Judge Aileen Cannon said she would issue a ruling later after appearing skeptical of arguments from both sides

    • gravitas_deficiency
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      1 year ago

      Judge Cannon was a Trump appointee and Trumps lawyers specifically selected her because of her bias towards Trump. She has already done stuff like this before.

      But this is not the only jurisdiction in which Trump is being prosecuted. So eventually, when this does go to trial, the DoJ will appeal whatever ruling she makes that ends up being super lenient to trump, and they’ll get to do it all again in Big Boy court, except he’ll get real punishment this time. But then also maybe it will get to the SC, and if they give him a pass… well, the Supreme Court can be packed by people who aren’t Republicans, too.

      • cogman@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        She wasn’t specificly selected. She did have something like a 50% chance of being drawn with the way the districts work. But otherwise fully agree. She’s a hack.

        • gravitas_deficiency
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          1 year ago

          Yeah - they went judge shopping. It’s ultimately a bit of a roll of the dice as you said, but there are absolutely ways to game the system so that you have better odds of getting the judge you want. Which Trump’s lawyers absolutely did.

          • QHC@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            How exactly would the defense be able to decide in which federal district the DOJ would prosecute the case?

            • gravitas_deficiency
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              1 year ago

              Trump knows what court district his resort is in, and one of the many shitty judges he appointed when he was president was to the district court where Mar-a-lago is.

              From there: Cases are generally prosecuted in the district in which they were committed. For the classified documents case, the crime was committed at or around his residence:

              • Moving the boxes while he was president, though deeply sketchy, was technically not illegal.
              • Possession of the boxes after Biden was sworn in - and moreover, clear, unambiguous, and repeated attempts to stymie and misdirect investigations around where the documents went - is definitely illegal.
              • QHC@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                This ignores that he is also under investigation in other districts, at the state level, and the reports of other classified document incidents that happened in other locations but haven’t been charged (yet).

                Your first bullet point is also moot, as Trump was not charged with taking documents, but rather keeping them without legal authority or permission.