CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
One of the most frustrating things about Donald Trump is the fact that despite being what U.S. penal code 212(j)(1)(j) defines as “a hugely corrupt motherf--ker,” for most of his 75 years on earth, he’s escaped any and all responsibility for his actions. Oh, sure, he’s paid some money here and there to make things that would be a huge deal for anyone else a footnote in his biography, and yeah, he did agree to have his charity shut down after it was accused by the New York attorney general of “persistently illegal conduct,” but largely, the guy has gotten away with everything, from attempting to extort another country for his own political gain to lying to the public about the severity of a highly contagious disease to inciting an insurrection that left five people dead and then “gleefully” watching it on TV like it was a pay-per-view boxing match he and his son did the commentary for. And yet! As investigations into the ex-president ramp up, it appears his run of luck may be coming to an end, a prediction we‘re basing solely on the fact that he sounds like he knows the walls are closing in.
Yes, over the course of a characteristically unhinged rally on Saturday night, during which he painted an alarming picture in which he (1) is reelected to the White House in 2024 and (2) pardons the people who violently attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021, Trump took the time to lash out at a trio of prosecutors investigating him for a smorgasbord of alleged wrongdoing. In what CNN has called “an extraordinary assault,” the ex-president went on an extended attack against New York attorney general Letitia James and Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, later throwing in Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis for good measure. Without mentioning any of the investigators by name, Trump told the crowd: “These prosecutors are vicious, horrible people, they’re racists and they’re very sick, they’re mentally sick. They’re going after me without any protection of my rights by the Supreme Court, or most other courts. In reality, they’re not after me, they’re after you. And I just happen to be the person that’s in the way. That’s what they’re after, it’s been going on for years.”
Twitter content
To honor your privacy preferences, this content can only be viewed on the site it originates from.
He continued:
There’s a lot going on here. Let’s start with the fact that it’s really quite something to watch Trump, an abject racist, accuse three Black prosecutors of racism against him. But mostly, Trump’s fevered performance suggests that he’s completely terrified of the consequences that might be coming for him. If you haven’t been keeping up with the various developments across all of the investigations into the ex-president, as a reminder, Letitia James has been looking into alleged wrongdoing by the Trump Organization for more than two years, and earlier this month, said in a court filing that her office had found “significant evidence” of fraud committed by the family business. Announcing legal action against them, James said in a statement that “Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., and Ivanka Trump have all been closely involved in the transactions in question, so we won’t tolerate their attempts to evade testifying in this investigation,” a turn of events that the ex-president flipped out over, suggesting that his “children” should be off limits despite the fact that they are in their 40s and have both been senior executives at the Trump Organization, including during the time being examined by James.
As for Trump’s claims during the rally in regards to James’s investigation, it may not surprise you to learn they’re extremely Trumpian in that they’re total bullshit. For example, when he speaks of the millions of pages of documents the Trump Organization has turned over, he conveniently leaves out the fact that, per James, the company has not “made anything approaching a complete production of documents for Mr. Trump,“ including the handwritten notes the famously email and computer-averse Trump used to “communicate with employees.” When he talks about it supposedly being improper for James to have campaigned on holding him accountable, he does not mention that approximately 63% of his 2016 campaign was about locking Hillary Clinton up (the other 37% arguably being about racism and making Mexico pay for the wall).
Summer Sale
1 year for $29.99 $8 + a free tote.
Meanwhile, in an incredible tell that Trump is soiling himself over what might come out of James’s investigation, he already appears to be offering himself an out by suggesting that he “relied on” other people, namely, “major law firms and accounting firms and other professionals.” (Incidentally, this preemptive deflection of blame is reminiscent of the statement Trump’s lawyer gave to The New York Times after it uncovered evidence of “outright fraud” by the then president and his siblings, in which his attorney said: “There was no fraud or tax evasion by anyone. The facts upon which the Times bases its false allegations are extremely inaccurate. President Trump had virtually no involvement whatsoever with these matters. The affairs were handled by other Trump family members who were not experts themselves and therefore relied entirely upon the aforementioned licensed professionals to ensure full compliance with the law.” In other words, “there was no fraud or tax evasion,” but just in case there actually was, Donald Trump is completely innocent and the licensed professionals he paid and/or his siblings are to blame.)
In the case of the Manhattan D.A., which charged the Trump Organization and its CFO, Allen Weisselberg, with numerous crimes last summer, including conspiracy, grand larceny, and multiple counts of tax fraud and falsifying records, it’s more than a little sad that the best Trump can do six months later is claim that allegedly dodging taxes on $1.7 million worth of perks is not a big deal, though at least the family is consistent. (Both Weisselberg and the Trump Organization have pleaded not guilty.)
And while Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis only got a passing mention, the part of the speech where she was included was probably the most chilling—and the one that most suggests Trump is terrified of what might happen to him. Because telling one’s followers “if these radical racist vicious prosecutors do anything wrong or illegal, I hope we are going to have in this country the biggest protest we have ever had in Washington, D.C., in New York, in Atlanta, and elsewhere” can’t really be viewed as some throwaway line. Remember what happened the last time Trump told a group of his followers that he had been wronged and that they should fight on his behalf? Unsurprisingly, Willis is viewing Trump’s statement like the threat it is.
Per CNN:
“I am asking that you immediately conduct a risk assessment of the Fulton County Courthouse and Government Center, and that you provide protective resources to include intelligence and federal agents,” Willis said in the letter to Hacker, obtained by CNN. “It is imperative that these resources are in place well in advance of the convening of the Special Purpose Grand Jury.” She added, in case the subtext of Trump’s threat was unclear: “We must work together to keep the public safe and ensure that we do not have a tragedy in Atlanta similar to what happened at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
If you would like to receive the Levin Report in your inbox daily, click here to subscribe.
“Even further left” is a strange way to describe a court whose makeup is 6–3 in favor of conservatives but perhaps Cruz is too busy selecting apps at Señor Frog’s to care about making sense
Twitter content
To honor your privacy preferences, this content can only be viewed on the site it originates from.
Report: Elon Musk is a real cheapskate
Both with the IRS and random teens he wants something from. Per CNN:
As a reminder, Musk added $121 billion to his net worth in 2021, which breaks down to roughly $331,506,849 per day, or $13,812,785 per hour, or $230,213 per minute. So $5,000 is pretty insulting, but hey, at least he didn’t call Sweeney a “pedo,” or say something strange and creepy about his profile picture, or call him a “Karen,” i.e. the Tesla founder’s usual M.O. when he doesn’t get his way. Sweeney, apparently the grown-up in this scenario, reportedly did “offer Musk some technical advice, telling the billionaire about a blocking program he could use to counter flight tracking programs,” which Musk apparently took him up on, though the teen can still see where the richest man in the world is jetting off to. “It’s just a bit more complicated,” he told CNN.
Elsewhere!
Trump ally pushes Republican Party to expel Cheney, Kinzinger (The Washington Post)
Fed Officials Stress Not Jamming Brakes on Economy as Hikes Loom (Bloomberg)
U.S. and Russia clash sharply over Ukraine at U.N. meeting (The Washington Post)
Moderna’s vaccine receives full FDA approval (The Washington Post)
House Dems demand climate action from wreckage of social spending bill (Politico)
Report on Downing Street Parties Deepens Crisis for Johnson (NYT)
Viral word game Wordle purchased by NYT for “low-7 figures” (Polygon)
N.Y. nurses busted for forging vax cards in $1.5M scheme (NYP)
Cop accused of flying NYPD spy plane in penis-shaped route loses just five vacation days (NYDN)
— Inside Jerry Falwell Jr.’s Unlikely Rise and Precipitous Fall at Liberty University
— Eric Adams Pulls Crypto-Paycheck Stunt Hours Before Bitcoin Crash
— Dave Chappelle and “the Black Ass Lie” That Keeps Us Down
— Trump’s January 6 Cover-Up Is Unraveling Fast
— Florida Man Has Growing God Complex
— In 2024, Mike Pence Is Gearing Up to Go Rogue
— New York Attorney General to Trump, Ivanka, and Don Jr.: Don’t F--k With Us
— Inside This Cable News Giant’s Streaming Dreams
— From the Archive: It Came From Wasilla
— Not a subscriber? Join Vanity Fair to receive full access to VF.com and the complete online archive now.
No comments:
Post a Comment