Donald Trump dominated the news yesterday just by appearing in court – we’ve been talking wall to wall all morning.
In fact, with less than a week until the Iowa caucuses, he will be in court for two days: yesterday’s DC appearance and Thursday’s closing argument in his New York civil fraud trial, but he will not be required to appear in court in either case. do not have. . (In between, he will play Iowa City Hall on Fox.)
The three-judge federal appeals panel that heard Trump’s presidential immunity claim (two appointed by Biden and one appointed by George H.W. Bush) was presented by the former president’s lawyers. was openly skeptical of the claims made.
Ironically, this comes as Joe Biden campaign officials complain to journalists brought to their Wilmington headquarters that Trump should be given more coverage as a candidate and not as a defendant. It happened in
Biden team expresses dissatisfaction with Trump coverage. Showdown of the “perfect Hitler”
Former President Donald Trump takes to the stage during a hosted event at Farbent Calvary Chapel in Las Vegas on July 8, 2023. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Still, there is no question that immune hearing is important. If the appeals panel upholds Mr. Trump’s claim that he is immune from prosecution for any conduct deemed official, Jack Smith’s January 6 lawsuit will be in vain. If the panel rules against Trump, the prosecution would proceed before the election. Of course, as with Trump’s appeals of voting bans in Maine and Colorado, the Supreme Court will ultimately decide.
But Trump’s presence in the downtown criminal courthouse and his remarks to reporters afterward raised the profile of the hearing. Just by sitting on the same court as Smith, he has made it part of his campaign.
And that was the play all along.
As Ron DeSantis noted, each of the four indictments gave Trump a political boost, boosting his poll numbers and denying his Republican rivals much-needed oxygen. Trump’s staunch MAGA supporters see the charges as a Democratic plot to keep Trump out of the White House.
How did Harvard’s president persevere for so long despite being so embarrassed?
The more media attention a former president’s court appearances receive, the more he can use the courts as a campaign tool.
Adding to the drama is another swatting incident, this one at Jack Smith’s house. Police authorities showed up on Christmas after receiving false information that the prosecutor had shot his wife. Tanya Chutkan, the judge in the case, was also criticized.
Trump’s lawyers made the bizarre argument that the president cannot be indicted unless he is first impeached and convicted. The justices disagreed, arguing that a hypothetical president could use the military to kill political opponents and resign before being impeached. I would add that if his party controls the Senate, he could avoid impeachment and conviction.
Former President Donald Trump gestures on stage during the Alabama Republican Party’s Summer Meeting in Montgomery on August 4, 2023. (Julie Bennett/Getty Images)
Judge Karen Henderson, who was appointed by President Bush, said, “I find it paradoxical that the constitutional obligation to “see that the laws be faithfully executed” excuses violations of criminal law.” The audio of the public hearing has been released.
Mr. Biden sought to change the trajectory of his campaign in speeches near Valley Forge and in Charleston, making harsh personal attacks on his predecessor as a liar and defender of white supremacy who incited insurrection.
But most days, Biden has been a low-key presence, taking only two quick questions from reporters and giving brief answers, giving few interviews, and his press conferences as rare as flybys of Jupiter’s moons. Trump, by contrast, is constantly making news. I never thought there would be a time when a former president would overshadow a sitting president, but now is the time.
Former President Donald Trump speaks to guests at the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum in Indianapolis on April 14, 2023. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
President Trump said on The Pillowman’s Mike Lindell video channel: “And if there’s going to be a crash, I hope it happens in the next 12 months, because I’m not going to be Herbert Hoover.” Because I don’t want to.” This led to media accusations that he was rooting for a crash, especially since the stock market had just hit a new high.
President Trump made a video, a de facto requirement for television, in which he claimed that what was happening to him “only happens in third world countries or banana republics. “We are pursuing the president politically.” [opponent] And this is what he’s all about,” meaning Biden, “100 percent him. He’s the one who told them to do it, and they follow his orders. It’s a shame.”
He added that “Joe” has to “be very careful…We don’t indict political opponents just because they’re against a corrupt election, because we know they’re corrupt.” Ta.
President Trump said he had a “very good day” during a 10-minute conversation outside a Washington courthouse yesterday. But he added that if he loses his appeal, he will be “in big trouble domestically.”
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CNN and MSNBC soon parted ways. CNN’s Caitlan Collins offered a quick fact check, saying there was no evidence of significant voter fraud in 2020 and that Biden was not prosecuting Trump.
Even after a controversial Pentagon press conference revealed that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had prostate cancer and refused to disclose that he was under investigation for a serious illness, the network quickly The case returned to the Trump court hearing.
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Another day, a news cycle dominated by Donald Trump.
