Tag Archive for: trump indictment

Trump Moves To Dismiss 2020 Election Case Based On Presidential Immunity

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Former President Donald Trump moved Thursday to dismiss his 2020 election case based on presidential immunity.

Trump’s lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan to dismiss the indictment alleging he interfered in the 2020 election, arguing he is “he is absolutely immune from prosecution” because his actions were taken within the bounds of his office, according to the court document. They argue that the actions outlined in the indictment — making public statements, communicating with the Justice Department, state lawmakers and members of Congress about election related matters and organizing slates of electors — all fall within his official duties.

“Breaking 234 years of precedent, the incumbent administration has charged President Trump for acts that lie not just within the ‘outer perimeter,’ but at the heart of his official responsibilities as President,” his lawyers argue. “In doing so, the prosecution does not, and cannot, argue that President Trump’s efforts to ensure election integrity, and to advocate for the same, were outside the scope of his duties.”

His lawyers also argue that an indictment may only be brought after the President “has been impeached and convicted by trial in the Senate,” yet Trump was “acquitted by the Senate for the same course of conduct.”

Ignoring this immunity risks a “chilling effect” on the President’s decision-making abilities, the lawyers argue.

“American history teems with situations where the opposing party passionately contended that the President and his closest advisors were guilty of criminal behavior in carrying out their official duties—John Quincy Adams’ ‘corrupt bargain’ with Henry Clay provides a notable example,” they wrote. “In every such case, the outraged opposing party eventually took power, yet none ever brought criminal charges against the former President based on his exercise of official duties.”

Trump previously called on Chutkan to recuse from the case over remarks she made during sentencing hearings for two Jan. 6 defendants that allegedly suggested Trump should be prosecuted and imprisoned. Chutkan rejected his motion for her to recuse on Sept. 27.

AUTHOR

KATELYNN RICHARDSON

Contributor

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Trump Lawyer Says He’ll Use ‘Very Simple’ Strategy Of Pointing Out Jack Smith ‘Has The Entire Law … Wrong’

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An attorney for former President Donald Trump said Thursday that Trump’s defense will use a “very simple” strategy should charges over the 2020 election be brought to trial.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges during his Thursday arraignment after Special Counsel Jack Smith secured a four-count indictment of Trump relating to his efforts to contest the results of the 2020 election. Smith previously secured a 37-count indictment against Trump in June based on an investigation into allegations surrounding classified documents.

“The legal strategy in this case I think is very simple: You attack the facts that Jack Smith put out that are wrong for instance, Jack Smith claiming, as you already pointed out, that Donald Trump did anything other than call for peace and patriotism on January 6th is wrong,” attorney Jesse Binnall told Fox News host Jesse Watters Thursday evening. “And then you attack the law, because Jack Smith has the entire law in this case wrong, and more importantly, he is ignoring the Constitution of the United States.”

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“Here is how: The First Amendment gives you the right to speech, something that Jack Smith’s prosecutors are completely ignoring, but more than that, it also gives you the right to petition Congress for redress of grievances,” Binnall continued. “And in this case, when you are saying there was fraud in the election, there are problems in the election and we think you should seat electors X, instead of electors Y, that’s why the first petition clause clearly protects.”

Legal experts noted that much of the conduct Smith claimed was criminal in the indictment appeared to be protected by the First Amendment. Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz said that the indictment not only attacked the First Amendment, but also Trump’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel.

“Jack Smith is terrified that Donald Trump is going to be elected again because Jack Smith is actually the one terrified of democracy because democracy would bring accountability for him and quite honestly his out-of-control prosecutors in an out of control Justice Department,” Binnall added.

Trump’s top rivals for the Republican nomination for president in 2024, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, all condemned the indictment.

AUTHOR

HAROLD HUTCHISON

Reporter.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

If The Left Can Come After The President Of The United States, No One Is Safe

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“In reality, they’re not after me, they’re after you. I’m just in their way.”

Who can forget that meme President Trump posted to Twitter after his first impeachment? In any event, it stands as a reminder of just how hostile the left is to the American people in its desperate attempt to maintain political rule. Now, as President Donald Trump has been arrested and arraigned in New York City, we must consider the implications of his indictment, and what it means for the United States and the 2024 presidential election.

For all the criticisms of Donald Trump and his defects, one thing is certain: liberals fear him. No other man has posed such a threat to America’s ruling liberal ideology. Whether it was calling to impose tariffs, rebuild American manufacturing and industry, or reclaim any semblance of American political rights, Trump upset challenged Washington’s bipartisan orthodoxy. As for the indictment, there is no case against the former president. Even if he is guilty of all charges, that is not why New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the media and the political establishment are after him. After all, they have spent years accusing Trump of every scandal possible to bring him down for purely political reasons, without any regard for justice.

In 2016, when Trump was first elected, I was a middle school student. Like many my age, all I knew was that “Trump was bad” and “Trump was a criminal.” As his presidency went on, I watched attack after attack, culminating in the first criminal indictment of a president – a complete abuse of the American political process.

As for the current implications of these charges, the future is a lot less certain. If Trump is to be the next president of the United States, he must be extremely calculated. This is a different fight than any other election in American history. In the 2020 election, Republicans thought the Democrats had given their all against Trump. Now we know they were just getting started.

It is without doubt that these charges will damage Trump in the general election, especially as much of America is tiring of the former president. Ironically, these charges also may make him the strongest candidate for 2024, at least going off polling and donations.

I am generally skeptical of Trump’s and any other Republicans’ chances of winning, especially as many Americans will simply “vote blue no matter who” in fear of the consequences of speaking out against the left. Yet he appears to be the candidate who can at the moment present the best case to the American people. If the left is going after him this hard, it probably means he has something worth saying.

The political ramifications for you and me, however, are much more wide reaching. If the left can come after the president of the United States, no one else is safe. By even having just an “R” next to your name, you are a target and threat to the leftist agenda. It does not matter how much you try to ingratiate yourself with the left. The very fact that you believe Trump is not guilty or that he is right on some policy issues means that you are not in full compliance. In this way, they really are after you, and Trump is simply the first step in getting to you. Unless Trump can defy the odds and resolve the case, it is unlikely that he can muster retaking the White House.

The political fight is real, without doubt. The Democrats have shown their cards. I do not think it is worthwhile to overly inquire into their motives, or exactly what they have in mind for Trump. What is clear is that Trump is a threat, and this indictment is a way to halt his reelection in its tracks, especially as, according to a recent poll, a plurality of Americans support the indictment. Who are we as a conservative movement to abandon him, look the other way, or say nothing? Some may shrug their shoulders at all of this, but more needs to be done than statements. Whether we like it or not, we are all in this together now. If Trump goes down, we all do. If there is any hope for political change in this nation beyond the two-party binary in 2024 and beyond, it begins with standing up for President Trump in his legal case right now and using whatever modicum of political power we have left to make sure this cannot happen again.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.

AUTHOR

WILLIAM BENSON

William Benson is a writer who has been published in the Wall Street Journal, Lone Conservative, and The College Fix.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Tucker Carlson Says ‘There Is No Coming Back’ From Trump Indictment That ‘Suspended’ Rule Of Law

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Fox News host Tucker Carlson said that “there is no coming back” from the indictment of former President Donald Trump by a Manhattan grand jury Thursday, calling it a suspension of the rule of law.

“American politics was thrown into complete chaos perhaps permanently about three hours ago, when a grand jury in Manhattan, one of the most liberal cities in America, a place where 80% voted for Joe Biden, decided to indict Biden’s political opponent in the upcoming election, the Republican front runner, a man who leads by 30 points in polls, Donald Trump,” Carlson, a co-founder of the Daily Caller News Foundation, said. “The jury did this at the urging of a man called Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney who has been famous by making the city much more dangerous by refusing to enforce laws against crimes like robbery and rape.”

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg secured a grand jury indictment against Trump Thursday. The case centered around an alleged $130,000 payout to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, during Trump’s successful run for the White House.

“Now, we don’t know at this hour what the indictment says, we don’t know what the charges are, but previous news reports suggest they will emanate from an alleged payment seven years ago, a payment federal regulators said violated no law, but Alvin Bragg apparently believes is a crime,” Carlson continued. “Either way, the net result is Donald Trump is the first former President Trump of the United States ever to be indicted. So, no matter what happens next, we can be certain there is no coming back from this moment.”

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Republican presidential contenders and potential candidates condemned the indictment as “politically motivated” and “a dark moment in American history.” Republican elected officials, former officials and conservative media figures also ripped the indictment.

Carlson also listed other investigations which he had previously condemned as efforts to keep Trump from running for president.

“This indictment is something brand new, the beginning of something. It is also a culmination of something, the culmination of an effort to make certain, to make sure that Donald Trump is never elected president again. That was the whole purpose of the January 6th committee. So far, it is not working, Trump is leading the Republican field for the nomination by a wide margin,” Carlson said.

“As far as we know the DOJ is still investigating Donald Trump on another pretextual offense, supposedly storing classified documents at his home, something we later discovered that virtually everyone who has served in federal office does, including Mike Pence,” Carlson continued. “But take three steps back, pause for a minute and consider the escalation of tactics on display here. In 2016 The most powerful interest in this country decided that Donald Trump could not be president and in fact for the most part assumed that he would never be, which is too ridiculous to be real, but just to make sure he was never was, the FBI worked with the Clinton campaign to spread false allegations that the president had been colluding with the government of Russia.”

Carlson also noted the arrest of Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security advisor, as well as both times Trump was impeached.

“The rule of law appears to be suspended tonight, not just for Trump, but for anyone who would consider voting for him,” Carlson said, noting the storming of the Tennessee state house Thursday by protesters demanding gun control.

“What we’re seeing now is lawlessness,” Carlson added.

AUTHOR

HAROLD HUTCHISON

Reporter.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.