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| Government Corruption |
| 'So as not to run away to Russia.' Judge orders Trump a preventive measure |
| 2023-08-27 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Georgy Bovt [REGNUM] Donald Trump underwent a humiliating arrest procedure at the Fulton County Jail, Georgia. They took a formally necessary (although optional) "prison photo" of the former president. This is the fourth criminal case against Trump. Three others lead at the federal level, but the state of Georgia has its own scores for it. So far, nothing bad has happened to Trump. He stayed in prison for about half an hour (the beginning is a dreadful start), and then he was released on bail of 200 thousand dollars, which is gentle for his level of wealth. The bail was required so that he “did not run away to Russia” (no, this is not a joke, such an argument was heard). However, in America it is generally not very common to keep people in a pre-trial detention center until a court verdict on charges of non-violent crimes. What is Trump accused of? He and a group of 18 "accomplices" are accused in general of trying to cancel - and change - the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state. The accusation is divided into 13 counts. Among them are violations of state anti-racketeering and corruption laws, incitement to violate the oath of public servants, conspiracy to forge and file false documents, etc. The prosecution's accusation was confirmed by the Grand Jury (not to be confused with a jury trial). Such an institution is provided for by the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution, according to which all criminal charges must go through such a procedure. Unless we are talking about a "deal with justice." The grand jury usually consists of 16-23 jurors (different states may have their own nuances), the decision on the legitimacy of a criminal charge is approved by a simple majority. This distinguishes it from the verdict of the jury, which in Anglo-Saxon law (including the United States) on criminal offenses must be unanimous (in Russia, the jury delivers a verdict by a simple majority). The American press wrote that Trump's Republican supporters harassed the jury on social networks and by sending them all sorts of threats. Under Georgia law, the names of jurors cannot be classified. The logic here is to give the defense the opportunity to “dig into” their background and try to find reasons for a challenge there. For example, the juror suddenly had a previous conviction or he is not a resident (does not live in the territory) of the county. At the same time, the minutes of the meeting in this state are closed. Unlike, say, the state of New York, where both the minutes themselves and the statements of witnesses before the Grand Jury can be presented to the defense and then used in the course of the main trial. The Trump case. "Soros" prosecutor violated the rule of American politics One way or another, the accusation (on 98 pages, just a minute) was approved. This was the intermediate success of two and a half years of hard work by Fulton County Attorney Fanny Willis . Who is this woman? Firstly, she is black (like many residents of the district), which is not very good for Trump. It is believed that the 45th president and the Republicans in general have generally bad relations with this category of American citizens. She has a "speaking biography". Willis was born in California. Her father was a member of the Black Panther Self-Defense Party, a left-wing African American organization dedicated to protecting and advancing the civil rights of the black population. Including with the help of armed struggle, in which the "Panthers" opposed themselves to the teachings of Martin Luther King, an opponent of violent actions. Her most notorious case at the Fulton County Attorney's Office (she has worked there intermittently for almost 20 years) was the Atlanta Public Schools fraud case (faking public test scores to inflate grades). She secured the conviction of the defendants under the article on racketeering and organized crime. In 2020, she was elected after a hiatus as Fulton County District Attorney (an elective position in the state of Georgia). Secondly, she is a “Democrat”, which is even worse for Trump, but gives him reason to make counter-charges that this whole process is Biden’s revenge and an element of the election campaign to knock him out of the 2024 presidential race. "Democratic" does not mean that Willis is in the Democratic Party. In America, since the end of the 19th century, civil servants, judges and prosecutors, among other things, have been forbidden to engage in party and political activities (and there is no party membership in America). However, “party affiliation” is traditionally taken into account there by which administration - Republican or Democratic - a particular judge or prosecutor was nominated. It was thanks to the efforts of Willis that racketeering and organized crime (according to the so-called RICO, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, adopted at one time to fight against the mafia), which significantly complicates the charge as a whole, turned out to be among Trump's charges. According to many lawyers, in this case, affiliation with organized crime is strongly strained, and prosecutor Willis, as indicated above, is not the first time he has resorted to such methods in his practice. The extended application of the RICO Act, while often supported by US legislatures and courts, is seen by many legal scholars as violating a fundamental principle of fairness: criminal laws should clearly inform people about what they can and cannot do. Meanwhile, in the law against organized crime, there is no clear mention of attempts to cancel or rig elections. It's also the first time RICO charges have been brought against a former president. For Trump supporters, this is another reason to talk about “political harassment.” After all, if this law is applied on charges of forgery, fraud, etc. the defendant under the laws of the state of Georgia faces not five or six years, but at least 20 years. In addition, Fulton County is considered "pro-democracy" (the city of Atlanta, which has a large proportion of the black population, is included). Although the state itself until recently was considered "republican", that is, traditionally voting for the RP. In fact, that's why Trump so counted on the votes of his electors. And when he learned that he had lost a miserable 11,780 votes here, he was so upset that he began to call local authorities with requests like “well, do at least something, it’s probably all rigged, find me these votes.” Republicans are trying to go on the counterattack. The local legislature has already launched a process to remove Willis from the post of prosecutor on the grounds that she "acts politically biased," and the black servant of the law herself wants to get into the "celebrity of leftist political forces" with the help of a high-profile case. By the way, it is quite possible that the Republicans are right in this. In America, between the judges and the prosecutors, there is nothing worse than accusations that they are politically biased. Is that even accusations of ties with the mafia. Republicans also accuse (or rather, try to identify these violations) Willis of allegedly coordinating her actions with the federal Department of Justice, and also, possibly, using "federal funding." Both would be a terrible violation and, if it could be proved, would undermine the entire criminal process in the bud. A case brought under state jurisdiction for alleged violation of state laws shall remain solely within state jurisdiction and shall not be subject to any federal influence. There is a flip side here. If Trump is convicted at the state level of Georgia and, even worse, imprisoned, then even if he is elected president, he is unlikely to be able to pardon himself. Something else will need to be figured out. Go to the Supreme Court, most likely. Such are the "grimaces of federalism." However, in the case of Trump, America generally follows untrodden paths, and here, perhaps, there will be something to do (and even more than once) for the Supreme Court, whose decisions, in fact, are of a constitutional (and precedent) nature. So far, neither the very fact of criminal prosecution (already four), nor conviction, nor even imprisonment by court verdict, in any way legally prevent either Trump's participation in the election campaign, or Trump's victory in it. So the main calculation of Trump's opponents is to "bury" him under a pile of criminal cases and lawsuits. So that he later “lost on points”, that is, in the elections, and even better - in the primaries in his own party (which is not visible yet). And even better - to have time to send him to prison, from where it will be difficult to conduct an election campaign. Attorney Willis's tactics contribute to this, as she is set to begin the actual trial of Trump's case as early as October. That is, even before the party primaries. So far, however, everything that is happening with Trump has not particularly damaged his election campaign. It seems, on the contrary, the more new accusations are made against him, the more united the ranks of his supporters, and more and more new accusations themselves seem to be “devalued”. It smacks of some kind of judicial-criminal farce. For many, a huge heap of criminal cases really creates the impression of purposeful, moreover, politically motivated, harassment. New T-shirts with Trump and the slogan "Never give up!" have already gone to the people. If the primaries in the Republican Party began now, then Trump would take out all eight of his competitors “in one gate”: he is now behind more than half of the Republican voters, the closest competitor, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, is 40 % behind . None of the party rivals even dare to use the topic of criminal cases in criticism of Trump. Which, in turn, does not even bother to participate in internal party debates. Exactly according to the principle according to which participation in a debate with a deliberately weak opponent only worsens the rating of the leader and unjustifiably increases the rating of this weakling. What's more, six of Trump's eight presidential contenders have said they would still support him, already in office, if he is found guilty in court but wins the election. As for the “prison photograph”, which the 45th President of America now has, among the other owners of this “souvenir”, you can still scrape together a couple of quite worthy people. For example, singer Frank Sinatra and the aforementioned anti-racial segregationist Dr. Martin Luther King. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #2 He is guilty of governing while being Trump. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2023-08-27 12:07 |
| #1 What all this is illustrating to other nations: "American democracy-Why would we want it?" |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2023-08-27 09:53 |