According to a recent report that linked the dots between Donald Trump’s Georgia indictment and co-conspirators, there is a pattern of behavior that suggests the former president’s allies will turn on him to legally protect themselves.
Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, is accused of conspiring with Trump to rig Georgia’s 2020 election, according to a Politico report on his potential legal strategy. Meadows could join Trump’s other former allies in holding the former president responsible and characterizing him as the “primary diver” of the racketeering scheme they are accused of, according to court records cited in the report.
Trump’s role in the infamous Jan. 2, 2021, phone call in which he suggested that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger “find” enough votes was brought up by Meadows’ defense attorney. This is likely a key component of the prosecution’s case there.
Politico reported: “Meadows arranged that pivotal call. But after prosecutors played audio of the call in the courtroom, an attorney for Meadows emphasized that his client’s part in the actual discussion was both more minor and less provocative than Trump’s.”
“There’s a lot of statements by Mr. Trump. Mr. Meadows’ speaking roles were quite limited,” Meadows’ lawyer, Michael Francisco, observed as he cross-examined Raffensperger, who was called to testify by prosecutors.
“He didn’t make a request that you change the vote totals — Mr. Meadows, himself?” Francisco continued.
“Correct,” Raffensperger replied.
Politico connected their investigation into Meadows to news from last month that Yuscil Taveras, the Mar-a-Lago IT director, reportedly withdrew his testimony in court and divulged details linking the former president to attempts to erase the resort’s security camera footage.
Politico attempts to assert that this may strengthen the argument that Trump obstructed justice and handled classified information improperly, though Politico also pointed out that David Shafer, Cathleen Latham, and Shawn Still have stated in court filings that they were following orders from Trump and his attorneys.
The three were charged with trying to tamper with Georgia’s election results by posing as voters.
Fulton County District Attorney is pushing for a “speedy trial” of all 19 co-defendants in a case she filed against Trump.
Willis made an astonishing request to the court, requesting that all defendants be tried starting on October 23, according to a report.
Only two of the co-defendants have been identified thus far: former Trump attorney Sydney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro. However, Willis argued in a court filing on Tuesday that separating the defendants would be “improper.”
In a stunning request to the court, Willis said she wanted to try all defendants beginning Oct. 23, a report said.
MSNBC host Ali Velshi asked network legal analyst Glenn Kirshner, “What is the basis of arguing that severance in a case like this is improper?”
“So, Ali, anytime we indict a co-defendant case, the prosecutors have a keen interest in keeping all defendants in the same trial,” Kirschner said. “The defendants ordinarily have a keen interest to try to get themselves removed from, or severed out, of the joint trial. Why is that? Because any time co-defendants are tried separate from their fellow co-defendants — and I’ve had this happen many times as a prosecutor — they will make what they call ‘the empty chair defense.’”
“So I can almost promise you that one of, for example, defendant Chesebro’s defenses, if he is sitting there, either alone or maybe with Sidney Powell and one or two other co-conspirators, charged co-defendants, I can almost see him saying, ‘You know what? John Eastman, the constitutional scholar, the law school Dean, who should be sitting in that empty chair right there, but he’s not. He is the true architect behind the alternate electors scheme because he assured me there was legal support for it,’” Kirshner continued.
The legal analyst added that could lead at least one juror to have some reasonable doubt about the case, which would lead to a hung jury and no decision.
Earlier, Kirshner also predicted that “a chorus of voices from many of the co-defendants” will argue that they cannot adequately prepare for trial by Oct. 23.
“It will be really interesting now to see what Judge [Scott] McAfee does now that Fani Willis is prepared to give everyone their speedy trial,” Kirschner added.
Meanwhile, the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee is pressing Democratic DA Willis to provide details regarding her prosecution of Trump.
