Something big is in the air

| 3:00 pm EDT July 28, 2023
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Trump’s attorneys got their wish to meet with the Special Counsel, but they may have wished they hadn’t. According to NBC News, they were told to expect an indictment (or another indictment). If they were surprised by this news, they are in the minority. It isn’t hard to surmise that he is indicting Trump in his bogus claims of fraud in the 2020 election, though that’s not all he has done.

Jose Diaz-Balart, a host at MSNBC, spoke with legal analyst Ken Dilanian about what’s going on. Dilanian agreed that an indictment is inevitable. He also said that while Trump would not have wanted his lawyers to meet with Smith’s team, he has a new set of lawyers who handle things the way they normally would, which included meeting with Smith’s team; however, Dilianian thinks it’s too late. He said: “I can’t imagine any argument the Trump team can make that in any way is going to derail the process that is unfolding here.” He pointed out that Smith’s team has interviewed hundreds of witnesses, some of whom refused to testify before the House Select Committee, and he feels that “something big is in the air.” Something certainly is, and it’s not necessarily related to Trump’s election lies.

Late yesterday afternoon, USA Today reported that the classified documents indictment was superseded. According to that report, a third defendant was added to the case, Carlos de Oliveira. Looking at the original source for this story, Associated Press reported that de Oliveira helped with moving boxes that he claimed to have never seen. The superseding indictment adds five new counts to the earlier filed indictment to which Trump pled “not guilty.” Trump’s spokesperson, of course, told AP that the new charges are “nothing more than a continued desperate and flailing attempt by the Biden administration to harass President Trump and those around him.” Please. First, President Biden’s administration has nothing to do with this beyond appointing Merrick Garland AG, who then appointed an uninvolved special counsel. Second, there is nothing “desperate” or “flailing” about these charges. If they are proven, Trump is going to jail. De Oliveira is charged with lying to the FBI in his interview, during which he claimed to know nothing about the boxes.

We don’t yet know the identity of “Trump Employee No. 4,” who has been named in the superseding indictment as the person who deleted security footage. If so inclined, the superseding indictment can be read here. Trump, meanwhile, continues to rant on his social media site. His latest boggles the mind, both for its content, errant capital letters, and misspelling: “We’ll have fun on the stand with all of these people that say the Presidential Election wasn’t Rigged and Stollen [sic].” Keep talking, Trump. You’re merely helping the prosecution bury you. And, please, keep thinking you’re untouchable. Jack Smith has you by the collar, and that’s about as touchable as it gets. One can only wonder what Trump’s employees are thinking. They might want to flip before it’s too late. Trump certainly isn’t going to do anything to help or save any of them.