Tag Archives: insurrection

legal news

Is a deal possible?

What you are about to read from this blogger isn’t an original thought; it comes from a former Republican governor and one-time GOP presidential candidate.

That said, I want to reveal what he expressed.

Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich has tossed out a possibility that — upon some reflection — isn’t nearly as goofy as some observers might suggest it is. Kasich was careful to stipulate that he isn’t “predicting” this would happen, but believes it remains a distinct possibility.

It is that Trump’s lawyers, who must defend him against multiple indictments on multiple fronts, might want to cut a deal with federal special counsel Jack Smith. Kasich suggests that Trump’s lawyers well might determine that Trump cannot win the classified documents case or the 1/6 insurrection matter.

What does he do? Well, Kasich said it might be that Trump’s legal team could suggest he cuts a deal with prosecutors that would include a guilty plea and his dropping out of the 2024 race for president.

He’s already pleaded not guilty to all the federal indictments, and to the New York indictment over the hush money payment he made to the adult film star. He’s likely to plead not guilty to an indictment that everyone on Earth believes is coming from the Fulton County, Ga., district attorney on another case involving election tampering.

However, criminal defendants have changed their pleas before. The alternative might be serious prison time if he’s convicted, say, of obstruction in the case involving the 1/6 assault on our government.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a one-time U.S. attorney, said recently that prosecutors would rather refuse to bring a case than bring one they cannot win. Jack Smith, therefore, well might have the goods on Trump to all but guarantee a conviction.

It makes me go “hmmm.” Is there an alternative, therefore, to prison for the former president? Looks like it to me.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news

Smith ‘fan club’ forms

First things first: I must stipulate that I am not a member of any Jack Smith Fan Club, nor do I intend to join one or form one in my North Texas neighborhood.

That all said, I now shall declare that Jack Smith’s standing among those of us looking for accountability and justice in the conduct of a former POTUS has shot into the stratosphere.

The meme that showed up on my social media feed suggests that there might have been a chance that special counsel Jack Smith might “fear” Donald Trump. Not … a … chance!

The good news about Smith, though, is that he isn’t going to seek affirmation for doing his job. Attorney General Merrick Garland selected Smith to lead this investigation because the AG didn’t want to become entangled in a case involving the current POTUS, Joe Biden, and the man he defeated in the 2020 election.

Smith has done his duty with zero leaks, with little fanfare and with a maximum degree of professionalism. Yet those aspects of the job he has done has elevated the special counsel to hero status. Go figure.

The former president has managed to get Republicans in Congress to knuckle under to his threats. Not so with Jack Smith, who in reality has no more cause to stand firm against Trump than the sycophants who kowtow to Trump within the GOP House caucus.

Yes, I get that House GOP members face the prospect of losing their seats in primary elections. But they take oaths to defend the Constitution, not to march in lockstep behind a cult leader.

Jack Smith took a similar oath when he took on the role of special counsel. His loyalty to his oath, therefore, has given him an exalted status only because he is doing the job he signed on to do.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Smith: strategic thinker

Jack Smith is about as strategic a thinker as I can imagine, given the nature of the indictment handed down this week by the federal grand jury involving Donald Trump’s role in the 1/6 assault on our nation’s government.

Consider this: The grand jury indicted Trump on four counts of conspiracy to defraud the government, to obstruct justice, to overturn the results of an election and to deny the people’s right to have their votes counted. A conspiracy necessarily means others are involved, but no one else is indicted.

Instead, they are “unindicted co-conspirators.” Most of the names have been made public and they include some big hitters.

Yet, Trump stands as the sole indicted criminal defendant. Smith’s goal? It is to grant Trump a “speedy trial,” which an individual who proclaims his innocence as vehemently as Trump does should welcome … correct? But he’s not welcoming it.

Trump’s foot-dragging tells me he has plenty to hide from the special counsel, who in turn has compiled several mountains of evidence that I believe well could produce a conviction.

My hope is that the results of this pending trial come far sooner than later to enable voters to decide whether this country is on the way toward the abyss or is set to climb to new heights of greatness.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news, legal news

Strike three … Trump!

Now we know what we have suspected all along, which is that special counsel Jack Smith has indicted Donald Trump on four counts of conspiracy to mount a coup to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

To think that Trump has bellowed since losing to President Biden that the election was “rigged,” that it is illegitimate.

Smith made monumental political history today. Is this reason to cheer? To high-five each other? To applaud the legal team that has assembled these incredibly detailed charges against a former president?

No. It is a time for serious reflection and for hoping the criminal justice system works its will.

I am not cheering tonight. I am trying to digest what has come forth.

Smith’s indictment reportedly is detailed. It is meticulous. It is historic in a way that many of us are having difficulty measuring. Trump is the first former POTUS ever indicted by the Justice Department. The indictment handed down today by a grand jury alleges that the former POTUS sought to overturn a free and fair election.

What in the name of democracy is up with that?

Jack Smith made it clear once again today that Trump is entitled to the presumption of innocence, but said he intends to press for a “speedy trial.”

Trump continues to tell us he did nothing wrong on Jan. 6, 2021. If so, then let this individual mount his defense and seek to persuade a jury that he should be acquitted. Does an innocent man seek to delay the proceeding? No, yet Trump is almost certain to obstruct the progress of this prosecution.

What now? The nation is about to enter a historic chapter in its long and glorious story. Donald Trump stands indicted on allegations that he sought to overturn an election he lost. It was a fair and legal determination by American voters … and one of the counts of the latest indictment alleges that Trump sought to deny voters that sacred right.

This is no time to cheer and slap the backs of our friends and political allies. It is a time to take seriously what a duly constituted grand jury has determined, that a one-time president of the United States committed a criminal act against the very government he took an oath to “defend and protect.”

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Donald Trump

Is this the worst week?

It is fair to wonder whether this week will be the latest “worst week” in Donald J. Trump’s life, given the myriad setbacks and stumbles he has suffered since leaving the only public office he ever has held.

He has been indicted on more charges related to the classified documents caper. There could be even more indictments coming from the 1/6 assault on our federal government. And, yes, we have a Fulton County, Ga., district attorney preparing to issue even more indictments on Trump’s alleged effort to rig the 2020 election.

It could happen this week, too!

Meanwhile, the dumb and dumber among the GOP primary electorate continues to glom onto this individual’s political fortunes, seeming to ignore the facts that (a) he’s been indicted already, (b) has been convicted of sexual abuse and (c) he’s been impeached twice by Congress for misconduct during his term as POTUS.

Trump continues to whip the MAGA morons into a frenzy, holding onto sizable leads in primary states.

It’s unbelievable.

Well, the good news — as I see it — is that if Republicans somehow manage to nominate this clown, he won’t win a 2024 general election. That base of MAGA cretins remains substantial, but it is shrinking.

I am waiting with bated breath for the next wave of “worst-week” developments to roll over this idiot.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news

Clock ticks on Trump

The clock continues to tick on Donald J. Trump, giving me some reason to hope that justice is finally — finally! — going to catch up with this twice-impeached, twice-indicted politician.

Special counsel Jack Smith reportedly has advised Trump’s legal eagles that yet another set of indictments is coming. These will deal with the insurrection that I believe the ex-POTUS incited on 1/6.

Then a trial will commence. My hope is that the D.C. federal judge who will preside over this trial won’t waste time, will set a relatively prompt trial date and that a jury will convict Trump of doing what I believe we all witnessed on that horrible day.

Just as a reminder: The Constitution stipulates in clear and precise language that anyone who commits an insurrection shall not be eligible to seek public office.

My plea, therefore, to the special counsel? Time’s a wastin’, Jack Smith. Let’s get busy.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news, Donald Trump, national news, political news

Trump is a sure-fire loser!

All this media hype and hand-wringing over Donald J. Trump’s apparent skate toward the 2024 Republican Party presidential nomination has me on the brink of screaming at the top of my lungs.

I’ll refrain from that, but I will declare here — once again! — that Donald Trump will never enter the Oval Office again.

Let me say it another way. He will not be elected POTUS!

OK. I have said this before about this clown. He proved me, and millions of other prognosticators wrong in 2016 when he slipped past the conventional wisdom and squeaked out an Electoral College victory.

He then proceeded to embarrass himself, the country and endangered the lives of millions of Americans through his negligence in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He was impeached twice. He has been indicted by two grand juries and a third indictment is coming up damn soon. There will be others in store.

I am going to place a great deal of faith in the American electorate that rank-and-file Americans are not so stupid that they would actually send this guy back for another turn as head of state and commander in chief.

This individual is profoundly dangerous.

You may stop laughing at me at any moment. Yes, he defied every oddsmaker once already. However, I want to dredge up the saying that President George W. Bush once famously flubbed: Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

Are we really, seriously ready to send this soon-to-be-convicted felon back to power?

I think not!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Expunge impeachments? Huh?

Allow me this full-frontal criticism of the U.S. speaker of the House: Kevin McCarthy has rocks in his noggin.

McCarthy, a Republican, is considering seeking an expunging of the record that shows Donald J. Trump has been impeached twice by the House.

As if that is going to erase the memories of every living American who witnessed the House impeach the ex-POTUS for (a) trying to get a political favor from a foreign head of state and (b) inciting the mob that attacked the government on 1/6 in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

He was impeached twice, man!

What does McCarthy hope to accomplish? Does an expunging of the record mean that Trump wasn’t impeached? Of course not! The record will stand forever.

McCarthy is certifiably loony.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Who ever thought this could happen?

Of all the political integrity I have witnessed over many decades of politics-watching, I never in a million years believed I would witness what might occur sometime in 2024.

It is that Republican Party primary voters might have to wrestle with deciding whether to nominate a convicted felon to run for the presidency of the United States.

Yes, it is entirely possible that we could have that choice presented to millions of American voters.

Donald Trump already has been indicted twice: by the Manhattan, N.Y., district attorney and by the U.S. Department of Justice.

There now appears to be that more indictments are sure to arrive … soon! The special counsel, Jack Smith, has advised Trump that he is a target of a probe into the 1/6 assault on the government. Indictment coming? Looks like it!

If Smith is able to persuade a judge to set a trial date, then it is possible we could get a decision to convict a former POTUS, who is running for the office again. That would put the burden clearly on GOP voters: Do they really intend to nominate a convicted felon?

Wow …

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Walls closing in — again!

I heard it said today that federal prosecutors would “rather not bring a case than bring one that they cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt.”

With that in mind, I am astonished today to learn that special counsel Jack Smith well might have the goods to drop on Donald John Trump as he concludes his probe into the 1/6 insurrection and assault on the federal government that sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election … which Trump lost to Joseph R. Biden Jr.

I say “astonished” not because I am surprised, but because I am overwhelmed by the gravity of what I now expect to happen.

Which is that Smith is going to indict Trump on a whole array of charges, which might include conspiracy to commit sedition, obstruction of justice and Lord knows what else.

Trump revealed over the weekend that he got a “target letter” from Smith, acknowledging that the special counsel has targeted the former president in his criminal probe.

Oh, brother.

What’s important to note there is that this case will not be tried by the same federal judge — Aileen Cannon — who is thought to favor Trump, who nominated her for the federal judgeship. It will fall onto the lap of another jurist. Cannon is presiding in south Florida over the case involving the classified documents — for which Trump has been indicted.

We are about to enter some mighty rough waters, ladies and gentlemen. Strap yourselves in.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com