It’s getting hot in here

| 3:00 pm EDT July 26, 2023
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Even as Special Counsel Jack Smith readies his next case against Donald Trump, the Guardian reported that Fulton County is preparing to move its case forward. It was reported last week that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been looking at RICO, but the Guardian reported that she is also looking at solicitation to commit election fraud and conspiracy to commit election fraud. As she makes moves to tighten up charges related to Trump’s attempted interference in the Georgia election, it becomes clear that Willis will be filing her own indictment(s) soon. Obviously, no one knows exactly what Willis plans, but the fact that she is now narrowing down statutes reveals that she will be making a move sooner rather than later. At the same time, the Special Counsel continues his investigation into Trump’s lies about the 2020 election and the results of those lies.

More high-profile former Trump cronies have come under Smith’s radar. Several outlets reported that Bernard Kerik, a former NY police commissioner, has provided documents to both Smith and to lawyers in the civil suit in Georgia against Rudy Giuliani. Kerik pled guilty to felony tax fraud and making false statements in 2009, and he was later pardoned by Trump. In return, Kerik helped Trump with his election fraud claims. Both Newsweek and Daily Beast reported that Kerik turned over more than 2,000 pages of information to Smith that detail his “investigations,” which were primarily based on conspiracy theories. That alone tells us the effectiveness of Kerik’s “investigation.”

Smith is digging deeper into Trump’s criminal activities, with the goal of showing that Trump knew there was no fraud in the 2020 election but decided to pursue the lie for his own benefit. Smith’s team has interviewed several people with knowledge of Trump’s scheme, and NBC News recently reported that former DOJ official Richard Donoghue has also been interviewed. Donoghue served as acting deputy AG at the end of Trump’s term, and he testified before the House Select Committee about Trump pressuring them to “just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.” That statement alone shows that Trump knew his claims were false. Donoghue testified that he “repeatedly rebuffed Trump’s efforts,” and he testified about a video circulated by Mark Meadows that claimed Italian military satellites were used to change votes. This is about as bad as Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Jewish space lasers. Jack Smith is leaving no proverbial stone unturned, and according to Glenn Kirschner, Mark Meadows is “up to his neck” in things.

Kirschner opines that Meadows could either be a cooperating witness, or he may well have his name on an indictment. Meadows was aware that no evidence of fraud existed in the 2020 election, yet he continued to push Trump’s fantasies. That makes him just as guilty as Trump. Kirschner does not believe earlier reports that Meadows has been given immunity because he is “too high up on the criminal food chain.” As news continues to leak out, it will be interesting to see how all this turns out.