What the January 6 committee’s criminal referral means for Trump.

December 19, 2022 12:33 PM

The House January 6 committee voted on Monday to recommend that the Justice Department pursue criminal charges against former President Donald Trump over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election that culminated in the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Video of the final meeting of the committee, 12/19/22

posted by team lowkey (75 comments total)

Crossing fingers that the DoJ acts on its responsibilities.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 12:35 PM on December 19, 2022 [20 favorites]

surely this
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 12:38 PM on December 19, 2022 [82 favorites]

He could always flee to St. Petersburg. Russia, that is.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 12:42 PM on December 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

This needs to happen. Please don't wuss out, Justice Department.
posted by oneirodynia at 12:47 PM on December 19, 2022 [10 favorites]

Because being the only president impeached twice hasn't stopped him. Nor has all the other unprecedentedly bad optics of.....[waves hand]...everything else associated with his personal life and his presidency.

I sometimes worry that Trump's opponents are too obsessed with making their case so that history will come to pass judgement. But it's not enough that someone a hundred years from now decides to put Trump ahead of Warren G. Harding at the top of some listicle of "Worst Presidents Ever". Something has to happen now. That fucking guy and everyone around him needs to held responsible now.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 12:49 PM on December 19, 2022 [54 favorites]

Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon: "He could always flee to St. Petersburg. Russia, that is."

I'm genuinely surprised he didn't do so right after leaving office.
posted by adamrice at 12:52 PM on December 19, 2022 [5 favorites]

It's also clear that Republicans are going to go ahead with their sham investigations. They're going to try and debase all the hard work the January 6th Committee has done by staging their own spectacle around hearings related to Hunter Biden, Faucci, etc. It doesn't matter that there's no there there. The GOP is going to try their hardest to bend the media into retconing today's significant conclusion into just politics as usual because it's the only move they have left to make.

And actual indictments would hopefully raise the stakes and make it more difficult to engage in this kind of behavior.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 12:56 PM on December 19, 2022 [38 favorites]

We all know that DOJ has been working on their own stuff in parallel and this non-binding recommendation should pretty much be moot from Garland's point-of-view, unless there's some testimony in there somewhere that can be used to bolster the case somewhere down the line.

My one long-shot hope is that if DOJ was going for an arrest of Trump that they'd do it right around Christmas. Not for any symbolic reasons but more because the holiday week would be a huge dragchute on any kind of spontaneous travel activity from his supporters to DC or elsewhere.
posted by JoeZydeco at 12:59 PM on December 19, 2022 [10 favorites]

maybe get Elon Musk to do a Twitter pole, find out how people are feeling about it all.
posted by philip-random at 1:08 PM on December 19, 2022 [14 favorites]

get Elon Musk to do a Twitter pole

Now that is an image I can't get out of my head.
posted by gurple at 1:18 PM on December 19, 2022 [56 favorites]

> What the January 6 committee’s criminal referral means for Trump.

His hands.
posted by dumbland at 1:32 PM on December 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

He could always flee to St. Petersburg. Russia, that is.

My money has always been on a Middle East oil kingdom, one without extradition to the US.
posted by slogger at 1:37 PM on December 19, 2022 [3 favorites]

"It doesn't matter that there's no there there. The GOP is going to try their hardest to bend the media into retconing today's significant conclusion into just politics as usual because it's the only move they have left to make."

It's not even that, really. They do the sham hearings because it gives their base new crap to parrot out and a new set of beliefs. It's just another "Benghazi!" for the MAGA faithful to shout because they need something new after a while.

But it's not an attempt to persuade or engage in a real conversation. It's just grist for the mill. The mistake is that the media and everybody else continues to treat these things like a legitimate "other side" and not a group bent on destroying representative government in this country.
posted by jzb at 1:40 PM on December 19, 2022 [22 favorites]

Like the part of the Festivus Pole that's cut off and thrown out.
posted by sammyo at 1:45 PM on December 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

The summary of the committee's report (PDF, 154 pages) was released today, with the full report expected on Wednesday.
posted by ltl at 2:07 PM on December 19, 2022 [3 favorites]

I know everyone's super excited to see the Con Man in Chief get his come-uppance, but there are so many house members (Perry, Biggs, Gosar, etc.) that should have criminal referrals as well, given their explicit support of blocking the transfer of power. Beyond probably John Eastman and maybe that clown AG wannabe Clark, I bet we see nothing else. Girded for disappointment on those fronts.
posted by mcstayinskool at 2:09 PM on December 19, 2022 [5 favorites]

I find it hard to think of the referral as anything more than a bunch of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

It's little more than a hope on the part of the committee that the DOJ will step up and do the right thing. And so far all DOJ has done is delay, delay, head fake, wait a while, and then delay some more.
posted by Frayed Knot at 2:16 PM on December 19, 2022 [9 favorites]

I have a bet with a friend; if nothing happens to Trump, nothing happens with the bet. If he actually gets indicted, I buy him a two-litre bottle of Dr. Pepper. If he gets convicted, I'll buy him a six-pack of those bottles. If he actually goes to prison, I'll go to Costco and buy an entire pallet of the stuff.

I don't expect to have to pay out, but I'd be delighted to lose.
posted by The Card Cheat at 2:31 PM on December 19, 2022 [46 favorites]

My one long-shot hope is that if DOJ was going for an arrest of Trump that they'd do it right around Christmas. Not for any symbolic reasons but more because the holiday week would be a huge dragchute on any kind of spontaneous travel activity from his supporters to DC or elsewhere.

Also it's what I asked Santa Claus for.
posted by mmoncur at 2:45 PM on December 19, 2022 [12 favorites]

Let's get to the part where everyone involved goes to jail, including the seditionists in Congress, the USSS, the military coordinators, the lawyers, the State representatives, SCOTUS collaborators...all of them.

If we're serious about this thing, Republicans won't be in control of anything next year. Congress will be absent some Representatives, and at least 2 Senators.

Do Democrats have the power and the backing for this? I don't know. Their milquetoast approach to even this completely toothless referral seems like they don't really want to punch Nazis and crush the fascist rebellion.

It would be great to be proven wrong by a Michael Corleone style settling of all America's business.
posted by Chuffy at 2:59 PM on December 19, 2022 [15 favorites]

So the four House members referred to the House Ethics Committee are Kevin McCarthy, Scott Perry, Jim Jordan, and Andy Biggs. [Politico]

"The panel referred the lawmakers for a review by the bipartisan House Ethics Committee, which is seen as unlikely to take action against the members. The ethics panel declined to comment."

That'll show 'em! No way any of them recovers from a sternly worded letter and some threats of being told they were naughty.
posted by Chuffy at 3:04 PM on December 19, 2022 [12 favorites]

>If he actually goes to prison, I'll go to Costco and buy an entire pallet of the stuff.

Believe me buddy, we are all rooting for the Dr Pepper jacuzzi.
posted by Catblack at 3:29 PM on December 19, 2022 [46 favorites]

CNN: The committee referred Trump to the DOJ on at least four criminal charges, including:

- Obstructing an official proceeding
- Defrauding the United States
- Making false statements
- Assisting or aiding an insurrection

The panel said in its executive summary that it had evidence of possible charges of conspiring to injure or impede an officer and seditious conspiracy.

The committee alluded to evidence of criminal obstruction of the House investigation but the summary does not go into detail about that evidence.
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:44 PM on December 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

Trump's fundraising emails have totally vanished the past few days.
I wonder if he neglected to pay his Mailchimp bill?
posted by ackptui at 3:44 PM on December 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

as I once heard a World War Two refugee put it, the time to flee is always before you really must free.

I've said it previously. I'll probably say it again. The reality show I'm looking forward to is TRUMP ON THE RUN.
posted by philip-random at 3:59 PM on December 19, 2022 [9 favorites]

Whenever Trump has a bad day in the news, I check foxnews.com to see what their redirection is. Inevitably they 1) make almost no mention of the Trump headline, and 2) have some top story critical of a woman. Up until now, it was either Hillary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi. But today I see that it is Kamala Harris.
posted by jabah at 4:01 PM on December 19, 2022 [29 favorites]

As some others have said, the question boils down to whether or not Trump is above the law. If he doesn't face criminal consequences, then he is. But even if he were locked up tomorrow, he still will have gotten away with everything for an entire lifetime. His age alone places a cap on how much punishment he might face.
posted by Flexagon at 4:08 PM on December 19, 2022 [8 favorites]

I find Jamie Raskin announcing the criminal referrals is best enjoyed while doing the Wednesday dance.
posted by adept256 at 4:18 PM on December 19, 2022 [5 favorites]

Some of those people calling for 'marshall' law won their elections and are going to be in the next congress. It would have been nice to have their seditious texts out there before the mid-terms so people could know who they were voting for.

I wonder what other evidence we'll see in the final report that we needed to see six months ago.
posted by adept256 at 4:25 PM on December 19, 2022 [8 favorites]

Fucking finally.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:38 PM on December 19, 2022

I'm just waiting for video footage from the Coast Guard intercepting him in his cheaply built, and foundering "Nautilus" like 10 miles off Palm Beach !
posted by lobstah at 4:38 PM on December 19, 2022 [6 favorites]

My money has always been on a Middle East oil kingdom, one without extradition to the US.

He could just get an honorary head-of-state title and claim the Bonesaw Immunity Defense. Not sure from which country though, it'd have to have similar flexibility in allowing multiple heads-of-state.
posted by credulous at 4:41 PM on December 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

My money has always been on a Middle East oil kingdom, one without extradition to the US.

Idi Amin's place is probably vacant these days. But really I wonder if any of the Middle East countries would actually, for real, welcome Trump to come and stay. It's one thing to have some genocidal dictator come to stay, because everyone is happy that they have retired from being a dictator. It's another thing to face the kind of pressure it would bring to shelter a Trump fleeing from justice. Putin would go for it, though, just to put a stick in the western eye.

It's idle speculation because I can't see Trump wanting to do anything other than be right where he is, surrounded by Republican lackeys and playing golf, and I'll be somewhat surprised if the feds ever charge him with anything. (Georgia, on the other hand, seems much more likely to do so.)
posted by Dip Flash at 4:42 PM on December 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

The reality show I'm looking forward to is TRUMP ON THE RUN.

Brought to you by the good folks at Dr Pepper.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 4:57 PM on December 19, 2022 [11 favorites]

I remember the lump of coal I got for Fitzmas.

I remember the rock I got in my bag for Muellerwe’en.

I regret to say that, based on history, I’m expecting to come down with shingles or something for Trumpiphany.
posted by darkstar at 6:07 PM on December 19, 2022 [10 favorites]

Well, I guess to follow the pattern, that really should be “Smithpiphany.”

Smithukkah?

Spring Jackquinox?
posted by darkstar at 6:14 PM on December 19, 2022 [3 favorites]

Some of those people calling for 'marshall' law won their elections and are going to be in the next congress. It would have been nice to have their seditious texts out there before the mid-terms so people could know who they were voting for.

Many if not most of those people are Representatives from heavily Republican districts. The people who elected them knew exactly who they were voting for, and liked it.
posted by soundguy99 at 6:22 PM on December 19, 2022 [11 favorites]

I wish I believed Garland weren’t still making the real decisions, but given the institutional institutionalism at DoJ my money’s on this making prosecution less likely since Justice doesn’t want to look like a partisan catspaw of the lame duck committee.
posted by The Monster at the End of this Thread at 6:27 PM on December 19, 2022 [3 favorites]

making prosecution less likely since Justice doesn’t want to look like a partisan catspaw of the lame duck committee

All of our problems come down to this: the Democrats are worried about whether they might look improprietous and the Republicans don't even worry about whether they're committing Treason.
posted by mmoncur at 7:55 PM on December 19, 2022 [53 favorites]

on December 15, the Coup d’État Project of the Cline Center for Advanced Social Research at the University of Illinois, which maintains the world’s largest registry of coups, attempted coups, and coup conspiracies since World War II, reclassified the events of January 6 as an attempted “auto-coup.” According to its director, Scott Althaus, an auto-coup occurs when “the incumbent chief executive uses illegal or extra-legal means to assume extraordinary powers, seize the power of other branches of government, or render powerless other components of the government such as the legislature or judiciary.” (Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American, Dec. 19, 2022)
posted by Iris Gambol at 9:39 PM on December 19, 2022 [9 favorites]

As always, I recommend that anybody who is interested in this subject follow Teri Kanefield, who consistently explains the law in a clear and thoughtful way.

In particular, Kanefield is very good at explaining where we are in any given legal process, what the next steps are, what the end goal is, etc. I've found it very helpful in keeping me on an even emotional keel -- seeing the law as a slow but steady process means I don't expect that Surely This Will Put Trump In Jail Tomorrow, but neither do I think This Latest Step Is Pure Theater And He'll Never Suffer Consequences.

Her FAQ is a great place to start.
posted by yankeefog at 12:27 AM on December 20, 2022 [11 favorites]

surely this

.
posted by Fleebnork at 4:23 AM on December 20, 2022

One group calmly compared evidence with statutes and made several specific recommendations to the DoJ.

The other group ignored the evidence, ignored the statutes, called the whole thing "political," and unapologetically stands on the side of brute force and whim.

Can you guess which is which?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 4:55 AM on December 20, 2022 [3 favorites]

"I recommend that anybody who is interested in this subject follow Teri Kanefield"

I used to follow Kanefield, but I had to stop. I do feel like this is all theater and voices like Kanefield are more useful in enforcing normalcy bias than seeing to it that Trump faces any consequences. (It may be that some participants in this play aren't aware that it's all for show, but nonetheless.)

"This is all part of a steady process" is one of the things that have kept the part of the country who are outraged by Trump in check. "We are the good and righteous and we can follow process without urgency" got us here. It's what is letting the right line up for another shot at a coup.

I'd be delighted to be wrong. Absolutely giddy, and will happily admit my wrongness to anyone. I'll wear an "I was wrong and Trump did get punished!" shirt. But I have little expectation of ever needing such.
posted by jzb at 5:56 AM on December 20, 2022 [6 favorites]

I'm not even bitter anymore. Just so worn down and defeated I can't even muster a flicker of anger, and I'm prone to anger.

Of course the Democrats released their report after the elections.

Of course it's going to come to nothing.

Of course the Republicans won by being proudly pro-insurrection.

And of course absolutely nothing at all will result from this.

It'll go to the guy Garland appointed so he could have an excuse for doing nothing, and that guy will stall and run out the clock under the guise of being very creful to get his case right, he'll keep being very careful until the Democrats lose the Presidency in 2024 and he is fired.

I'm not even surprised anymore that the Democrats are so apathetic and passive in the face of our nation's descent into autocracy. I wish I was, but I'm not.

Mueller Part 2 will play out exactly the same as Mueller Part 1 did: at absolute most a few bit players will be indicted, but no one important will be, the Republicans will get away with it, and next time they'll try harder and probably win.

So thanks Democrats, you kept that powder dry and you made absolutely sure you played by every ultraa-restrictive and slow rule you could find all in the name of doing nothing at all. Good job.
posted by sotonohito at 6:35 AM on December 20, 2022 [14 favorites]

As much as I want to see Trump in an orange jumpsuit, I think the Democrats should do everything in their power to let Trump run vs. DeSantis in 2024 and split the GOP voting bloc. I think having Trump out of the race in 2024 is best-case scenario for the GOP and worst-case scenario for the Dems.
posted by gnutron at 7:00 AM on December 20, 2022 [4 favorites]

Are you saying Democrats are soft on crime?
posted by MtDewd at 7:02 AM on December 20, 2022 [4 favorites]

As much as I want to see Trump in an orange jumpsuit, I think the Democrats should do everything in their power to let Trump run vs. DeSantis in 2024 and split the GOP voting bloc. I think having Trump out of the race in 2024 is best-case scenario for the GOP and worst-case scenario for the Dems.

At some point in the last few months, Trump being free stopped being a problem for the Dems and became instead a major liability for the GOP. For all that he deserves to be sitting in a federal supermax, he's causing the GOP more damage every day that he is out there dining with bigots and causing primary problems.

But I'd still love to see him charged and sentenced, whether by the feds or in state court.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:15 AM on December 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

Remember that in 2016 we also thought Trump was damaging the Republican Party and that his run would be great for the Democrats.

I was one of those people saying exactly that. We were wrong.

So I'm leery about claims that Trump is damaging the Republicans now.
posted by sotonohito at 7:50 AM on December 20, 2022 [12 favorites]

I think the Democrats should do everything in their power to let Trump run vs. DeSantis in 2024 and split the GOP voting bloc

The American landscape is (metaphorically) littered with the political corpses of people taken by pundits, party members, and potential voters to be the New Hot Thing, virtually guaranteed to be THE CANDIDATE (for whatever office) 2 years or less from the next election. Who then keeled over and went "pffht" sometime in the gap. Let's not base much of anything on some entirely theoretical Desantis/Trump matchup.
posted by soundguy99 at 7:57 AM on December 20, 2022 [4 favorites]

Believe me buddy, we are all rooting for the Dr Pepper jacuzzi.

Dr. Pepper was a real person, and you can rent his house (including a jacuzzi).
posted by kirkaracha at 8:18 AM on December 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

Believe me buddy, we are all rooting for the Dr Pepper jacuzzi.

J'accuszi!
posted by kirkaracha at 8:18 AM on December 20, 2022 [17 favorites]

NPR has the introduction (~100 pages of narrative, ~50 of notes) to the final report.
posted by box at 8:20 AM on December 20, 2022

Believe me buddy, we are all rooting for the Dr Pepper jacuzzi.

In thinking about his conviction(s) for sedition & unlawful retention of state secrets:

What jail do you put him in?

How do you protect that jail from his followers who want him out?

Would he be put into solitary because the information he knows, or says he knows, could compromise national security?

Would you build a prison for him?

Would that be cruel and unusual punishment according to SCOTUS?

Could he have visitors in unsupervised/recorded visits (see national security above)?

Would he have access to social media?


I think that these questions all point to the answer of how much Dr. Pepper will get paid out. Honestly, I'd love for you to have to pay out....
posted by zerobyproxy at 8:51 AM on December 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

I sincerely hope any delays are merely due to the difficulties around building a really airtight case.

Anybody thinking they are playing 12D chess by delaying a Trump indictment need to know they are playing with fire. This reminds me of the Very Smart democrats I knew that strategically voted in the 2000 Republican primary for Bush on the idea that by putting the biggest clown in the Republican slot, Gore would be a shoe-in. Just do the right thing and stop trying to play games with low/uncertain reward and high unknowns/risk.
posted by delicious-luncheon at 9:06 AM on December 20, 2022 [9 favorites]

Metafilter - the origins of Dr. Pepper as the official beverage of the T***p indictment party.
posted by Chuffy at 9:07 AM on December 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

T***p is being pilloried by right wing media. This will be a process that takes a few months, but that NFT debacle may have sealed his fate. Once a few cycles have turned, and deals have been struck, he very likely will become a martyr.

I doubt he's going to get away with stealing classified documents. What I want to know is what backroom deals are being struck to prevent anyone currently serving the interests of the GOP from accountability.

For the record, "we" do not just want T***p to be perp-walked. "We" want ALL of the traitors and seditionists behind bars. That's a lot of people in Hydra. Cutting off the head isn't enough.
posted by Chuffy at 9:18 AM on December 20, 2022 [5 favorites]

NPR has the introduction (~100 pages of narrative, ~50 of notes) to the final report.
posted by box at 11:20 AM on December 20 [+] [!]

Page 8: "According to testimony received by the Select Committee, the only advisor present who supported President Trump’s inclination to declare victory was Rudolph Giuliani, who appeared to be inebriated."
posted by ZenMasterThis at 9:38 AM on December 20, 2022 [3 favorites]

I hear Desantis is a Mister Pibb kinda guy...
posted by KazamaSmokers at 9:39 AM on December 20, 2022

zerobyproxy's questions about incarceration got me wondering about precedents, but a little searching was depressing. Wikipedia has a List of American federal politicians convicted of crimes but its detail is light on consequences past conviction (i.e. it mostly doesn't talk about actually serving time). So I picked John Mitchell (the only United States attorney general to serve a prison sentence).

Mitchell was sentenced on February 21 to two-and-a-half to eight years in prison ... The sentence was later reduced to one-to-four years by United States District Court Judge John J. Sirica. Mitchell served only 19 months of his sentence at Federal Prison Camp, Montgomery (in Maxwell Air Force Base) in Montgomery, Alabama, a minimum-security prison, before being released on parole for medical reasons.

His buddy, John Dean (White House Counsel) was convicted of obstruction of justice but -

when Dean surrendered as scheduled on September 3, he was diverted to the custody of U.S. Marshals and kept instead at Fort Holabird (near Baltimore, Maryland) in a special "safe house" primarily used for witnesses against the Mafia. [while there he testified against other conspirators]. Dean's lawyer moved to have his sentence reduced and on January 8, Sirica granted the motion, adjusting Dean's sentence to time served, which was four months.

Then look at these mugshots and take a guess about consequences.
posted by achrise at 9:57 AM on December 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

"My money has always been on a Middle East oil kingdom, one without extradition to the US." -- posted by slogger at 3:37 PM on December 19 [3 favorites +] [!]

I was thinking we could save that for Musk.
posted by symbioid at 10:29 AM on December 20, 2022

"He could always flee to St. Petersburg. Russia, that is."

I think the Russians/Putin are through with him and would not want him. He has served their purpose and they would be happy to see him swinging softly in the breeze.

On another point I've always wondered about, does he get Secret Service protection in prison?
posted by charlesminus at 10:35 AM on December 20, 2022 [3 favorites]

Page 8: "According to testimony received by the Select Committee, the only advisor present who supported President Trump’s inclination to declare victory was Rudolph Giuliani, who appeared to be inebriated."

Associated footnote reads:

"Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Jason Miller, (Feb. 3, 2022), pp. 77-78"

Presumably this Jason Miller. Interesting details are always in the footnotes.
posted by BWA at 11:13 AM on December 20, 2022

([Former campaign chair] Bill Stepien also told the committee he thought Rudy was drunk.)
posted by box at 12:08 PM on December 20, 2022

Nice. Also?
(69 comments total)
Nice.
posted by symbioid at 3:18 PM on December 20, 2022

"these people are lying"

Our response to which may be, We understand that liars "honestly" believe that every word out of everyone else's mouth is a lie, yes. :)
posted by riverlife at 4:03 PM on December 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

the house committee voted to release what's his name's tax returns
posted by pyramid termite at 7:47 PM on December 20, 2022 [4 favorites]

As much as I want to pay for the Dr. Pepper jacuzzi, nothing is going to happen to Drumpf. Here’s just a few hurdles:
-New justice guy still hasn’t set up his office, he doesn’t really have his team together. I’m not sure he’s even in the US as of today.
-Best case the DoJ goes after a few senior (John Eastman et al) but ancillary people and press charges. What’s that going to take? 9 months to a year? Great. Put those folks in jail. Maybe they even flip.
-Now it’s 2024 and the DoJ will get cold feet to do anything against someone running for office. Is anyone involved 100% sure they’ll get convictions against Drumpf with a jury trial? No? Well, that lowers the odds the DoJ presses charges.

If they don’t charge him with all 4 counts, he’s going to claim they don’t have a case at all. If they charge all 4 and don’t convict on all 4, he’ll declare victory.

In the meantime all the strong witnesses for the Jan 6th committee start to waver just a tiny bit on how confident they are in what they heard/saw/etc. So what if we’ve got it on video tape, when Hope Hicks goes on Fox and starts to recount/respin what she said, DoJ gets nervous.

Also for all of 2023 the House Republicans will be relitigating everything if only to sow confusion and half the DoJ will be spending their time on the hill testifying about BS just to run the clock out.

I grew up outside of NYC in the 1980’s - Drumpf was a clown then and is a clown now. That we’ve gotten to where we are today just confuses and saddens me about the future of our country.
posted by Farce_First at 7:41 AM on December 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

-New justice guy still hasn’t set up his office, he doesn’t really have his team together. I’m not sure he’s even in the US as of today.

Though he remains in Europe recovering from a biking accident, Smith has made a series of high-profile moves since he was put in charge last month, including asking a federal judge to hold Trump in contempt for failing to comply with a subpoena ordering him to turn over records marked classified.

Smith takes over a staff that’s already nearly twice the size of Robert Mueller’s team of lawyers who worked on the Russia probe.  A team of 20 prosecutors investigating January 6 and the effort to overturn the 2020 election are in the process of moving to work under Smith, according to multiple people familiar with the team.
posted by Pendragon at 7:52 AM on December 22, 2022 [8 favorites]

- Smith has hired 20 prosecutors already.

- He didn't leave his lucrative job to come back to the US to do nothing. Indictments are coming. Soon. More than just foot soldiers.

- The DOJ and J6 have already got the goods, any "wavering" that is happening now is too late. Now is the time for the big fish to cut deals and test the Prisoner's Dilemma.

- The House Republicans are going to be completely incompetent in 2023. Many of them will be lawyering up and we don't even know who the Speaker will be at this point. Don't count any chickens there, they may not even control the House at this point.


I am not going to say, "surely this," and I don't have a lot of confidence in the moderates who will put a wet blanket over what really *should* happen, but T***p is going to be indicted. I doubt he'll spend any time in jail, but we'll see.
posted by Chuffy at 9:50 AM on December 22, 2022 [3 favorites]

Jan. 6 committee's final report finds Trump was 'central cause' of attack on U.S. Capitol (CBC) Engaged in 'multi-part conspiracy' to overturn 2020 election, 845-page report says
posted by Iris Gambol at 11:57 PM on December 22, 2022 [3 favorites]

Page 46. Photo of press conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping on November 7, 2020.

*chef's kiss*
posted by mikelieman at 12:53 AM on December 23, 2022 [2 favorites]

They have also released transcripts of Cassidy Hutchinson's interviews in September (2022-09-14, 2022-09-15). These interviews took place after her public testimony and concern the circumstances of her initial interviews (under the guidance of her "Trump World" lawyer Stefan Passantino) and subsequent switching lawyers before her bombshell public testimony in June. I'm halfway through the first day and if you're into this sort of thing, it's quite fascinating. She also states that she testified previously about these topics to the DOJ...
posted by ltl at 12:55 AM on December 23, 2022 [2 favorites]

Why is the date on the cover "December 00, 2022" (emphasis mine)
posted by achrise at 6:01 AM on December 23, 2022

That and some typos have been cited as evidence that people really had to push to release the report as soon as they did.
posted by Chef Flamboyardee at 6:49 AM on December 23, 2022 [3 favorites]