Freaking out

Donald Trump has told advisers that he wants to be handcuffed when he makes an appearance in court, if he is indicted by a Manhattan grand jury.

  Guardian

A lot of people would like that.

The former president has reasoned that since he would need to go to the courthouse and surrender himself to authorities for fingerprinting and a mug shot anyway, the sources said, he might as well turn everything into a “spectacle”.

Somehow, he will.

But above all, people close to Trump said, he was deeply anxious that any special arrangements – like making his first court appearance by video link or skulking into the courthouse – would make him look weak or like a loser.

He IS a loser. And he IS weak.

Trump’s legal team in the hush money case has recoiled at the idea of him going in person and recommended that Trump allow them to quietly turn himself in next week and schedule a remote appearance, even citing guidance from his Secret Service detail about potential security concerns.

But Trump has rejected that approach and told various allies over the weekend that he didn’t care if someone shot him – he would become “a martyr”. He later added that if he got shot, he would probably win the presidency in 2024, the sources said.

He sounds depressed, in addition to crazy. I assume he's just freaking out.

Trump’s advisers have also been unsure whether he actually grasps the enormity of what an indictment might mean for him legally, in part because he has appeared disconnected at times from the recent flurry of activity in New York as the investigation has wrapped up.

I think their best defense would be to admit he's mentally incompetent. But I'm sure he wouldn't allow that.

In recent days, Trump has generally weighed his predicament only in between lunches and dinners at Mar-a-Lago and playing his usual rounds of golf at his resort in Palm Beach, the sources said.

When he eventually gets settled on strategizing his response to the hush money case, the sources said, he has been more focused on how he can project an image of defiance against the prosecution and that he is unfazed by being slapped with criminal charges that could turn out to rise to a felony.

He lives in his own imagined world. The madness of King George comes to mind.

It remains unclear what charges the district attorney might seek against Trump, though some members of his legal team believe the most likely scenario involves a base charge of falsifying business records coupled with potential tax fraud because Trump would not have paid tax on the payments.

We're all waiting.

Donald Trump may be preparing to become the first US president to be criminally indicted but should his perp walk for paying hush money to a porn star come to pass – perhaps granting his reported wish to be seen handcuffed – he will not be the first president ever arrested.

In 1872, President Ulysses S Grant was nicked for speeding in his horse-drawn carriage.

  Guardian

As Jack Smith collects evidence, Trump may be focused on Alvin Bragg to avoid the reality of what awaits him in the federal case(s).

Former President Donald Trump lashed out at ABC News on Tuesday over what he said was a "fake" report that he "deliberately misled" his attorneys about his handling of the classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago home last year.

"Shame on Fake News ABC for broadcasting ILLEGALLY LEAKED false allegations from a Never Trump, now former chief judge, against the Trump legal team. This disinformation is on par with their breathless Russia, Russia, Russia, Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine, and ‘no-collusion’ Mueller speculation, all of which were totally disproven," Trump said in a statement shared on Twitter by spokesperson Liz Harrington.

[...]

ABC's Tuesday report said that sources told the outlet that a former federal judge wrote last week in a sealed filing that prosecutors presented "compelling preliminary evidence" that Trump "knowingly and deliberately misled his own attorneys about his retention of classified materials after leaving office."

[...]

The report said that Howell found prosecutors sufficiently showed Trump "intentionally concealed" the existence of classified documents from his lawyer, Evan Corcoran, and put him "in an unwitting position to deceive the government."

  MSN

I'd say that means Corcoran didn't cover for Trump when he went before the Grand Jury.

It also said that Howell agreed prosecutors sufficiently showed Trump committed crimes, but that they "would still need to meet a higher standard of evidence in order to seek charges against Trump, and more still to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt."

From former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti:

Continue reading.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

This:

Stands to reason Corcoran wouldn't try to cover for Trump if he has to produce evidence like this.

UPDATE 10:52 am:

Panic time in Trump legal world.

This is particularly interesting because there's a new judge involved: James Boasberg rotated in on Monday.  Looks like the appeals court doesn't want to fuck around with this.  Boasberg must be ruing his luck about now.

UPDATE 03:43 pm:

An appeals court in Washington, D.C., has ruled against an attorney for former President Donald Trump, ordering him to comply with a federal grand jury subpoena to testify and provide information about his communications with Trump in its investigation into possible mishandling of documents with classified markings found at his Mar-a-Lago residence.

Trump's legal team could appeal the ruling to the entire D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

  CBS

I think you can bet on it.

UPDATE 04:56 pm:  I wonder who told her that and why they think it's unlikely.

UPDATE 03/23/2023:  Interesting that everyone who "should be removed immediately" is involved in a case against Trump.

Since he hasn't been held responsible for his incitement acts around January 6, he's going to continue inciting.

UPDATE 03/24/2023:  Corcoran has testified to the Grand Jury even though an appeal is ongoing.