Sucks to be Donald Trump right now
It would suck to be Donald Trump anytime, but it must really suck to be him right now. He’s been indicted for stealing classified documents and in New York for paying “hush money” to his former mistress/porn star. He is all but certainly going to be charged again federally for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, but things just got worse. The Guardian reported that Fani Willis has the necessary evidence to charge Trump with racketeering, and the indictment is allegedly coming next month. Make sure you don’t run out of popcorn.
The Guardian disclosed that the Georgia racketeering statute is more expansive than the federal statute, which means that Trump chose the wrong state. Under Georgia law, prosecutors must show evidence of “an enterprise” based on two crimes: Fani Willis must show that witnesses have been influenced and computers have been breached, both of which she has. A group of Trump people, paid by Sidney Powell, got into voting machines in Coffee County. Though Coffee County is outside of the jurisdiction of Fulton County, Willis can show that records were copied and used in a larger plan to keep Donald Trump in office, and witness tampering ran rampant in Georgia.
Even as Donald Trump and his legal team try to process what’s already happening, he is likely to be hit with these two indictments soon. Neal Katyal, a former acting U.S. solicitor general, joined Jen Psaki on MSNBC. Katyal predicted that Trump will be hit with both indictments “before ‘Barbeinheimer’ leaves the theaters. It really is that severe for him.” Katyal then went through a litany of complaints that he expects Donald Trump to make about the date Aileen Cannon set for trial in the stolen documents case. Katyal pointed out that Trump cannot appeal this date due to the way our system is set up, which requires that everything remain on hold until after the criminal charges are resolved. Psaki asked, because Smith continues to interview witnesses, whether the new indictment could be held up, but Katyal does not believe that will happen.
Smith continued to investigate after indicting Trump in the stolen documents case, and this case is no different. Katyal also pointed out that prosecutors can sometimes send out target letters and never prosecute the target, but he doesn’t believe that to be the case here. “You don’t send a target letter to a former president unless you’re pretty darned sure that you’ve got the goods, and it looks like Jack Smith has the goods.”
Smith’s team has been busy talking to governors in battleground states, including Georgia’s Brian Kemp and Arizona’s Doug Ducey, to provide evidence about the fake elector scheme. Katyal also mentioned that there “are suggestions” that Mark Meadows has provided evidence against Donald Trump. He also pointed out that we have all seen evidence of Trump’s crimes and mentioned that District Judge David Carter said last year that Trump had committed “several federal crimes,” including two of the statues mentioned in the target letter. The noose is tightening for Trump, and it is a noose that will be hard to escape.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years