constitutional issues about prosecuting people for knowingly lieing on that form regarding issues the government was constitutional prohibited from considering during the period it had yet to be held unconstitutional.
I doubt it's that simple but unless there is political pressure brought to bear it seems very plausible the DOJ wouldn't see it as worthwhile to pursue at that point.
Oh man... like the old song... "don't trust your soul to no backwoods southern lawyer."
Or, one might add, a Georgian Judge. This story would be a little less surprising 60, 70, or maybe 80 years ago, when Georgia, or any of the southern tier states, were hotbeds of unspeakable corruption.
In the YSL case, my understanding is that Georgia can compel testimony with an immunity grant. But as you point out, that doesn't provide immunity from federal prosecution. In that case, isn't taking the fifth still a legal privilege, and wouldn't any state penalties be unconstitutional?
That seems like a very straightforward conclusion, and I would be surprised if there's no case law behind it, given that immunity grants are about compelling people who don't want to be compelled...
And now because God loves us and wants us to be kept happy by torturing Ken, there is more nutso skullduggery news coming out of Georgia. About a taint team. <crowd goes wild>
As Hunter Biden's next trial starts, I hope we hear more about the crime of failing to pay taxes. Some of us thought it was just a civil matter. Hasn't Ken ever defended one of these? There is at least one instance of a guy who richly deserved his sentence for this crime, at least according to the Fifth Circuit (United States v. Tucker, 686 F.2d 230 (5th Cir. 1982))
Once this kid came to youth group wearing a Kool hat and the youth minister said hey you can’t wear a hat for cigarettes at youth group and the kid said, oh it’s not Kool cigarettes. It stands for Karate Of Our Lord
While the podcast described the prosecutor as trying to hold the judge back from contempt, she actually said that Steel's actions were "grave enough" that she wanted to look into additional remedies.
"We would ask for the opportunity to present to this court additional appropriate remedies."
The prosecutor did ask that Steel serve his contempt on the weekends, to avoid the choice of counsel problem, but that was about the extent of her moderating influence.
did Ken really just say "anti-gun laws"? are any of these laws doing more than indirectly forcing manufacturers to utilize/acquire more storage space for guns that become more difficult to sell?
If Hunter Biden is convicted on the tax case I assume he would be treated as a repeat offender when it comes to sentencing. If the gun charge were to be overturned would he be entitled to be sentenced again based on the status of now being a first time offender?
Additionally, if Hunter's tax case were in the 5th circuit where this law is already unconstitutional, if he was convicted there would the district court treat the conviction for the gun charges (which they consider not even possible to do as it is unconstitutional) differently? Or is it more of a situation where the conviction is there until it isn't?
Small typo in the recap - Cannon ruled mostly *against* Trump
Send all typographical corrections to rciohotline@serioustrouble.show.com.
lol
I fully expect Biden to pardon Hunter if he goes lame duck, regardless of what he says now. Which is also a norm (see Roger Clinton). A bad norm, but a norm. The norm Trump is flouting is by giving instapardons, not by handing out pardons to friends and political connections.
I have to disagree with the notion that Trump wouldn't have been prosecuted if he was less prominent. I think that that's true for some of the cases, the New York criminal case most likely, but its important to note that the classified documents case absolutely would have been prosecuted if he were the former assistant undersecretary of whatever and he did the same things.
The lying on the form is not a tricky argument. I have an unalienable, constitutional (dare I say God given?) right to tell my wife I only had two beers. But if I tell a federal park ranger I only had two beers, I can catch a 1001 charge on top of my alleged riding a bicycle while intoxicated charge.
I think it depends on if there is some kind of materiality component to the charge and even without that I don't think it's that clear.
Imagine the form asked people to disclose every instance of gay sex they'd had or every donation they'd ever made to the democratic party. I think there would be constitutional issues about prosecuting people for knowingly lieing on that form regarding issues the government was constitutional prohibited from considering during the period it had yet to be held unconstitutional.
So basically the lying thing goes out the window if the appeals process determines the drugs/guns combination is unconstitutional?
I doubt it's that simple but unless there is political pressure brought to bear it seems very plausible the DOJ wouldn't see it as worthwhile to pursue at that point.
Regarding the YSL RICO case:
Oh man... like the old song... "don't trust your soul to no backwoods southern lawyer."
Or, one might add, a Georgian Judge. This story would be a little less surprising 60, 70, or maybe 80 years ago, when Georgia, or any of the southern tier states, were hotbeds of unspeakable corruption.
In the YSL case, my understanding is that Georgia can compel testimony with an immunity grant. But as you point out, that doesn't provide immunity from federal prosecution. In that case, isn't taking the fifth still a legal privilege, and wouldn't any state penalties be unconstitutional?
That seems like a very straightforward conclusion, and I would be surprised if there's no case law behind it, given that immunity grants are about compelling people who don't want to be compelled...
Happy to read that you're weighing in on Young Thug. That one showed up on my TT feed, and it looked wild. But I trust you to tell me just how wild.
I saw headlines but didn't click through. Only after hearing this pod am I realizing it is "three-part Law & Order episode"-tier wildness.
And now because God loves us and wants us to be kept happy by torturing Ken, there is more nutso skullduggery news coming out of Georgia. About a taint team. <crowd goes wild>
I will expect the title to be 'Taint Misbehavin'
codependent / codefendant was one to remember
As Hunter Biden's next trial starts, I hope we hear more about the crime of failing to pay taxes. Some of us thought it was just a civil matter. Hasn't Ken ever defended one of these? There is at least one instance of a guy who richly deserved his sentence for this crime, at least according to the Fifth Circuit (United States v. Tucker, 686 F.2d 230 (5th Cir. 1982))
Once this kid came to youth group wearing a Kool hat and the youth minister said hey you can’t wear a hat for cigarettes at youth group and the kid said, oh it’s not Kool cigarettes. It stands for Karate Of Our Lord
In the case Ken mentions at the end - the judge who lost it and doubled down on the ringing cell phone - the judge was ultimately removed from office.
see https://cjc.ny.gov/Determinations/R/restaino.htm (disciplinary determination)
https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=10815948065153526265 (court of appeals decision)
One comment:
While the podcast described the prosecutor as trying to hold the judge back from contempt, she actually said that Steel's actions were "grave enough" that she wanted to look into additional remedies.
"We would ask for the opportunity to present to this court additional appropriate remedies."
https://x.com/MythSerene/status/1801007866033139781
The prosecutor did ask that Steel serve his contempt on the weekends, to avoid the choice of counsel problem, but that was about the extent of her moderating influence.
did Ken really just say "anti-gun laws"? are any of these laws doing more than indirectly forcing manufacturers to utilize/acquire more storage space for guns that become more difficult to sell?
Ken, say the SC actually gives the president immunity — does that mean he gets to own a gun again? Since he is immune from any consequences?
If Hunter Biden is convicted on the tax case I assume he would be treated as a repeat offender when it comes to sentencing. If the gun charge were to be overturned would he be entitled to be sentenced again based on the status of now being a first time offender?
Additionally, if Hunter's tax case were in the 5th circuit where this law is already unconstitutional, if he was convicted there would the district court treat the conviction for the gun charges (which they consider not even possible to do as it is unconstitutional) differently? Or is it more of a situation where the conviction is there until it isn't?