USA 2024 Elections Thread

[grarpamp]

"No Notification": Trump Team Walks Back Indictment Prediction,
Promotes 'Reelection' Rally Instead

Update (1315ET): The Washington Post reports that Trump spokesman
Steven Cheung said Saturday morning there had been no “notification”
of an indictment and said Trump’s supporters should attend a rally he
is holding next week in Texas for his 2024 reelection.

Susan Necheles, a lawyer for Trump, said his remark about the timing
of his arrest was gleaned from media reports on Friday about local and
federal law enforcement players expecting to convene early next week
to discuss security and logistics related to Trump’s expected
indictment.

    “Since this is a political prosecution, the District Attorney’s
office has engaged in a practice of leaking everything to the press,
rather than communication with President Trump’s attorneys as would be
done in a normal case,” Necheles said in a statement.

*  *  *

As the banking crisis and the Hunter Biden laptop scandal continues to
unfold, the potential indictment of former President Trump on felony
falsification charges could be the only headline that really matters
next week.

Fox News anchor John Roberts informed viewers on Friday afternoon that
the Manhattan District Attorney's Office has requested a "meeting with
law enforcement ahead of a potential Trump indictment." He said, "to
discuss logistics for some time next week, which would mean that they
are anticipating an indictment next week."

    "Same sources familiar with the planning said they will go over
security preparations in and around the courthouse in lower Manhattan.
Secret Service will take the lead in what they will allow or will not
allow, the source cautioned, mentioning, for instance, that the
decision to handcuff the president, the former president, or not, they
will set the tone and will escort him into the courtroom," Roberts
continued.

    “We are learning that the Manhattan DA office has asked for a
meeting with law enforcement ahead of a potential Trump indictment.
The meeting is to discuss logistics for some time next week which
would mean they are anticipating an indictment next week”
pic.twitter.com/IkbM46Naoe
    — Acyn (@Acyn) March 17, 2023

Trump's lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, told AP News that if the former
president is indicted, "we will follow the normal procedures."

If Trump is charged with felony falsification of business records, he
would be forced to surrender to New York authorities and make an
appearance in a Manhattan courthouse. The former president allegedly
coordinated a transfer of $130,000 to pornstar Stormy Daniels through
former attorney Michael Cohen.

    "The payments were made to a lawyer, not to Stormy Daniels. The
payments were made to Donald Trump's lawyer, which would be considered
legal fees," the lawyer told MSNBC earlier this week, adding that
Cohen "was his lawyer at the time and advised him that this was the
proper way to do this to protect himself and his family from
embarrassment. It's as simple as that. That is not a crime."

According to New York Daily News, the Manhattan District Attorney's
office held meetings with several law enforcement agencies to discuss
security concerns ahead of a possible indictment.

And if Trump is charged next week, he might as well kick off his
presidential campaign -- would be a hell of a way to start.

    If this happens, Trump will be re-elected in a landslide victory
    — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 18, 2023

    Hard to imagine a prosecutor engaging in more egregious election
interference than indicting a presidential candidate (and former
president) on a charge so vague and petty, no reasonable person would
think it’s a crime *of any kind*
    — Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) March 18, 2023

It is possible that a PR campaign is underway to divert the attention
of the American public from banking failures and the Biden family.

Trump will most likely be in the spotlight next week. On Saturday
morning, he wrote this on Truth Social:

What exactly is Trump suggesting his followers do? Those last few
words seem to play right into Democrats' narratives.

... and forget about those regional banks and Hunter Biden headlines
next week. It might be all about Trump.

*    *    *

Here's more on next week via submission by 'BlueApples,'

Apparently, arrest warrants for populist politicians are en vogue
right now. On the same day that the International Criminal Court
("ICC") announced the issuance of an arrest warrant for Russian
Federation President Vladimir Putin, reports out of New York suggest
the same fate is forthcoming for former president Donald J. Trump.
Local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies met with security
agencies concerning the logistical preparations necessary to handle
Trump's arrest. That preparation is in anticipation of an indictment
against Trump from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for felony
charges of falsification of business records, according to NBC News.

The crux of the charges stems back to Trump's handling of the Stormy
Daniels saga that enveloped his 2016 presidential campaign. According
to Trump's attorney, Joe Tacopina, the former president is not guilty
of the presumably impending charges. In Trump's defense, Tacopina
shifted the blame to Michael Cohen hose cooperation with the Manhattan
District Attorney's office has accelerated its action against Trump.
Under Cohen's directive, Trump authorized a payment to Daniel's that
the Manhattan District Attorney's Office contends was falsely
categorized as a legal fee when Trump reimbursed Cohen for it. The
potential charges coming from the Manhattan district attorney's office
are a near carbon copy of the federal charge Cohen pleaded guilty to
in 2018 concerning the $130,000 payment Trump made to Daniels in the
11th hour of his 2016 campaign.

According to Cohen, the directive to issue the payment came directly
from Trump. Cohen categorized the order from Trump for the purpose of
influencing the 2016 Presidential Election. Cohen contended that the
payments to Daniels were made by him directly and that Trump
reimbursed him for the $130,000, a transaction that was itemized as a
legal fee by Trump's company. Cohen testified to a grand jury for a
second time preceding the emergence of reports about a potential
indictment of Trump. President Trump declined to appear before the
same grand jury Cohen testified to earlier this week following an
invitation from the District Attorney's Office.

Despite not testifying before the grand jury, Tacopina has addressed
the probe behind the looming charges against Trump. "We are not
convinced they will bring a case, but if so we will deal with it,"
Tacopina said in the wake of the Manhattan District Attorney's office
extending an invitation to Trump to testify before the grand jury.
Trump himself categorized the probe as a "Scam, Injustice, Mockery,
and Complete and Total Weaponization of Law Enforcement in order to
affect a Presidential Election!" in a post made on his social media
platform Truth Social. Cohen's appearance before the same grand jury
came following over 20 meetings with prosecutors.

Potential charges from Manhattan's District Attorney would come at a
time where Trump is already under the scrutiny of Justice Department
Special Counsel Jack Smith. The Special Counsel's probe into Trump
envelopes the former president's role in the events of January 6th,
2021 as well as his handling of the classified documents at the core
of the FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago.

Like that FBI raid, Trump is sure to capitalize on any charges coming
out of Manhattan to fortify the narrative of his 2024 presidential
campaign. Like in 2016, Trump has repeatedly framed himself as an
anti-establishment candidate despite any record substantiating that
claim accrued during his time in office. The FBI raid of Mar-a-lago,
coupled with charges that he may be indicted on next week, will surely
be categorized as evidence of a political witch hunt against him, just
as he has described the Russiagate narrative that emerged following
his initial election in 2016.

As reports suggest, the gravity of that continued persecution of Trump
is not lost upon the NYPD, New York State Court Officers, the U.S.
Secret Service, the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, and the
Manhattan District Attorney's Office. The law enforcement and security
consortium all met to discuss how booking Trump under any charges
would be handled. However, sources reporting these deliberations have
indicated that the meeting has yet to take place but that the Secret
Service would have over-arching authority on the handling of any
indictment.

If the Manhattan District Attorney's Office does indeed move forward,
it will mark the second high-profile case it has engaged in against
Trump. In December 2022, the Trump Organization was convicted on
charges of tax fraud and falsifying business records. Though Trump
himself was not a defendant in that case, former CFO Allen Weisselberg
eventually plead guilty to 15 felony charges.

Trump's attorney Joseph Tacopina breathed life into the reality of
similar felony charges against the former president by conveying that
his client would follow normal booking procedures if he was indicted,
according to CNBC. While falsification of business records can be
charged as a misdemeanor in New York State, Manhattan District
Attorney Alvin Bragg has elected to modify the charges as a felony.
The same federal officials who charged Cohen decided against pursuing
similar charges against Trump.

Despite any charges against being exalted as an immense victory
against Trump by his opposition, any indictment doesn't appear to
dissuade him from his 2024 campaign. In discussing potential federal
charges regarding his possession of classified documents, Trump
assured his supporters that his commitment to running for election
would remain unfettered. Trump told James Rosen of Newsmax that he
would run for president regardless of any charges levied against him.

    BREAKING: @realDonaldTrump told me @CPAC just now that he will
stay in the race for the @WhiteHouse even if he is indicted in one or
more of the pending criminal investigations into his activities. Watch
@NEWSMAX to see the video.
    — James Rosen (@JamesRosenTV) March 4, 2023

Trump's incorrigible defiance in the face of looming charges against
him serves as the pathological pillar of his 2024 campaign, assured to
revitalize the devout allegiance to him that may have been fractured
by the emergence of the likes of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as a
competitor for the Republican Party's nomination in the next
presidential election. Knowing the poignancy of how an indictment
could reaffirm the belief that Trump is the victim of a continued
political witch hunt, the decision by Bragg may eventually become an
example of cutting one's nose off to spite its face. Even if a
conviction or guilty plea were to come from any felony charges, that
may prove to be little more than a Pyrrhic victory for Trump's
opposition as it may stoke the same support that led to his election
in 2016. In the end, that hubris could lead to the establishment's
demise once again as the Democratic Party struggles to put forward a
worthy opponent for 2024.