(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



'MAGA Freak Show': Trump and his lawyers reportedly have big plans for Jan. 6 trial [1]

[]

Date: 2024-01-03  

Donald Trump’s primary legal strategy regarding his four criminal indictments has so far been “delay, delay, delay,” in the hope that he can avoid any one conviction until after the November election. As The Washington Post noted last month, polls show that a criminal conviction would deal a major blow to Trump’s chances of winning the presidential race against President Joe Biden.

Special counsel Jack Smith’s federal case against Trump, which charges the former president with four felony counts related to alleged criminal conduct aimed at overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election, is tentatively scheduled to begin on March 4. But that trial date is likely to be pushed back until the summer assuming there’s a relatively quick decision, potentially by the Supreme Court, on an appeal by Trump’s legal team positing that he should be immune from prosecution in the case because the conduct cited in Smith’s indictment happened while he was still president.

But if Trump actually goes on trial in the summer, it looks like his trial strategy will amount to throwing as much ketchup against the wall as possible in hopes that enough of it will stick.

RELATED STORY: Trump appeals Maine ruling over ballot ban under insurrection clause

On Tuesday, Rolling Stone outlined this strategy in a story headlined: “Inside the Trump Plot to Turn His Jan. 6 Trial Into a ‘MAGA Freak Show.”

Here’s how Rolling Stone summarized his strategy:

Attempts to drag Nancy Pelosi into court to berate her on the stand and, hopefully, on live TV. Claims that the Jan. 6 Capitol attack was an FBI frame job, with an assist from Antifa. Conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was indeed “stolen,” supposedly backed up by still-classified documents. Unhinged assertions that President Joe Biden is now secretly, personally orchestrating an unprecedented act of political persecution. Calls to publicly unmask the federal officials and lawyers investigating the former (and perhaps future) president of the United States. Efforts to blame any illegality on some of the ex-president’s closest confidants and former legal allies. Insinuations of election meddling by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. These are just some of the items that former President Donald Trump and his lawyers have been discussing and planning to deploy when he goes on trial for his efforts to steal the 2020 election. The brewing defense strategy is outlandish and feral, even by Trumpland standards, to the point that it’s baffling some of the ex-president’s former lawyers and senior administration officials. One person with knowledge of these strategic and legal discussions bluntly describes the plans as a blueprint for staging a “MAGA freak show” at Trump’s federal election subversion trial.

The magazine promised a pretrial and courtroom strategy “laced with conspiracy theories, Fox News-style talking points and raging innuendo — just as the spectacle-obsessed former president craves.” Rolling Stone cited as sources “four legal and political advisers to Trump and two other sources familiar with the situation,” all of whom went unnamed.

Trump’s spokesperson and lawyer also did not respond to the outlet’s requests for comment.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/1/3/2214959/--MAGA-Freak-Show-Trump-and-his-lawyers-reportedly-have-big-plans-for-Jan-6-trial?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_6&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/