While We Wait ...
Yesterday's news was that Judge Cannon ordered the release of a revised list of items seized in the Mar-a-Lago search, and that she will make a ruling on Trump's special master request "in due course."
As we wait for those, I find myself zooming out a bit to view the bigger picture. While it's easy to focus on a particular day in a particular courtroom, the big picture is astounding. A former president of the United States is the subject of not one, not two, but three separate criminal investigations and the three separate grand juries associated with them. One of those led to a warrant being obtained and Trump's home being searched.
Trump's strategy with these seems to be the same as he has used in every other legal difficulty he finds himself in. Make lots of noise. Viciously attack the prosecutors and critics. Spread vast amounts of false information. Delay everything possible for as long as possible. Use the complexities of the legal system against itself to twist the courts into knots. Rinse and repeat with every new development.
However, there are differences now. It's not civil attorneys and individual litigants Trump faces. It's high-level and highly skilled criminal prosecutors who are not easily intimidated and who are not at all intimidated by any additional legal expense Trump typically would try to impose on his opponents.
Also, while his delaying tactics can have an effect, Trump's situation gets increasingly worse as time passes and the criminal investigations develop. The end game here is not a civil settlement. It's being convicted of crimes and possibly sent to prison.
While it's clear Trump is playing his usual game, I wonder if he understands that he is in a different arena where different rules and realities apply.
Yesterday's news was that Judge Cannon ordered the release of a revised list of items seized in the Mar-a-Lago search, and that she will make a ruling on Trump's special master request "in due course."
As we wait for those, I find myself zooming out a bit to view the bigger picture. While it's easy to focus on a particular day in a particular courtroom, the big picture is astounding. A former president of the United States is the subject of not one, not two, but three separate criminal investigations and the three separate grand juries associated with them. One of those led to a warrant being obtained and Trump's home being searched.
Trump's strategy with these seems to be the same as he has used in every other legal difficulty he finds himself in. Make lots of noise. Viciously attack the prosecutors and critics. Spread vast amounts of false information. Delay everything possible for as long as possible. Use the complexities of the legal system against itself to twist the courts into knots. Rinse and repeat with every new development.
However, there are differences now. It's not civil attorneys and individual litigants Trump faces. It's high-level and highly skilled criminal prosecutors who are not easily intimidated and who are not at all intimidated by any additional legal expense Trump typically would try to impose on his opponents.
Also, while his delaying tactics can have an effect, Trump's situation gets increasingly worse as time passes and the criminal investigations develop. The end game here is not a civil settlement. It's being convicted of crimes and possibly sent to prison.
While it's clear Trump is playing his usual game, I wonder if he understands that he is in a different arena where different rules and realities apply.
