It’s going to get much darker and more ridiculous, before it begins to get better. But it is not “The End”, despite a suggestion of same here and there throughout today’s BradCast. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]
Among our coverage today…
U.S. House race updates from California where, this week so far, one seat has flipped from “red” to “blue”, another that had been expected to turn “red” will likely stay in Dems hands (the seat formerly held by Democratic Rep. Katie Porter), and another longtime “red” seat (since 1980!) appears on the verge of flipping to Democrats. Even so, as of airtime, Republicans are now just one seat away from narrowly winning majority control of the lower chamber of Congress.
Donald Trump lost his first political battle with his upcoming Republican U.S. Senate Majority on Wednesday morning, as South Dakota Sen. John Thune, a Mitch McConnell deputy, was selected by the Caucus as its new Majority Leader. MAGA enemy McConnell is set to retire and Florida Sen. Rick Scott, loudly lobbied for by MAGA, was defeated in the contest to replace him.
Another wave of stooges, corporatists and/or unqualified buffoons were named for key Trump Admin roles since yesterday’s program. And the latest wave includes some real humdingers!…
- ‘The Ultimate Corruption’: Richest-man-in-the-world and major government contractor Elon Musk and failed GOP Presidential nominee Vivek Ramaswamy were named to head up the “Dept. of Government Efficiency” (DOGE! Get it?), even though, as AP notes there is no such government agency.
- ‘Who the f–k is this guy?’: Trump’s nomination of Fox “News” weekend host and former National Guard major Pete Hegseth‘s nomination for Defense Secretary — to oversee an $800 billion annual budget and nearly three million troops and civilian employees — stuns the military world.
- A Gift for Vlad: With no experience at all in the field, jilted Democratic Congresswoman/Presidential nominee turned Republican Putin propagandist and Trump fan Tulsi Gabbard is named to be the next Director of National Intelligence.
- ‘Uniquely Awful’: Florida Congressman and MAGA insurrection supporter Matt Gaetz, long investigated for the alleged sex trafficking of minors, is named to be Trump’s U.S. Attorney General.
Then, we’re joined by longtime national security and accountability journalist MARCY WHEELER of Emptywheel, to walk through the post-election status of the four different criminal felony indictments (and 34 convictions) of the incoming President of the United States.
Donald Trump’s cases at the federal level — for stealing national security documents and inciting the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Government as one of several failed attempts to steal the 2020 election — will now, most likely, just go away. Though Special Counsel Jack Smith is reportedly putting together final reports in those cases for potential release in advance of Trump taking office.
“The cases are going to end, but I suspect Jack Smith was already thinking about what he would do if Trump won, and the way in which to leave the best record available,” Wheeler tells me, suggesting that he may do it soon enough that there could be public hearings on those indictments in the U.S. Senate, while Dems are still in majority control.
The two cases at the state level — in New York, where he was convicted on 34 felony counts of fraud related to hush-money payments to help him win the 2016 election, and in Georgia, for trying to steal the 2020 election — are a bit more complicated. It’s less clear what will happen next in both cases, as sentencing is currently pending in NY and appeals are continue in GA where Trump’s 18 co-conspirators, including his disgraced lawyer Rudy Giuliani and former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, may be tried without him.
We also discuss what happens to Trump’s civil verdicts where he was found liable for $355 million for fraud in New York, and for $90 million in the E. Jean Carroll sexual assault case.
Wheeler also discusses the pending fraud charges against Trump buddy Steve Bannon; the outrageous nomination of Matt Gaetz as Attorney General (“All of these Jan 6ers are going to be released, probably including the seditionists.”); whether A.G. Merrick Garland could have done anything to bring any case against Trump to a trial, much less a conclusion, before this year’s election; and how “the Republican Party, as a whole, has decided that they do not believe in rule of law anymore”…
(Snail mail support to “Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028” always welcome too!)
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I haven’t yet listened to the podcast, but just as a general principle, with Trump v US now the law of the land, I don’t see how any of the prosecutions or lawsuits can stand. And, if Trump’s actions are protected by his official immunity, then surely that makes all the actions anyone did following his orders also protected by official immunity.
After I listen to the podcast, if you and Marcy Wheeler have addressed this issue, I will come back and at least revise and extend my remarks, if not recant.
Glen @1:
Trump v. US would not, in general, affect the state cases in NY and GA, other than perhaps any evidence introduced in the case that came from “official acts” of the President. For example, Hope Hicks’ trial testimony about Trump’s meeting with Michael Cohen in the Oval Office.
If Judge Merchan decides that testimony was de minimus to the ultimate verdict by the jury, the case (and sentencing) could move forward.
The fact that Trump was elected again is a separate matter, and could serve to stop or defer the case in various ways in NY.
In GA, the case could move forward without Trump as a defendant (or with his trial deferred until after he’s out of office.)
Your argument that “all the actions anyone did following his orders also protected by official immunity” is leaning WAY ahead of Trump v. US.
Our corrupted SCOTUS may decide that in the future. But it is no where to be found in Trump v. U.S. at this time.