The news so far this week (ending October 28, 2023) is not good for Donald J. Trump.  In the past several days, three attorneys have entered into plea bargain agreements with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in the Georgia Election Racketeering Investigation.  The first is Sidney Powell, who Trump announced shortly after the election of 2020^[1] was representing him. However, Mr. Trump is now stating that he never, in fact, hired her.  The second attorney who entered a plea was Kenneth Chesebro who worked as an outside advisor for the Trump relection campaign.  The most important of the three was attorney Jenna Ellis.  She is said to have been much more involved than Powell and Chesebro.  Before a plea is entered, a district attorney want to know whether the defendants can “bring something to the table” in terms of the prosecution.  Each of the defendants likely have documents, text messages and so forth that will help not only Ms Willis and her case but Special Counsel Jack Smith’s case as well.  It is remotely possible, but not assured, that further indictments might hypothetically follow against any of the defendants in the cases pending in the District of Columbia, Georgia, or Florida. Meanwhile, the former President feels the heat as the several trial dates approach.

Furthermore, at least two of the key defendants or potential witnesses are reported to be unable to pay past, present or future legal fees, which can easily run up to six or even seven figures in terms of dollars.  It’s possible that some additional defendants might agree to a plea to avoid running up additional costs that they cannot pay.  These costs are just beginning and do not account for the actual trial, motions or appeals.

Former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was reported by ABC News yesterday as having met with the Special Counsel on several occasions this year.  If Meadows were to be granted immunity or enter a plea in the DC federal case, any incriminating information gathered from that transaction could be useful in addition prosecution in the Atlanta case as Mr. Meadows was present on the infamous phone call^[2] to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R)

A good analogy to all of this is when someone is standing on a frozen pond or lake in the winter and the ice starts to crack beneath their feet.  I, personally, have been in such a situation as a child.  You immediately stop when you hear the ice splinter and you see the cracks appear.  What do you do?  How long can you remain still as the cracks progress?  Do you proceed?  Do you gingerly back up?  You realize very quickly that you are in danger.

Whenever DJT gets in trouble, he blames everyone.  He blames the media for reporting it, the witnesses for mentioning it, the people who were involved.  He never accepts personal responsibility.  What follows is a list of people who, with just a few exceptions are people he personally hired or promoted.  When their “honeymoon” with him ended, this is what he had to say:

• Former Chief Strategist Steve Bannon:  Mr. Trump called him “Sloppy Steve” after the publication of Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury, in which Bannon was extensively quoted. Bannon, Trump tweeted, “cried when he got fired and begged for his job.”   What’s more, the ex-President noted “When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind. … Steve pretends to be at war with the media, which he calls the opposition party, yet he spent his time at the White House leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was.”
• Former Attorney General Bill Barr: “This thing is a disgrace and virtually everybody other than a low life like Bill Barr — who I, as you know, I terminated because he was gutless, he wouldn’t do what you’re supposed to do . . .”  Also, “I called Bill Barr Dumb, Weak, Slow Moving, Lethargic, Gutless, and Lazy, a RINO WHO COULDN’T DO THE JOB…’
• Former White House National Security Adviser John Bolton:  “In an effort to discredit Bolton, Trump said that the Republican hawk “begged” him for a “non-Senate approved job, which I gave him despite many saying ‘Don’t do it, sir.’” Trump added that if he had listened to Bolton, the United States would be “in World War Six by now.”
• Former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao: Trump now refers to her as “China-loving wife, Coco Chow.”  Mrs. Chao is the wife of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
• Former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats:  “I’m so disappointed that Dan Coats didn’t do his job … Dan Coats was a big mistake.”
• Former FBI Director James B. Comey: “You know that. It took a lot of guts. I really disagreed with him. I was not his fan . . .” 
• Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper: “Mark Esper was weak and totally ineffective and, because of it, I had to run the military.”  Also, “Mark Esper was a stiff who was desperate not to lose his job. He would do anything I wanted, that’s why I call him ‘Yesper.’”
• Former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley: “Birdbrain” has “No loyalty, plenty of lies!” 
• Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly: A “lowlife with a very small brain and a very big mouth.” Also, “by far the dumbest of my military people … incapable of doing a good job” Finally, “It was too much for him, and I couldn’t stand the guy, so I fired him like a ‘dog’,” 
• Former Defense Secretary James Mattis: “the world’s most overrated general” 
• Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows: On whether Meadows is among those seeking a plea bargain or immunity with Special Counsel:   “I don’t think that Mark Meadows is one of them, but who really knows?”   More to follow?
• Former White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney:  “A born loser.”
• Former Vice-President Mike Pence: “WOW, it’s finally happened! Liddle’ Mike Pence, a man who was about to be ousted as Governor Indiana until I came along and made him V.P., has gone to the Dark Side,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “He’s delusional, and now he wants to show he’s a tough guy.”
• Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley: “This guy turned out to be a Woke train wreck who, if the Fake News reporting is correct, was actually dealing with China to give them a heads up on the thinking of the President of the United States. This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!” 
• Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci: Trump said  Scaramucci is “totally incapable” and “a highly unstable ‘nut job.’”
• Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions:  Trump called Sessions’s Justice Department a “total joke” and suggested that the attorney general didn’t understand what was happening there. He’s reportedly called Sessions “mentally retarded,” “a dumb southerner,” and “Mr. Magoo,” though Trump denied saying any of these.
• Former Secretary of State Rex Tillotson: The once-brilliant Tillerson was suddenly “dumb as a rock” and “lazy as hell.”

If these people are so worthless, why did Donald Trump hire them in the first place?

On Biden, Trump and justice

Today, the new Speaker of the House of Representatives inferred that he will allow the impeachment investigation of President Biden to go forward. I personally support this. We should not tolerate a President who breakes the law, whether it is Joe Biden or Donald Trump. And we can’t know if either of these two gentlemen have broken the law without an investigation. A defendant who has been falsely accused should welcome his day in court.

Donald Trump (aka John Barron, John Miller and David Dennison, names which he’s used in days past) is having trouble dealing with his many legal issues. This is not unusual for a narcissist who refuses to accept the blame or personal responsibility for anything at all. Judge Tanya Chutkan says:

“Mr Trump is a criminal defendant. He is facing four felong charges. He is under the supervision of the criminal justice system and must follow his conditions of release…He does not have the right to say and do exactly what he pleases…”

You can imagine a plate of spagetti hitting the private dining room wall in the West Wing of the White House when she said those words. Or, when New York Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Ivanka Trump to appear in person next week in his courtroom. Picture a few more cracks appearing in the ice. If she perjures herself for her father’s sake, she may go to jail (remember, the prosecution may already know the truth to whatever questions they ask her.) On the other hand, if she answers truthfully and implicates her father in an illegal venture, then that won’t go well either.

While Mr. Trump may be able to get the majority of republicans in Congress to do his bidding, he is slowly but surely finding out that the judiciary is another matter. When his appointee Judge Aileen Cannon let him have his way on the classified documents scandal, she was chastised by her peers in the federal court system. She may not be as accommodating this time around.

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^[1] “I look forward to Mayor Giuliani spearheading the legal effort to defend OUR RIGHT to FREE and FAIR ELECTIONS! Rudy Giuliani, Joseph diGenova, Victoria Toensing, Sidney Powell, and Jenna Ellis, a truly great team, added to our other wonderful lawyers and representatives!

10:11 PM · Nov 14, 2020”

^[2] https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/03/politics/trump-brad-raffensperger-phone-call-transcript/index.html