Following a brief arraignment where they pleaded not guilty on behalf of their lazy fatass client in for the four charges superseding indictment over his failed post 2020-election coup attempt, convicted felon former President Trump’s scumbag defense lawyers on Thursday pissed and moaned to DC Circuit Judge Tanya Chutkan that Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith’s team’s proposal to shake off the Supreme Court’s fuckery on presidential immunity and get the case on track toward trial would be “enormously prejudicial” because you know why. Smith’s team told Chutkan they could have their brief ready in two-to-three weeks and then hold an evidentiary hearing, reasoning they want to get this all out of the way before another delay-inducing appeal from Trump.
From what we can tell from live tweet threads by top dudes Scott MacFarlane of CBS, Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney of Politico, Adam Klasfeld from Just Security, and NOTUS’s Jose Pagliery, both the brief and the hearing would include previously non-public evidence exhibits and grand jury transcripts that would – judging by the bitching from Team Orange – not be a good look for Trump.
As you might have guessed, Chutkan isn’t suffering their bullshit. The hearing is still going on as of 10:51 AM EDT on Thursday, but here’s some of it from the live tweets by the guys above.
“I can’t imagine a more unfair protocol for proceeding on these weighty issues,” said Trump’s lead DC lawyer John Lauro, plainly terrified of any political fallout from the brief/hearing, pleading for more delay while warning about the prosecution team being “able to put into the public record at a very sensitive time in our nation’s history, which we can’t ignore.”
Chutkan sighed audibly and leaned back. “I understand that there’s an election impending,” but the campaign “is not relevant here” and she’s “not concerned about the election schedule.”
Lauro: “There’s something unseemly about a rush to judgment.”
Chutkan: “This case has been pending for more than a year. We’re hardly sprinting to the finish line.”
Lauro: “It’s a quagmire. It’s completely prejudicial because they decide what to unseal,” and that the government’s next steps show “fundamental unfairness, never before seen in a district court.”
Lauro: “We’re being put in an incredibly unfair position. For no reason at all. We’re talking about the Presidency of the United States” (meaning he’s talking about the 2024 election).
Chutkan: “I’m not talking about the Presidency. I’m talking about a four-count criminal indictment… The subtext of your argument here about these sensitive times and the desire not to have any evidentiary briefing before this year, it strikes me that what you’re trying to do is affect the presentation of this case so as not to impinge on an election.”
Lauro threatens to unseal FBI 302s and grand jury transcripts that are “incredibly exculpatory,” to which prosecutor Tom Windom says “It is the court that will decide what is unsealed. It is not the defense or the government that will do that,” unmoved by Lauro’s empty, toothless threat.
Blanche seems to have found that pretty funny too, closing his eyes while he laughs to himself.
— Jose Pagliery (@Jose_Pagliery) September 5, 2024
Turning to Clarence Thomas’s ratfucking of the Mar-a-Lago docs case by telling shitbag Judge Aileen Cannon to dismiss it based on a specious argument against the legitimacy of Smith being appointed special counsel, Lauro says Smith is – surprise – not a legitimate party to the case.
Lauro: “Justice Thomas directed us to raise this issue.”
Chutkan: “He directed you to do it?”
Lauro: “Well… he didn’t direct us to.”
Lauro continues whining about how they need more time, but Chutkan shuts him down with “You say a new indictment, but it’s a slimmed down version. It’s not more, it’s less.”
CHUTKAN says she will let Trump raise the issues with Jack Smith's appointment but says he must persuade her that binding DC Circuit precedent does not foreclose this argument.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) September 5, 2024
And we’ll leave it off here. Chutkan said she’s not setting the schedule now but will issue it later on in the day in a ruling. Expect lots and lots of more tears from Fat Hitler’s team.