The special counsel, Jack Smith, has led a wide-ranging Justice Department examination of the efforts by former President Donald J. Trump and his allies to subvert the will of voters in 2020.
Bad hot take (maybe): I think they have him dead to rights on the documents case but this one is going to be harder to make stick. Mens rea and all that.
I read it just now. They seem to be depending on the argument that because so many of Trump’s own people told him there was no evidence of ‘outcome determinative’ fraud, he had to know he was making false claims fraudulently. Which would work on 99% of the human race.
But this is Trump. That crazy fucker will argue vociferously (or his lawyer will) that he got bad advice from the co-conspirators and he actually believed it … and was reasonable to do so. May well be enough to plant doubt in the minds of enough jurors to hang the jury or get an acquittal.
Or maybe not. Point is, they’ve got him on the documents. This, while more egregious, is going to be an uphill battle, I think. Best not get our hopes up and leave room for a pleasant surprise.
Good point. Yeah, that’s pretty good. I guess I’m just a pessimistic git on this one. Never in the history of the world will I be more happy to be proven wrong.
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Bad hot take (maybe): I think they have him dead to rights on the documents case but this one is going to be harder to make stick. Mens rea and all that.
Reading the indictment text, it sounds like they’ve got him on mens rea
Annotated by the Times: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/01/us/trump-jan-6-indictment-2020-election.html?unlocked_article_code=o8-zUBafhrB8jyQPBwDHsiq45w8QRMuQYssB3psfPz2RBijbsdFKRLqEfj7cjksEzEVQxSsBl5pmC6Ie0qh1exBLtIfbJHF45FU3IEvtwy66t3kftkAGxzLYuxWVQjEE62SR-Sc6ijRcoduvQ1doey4t6v0QPdJavd5Y0xTWFNk0Crp0ZfCQW5QYhaQB5cdWcIg1XcC6Dn5jlm8y65wTLy1ZcfYqBnz-ay6c3WI-tesyLgvG9Pchltj2v8JLW2Yb_bMn0MTsNkh_1tnQ0MkTGG3AwT9HJIBir0cyCFCyqueCtohslO23KqpjH6RU0ZK3I3xVKY0DxGtEVTwQ8O33gSQ1qoVrt3ieJzKNVVCwVJEtfsZGLSVn-ls
Btw, see my other post in this thread for live coverage.
I read it just now. They seem to be depending on the argument that because so many of Trump’s own people told him there was no evidence of ‘outcome determinative’ fraud, he had to know he was making false claims fraudulently. Which would work on 99% of the human race.
But this is Trump. That crazy fucker will argue vociferously (or his lawyer will) that he got bad advice from the co-conspirators and he actually believed it … and was reasonable to do so. May well be enough to plant doubt in the minds of enough jurors to hang the jury or get an acquittal.
Or maybe not. Point is, they’ve got him on the documents. This, while more egregious, is going to be an uphill battle, I think. Best not get our hopes up and leave room for a pleasant surprise.
Except they have Trump saying “Can you believe I lost to this fucking guy?”
https://www.wsj.com/video/can-you-believe-i-lost-to-this-effing-guy-trump-knew-biden-won-aides-testify/2DAB7FB5-FA7B-4B68-A288-F08442AD504F.html
Good point. Yeah, that’s pretty good. I guess I’m just a pessimistic git on this one. Never in the history of the world will I be more happy to be proven wrong.