Contempt & Accountability

Trump has such contempt for the rule of law. It oozes out of his mouth when he speaks and leaps off the page when his attorneys file arguments on his behalf in court.

We have come to accept this as commonplace, which is why I think it is important to stop periodically to contemplate how upside down we are. No one seems to act with outrage and revulsion anymore when an American president—a former one who wants to hold office again—acts with flagrant and utter disregard for the constitutional principles and laws that make this country what it is. The rule of law isn’t just empty words. It is a series of ideas that permitted us to become a democracy, not a monarchy, based on the notion of equal treatment for all before the law.

If you don’t have respect for the fundamentals, you don’t have respect for the institutions or the integrity of the nation as a whole. That’s the essence of who Trump is. Self-serving. Someone who wants the power and protections that come with being a dictator, a special status that is not available to anyone in a democracy. It’s bewildering to those of us who see Trump as an emperor with no clothes that others believe he’s fully dressed and wearing their colors. What they fail to see is the inevitable final act to following their leader, that Trump always turns on those who support him when their interests diverge, whether it’s Michael Cohen, his long-time attorney, Jeff Sessions, his first supporter in the Senate and Attorney General, or Mike Pence, his adoringly loyal vice president. We need to remember our outrage when it’s so exhausting and easier to become numb to Trump.

We are learning more about the case Special Counsel David Weiss (he is the former Trump U.S. Attorney in Delaware who is the Special Counsel in the Hunter Biden matter) is bringing against Alexander Smirnov. Smirnov is now charged with lying to the FBI when he told them he met with an official at Burisma, a Ukrainian company, who told him that Hunter Biden’s work on Burisma’s board was an effort to wield his father’s political influence as Vice President to help the company and that each of the Bidens received a $5 million payment in exchange for their work. It turns out Smirnov actually didn’t meet with the people he said he spoke to years earlier until 2017, which was after Joe Biden’s term as Vice President ended, meaning there was no official influence he could impose at that point.

The additional information we have about the case comes in the form of a detention motion to keep Smirnov in custody, which DOJ filed in Nevada, where he was arrested following an international flight. The case itself is indicted in the Central District of California.

To detain a defendant, the government has to show he’s a flight risk or a danger to the community. Weiss says, “the nature and circumstances of the offense, weight of the evidence, and the fact that Smirnov’s ties to the community are weak establish that Smirnov should be detained.” That proves to be an understatement.

It turns out, according to Weiss, that Smirnov “claimed to have contacts with multiple foreign intelligence agencies and had plans to leave the United States two days after he was arrested last week for a months-long, multi-country foreign trip.” He claimed he would meet with his foreign intelligence contacts on that trip and that they “could resettle Smirnov outside the United States if he were released.” That’s not your run-of-the-mill argument by the government that a defendant is a flight risk!

Weiss also advised the court that Smirnov has access “to over $6 million in liquid funds,” which he proves up with bank statements. Weiss points out that would be “more than enough money for him to live comfortably overseas for the rest of his life.” What else do you need? But the Special Counsel has more—Smirnov told pre-trial services that he only had $1500.00 in cash on hand and $5000 in a personal checking account.

Smirnov will be detained pending trial. He’s the poster child for a flight risk—if he isn’t one, then no one is. A defendant who has the proven ability and resources to flee is someone whose presence at trial can’t be assured by any combination of conditions on release; custody is the appropriate result. That opens up a range of interesting possibilities—will Smirnov decide he is better served by a plea and cooperation if his avenue of escape is cut off? Weiss says Smirnov told agents during an interview following his arrest that "officials associated with Russian intelligence" were involved in his fabricated story about Hunter Biden. What other information could Smirnov bring to light?

Of course, the government has indicted Smirnov for lying about Biden, so anything he says would have to be meticulously corroborated before it could taken as true. But this case continues to get stranger and stranger. And it’s dashing Republican hopes of impeaching Joe Biden because the payments to Biden they claimed they were investigating have turned out to be a lie, one possibly planted by Russian agents.

There was some good news today. The Supreme Court declined to take on an appeal by Trump attorneys including Sidney Powell of “release the Kraken” fame and retired Georgia lawyer Lin Wood. In 2021, a federal judge in Michigan sanctioned them for bringing a lawsuit claiming election fraud cost Trump the election in that state. The case was promptly dismissed for a lack of evidence and the Judge permitted the city of Detroit and other state defendants to recover over $150,000 in damages from the Trump lawyers.

Accountability! In her opinion, District Judge Linda Parker called Powell and Wood’s lawsuit a “historic and profound abuse” of the courts. She said the lawsuit was “frivolous.” The Supreme Court did not disagree.

Cases like this are the counterbalance to Trump’s authoritarian rhetoric. They are a slow but steady restoration of the rule of law. Sidney Powell now stands convicted of 6 misdemeanor charges related to election interference in Georgia. Lin Wood stepped down from practicing law. They will have to compensate Michigan for their frivolous litigation. It is not everything that we need, but it is a start. Rudy Giuliani has been held civilly liable for his attacks on poll workers and can no longer practice law. Trump lawyer John Eastman faces bar disciplinary action. In an era where a former president acts like he’s above the law, it’s an important start. And only a start, because there is more coming.

We’re in this together,

Joyce