As of 6:45 PM EST Tuesday there has been no arrest. Evidentially, the Grand Jury didn’t convene today so no indictment could have been made by them. Given New York’s nearly hysterical reaction to Trump’s call for protests, did the DA decide to sit today out? I don’t know.
What’s being reported right now is that the grand jury will reconvene tomorrow and an indictment could come as soon as that, but at least one more witness is expected to testify so in reality, nothing is expected to happen until next week at the earliest.
Well, nothing other than a full scale media circus which is ongoing.
So, do I think Trump will be arrested? Assuming the NY DA isn’t a moron, then no, I don’t think so. However, that assumption is on shaky ground.
Full disclosure, I’m not an attorney and I don’t play one on TV. That said, I quite literally learned to read in law journals – lawyers in the 1970’s didn’t believe having in Redbook in their lobbies and my Mom was a legal secretary. I can use multi-prepositional prepositions with the best of them but that doesn’t make me a lawyer, thank the Lord!
Okay, and a couple degrees in Poli Sci with a bit of coursework in Constitutional Law on the side – glutton for punishment? Moi? Yeppers.
I have no real opinion on the New York case. I’ll read decisions all day and like it (never said I was normal). But reading legal briefs and court documents around a grand jury proceeding? No, not happening. I don’t have insomnia and no one needs that much boredom in their lives.
Accept attorneys and law professors which explains a lot if you think about it. Anywho. for the detailed and painful rundown Jonathan Turley and Alan Dershowitz are my go to guys. Also Viva Frei and Robert Barnes on YT are really good.
The short answer is I can’t do justice to their opinions without bad words, lots of them. They are pretty much all of the opinion that the case is crap – well, except probably Viva since he shies away from American law proper so I doubt he’s given a legal opinion and I’ve only seen his highlights. The ones I read, Turley and Dershowitz, are in agreement that the legal case is, in Turley’s words ‘pathetic’.
FYI: Turley and Dershowitz hail from the left side of the aisle. When lawyers on YOUR SIDE can’t justify what you’re putting in front of a jury, you have seriously messed up.
Although it may be politically popular, the case is legally pathetic. Bragg is struggling to twist state laws to effectively prosecute a federal case long ago rejected by the Justice Department against Trump over his payment of “hush money” to former stripper Stormy Daniels. In 2018 (yes, that is how long this theory has been around), I wrote how difficult such a federal case would be under existing election laws. Now, six years later, the same theory may be shoehorned into a state claim.
Jonathan Turley
Politically, the optics couldn’t get worse. Witch hunt, anyone? Tone deaf doesn’t begin to cover how idiotic the entire New York debacle is. As I recall, the Stormy Daniels matter predates Trump’s presidency although the publicity starts in the 2016 campaign days before the election. In other words, this is as old as dirt gets, politics wise.
New York State is attempting what the Federal government wouldn’t do – yeah, no one thinks THAT’S political. Wanna buy a bridge?
But Trump wasn’t arrested!
Not yet, that’s true. And the media will probably make hay out of that except for the guys who are still praying for an indictment. My guess is this finally goes down the dumpster it belongs in and New York pursues a new indictment regarding Trump ‘threatening’ the grand jury by calling for protests. Leftists are nothing if not persistent.
Seriously, did no one with brains show up for any of their meetings?
This whole spectacle does nothing but boost Trump and make New York look even more like its run by losers. Which it is – this ain’t cheap. The New York taxpayers probably don’t sleep better at night knowing that their DA is on a witch hunt with an impossible case spending their money like a drunk on Bourbon Street. I suspect they have a few other things they’d prefer the money be put towards.
Why New York wants to return to the 1980’s when it was known as the mugging capital is anyone’s guess. Giuliani is a bit old to run the city again let alone the state. The state is looking more and more like a stupid joke.
With no punchline.
It’s not like the Democrats have a chance in 2024. Biden is intent on running and they don’t actually have a good replacement even if he weren’t. Republicans are wising up and using the new, if idiotic, election rules to their advantage. I hate to underestimate the Republican ability to screw up but if they lose this one, they lose their party because no one will ever vote for anything that moronic again.
However, that wasn’t enough so the Dems are hollering ‘hold my beer!’ and continuing to make danged sure Trump is the top story in every newsfeed on Earth. A landslide loss isn’t good enough, the Dems want to totally self destruct.
At least the rational ones do. The rest are insane enough to think this crap wins them points with anything other than the most rabid parts of their base. I take this as more evidence of what I’ve long suspected: polling is too unreliable. These guys think they are playing to their base when I strongly suspect the majority of their base would like them to shut up about Trump and find a winning issue.
No, I don’t think this plays nearly as well in California and New York State as the Democrats seem to believe. Oh, sure, it makes the rabid leftist woke weirdoes happy but they aren’t that large of a group. The rest of the base is showing signs of disenchantment. Not a lot, I admit, but some.
To normal people and Trump’s base, this plays very poorly. Trump’s base sees it for what it is, a witch hunt. Normal people more likely see the whole thing as irrelevant. They would like the banks to stop collapsing and inflation to drop off.
Sticking Trump front and center of the news cycle only makes them remember that things were a lot better when he was president.
This keeps up and Trump will have to put the New York State DA on the campaign parole as his Public Relations manager. The guy is doing a great job so far.
For Trump, that is.
Update: DA postponed grand jury session 3/22/23
Below is the audio from the video that accompanies this blog. You can find it in the Links Section.
