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Aaaand we have another legal document to read.
I shouldn't use my #FunReadingLegalDocuments hashtag for this because this one is annoying.
Trump basically wants to delay his classified documents case indefinitely ("until after substantive motions have been presented and adjudicated").
His arguments fall into two categories:
(1) weak
(2) asking for special treatment because he's "President Trump."
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I moved to Mastodon.social
I know that people use the word "delay" to talk about what he is doing.
Yes, certainly.
But keep in mind that his framing is that he is "fighting back."
A lot of his friends (Roger Stone, Manafort, etc) were really annoyed that Nixon didn't "fight back."
In fact, when I read what that bunch said about Nixon after he resigned was eye-opening to me.
They like Trump because he "fights back."
Fascism is about everything being a fight.
"Delay" is our framing.
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I expect him to use the same argument everywhere.
He will tell the NY court he needs a delay because of proceedings in FL, and he'll tell the FL court he needs a delay because of NY.
I'm getting lots of questions.
The standard for review in this situation would be "abuse of discretion."
Trial courts have a lot of discretion.
But they can't abuse that discretion.
It's a high hurdle.
But Cannon was overturned once already for abusing her discretion, so we'll see what she does.
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I moved to Mastodon.social
I gave the wrong link to the document so I took it out. I read on Pacer. I need to find a PDF to link for you all.
So anyway, he asks for an indefinite postponement because the discovery will be "complicated" and there are "issues of first impression."
Then we get to Paragraph 16, the annoying part. I attached it.
I think that Cannon will be smart enough not to allow this to be her rationale, which would clearly be biased and just plain wrong.
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He also mentions the DOJ policy of not taking prosecutorial action that might affect an election. He neglects the time frame and that filing an indictment 17 months before an election removes the proceedings from that rule.
Of course, the obvious solution is to go quickly to trial so he proves his innocence and is done with it.
But that would make sense.
Then he lists all of his other legal woes for reasons he can't do this trial.
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I moved to Mastodon.social
First he argues that there is SO much discovery he can't go through it all in a few months, then he implies that the government will not cough it all up so he'll have to file additional motions (called Brady motions) to get the discovery.
So far, the government has given "many hundreds of thousands of documents" (wait. I thought they were just newspaper clippings!!) and interviews of "dozens of witnesses."
I'll stop here and answer the question I'm getting: "What will Cannon do?"
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I moved to Mastodon.social
If I knew, I'd play the lottery and I'd be rich (Is there a crystal ball emoji)
You might expect a normal judge to give a little to both sides, but you can't split the difference between "quickly" and "basically never."
What I can do is lay out the possibilities and analyze them: If she gives him special consideration as president, she is showing she can't be unbiased" etc.
But isn't it more fun to wait to see what she actually does?
"NOOOOOOO it's more fun to speculate!!!"
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I moved to Mastodon.social
He also argues (wrongly) that the case presents "unprecedented legal issues" and mentions the Presidential Records Act, which has nothing to do with his criminal indictment, but his argument is that his handling of the documents is covered by the PRA and not a criminal statute.
So he says these are issues of "first impression" (which means the issue has never been addressed by a court: https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/first_impression#:~:text=First%20impression%20is%20a%20new,binding%20authority%20on%20that%20matter.)
WRONG!
This is routine case and the law is settled.
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I moved to Mastodon.social
First, an overview:
These arguments are not as weak as the ones he presented in the Special Master case, where he referred to the documents as "his" and challenged whether the documents were classified.
But, as with the Special Master case, he argues that there are SOOOOO many documents he needs LOTS of time to look at the documents (well then, maybe he shouldn't have stolen so many. Right?)
He opens by referring to himself as "President Donald J. Trump."
(He always leaves out 'former')
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I moved to Mastodon.social
It always amuses me that he refers to himself as President Trump in the court filings. The 11th circuit, when it slammed Aileen Cannon, first referred to Trump as "former president" then "Plaintiff."
🔥
Okay, on to the document.
He is, however, trying some of the same tricks he tried in the Special Master case.
He is framing the case as presenting a "serious challenge to both the fact and perception of our American democracy."
He then spins the case as political.
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