2020 Election: Predictions, Results and Reactions

[N.E. Brigand]

I am very pleased to see that Judge Beryl Howell is not letting Guiliani get away with his bullshit stipulation without clarifying exactly what it means ...

Speaking of Rudy Giuliani:

"A veteran FBI agent told Congress that investigations into Giuliani and other Trump allies were 'suppressed''" (Business Insider).

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Also speaking of Giuliani, the "superseding stipulation" that he filed doesn't appear to be any clearer than the first one.

Kyle Cheney
@kyledcheney
JUST IN: In response to Judge Howell’s order that he clarify precisely what he’s admitting, Rudy Giuliani has gone from a 4 paragraph stipulation to a 6 paragraph one that isn’t any easier to parse.

And, as Roger Parloff points out, the signatures are different.



Marcy Wheeler chimes in about the signatures as well, pointing out that it was the one on the first stipulation that appears to be the outlier.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I split the Georgia case to a new thread.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

This is how the Speedy Trial Act is supposed to work.

[N.E. Brigand]

I wonder why the Dept. of Justice dropped the ball there.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I checked the docket to see what they had to say for themselves. This appears to be the key paragraph in their opposition to the motion to dismiss.

Loganbill pins his entire analysis on a single provision of the STA, 18 U.S.C. §
3161(h)(1)(H). That provision excludes “delay reasonably attributable to any period, not to exceed
30 days, during which any proceeding concerning the defendant is actually under advisement by
the court.” Although accurate in some respects, Loganbill’s analysis ultimately fails for the
following reasons. First, and as explained below, he miscalculates the period when his motions
were excluding time because they were under advisement by this Court. Second, even when his
miscalculation is corrected, Loganbill’s argument can succeed only if no other exclusions apply.
Finally, Loganbill overlooks another pending motion that stopped the STA clock under a different
provision of the STA. Accordingly, this Court can and should reject his calculations and his claim
of an STA violation.

His attorney replied:

The
government’s Opposition lays bare that it has no valid argument that a trial past July
10, 2023, would not violate the STA. First, the government essentially argues that
because Magistrate Judge Harvey has not yet determined whether recoupment of
costs for court-appointed counsel is warranted and he will not make that
determination until the end of the case, the Speedy Trial Act is tolled indefinitely.
The government’s argument on this point is so strained and nonsensical that it
exposes the weakness in the government’s position. Second, the government is
incorrect when it argues that the Court may exclude time “nunc pro tunc.” Finally,
the government argues that if the Court finds dismissal is warranted, the Indictment
should be dismissed without prejudice. The government made the decision to indict
Mr. Loganbill (along with hundreds of other January 6 defendants) long before it was
ready for trial and for two years, it represented that a misdemeanor resolution could
be appropriate, which caused Mr. Loganbill to agree to the exclusion of time. The
Court should not sanction the government’s machinations here and should dismiss
the Indictment with prejudice.

ABJ obviously agreed (except about dismissing with prejudice), and it is another example that shows that the DC court is interested in applying justice, rather than being out to get MAGAs.

I suppose it is possible that the government could refile against him, but I doubt they will.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[N.E. Brigand]

This piece by Mark Joseph Stern in Slate is about a ruling from last week:

"The Surprise Ruling That Tosses a Grenade Into the Jan. 6 Prosecutions."

A D.C. Circuit Appeals Court panel ruled 2-1 that certain January 6th offenses could be punished by prison time or probation but not both.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Thanks; I had not seen that. I just read through the opinions, and I find the dissent by Judge Wilkins considerably more persuasive than the majority opinion by Judge Walker. I suspect that the DoJ will seek review by the full circuit before trying to appeal to the Supreme Court.

[N.E. Brigand]

Some news from here in northeast Ohio: "Local attorney charged with voter fraud in 2020, 2022 elections."

The attorney, who lives in Shaker Heights, voted twice each year: first in Ohio, then in Florida.

He's a Trump supporter.

Update: Shaker Heights attorney who supported Trump jailed for felony voter fraud" (cleveland.com).

The prosecutor says, however, that this is the first case in several years in Cuyahoga County in which someone voted twice. It remains a rare crime.

[N.E. Brigand]

Matt Schlapp.

Defended Ken Paxton today: "If you stand up to the whacko [sic] left you will be corruptly prosecuted."

Schlapp has been accused of sexual and financial misconduct.

Paxton has been impeached in part for abusing his official powers to enable an extramarital affair.

And as I had already forgotten: 121+23+2+3=149, so where was the 150th House member? That was Bryan Slaton, who resigned (after a committee recommended his expulsion) for getting his 19-year-old intern drunk and having sex with her.

Matt Schlapp? Crossing the streams a bit with this one.

[N.E. Brigand]

Matt Schlapp.

Defended Ken Paxton today: "If you stand up to the whacko [sic] left you will be corruptly prosecuted."

Schlapp has been accused of sexual and financial misconduct.

Paxton has been impeached in part for abusing his official powers to enable an extramarital affair.

And as I had already forgotten: 121+23+2+3=149, so where was the 150th House member? That was Bryan Slaton, who resigned (after a committee recommended his expulsion) for getting his 19-year-old intern drunk and having sex with her.

Matt Schlapp? Crossing the streams a bit with this one.

Matt. Schlapp. One day after CPAC's vice chair Charlie Gerow resigned amidst new calls for the organization to investigate its leader Schlapp, the Washington Post reports that besides the lawsuit filed against Schlapp by a Herschel Walker campaign staffer who alleges that Schlapp groped him, "some CPAC board members and staffers have been told about other incidents involving Schlapp, 55, and two younger men, multiple people with direct knowledge of the situation said ... In one incident, a staffer said Schlapp attempted to kiss him while drinking late after a work function in 2017. The staffer also provided documentation from that night ... showing physical contact that the staffer said was unsolicited."

[N.E. Brigand]

The Dept. of Justice continues to arrest new defendants for their actions at the Capitol on Jan. 6th. This time, it's a Missouri man named Joseph Kerry Hicks, who is apparently associated with the "Three Percenters" militia. He was first interviewed by the FBI in June 2021. He's now been charged on five counts.

[N.E. Brigand]

Matt Schlapp.

Defended Ken Paxton today: "If you stand up to the whacko [sic] left you will be corruptly prosecuted."

Schlapp has been accused of sexual and financial misconduct.

Paxton has been impeached in part for abusing his official powers to enable an extramarital affair.

And as I had already forgotten: 121+23+2+3=149, so where was the 150th House member? That was Bryan Slaton, who resigned (after a committee recommended his expulsion) for getting his 19-year-old intern drunk and having sex with her.

Matt Schlapp? Crossing the streams a bit with this one.

Matt. Schlapp. One day after CPAC's vice chair Charlie Gerow resigned amidst new calls for the organization to investigate its leader Schlapp, the Washington Post reports that besides the lawsuit filed against Schlapp by a Herschel Walker campaign staffer who alleges that Schlapp groped him, "some CPAC board members and staffers have been told about other incidents involving Schlapp, 55, and two younger men, multiple people with direct knowledge of the situation said ... In one incident, a staffer said Schlapp attempted to kiss him while drinking late after a work function in 2017. The staffer also provided documentation from that night ... showing physical contact that the staffer said was unsolicited."

Per new reporting in the Daily Beast, Matt Schlapp tried to settle the suite against him by a Herschel Walker campaign staffer, but his offer was rejected.

[N.E. Brigand]

Judge Kelly is spending a lot of time* explaining that the jury was reasonable when it found a number of Proud Boys guilty of seditious conspiracy and other charges.

(As was also the case during the trial, I'm impressed by how much information about today's hearing Brandi Buchman is getting into her tweets.)

Somehow I'd never heard the term "Pinkerton liability" before, although the concept is quite familiar.

*Edit: It was another 20 minutes after I posted, and probably close to 90 minutes in all, before the judge finished and said he was denying all Rule 29 motions.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

(As was also the case during the trial, I'm impressed by how much information about today's hearing Brandi Buchman is getting into her tweets.)

She did a great job with the hearing yesterday in front of Judge Chutkan. She and Roger Parloff are the best at live-tweeting legal events. (And Roger is on vacation this week so he is not covering the sentencing, despite being a constant presence during the trial.)

[N.E. Brigand]

Jan. 6th defendant Brandon Fellows, representing himself in court, made an ass of himself and, while he's awaiting the jury's verdict, was found in contempt and sentenced to five months in jail by Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee who has generally issued light sentences in Jan. 6th cases.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I was just coming here to post about that. Really remarkable.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

1. The sentencing hearings for Proud Boys leaders Enrique Tario and Ethan Nordean, which had been scheduled for today, have bee rescheduled for Sept. 1 (Nordean) and September 5 (Tario) because Judge Kelly is sick.



2. The contempt of Congress trial of Peter Navarro WILL begin on September 5, despite his repeated attempts to postpone it. Judge Mehta ruled that there was no formal invocation of executive privilege for Trump aide Peter Navarro with Jan. 6 committee, and there was no authorization to Navarro to invoke on Trump’s behalf.




3. Last but certainly not least, Judge Howell has found Guiliani in default and therefore liable in the defamation case brought against him by Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss. There will be a trial solely on the issue of how much damages he owes them, including punitive damages.

[N.E. Brigand]

3. Last but certainly not least, Judge Howell has found Guiliani in default and therefore liable in the defamation case brought against him by Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss. There will be a trial solely on the issue of how much damages he owes them, including punitive damages.

Rudy Giuliani had to know this was a possible outcome, which means that he believes what he did in 2020-2021 is so bad that he was willing to lose this case and be found liable for potentially millions of dollars in damages to keep the truth from getting out. What on earth is he covering up?