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Untested Legal Imagination's the Mother of Trump and Jan. 6 Prosecutions
RealClear Investigations ^ | 1 Nov, 2023 | Julie Kelly

Posted on 11/01/2023 5:47:02 AM PDT by MtnClimber

Donald Trump doesn't know Thomas Robertson. But the former president’s fate appears inextricably tied to that of the former Army Rangerm, who was convicted last year for his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021 protest at the U.S. Capitol.

That’s because the prosecutions of Trump and his supporters, including Robertson, have often depended on reimagining the law in novel ways.

To advance the narrative that Trump colluded with Russia, for example, the Department of Justice seized on the little-used Foreign Agents Registration Act to justify probes and wiretaps of Trump allies. In the Georgia election fraud case against Trump and numerous campaign advisers, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is using a law intended to combat organized crime, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act, in what even her supporters describe as a stretch.

In Washington, D.C., prosecutors are using a financial crimes statute passed by Congress in 2002 in response to the Enron scandal to bring felony charges against hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants, including Trump and Robertson. Lawyers for both and for other Jan. 6 defendants argue the law is being misapplied. The controversy could soon wind up before the Supreme Court.

Defense attorneys say the government is using the power of law enforcement to misinterpret, and even weaponize, nebulous language in the legal code.

In three separate motions filed on Oct. 23, Trump’s lawyers repeatedly raised objections based on the “vagueness” factor of the four counts in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 criminal indictment against Trump. Those four charges are: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct, conspiracy against rights, and obstruction of an official proceeding.

(Excerpt) Read more at realclearinvestigations.com ...


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: civilrights; judicialmisconduct; lawfare; politicalprisoners; showtrial; trump

1 posted on 11/01/2023 5:47:02 AM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

Just like they prosecuted the Kavanaugh protesters?


2 posted on 11/01/2023 5:47:15 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Many WH officials are being prosecuted for “reimagining the law”. Novel legal interpretations have a long history. They are good on the left and very bad on the right.


3 posted on 11/01/2023 5:54:08 AM PDT by jimfree (My 21 y/o granddaughter continues to have more quality exec experience than Joe Biden.)
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To: MtnClimber

If the parties were reversed, the media would be clamoring for Jack Smith to be lynched in public.
These political prosecutions have never been seen before in American history.
And this partisan pig Smith didn’t just bring one political prosecution he has thrown everything he could find at the wall in multiple cases. The guy is a complete scumbag. And this is a total misuse of the special prosecutor statute.


4 posted on 11/01/2023 6:04:16 AM PDT by Williams (Stop Tolerating The Intolerant)
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To: MtnClimber

.


5 posted on 11/02/2023 3:03:37 PM PDT by sauropod (The obedient always think of themselves as virtuous rather than cowardly.)
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