It was a bad day for Trump, but also for American justice. Powell's intention was to overthrow the election, and she gets probation. In the meantime, thousands of Americans are in jail - or worse- for traffic violations, smoking pot, missing a court date, not being able to make bail, etc. I wish they'd sentenced her to reduced prison time, not probation. Her sentence is a slap in the face to Americans, especially to those who defended the Capitol on January 6.
Not if it brings down Trump, Guiliani, Meadows, and the rest. Also, there are a number of guilty parties serving in Congress today who have yet to be indicted. We have until January 5, 2026 to bring charges against all who urged, aided in any manner the unlawful attack on the Congressional Building, on January 6, 2021. So Mo Brooks, Josh Hawley, and all those who voted NOT to accept the legal signed findings of the Electoral College can an should be indicted as soon as Trump et al, are convicted the first time. As we stand today the only iffy rial is the one in Florida ad that only because Judge Cannon is questionable.
Accountability for the members of Congress who are complicit is something I am hoping will happen in the future. If Powells' testimony brings this about, then the light sentence for being the first to flip will have been worth it. These people are traitors to their oath, the Constitution, and the country, and they all should be charged for their crimes.
I also think that part of Powells' sentence should include a very public admission and apology to the entire country for spreading the lie that has pit brother against brother and caused so much hate to fester.
YES!!! If members of Congress were complicit, they must be indicted and exposed to the public for their misdeeds and made to pay. I think about this all the time. A house cleaning.
They all (repubs) were complicit and remain so today. This include McTurtle. My concern is obviously rump is behind the failures in the House and is this our lead-in to ending our democratic republic? My guess is it's where we're headed but don't know.
She went with some other congresspersons. Cassidy Hutchinson didn't name her but I did read later Ms. Hutchinson saying if MTG asked for a pardon it didn't come through Meadows office. She did however post on Facebook before Jan 6 that someone should "take Joe Biden out" before the election day. I never used facebook but my wife read the post to me as she friended, or whatever it's called, all of my relatives. And if anyone wants to know what I looked like in my forties, look at her, even to the long shoulder length blond hair. I don't know why we resemble each other so much she's the descendant of my grandfather's grandfather's brother, but God does she look like I did when I was her age. But the meeting she went to was just a few days prior to Jan 6, and I imagine she might have become privy to what was goin to happen, but she was almost certainly not involved in planning it. But I have no idea what actually was said at the meeting, but I'm sure at least Trump wanted to be insured that those congresspersons were going to not certify the election. And that's enough about my crazy cousin.
P.S. My wife says to add she doesn't think I look like MGT. My wife didn't know me until I was 59, lost my hair and the left half of my face had begun to sag.
Ah, but like a fly that is attracted to a pile of dog sh_t, she might have not been able to resist trying to get involved. She is that deranged, I believe.
Ginni and Clarence Thomas, despicable, guilty, evil, loathsome, greedy examples of reptilian brain grifters with nothing but Clarence’s favor to the highest bidder to sell. Their lies and grifting should end with life in prison for both of them and their oligarchs.
Powell could also have evidence against any congressional plotters in the fake electors plot. And that might be even more beneficial. Powell knows a whole lot about the entire scheme, she was the lawyer not theorizing about the crime, but instituting its fruition. So I agree with you Ms. Reid. I think she could potentially bring down more than many others, except perhaps Meadows. But if Powell has the goods, no deal for Meadows, at least I doubt a deal anywhere near what Powell received. She may have had wild nonsense about evidence, but she was just crazy enough I think she was actively pursuing evidence instead of just rapping about it.I think she was the collator of all of the "paper" part of collecting the evidence, therefore she probably also has the documents of the entire scheme. I could be in fantasyland of wishful thinking. But even Judge McAfee seemed somewhat hesitant to see this plea as acceptable. He never said as much, but he did ask to have the documents presented to the court. . He interrupted the prosecutor's questions to ensure the documents mentioned would be sufficient and then he let the proceeding to occur. I watched this hearing three times consecutively. Then after the prosecutor's elicitations of the confession, agreed . I don't know what judges are privy to with regards to documents and evidence prior to such pleas but he did appear to see something amiss (without directly commenting, but his body language and shifting in his chair, I felt he was somewhat uncomfortable in the leniency of the plea. Again when he was actually pronouncing the sentence, his general posture of leaning forward wasn't altered by just sitting upright, but when he did sit up his shoulders hunched together as if he were granting a sentence repugnantly lenient to the crime. I don't know. But I have watched his posture, and his normal relaxed posture in all of these pretrial conferences and that is the only time I have seen his shoulders tighten.
And remember (and I think he has been extraordinarily fair-minded) he did serve under Fani Willis in the Fulton County's D.A.'s office at one time (before she was D.A.) and he knows her and I guess he decided to accept her lenient reduction of the normal sentence.
So like I said, I could be in fantasyland, but I think Powell is offering more than testimony.
McAffee is seasoned. He questions both sides and in my view that is because he wants to make sure i's are dotted and t's are crossed to not have risk of appeal from him not having sufficient information to make a decision. Do you think he might have been doing careful judgemanship or 'judging' by making sure the prosecutor had his/her own i's dotted and t's crossed before allowing the proceedings to proceed? If, as Joyce Vance has pointed to when she outlined how it's done: taking down the Big Fish, agreeing to light seeming plea bargains gains testimony against the Big Fish (don-Don) and even more testimony from the others as the dominos fall, it was a brilliant negotiation. Powell is not getting off in a lenient fashion in the long run. She owes a lot of money, she has a federal case looming and Texas is looking at her law license.
One can only hope that her evidence against the half dozen bigger fish is so damning that they are cooked, and therefore her reward is retrospectively 'justified'. Trump and his lawyers will claim she is both a fruitcake and a liar of course. She just made the coffee - I hardly knew her - etc.
Dear Laurie, that was my first reaction also, but in a previous CD, I think, someone explained the complicated process of RICO trials. You roll up. each defendant from the outside in until you have everyone pointing at the one responsible. So, Powell is now rolled up, there will be others who get off "easy". However, it seems to be rolling in the right direction. Besides, Powell will never do "real" work again, and she will likely be disbarred (if she hasn't been already like Haircream guy). Her professional life is done. Lean back and relax with that.
What I did notice in the last two (2) plea deal for Sydney & Ken is that truthful testimony & no contact with Witnesses & other restrictions is the core part of the Plea Deals.
Any violation kills the Deals.
Thus, a prosecutor does NOT have to rely on a PTO (protective order) nor the procedural hassles to enforce same. The Deals can bite hard.
Her testimony can change the potential future of the Nation and also put enormous pressure on the other co-conspirators which tumbles down any potential defense strategy! Fani Willis knew what she was doing by indicting Powell (crazy as Powell is) and it is a major breakthrough in the two most significant criminal cases in this decade.
I feel the same revulsion at Powell not receiving a long sentence. But the goal is so much more important than our need for vengeance. Powell is a little puppet. It's the puppeteer that needs the long prison sentence. Right?
I don't care what happens to Powell, Chesboro, Giuliani - any of them. If they help solidify the case against one of the most evil and dangerous people in history, they can settle anywhere, do anything they want. Consider that they will have no careers. They could likely end up on the street sleeping in tents. Rudy is already close to complete financial collapse. They will not be enjoying a happy life. And then consider how they will be looking over their shoulders for as long as they are alive. The Magats don't forgive.
If I understood this correctly, Powell's sentence is dependent on her following through on the conditions attached, including telling the truth while testifying, along with constraints on communication with other defendants, including I believe some not yet indicted. She messes up, it'll go back to the court. It ain't over till it's over. I think your second sentence hits it on the head. Their instinct will be self-preservation, and it's going to be interesting to watch them try to assess just what that entails.
It’s the means to an end. I’m going to try my best not to judge what’s justice and what isn’t during this process. It’s such a bizarre set of circumstances. I have to agree with you though.
The U.S. justice system has serious problems, often related to racism, lack of access to counsel, and poverty, but are you suggesting that Powell's sentence should take these into consideration? That comes perilously close to retributive (in)justice IMO. Giving Powell a stiffer sentence isn't going to set anyone free. Powell's plea deal is not unlike deals made in organized and white-collar crime cases. Sure, it does grate that people who've done scuzzy things have these extra chips to bargain with, and "ends justify the means" is always a risky proposition, but if anyone has suggestions on how better to achieve the goal of bringing the ringleaders to justice, I'm listening.
I'm thinking all kinds of awful things I wouldn't put in print and I'm probably not alone, but there must be a way to put them in a position where they can't help but see the Light and change their ways.
Actually, if they all were waiting trial in jail, I am sure that DA Fani Willis would get a lot more wanting to plead. Why are they out? I guess it is presumed they don't pose a danger. Yet, they are free to continue committing more crimes. There seems a great danger of that.
I think they are not awaiting trial in jail because they are well to do people with financial resources. Poor defendants are not cut this kind of slack.
The good news just doesn't stop...this a.m., in Fulton County, Ken "The Cheese" Chesebro pleaded down to one felony charge, with an agreement to testify truthfully on direction from the prosecution...Cheese didn't escape a potential prison charge, but is a goldmine of knowledge round the "fake electors" scheme and tRump's intimate involvement with same.
Hoping she is the carrot on the stick to land TFG in prison. So, would it suffice she lose her law license , inability to hold any office, and be banned in all legal aspects? But I concur with the suggestion and ‘those in jail for minor offense..’ .
In today's Status Kuo substack by Jay Kuo: "So, how do we know a liar like Sidney Powell will ultimately keep her word and actually testify truthfully at trial against Trump? What if she gets up on the stand and changes her tune, or suddenly pleads the Fifth?
"That may happen on television, but it’s really rare in actual trials. Here, prosecutors aren’t taking any risks. To this end, they had Powell record a video of her statement, so she’s pretty locked in. And if she changes her testimony in any way, that would violate the terms of her plea deal, which requires her to testify fully and truthfully, and she’ll be facing six years in Georgia state prison. She’s not going to risk that."
She's going to be compelled to testify against the others, and if she doesn't, she'll go to trial just like they will. Sure, she's pled to 2 misdemeanors, but she has to live up to the deal she made. Nobody is likely to go to prison in this case, but they stand to having their careers and reputations ruined.
Like always Joyce, you took today’s events Ann explained them in easily understood terms. z The fact that Sydney Powell was actually in the oval office meeting with then president Trump, adds much more fuel to the fire.
I have been a regular listener too on MSNBC and I’m so glad that I have connected with your newsletter and have subscribed.
You take everything that is out there and put it in terms that make it easy to understand. Thanks for what you do and the time that you put into making it easy for us who are not lawyers to see what is really going on. 😊
Same. And I tell myself I am not going to write. But the K-drama today was like a bad train wreck. They are going off the rails. I bet the negotiating table with Chesebro is hot tonight.
Friday Morning. Chesebro just pled out. Counts 1,9,11,13,17 & 19 are nullified. The case will proceed on Count 15, filing FALSE documents which he pled GUILTY. Also, on Probation under the First offender Act. Admitted criminal conspiracy with TFG & Others.
I am not sure why so many people put their lives, families, careers and reputations on the line to support that man.they must be looking in the mirror and asking why? Thanks Joyce!
Since no one else has commented on the etymology of "kraken," derived from Norwegian krake, I suppose I must. Krake, meaning "crooked tree," originates from the Old Norse kraki, etymologically related to Old Norse krókr, literally translated as "hook." This is where it gets fun. Krókr is cognate with crook, as in, "I am not a krake/kraki/krókr/crook."
Finally, "I'm going to release the kraken" has turned into "I'm flipping on the kraken."
The ending "n" being a participle. The term "kraken" was used by Norse to refer to the legendary sea monster of the north sea, often depicted as a giant octopus. I can see where earlier uses of "krake" might suggest the way octupi use their tentacled arms to grab (hook) ships or anything else. The term krake also means an island or outcropping similar to a large animal such as a giant octopus. In more modern times "kraken" is sometimes used to refer to the large dea-going boats built by Vikings now enjoying a kind of renaissance. I suspect that like a lot of words, some meanings derived from other meanings, and we end up with a delightful (if sometimes intimidating) set of related words full of delightful imagery.
Joyce Vance, you have a great fan base and deservedly so. Do know that, I, for one feel so lucky to have found you. You have lessened my anxiety greatly. I think it is also fair to say that the “Chicks” have confirmed that you are a loyal Justice defender. So appreciate your knowledge and thank you for working hard to meet your deadlines for us all. Just feel so happy tonight w/this days happenings. We really are In This Together.🇺🇸🇺🇦🇮🇱🐓🌺🙏🏻♥️
The "two Pats" plus Eric Herschmann already have supplied valuable testimony to the prosecution under the "crime-fraud exception" rule piercing attorney-client privilege, and Powell's testimony re: the notorious December 18 meeting can only add more - one hopes - evidence of potential criminality by TFG. Yes, indeed, the once broad horizon of apparent unaccountability enjoyed by tRump is inexorably shrinking, and the exceptional value of the Willis RICO indictments are ever making themselves known, to all who are pursuing justice for the democratic order.
We are watching this train wreck like it's a K-drama. I think we will have re-runs of Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony on the December 18 event from now until Trump's Georgia trial: Her text the next day that "the West Wing is unhinged," and the 'picture of the day' taken the night of December 18 with Mark Meadows giving Rudy the walk-about off campus so he 'wouldn't wander back to the meeting' (Cassidy's words) said it all: the White House was off the rails with screaming and near fist fights and Trump's own attorney being escorted away. Wander? Trump's personal attorney is given the boot with the hope that he won't 'wander' back?? Boy oh boy, in any other universe, if we published this stuff, they would call us a liar. What more could Powell add to it? I guess they want legal stuff - but the idea that the then-President considered Powell for a special counsel position and held a meeting without his own White House counsel present speaks volumes about Trump's mindset. I am not at all surprised that Trump thought Hugo Chavez influenced the election outcome (even while he had been dead for a number of years). Or that he wanted to try to use that idea. He is not bright (people will disagree with me and be my guest). This idea that he is not not bright is not new. He does not make brilliant, executive level decisions. I cannot think of even one decision that didn't involve a hook, a self-benefit, or firing a decent person who disagreed with him. Harken back to Sharpiegate aka The Alabama Controversy of September 1, 2019. This will be written into history books as an example of how not to study geography. Hurricane Dorian was on the way to the east coast US as a Cat 5 and Trump tried to grandstand that he knew something about meteorology and either moved Alabama to the Atlantic ocean coast on the map with his black marker pen or he tried to move the track of Hurricane Dorian to the west - to the gulf coast of Alabama in what became Sharpiegate. The controversy was because the meterologists were trying to make the true claim that Alabama was not under threat. Finally, when that became established, Trump kept his version going for nearly a week. Because he could not possibly admit that he was wrong, he ordered NOAA to refute the Alabama weather report. There was a huge investigation, including threats of 'firing' NOAA officials !!! - and finally when Biden got into office, he formed a special task force that issued a final report to show how the US government would not interfere with government science and that science would be allowed to be science (because of Trump's antics). Anyway, in my opinion, Trump is less than bright and lies. And if one took these things in totality, he just does not show up as being smart. I'm going to say he does not know geography and on the September 1, 2019, did not know the shape of the state of Alabama. He thought Georgia (where Dorian was projected to barrell through with a direct hit) was Alabama. Or who knows what he thought. But because of his huge ego not allowing him to be wrong, he couldn't reverse himself or god forbid, allow the meterologist to run the show. So it is completely plausible the following year, when he had lost the election and wanted to hang on to the presidency, he thought Rudy Giuliani and Sydney Powell were giving him good advice. Or the kind of advice he wanted to hear and thought he could sell. I can see that happening. So where was the Secret Service on December 18 when fist-fights nearly broke out? Can they testify or do they have immunity? Or are they bound with a professional code to not repeat anything, such as the English-Russian interpreter had to comply with when Trump had his private tete-a-tete with Putin in Helsinki after Germany's G20 2018? There is literally so much stuff for Jack Smith to look at with this guy, his misdeeds and alleged crimes could fill Jack Smith's DOJ days until retirement.
I agree that Sharpie-gate was a very revealing peek into Trump’s psychosis and mush-brain. Everyone must realign with his thinking, which to him is reality.
Who knows what he thought? Well, Dorian hit the Bahamas hard. I always thought Trump confused alaBAMA with what he’d heard about the BAhaMAs.
Remember when George H. W. Bush confused September 7 with Pearl Harbor Day (December 7)?
Small misfires in auditory processing.
As we all know, one distinguishing characteristic of an intelligent person is being aware that there are things they don’t know. Trump truly thinks he knows more than the generals, the doctors (COVID, injecting disinfectant), people who design fighters (he thought the F-35 design was flawed because it only has one engine. ), lawyers, meteorologists(d,....
Terribly dangerous; such a person simply cannot be trusted with nuclear weapons. He might decide to try out his idea of deploying nuclear weapons against hurricanes (maybe in Alabama). Or using them to inject everyone with disinfectants. Or whatever idiotic idea he has next.
I am alternately astonished and alarmed that so many people do not see this addle brained creature as he is. Really stupid bully, clever enough to manipulate, well taught in fraud.
I guess the believing someone the first time thing is really hard, especially if you don’t want to believe the reality they’re showing you.
And to think there are 30% of MAGA who are estimated to be Trump's true believers who are unwilling to participate in reality therapy, much less cult conversion therapy. They will die believing we wrongly accused (and hopefully punished) their anointed leader.
Exactly. You are so spot on. ROFL. I don't think he had a clue about the origin of Hurricane Dorian, but I thought at the time that he had the states mixed up. I remember thinking: "Oh no! He is so off the mark!" But to show how entrenched he was in his need to make himself 'right' at all and any costs, without any thought as to how he may impact lives and careers (since he has not had a career), he directed his aides to contact NOAA (a respected science based organization) to change their map to indicate that Dorian 'could impact Alabama.' (This was after the Alabama weather bureau had informed its citizens that Alabama was not in danger. And remember, this was a Cat 5). NOAA directors at first refused, but Trump turned up the heat. On September 6, a week after Trump's blatherskite claim, and when a kerfuffle like this should have died down, NOAA published an unsigned statement saying that Alabama 'could have been impacted by the storm.' But so could have Iowa or Colorado. What the hella?? Then, the US Department of Commerce OIG and the National Acadamy of Public Administration got involved, because scientists across the US and as far away as Hawaii and Alaska called BS (Americans have to rely on the impeccability of NOAA because their very LIVES depend on it and had always been able to do so), and investigations began. By June and July, 2020 their published reports were in, showing the acting director and chief of admin had both succumbed to White House pressure and changed official NOAA reports. Internal emails showed them contacting one another with single word messages such as: "Help!" Here's what they were faced with: "The alteration of official government weather forecasts is illegal per 18 U.S. Code 2074, and is punishable by fine or imprisonment or a combination of both." My point is that these officials were faced with losing their careers and jail (including fines) from threats by Trump (and very likely implied warnings). And Trump was still carrying this forth just before the 2020 election! So when Biden got into office in January 2021, he immediately formed a Task Force that included 29 government agencies to address scientific integrity, and their report was filed in January 2022 reiterating the need to protect scientific agencies from 'political interference.' All of this because of Trump's need to hold his fragile ego together. I think if Jack Smith needs to ramp up his files on Trump's track record of bullying while in office, this is IT!! Two government agencies and a Task Force involving 29 agencies taking a year's time to mop up the aftermath of this maniac with a sharpie!! I was a kumbayah hippie dippie my entire life and did not believe in incarceration prior to January 6. If Trump is found guilty and I have no reason to believe he will not be, I think he should be required to read aloud in court at sentencing a personal apology to every single NOAA employee for his part in abject deceit and shame to them and to all residents of Alabama for causing them unneeded anxiety. (In addition to statements of apology to the citizens of the United States). Finally, if you have managed to get this far in my diatribe, I want to say I'm not exactly one who uses crystals and tarot cards (I wish I were, but I seem to have the analytical/logic genes by career), but if there are spirit animals, I want his to be a Parole Officer.
My writing is proof that I should be in bed at 8:00 pm every night (with my laptop and cell phone shut off) instead of hunkered at my laptop waiting for Joyce to 'send.' I truly am rabid when my GOAT president Joe Biden is slightly criticized. I know I should just take a deep breath. But even when I do, I drag up the slight the next day and respond to it:) I know Biden is not an orator. But so far as addressing the current happenings, he is so born for this job. I truly try not to write and comment.
I just cannot believe this bully ruined NOAA's reputation, threatened their top two employees, caused the Department of Commerce OIG a solid year of investigation work, and then after Biden was elected, he formed a Task Force seating heads of 29 science based government agencies to bring in directions on how to prevent political pressure against government agencies. That was published in January 2023. All because a bully could not let go of the idea that he should be 'right' even when he was wrong. I'm not sure if the then-NOAA administrator and her deputy were fired as a result of changing the weather map. But they violated a law under pressure from Trump and he didn't care a whit about their careers. The astonishing part is that the OIG (showing Trump's threats to NOAA!) and other reports came in a couple of months before the November 2020 election and most Americans were unaware of the threat to our fabric of democracy by Sharpiegate other than it was a 'frantic activity by Trump' joke. It seemed to be an 'oh well' event. I'm not so much of a former hippie dippie that I have a spirit animal - I guess that was (unfortunately) left behind in a research-based career, but I hope Trump has one and I hope it's a Parole Officer.
thanks as always Joyce. you bring the information that a non legal can understand. i also assumed it would be disbarment. i read a survey that said people would still vote for trump if he was convicted and incarcerated. Folks there is a problem in the USA
After all these creepy, crazy, evil people are in our collective rear view mirror, I think I will print up a Certificate to hang in my wall that states I am a proud graduate of the Joyce Vance School of Law. Thank you.
If Cheeze-bro doesn’t flip too and Sydney gives testimony in his trial that incriminates Trump, Trump won’t be able to not denounce and publicly trash her, and the judge will have to gag Trump for tampering with a witness. Sydney is vain enough that if Trump bad mouths her, she may start to testify against trump with a real vengeance- feeling betrayed and humiliated by her former demigod. I feel like I’m turning into a hack script writer for a disgusting failing reality tv show as I try to game out what’s next in this surreal but high stakes nightmare, of the trump era quagmire.
LOL, I try to stay abreast of current slang terminology, but it changes so fast and I have generations of slang behind me. And I do not have TV or cable. So had to look up "K-drams". Finally sussed out that it comes from Korean Drama, a popular form of over-the- top melodrama. Yep. Fits.
Hi Annie, Indeed K-drama. I no longer a television. But when I did, many moons (decades ago) I was addicted to watching:)) And I was nearly tempted to get a television recently when someone on this site spoke about watching K-dramas on a coming weekend. She informed me they are available on Netflix. So when life slows a bit...
There are things I wouldn't mind watching on Netflix, but decided not to go down that rabbit hole. PBS has fantastic drama programs for the rare times I watch (sadly behind on my faves rigth now. But I am addicted to mysteries, so that's my secret vice. But these days I am so busy with political stuff (chair of my local Dem Committee, delegate to county, alt del to state) and things are already heating up. I am now setting aside time to just sit and read (politics not allowed) so I make sure I don't overdo the screen. Speaking of which, it is now after 8 and time to shut down, get a snack, and curl up with my latest (Gamach and Bouvoir and the charming but currently flood-threatened village of Three Pines and all it's eccentric denizens.)
I don’t understand how such a reliable source of craziness and disinformation can offer sufficiently credible testimony to be worth this deal to prosecutors. Does she have to admit up front that she made all that crazy stuff up?
Good comment Chris. The Prosecutor has made a video testimony trial exhibit plus the deal with the Prosecutor requires the production of additional exhibits, emails, possibly contemporaneous notes that function as "admissions against interest".
Joyce, I know you’ve often given us here and on MSNBC an idea of what’s around the corner in these cases that has really checked out! But your MSNBC opinion piece is positively eerie advance notice! Congratulations!!
When you are not spot on about some detail even that is helpful because it draws attention and helps us see that something unusual (which you then explain) is going on.
It was a bad day for Trump, but also for American justice. Powell's intention was to overthrow the election, and she gets probation. In the meantime, thousands of Americans are in jail - or worse- for traffic violations, smoking pot, missing a court date, not being able to make bail, etc. I wish they'd sentenced her to reduced prison time, not probation. Her sentence is a slap in the face to Americans, especially to those who defended the Capitol on January 6.
Not if it brings down Trump, Guiliani, Meadows, and the rest. Also, there are a number of guilty parties serving in Congress today who have yet to be indicted. We have until January 5, 2026 to bring charges against all who urged, aided in any manner the unlawful attack on the Congressional Building, on January 6, 2021. So Mo Brooks, Josh Hawley, and all those who voted NOT to accept the legal signed findings of the Electoral College can an should be indicted as soon as Trump et al, are convicted the first time. As we stand today the only iffy rial is the one in Florida ad that only because Judge Cannon is questionable.
Accountability for the members of Congress who are complicit is something I am hoping will happen in the future. If Powells' testimony brings this about, then the light sentence for being the first to flip will have been worth it. These people are traitors to their oath, the Constitution, and the country, and they all should be charged for their crimes.
I also think that part of Powells' sentence should include a very public admission and apology to the entire country for spreading the lie that has pit brother against brother and caused so much hate to fester.
YES!!! If members of Congress were complicit, they must be indicted and exposed to the public for their misdeeds and made to pay. I think about this all the time. A house cleaning.
They all (repubs) were complicit and remain so today. This include McTurtle. My concern is obviously rump is behind the failures in the House and is this our lead-in to ending our democratic republic? My guess is it's where we're headed but don't know.
Yes Celeste!
Jim Jordan too
Didn't Marjorie Taylor Greene participate in some of those election stealing meetings?
At least once every day I wonder how we came to have a traitorous person like Donald tRump as president.
Not likely. She was newly elected in January 2021.
She participated in at least one meeting at the White House before she began her term. This is why she was seeking a pardon.
I wonder who arranged that. Back then, she was a nobody. I'm thinking it was McCarthy, who said, "I will always support that woman."
She went with some other congresspersons. Cassidy Hutchinson didn't name her but I did read later Ms. Hutchinson saying if MTG asked for a pardon it didn't come through Meadows office. She did however post on Facebook before Jan 6 that someone should "take Joe Biden out" before the election day. I never used facebook but my wife read the post to me as she friended, or whatever it's called, all of my relatives. And if anyone wants to know what I looked like in my forties, look at her, even to the long shoulder length blond hair. I don't know why we resemble each other so much she's the descendant of my grandfather's grandfather's brother, but God does she look like I did when I was her age. But the meeting she went to was just a few days prior to Jan 6, and I imagine she might have become privy to what was goin to happen, but she was almost certainly not involved in planning it. But I have no idea what actually was said at the meeting, but I'm sure at least Trump wanted to be insured that those congresspersons were going to not certify the election. And that's enough about my crazy cousin.
P.S. My wife says to add she doesn't think I look like MGT. My wife didn't know me until I was 59, lost my hair and the left half of my face had begun to sag.
I'm guessing she was known to Trump's people/followers from her campaign for the House, and she wanted to be on the inside.
Ah, but like a fly that is attracted to a pile of dog sh_t, she might have not been able to resist trying to get involved. She is that deranged, I believe.
The Dream Team becomes a nightmare
"Also, there are a number of guilty parties serving in Congress today who have yet to be indicted." ✅
and others like Ginnnie Thomas who participated in this overthrow attempt.
Ginni and Clarence Thomas, despicable, guilty, evil, loathsome, greedy examples of reptilian brain grifters with nothing but Clarence’s favor to the highest bidder to sell. Their lies and grifting should end with life in prison for both of them and their oligarchs.
Neither has a conscience. No connection to humanity, but how it serves them.
Ginni and Syndey P seem to me like two peas in a pod.
Powell could also have evidence against any congressional plotters in the fake electors plot. And that might be even more beneficial. Powell knows a whole lot about the entire scheme, she was the lawyer not theorizing about the crime, but instituting its fruition. So I agree with you Ms. Reid. I think she could potentially bring down more than many others, except perhaps Meadows. But if Powell has the goods, no deal for Meadows, at least I doubt a deal anywhere near what Powell received. She may have had wild nonsense about evidence, but she was just crazy enough I think she was actively pursuing evidence instead of just rapping about it.I think she was the collator of all of the "paper" part of collecting the evidence, therefore she probably also has the documents of the entire scheme. I could be in fantasyland of wishful thinking. But even Judge McAfee seemed somewhat hesitant to see this plea as acceptable. He never said as much, but he did ask to have the documents presented to the court. . He interrupted the prosecutor's questions to ensure the documents mentioned would be sufficient and then he let the proceeding to occur. I watched this hearing three times consecutively. Then after the prosecutor's elicitations of the confession, agreed . I don't know what judges are privy to with regards to documents and evidence prior to such pleas but he did appear to see something amiss (without directly commenting, but his body language and shifting in his chair, I felt he was somewhat uncomfortable in the leniency of the plea. Again when he was actually pronouncing the sentence, his general posture of leaning forward wasn't altered by just sitting upright, but when he did sit up his shoulders hunched together as if he were granting a sentence repugnantly lenient to the crime. I don't know. But I have watched his posture, and his normal relaxed posture in all of these pretrial conferences and that is the only time I have seen his shoulders tighten.
And remember (and I think he has been extraordinarily fair-minded) he did serve under Fani Willis in the Fulton County's D.A.'s office at one time (before she was D.A.) and he knows her and I guess he decided to accept her lenient reduction of the normal sentence.
So like I said, I could be in fantasyland, but I think Powell is offering more than testimony.
McAffee is seasoned. He questions both sides and in my view that is because he wants to make sure i's are dotted and t's are crossed to not have risk of appeal from him not having sufficient information to make a decision. Do you think he might have been doing careful judgemanship or 'judging' by making sure the prosecutor had his/her own i's dotted and t's crossed before allowing the proceedings to proceed? If, as Joyce Vance has pointed to when she outlined how it's done: taking down the Big Fish, agreeing to light seeming plea bargains gains testimony against the Big Fish (don-Don) and even more testimony from the others as the dominos fall, it was a brilliant negotiation. Powell is not getting off in a lenient fashion in the long run. She owes a lot of money, she has a federal case looming and Texas is looking at her law license.
One can only hope that her evidence against the half dozen bigger fish is so damning that they are cooked, and therefore her reward is retrospectively 'justified'. Trump and his lawyers will claim she is both a fruitcake and a liar of course. She just made the coffee - I hardly knew her - etc.
I thought she was Marla?
LOL!!
“Not my type”, maybe?
Indeed: "I don't know her."
I think she is nuts. And a liar, but that was required.
Dear Laurie, that was my first reaction also, but in a previous CD, I think, someone explained the complicated process of RICO trials. You roll up. each defendant from the outside in until you have everyone pointing at the one responsible. So, Powell is now rolled up, there will be others who get off "easy". However, it seems to be rolling in the right direction. Besides, Powell will never do "real" work again, and she will likely be disbarred (if she hasn't been already like Haircream guy). Her professional life is done. Lean back and relax with that.
That was a mature Comment bruce, thank you.
Looking for some expert commentary from you based on your background, Bryan.
What I did notice in the last two (2) plea deal for Sydney & Ken is that truthful testimony & no contact with Witnesses & other restrictions is the core part of the Plea Deals.
Any violation kills the Deals.
Thus, a prosecutor does NOT have to rely on a PTO (protective order) nor the procedural hassles to enforce same. The Deals can bite hard.
Plus, Powell's was taped. I did not see whether Cheesie was taped also.
Yes it was.
Ha, Bryan thanks at 70 they say it's time to stop maturing and get some wisdom.
I have reached 75 definitely more "tempered" hopefully wiser.
Got you both beat --77 here. Couple of months younger than iTrump
We should start an old fart's home for wisdom seekers on a mountain top somewhere. I guess that's been done.
Boomer' the First Wave. I was Born in 1948, the 2nd Wave..
Her testimony can change the potential future of the Nation and also put enormous pressure on the other co-conspirators which tumbles down any potential defense strategy! Fani Willis knew what she was doing by indicting Powell (crazy as Powell is) and it is a major breakthrough in the two most significant criminal cases in this decade.
I feel the same revulsion at Powell not receiving a long sentence. But the goal is so much more important than our need for vengeance. Powell is a little puppet. It's the puppeteer that needs the long prison sentence. Right?
I don't care what happens to Powell, Chesboro, Giuliani - any of them. If they help solidify the case against one of the most evil and dangerous people in history, they can settle anywhere, do anything they want. Consider that they will have no careers. They could likely end up on the street sleeping in tents. Rudy is already close to complete financial collapse. They will not be enjoying a happy life. And then consider how they will be looking over their shoulders for as long as they are alive. The Magats don't forgive.
If I understood this correctly, Powell's sentence is dependent on her following through on the conditions attached, including telling the truth while testifying, along with constraints on communication with other defendants, including I believe some not yet indicted. She messes up, it'll go back to the court. It ain't over till it's over. I think your second sentence hits it on the head. Their instinct will be self-preservation, and it's going to be interesting to watch them try to assess just what that entails.
Well written because you think correctly: 'Powell is a little puppet. It's the puppeteer that needs the long prison sentence.'
It’s the means to an end. I’m going to try my best not to judge what’s justice and what isn’t during this process. It’s such a bizarre set of circumstances. I have to agree with you though.
The U.S. justice system has serious problems, often related to racism, lack of access to counsel, and poverty, but are you suggesting that Powell's sentence should take these into consideration? That comes perilously close to retributive (in)justice IMO. Giving Powell a stiffer sentence isn't going to set anyone free. Powell's plea deal is not unlike deals made in organized and white-collar crime cases. Sure, it does grate that people who've done scuzzy things have these extra chips to bargain with, and "ends justify the means" is always a risky proposition, but if anyone has suggestions on how better to achieve the goal of bringing the ringleaders to justice, I'm listening.
I'm thinking all kinds of awful things I wouldn't put in print and I'm probably not alone, but there must be a way to put them in a position where they can't help but see the Light and change their ways.
Actually, if they all were waiting trial in jail, I am sure that DA Fani Willis would get a lot more wanting to plead. Why are they out? I guess it is presumed they don't pose a danger. Yet, they are free to continue committing more crimes. There seems a great danger of that.
I think they are not awaiting trial in jail because they are well to do people with financial resources. Poor defendants are not cut this kind of slack.
They are now in Illinois, and everyone should be following Illinois' lead. Only people who pose a risk are jailed. Others are released.
The good news just doesn't stop...this a.m., in Fulton County, Ken "The Cheese" Chesebro pleaded down to one felony charge, with an agreement to testify truthfully on direction from the prosecution...Cheese didn't escape a potential prison charge, but is a goldmine of knowledge round the "fake electors" scheme and tRump's intimate involvement with same.
HALLELUJAH!
Sidney Powell's greatest punishment is being Sidney Powell.
Hoping she is the carrot on the stick to land TFG in prison. So, would it suffice she lose her law license , inability to hold any office, and be banned in all legal aspects? But I concur with the suggestion and ‘those in jail for minor offense..’ .
I agree, Laurie ~~Thank You ~~
In today's Status Kuo substack by Jay Kuo: "So, how do we know a liar like Sidney Powell will ultimately keep her word and actually testify truthfully at trial against Trump? What if she gets up on the stand and changes her tune, or suddenly pleads the Fifth?
"That may happen on television, but it’s really rare in actual trials. Here, prosecutors aren’t taking any risks. To this end, they had Powell record a video of her statement, so she’s pretty locked in. And if she changes her testimony in any way, that would violate the terms of her plea deal, which requires her to testify fully and truthfully, and she’ll be facing six years in Georgia state prison. She’s not going to risk that."
More about Powell in the entire newsletter: https://statuskuo.substack.com/p/kraken-the-case?utm_campaign=email-post&r=3hm2m&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
She's going to be compelled to testify against the others, and if she doesn't, she'll go to trial just like they will. Sure, she's pled to 2 misdemeanors, but she has to live up to the deal she made. Nobody is likely to go to prison in this case, but they stand to having their careers and reputations ruined.
Laurie I agree
Leonard Katz
Like always Joyce, you took today’s events Ann explained them in easily understood terms. z The fact that Sydney Powell was actually in the oval office meeting with then president Trump, adds much more fuel to the fire.
I have been a regular listener too on MSNBC and I’m so glad that I have connected with your newsletter and have subscribed.
You take everything that is out there and put it in terms that make it easy to understand. Thanks for what you do and the time that you put into making it easy for us who are not lawyers to see what is really going on. 😊
I’m an insomniac but it’s ok because I wait for Joyce’s report to drop. It’s the first new news I get for the day.
Same. And I tell myself I am not going to write. But the K-drama today was like a bad train wreck. They are going off the rails. I bet the negotiating table with Chesebro is hot tonight.
Friday Morning. Chesebro just pled out. Counts 1,9,11,13,17 & 19 are nullified. The case will proceed on Count 15, filing FALSE documents which he pled GUILTY. Also, on Probation under the First offender Act. Admitted criminal conspiracy with TFG & Others.
Got that right Valere. Chesebro does not want opening arguments televised. o a national audience.
I think you were right! We’re all so smart, right! Because we’re here.
We are on fire! Because of Joyce, Tofu, Bella and the chickens and our tribe of course:))
Thanks Leonard, I couldn't have said it better myself.
Any bad day for trump is a good day for me and democracy! May this just be the first of many more to come.
It’s not the first bad day and maybe not even the worst so far.
But raise a glass 🥂 to toast this one and hope for many more and much worse!
I’m liking the idea of using toasting glasses like 🌟 to rate his bad days.
I’d rate Thursday Oct 19 as 🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂
Update: Today Friday 20 is 🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂
The day the prison door slams behind him would be a
🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂
For the technically inclined, the🥂 index is an exponential scale, like the Richter scale.
I am not sure why so many people put their lives, families, careers and reputations on the line to support that man.they must be looking in the mirror and asking why? Thanks Joyce!
No moral compass....
No understanding of USA ideals... Seemed like a good idea @ the time.
That and a blindness to the beauty of the constitution.
Candidates for federal office should know the preamble by heart and ace a quiz on the bill of rights. Maybe the citizenship test?
And geography. Harken back to Sharpiegate/The Alabama Controversy.
Since no one else has commented on the etymology of "kraken," derived from Norwegian krake, I suppose I must. Krake, meaning "crooked tree," originates from the Old Norse kraki, etymologically related to Old Norse krókr, literally translated as "hook." This is where it gets fun. Krókr is cognate with crook, as in, "I am not a krake/kraki/krókr/crook."
Finally, "I'm going to release the kraken" has turned into "I'm flipping on the kraken."
The ending "n" being a participle. The term "kraken" was used by Norse to refer to the legendary sea monster of the north sea, often depicted as a giant octopus. I can see where earlier uses of "krake" might suggest the way octupi use their tentacled arms to grab (hook) ships or anything else. The term krake also means an island or outcropping similar to a large animal such as a giant octopus. In more modern times "kraken" is sometimes used to refer to the large dea-going boats built by Vikings now enjoying a kind of renaissance. I suspect that like a lot of words, some meanings derived from other meanings, and we end up with a delightful (if sometimes intimidating) set of related words full of delightful imagery.
AND it's a great name for a hockey team!
Thanks, always nice to get a little delicious bit of new trivia.
Oooooh! as in "Get the Hook?"
Nixon lives on!
... Roger Stone’s back.
Joyce Vance, you have a great fan base and deservedly so. Do know that, I, for one feel so lucky to have found you. You have lessened my anxiety greatly. I think it is also fair to say that the “Chicks” have confirmed that you are a loyal Justice defender. So appreciate your knowledge and thank you for working hard to meet your deadlines for us all. Just feel so happy tonight w/this days happenings. We really are In This Together.🇺🇸🇺🇦🇮🇱🐓🌺🙏🏻♥️
The "two Pats" plus Eric Herschmann already have supplied valuable testimony to the prosecution under the "crime-fraud exception" rule piercing attorney-client privilege, and Powell's testimony re: the notorious December 18 meeting can only add more - one hopes - evidence of potential criminality by TFG. Yes, indeed, the once broad horizon of apparent unaccountability enjoyed by tRump is inexorably shrinking, and the exceptional value of the Willis RICO indictments are ever making themselves known, to all who are pursuing justice for the democratic order.
We are watching this train wreck like it's a K-drama. I think we will have re-runs of Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony on the December 18 event from now until Trump's Georgia trial: Her text the next day that "the West Wing is unhinged," and the 'picture of the day' taken the night of December 18 with Mark Meadows giving Rudy the walk-about off campus so he 'wouldn't wander back to the meeting' (Cassidy's words) said it all: the White House was off the rails with screaming and near fist fights and Trump's own attorney being escorted away. Wander? Trump's personal attorney is given the boot with the hope that he won't 'wander' back?? Boy oh boy, in any other universe, if we published this stuff, they would call us a liar. What more could Powell add to it? I guess they want legal stuff - but the idea that the then-President considered Powell for a special counsel position and held a meeting without his own White House counsel present speaks volumes about Trump's mindset. I am not at all surprised that Trump thought Hugo Chavez influenced the election outcome (even while he had been dead for a number of years). Or that he wanted to try to use that idea. He is not bright (people will disagree with me and be my guest). This idea that he is not not bright is not new. He does not make brilliant, executive level decisions. I cannot think of even one decision that didn't involve a hook, a self-benefit, or firing a decent person who disagreed with him. Harken back to Sharpiegate aka The Alabama Controversy of September 1, 2019. This will be written into history books as an example of how not to study geography. Hurricane Dorian was on the way to the east coast US as a Cat 5 and Trump tried to grandstand that he knew something about meteorology and either moved Alabama to the Atlantic ocean coast on the map with his black marker pen or he tried to move the track of Hurricane Dorian to the west - to the gulf coast of Alabama in what became Sharpiegate. The controversy was because the meterologists were trying to make the true claim that Alabama was not under threat. Finally, when that became established, Trump kept his version going for nearly a week. Because he could not possibly admit that he was wrong, he ordered NOAA to refute the Alabama weather report. There was a huge investigation, including threats of 'firing' NOAA officials !!! - and finally when Biden got into office, he formed a special task force that issued a final report to show how the US government would not interfere with government science and that science would be allowed to be science (because of Trump's antics). Anyway, in my opinion, Trump is less than bright and lies. And if one took these things in totality, he just does not show up as being smart. I'm going to say he does not know geography and on the September 1, 2019, did not know the shape of the state of Alabama. He thought Georgia (where Dorian was projected to barrell through with a direct hit) was Alabama. Or who knows what he thought. But because of his huge ego not allowing him to be wrong, he couldn't reverse himself or god forbid, allow the meterologist to run the show. So it is completely plausible the following year, when he had lost the election and wanted to hang on to the presidency, he thought Rudy Giuliani and Sydney Powell were giving him good advice. Or the kind of advice he wanted to hear and thought he could sell. I can see that happening. So where was the Secret Service on December 18 when fist-fights nearly broke out? Can they testify or do they have immunity? Or are they bound with a professional code to not repeat anything, such as the English-Russian interpreter had to comply with when Trump had his private tete-a-tete with Putin in Helsinki after Germany's G20 2018? There is literally so much stuff for Jack Smith to look at with this guy, his misdeeds and alleged crimes could fill Jack Smith's DOJ days until retirement.
I agree that Sharpie-gate was a very revealing peek into Trump’s psychosis and mush-brain. Everyone must realign with his thinking, which to him is reality.
Who knows what he thought? Well, Dorian hit the Bahamas hard. I always thought Trump confused alaBAMA with what he’d heard about the BAhaMAs.
Remember when George H. W. Bush confused September 7 with Pearl Harbor Day (December 7)?
Small misfires in auditory processing.
As we all know, one distinguishing characteristic of an intelligent person is being aware that there are things they don’t know. Trump truly thinks he knows more than the generals, the doctors (COVID, injecting disinfectant), people who design fighters (he thought the F-35 design was flawed because it only has one engine. ), lawyers, meteorologists(d,....
Terribly dangerous; such a person simply cannot be trusted with nuclear weapons. He might decide to try out his idea of deploying nuclear weapons against hurricanes (maybe in Alabama). Or using them to inject everyone with disinfectants. Or whatever idiotic idea he has next.
I am alternately astonished and alarmed that so many people do not see this addle brained creature as he is. Really stupid bully, clever enough to manipulate, well taught in fraud.
I guess the believing someone the first time thing is really hard, especially if you don’t want to believe the reality they’re showing you.
And to think there are 30% of MAGA who are estimated to be Trump's true believers who are unwilling to participate in reality therapy, much less cult conversion therapy. They will die believing we wrongly accused (and hopefully punished) their anointed leader.
Ppl have a really hard time admitting a mistake in the best of times
Exactly. You are so spot on. ROFL. I don't think he had a clue about the origin of Hurricane Dorian, but I thought at the time that he had the states mixed up. I remember thinking: "Oh no! He is so off the mark!" But to show how entrenched he was in his need to make himself 'right' at all and any costs, without any thought as to how he may impact lives and careers (since he has not had a career), he directed his aides to contact NOAA (a respected science based organization) to change their map to indicate that Dorian 'could impact Alabama.' (This was after the Alabama weather bureau had informed its citizens that Alabama was not in danger. And remember, this was a Cat 5). NOAA directors at first refused, but Trump turned up the heat. On September 6, a week after Trump's blatherskite claim, and when a kerfuffle like this should have died down, NOAA published an unsigned statement saying that Alabama 'could have been impacted by the storm.' But so could have Iowa or Colorado. What the hella?? Then, the US Department of Commerce OIG and the National Acadamy of Public Administration got involved, because scientists across the US and as far away as Hawaii and Alaska called BS (Americans have to rely on the impeccability of NOAA because their very LIVES depend on it and had always been able to do so), and investigations began. By June and July, 2020 their published reports were in, showing the acting director and chief of admin had both succumbed to White House pressure and changed official NOAA reports. Internal emails showed them contacting one another with single word messages such as: "Help!" Here's what they were faced with: "The alteration of official government weather forecasts is illegal per 18 U.S. Code 2074, and is punishable by fine or imprisonment or a combination of both." My point is that these officials were faced with losing their careers and jail (including fines) from threats by Trump (and very likely implied warnings). And Trump was still carrying this forth just before the 2020 election! So when Biden got into office in January 2021, he immediately formed a Task Force that included 29 government agencies to address scientific integrity, and their report was filed in January 2022 reiterating the need to protect scientific agencies from 'political interference.' All of this because of Trump's need to hold his fragile ego together. I think if Jack Smith needs to ramp up his files on Trump's track record of bullying while in office, this is IT!! Two government agencies and a Task Force involving 29 agencies taking a year's time to mop up the aftermath of this maniac with a sharpie!! I was a kumbayah hippie dippie my entire life and did not believe in incarceration prior to January 6. If Trump is found guilty and I have no reason to believe he will not be, I think he should be required to read aloud in court at sentencing a personal apology to every single NOAA employee for his part in abject deceit and shame to them and to all residents of Alabama for causing them unneeded anxiety. (In addition to statements of apology to the citizens of the United States). Finally, if you have managed to get this far in my diatribe, I want to say I'm not exactly one who uses crystals and tarot cards (I wish I were, but I seem to have the analytical/logic genes by career), but if there are spirit animals, I want his to be a Parole Officer.
You are on a spot-on roll Valere.
My writing is proof that I should be in bed at 8:00 pm every night (with my laptop and cell phone shut off) instead of hunkered at my laptop waiting for Joyce to 'send.' I truly am rabid when my GOAT president Joe Biden is slightly criticized. I know I should just take a deep breath. But even when I do, I drag up the slight the next day and respond to it:) I know Biden is not an orator. But so far as addressing the current happenings, he is so born for this job. I truly try not to write and comment.
I just cannot believe this bully ruined NOAA's reputation, threatened their top two employees, caused the Department of Commerce OIG a solid year of investigation work, and then after Biden was elected, he formed a Task Force seating heads of 29 science based government agencies to bring in directions on how to prevent political pressure against government agencies. That was published in January 2023. All because a bully could not let go of the idea that he should be 'right' even when he was wrong. I'm not sure if the then-NOAA administrator and her deputy were fired as a result of changing the weather map. But they violated a law under pressure from Trump and he didn't care a whit about their careers. The astonishing part is that the OIG (showing Trump's threats to NOAA!) and other reports came in a couple of months before the November 2020 election and most Americans were unaware of the threat to our fabric of democracy by Sharpiegate other than it was a 'frantic activity by Trump' joke. It seemed to be an 'oh well' event. I'm not so much of a former hippie dippie that I have a spirit animal - I guess that was (unfortunately) left behind in a research-based career, but I hope Trump has one and I hope it's a Parole Officer.
Also Bryan, I was hyper last night that Powell pled. A true sign I should have shut off the computer.
A heavy domino, indeed! Jury selection starts tomorrow!
thanks as always Joyce. you bring the information that a non legal can understand. i also assumed it would be disbarment. i read a survey that said people would still vote for trump if he was convicted and incarcerated. Folks there is a problem in the USA
After all these creepy, crazy, evil people are in our collective rear view mirror, I think I will print up a Certificate to hang in my wall that states I am a proud graduate of the Joyce Vance School of Law. Thank you.
Perhaps the beginning of a better day for Democracy! Thank you, Joyce, for a succinct and informative report!
Hope Trump and his goons are sweating bullets! One goon is seeking the office of Speaker of The House!
Despicable, isn't it?
Do not despair at Kraken’s light sentence recommendation. The dominoes are falling.
If Cheeze-bro doesn’t flip too and Sydney gives testimony in his trial that incriminates Trump, Trump won’t be able to not denounce and publicly trash her, and the judge will have to gag Trump for tampering with a witness. Sydney is vain enough that if Trump bad mouths her, she may start to testify against trump with a real vengeance- feeling betrayed and humiliated by her former demigod. I feel like I’m turning into a hack script writer for a disgusting failing reality tv show as I try to game out what’s next in this surreal but high stakes nightmare, of the trump era quagmire.
No worries. This is a K-drama. If we wrote it as a true story, they would call us a liar.
LOL, I try to stay abreast of current slang terminology, but it changes so fast and I have generations of slang behind me. And I do not have TV or cable. So had to look up "K-drams". Finally sussed out that it comes from Korean Drama, a popular form of over-the- top melodrama. Yep. Fits.
Hi Annie, Indeed K-drama. I no longer a television. But when I did, many moons (decades ago) I was addicted to watching:)) And I was nearly tempted to get a television recently when someone on this site spoke about watching K-dramas on a coming weekend. She informed me they are available on Netflix. So when life slows a bit...
There are things I wouldn't mind watching on Netflix, but decided not to go down that rabbit hole. PBS has fantastic drama programs for the rare times I watch (sadly behind on my faves rigth now. But I am addicted to mysteries, so that's my secret vice. But these days I am so busy with political stuff (chair of my local Dem Committee, delegate to county, alt del to state) and things are already heating up. I am now setting aside time to just sit and read (politics not allowed) so I make sure I don't overdo the screen. Speaking of which, it is now after 8 and time to shut down, get a snack, and curl up with my latest (Gamach and Bouvoir and the charming but currently flood-threatened village of Three Pines and all it's eccentric denizens.)
Kudos for your political involvement🩵
I've gone over the edge and am convinced I've lot my marbles...
Thanks, Annie. I too am a non-TV person and had no idea what K-drama is. I’m now enlightened!
😊
Thanks for the great analysis.
I don’t understand how such a reliable source of craziness and disinformation can offer sufficiently credible testimony to be worth this deal to prosecutors. Does she have to admit up front that she made all that crazy stuff up?
Good comment Chris. The Prosecutor has made a video testimony trial exhibit plus the deal with the Prosecutor requires the production of additional exhibits, emails, possibly contemporaneous notes that function as "admissions against interest".
Yippee! So the open court testimony means it can be used elsewhere?
There will be corroborating witnesses and perhaps documentation.
Joyce, I know you’ve often given us here and on MSNBC an idea of what’s around the corner in these cases that has really checked out! But your MSNBC opinion piece is positively eerie advance notice! Congratulations!!
When you are not spot on about some detail even that is helpful because it draws attention and helps us see that something unusual (which you then explain) is going on.
I ❤️ the Joyce Vance school of law!