THE MANY TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF INMATE NUMBER P01135809

Donald Trump claims that all the impeachments, civil lawsuits, and criminal indictments directed at him are "witch hunts." Are they? Let's check the facts.

THE FIRST IMPEACHMENT
Trump called his first impeachment a "witch hunt." He was impeached over his attempt to extort a personal political favor from the president of Ukraine. Trump had blocked $400 million in aid from going to Ukraine. Congress had authorized the funds to help Ukraine counter the Russia-backed insurrection in the Donbas. If he wanted the money, President Zelensky had to play ball, and announce an investigation into Trump's political rival. (To his credit, Zelensky did not give in to Trump's extortion.) There is no question that Trump's actions fit the description of high crimes and misdemeanors. A clear majority (57/100) of senators voted to convict (10 short of the 2/3 majority required for a conviction). Trump skated because most Republican senators were afraid that if they held Trump to account, his supporters would vote them out of office in the next election. Trump's first impeachment was no mere witch hunt.

THE SECOND IMPEACHMENT
Trump also called his second impeachment a "witch hunt." But we all saw him deliver an hour-long, grievance-fueled, mendacious diatribe to the crowd he had called to Washington on January 6 ("Be there! Will be wild!" ). We all heard him tell the crowd, "If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore." (Trump used the word fight 20 times in his speech on the Elipse.) Trump was preceded at the lectern by his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who exhorted the crowd, "...let's have trial by combat!" We later learned Trump knew that many in the crowd he aimed at the Capitol were armed. They had come to Washington at Trump's urging, because they believed his big lie that the 2020 election had been stolen (it hadn't been). Many of the nearly 2000 insurrectionists later brought to trial argued that they were simply carrying out the wishes of their president. (While true, this is no excuse for attacking police officers, ransacking the Capitol, and disrupting an official proceeding of Congress.) Without a doubt, the attack on the Capitol resulted from Trump's incitement. Trump's second impeachment was no witch hunt.

COLLUSION WITH RUSSIANS, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE
Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller was tapped by the DOJ to investigate Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Mueller spent 22 months, and $32 million securing 34 indictments, guilty pleas, and convictions of people very close to Trump. These include his campaign manager Paul Manafort, his National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, his personal lawyer Michael Cohen, his dirty tricks expert Rodger Stone, and campaign lawyers Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos. The Mueller Report detailed 10 instances of Trump obstructing justice, and could NOT rule out his campaign's collusion with the Russians to tilt the 2016 election in Trump's favor. Trump only avoided prosecution then because of a DOJ policy that a sitting president cannot be indicted. The results speak for themselves: the Mueller investigation was no witch hunt.

AN ACTUAL WITCH HUNT
In retaliation, Trump instigated a lengthy and expensive investigation of the origins of the Mueller investigation in the FBI. This investigation of an investigation, led by Special Counsel John Durham, lasted 4 years and cost nearly $7 million. In the end, Durham only secured ONE guilty plea on a minor violation (an FBI agent had embellished an application for a FISA warrant) and he obtained ZERO convictions in two trials. The Durham investigation, sad to say, does fit the description of a witch hunt.

FILING FALSE BUSINESS RECORDS, CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAW VIOLATION, TAX FRAUD
Former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, following up on testimony from Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen that came out of the Mueller probe, initiated an investigation into Trump's business, and hush money payments Trump made before the 2016 election. Vance retired before any charges could be brought, but his successor, Alvin Bragg, continued the investigation, empaneled a grand jury, and eventually secured an indictment. Trump has been charged on 34 felony counts of filing false business records, violation of campaign finance law, and tax fraud. Trump supporters cry foul, claiming that Trump is being unfairly singled out, but the reality is that falsifying business records cases are the "bread and butter" of the Manhattan DA's office. And the voters do have a right to know what a candidate for public office buys with his campaign funds. Purchasing the silence of someone the candidate had an extramarital affair with is perfectly legal, but the voters are entitled to know about the transaction. (Ironically, their knowing about the transaction nullifies its usefulness to the candidate.) A grand jury, hearing the evidence, found probable cause to indict the former president. The Vance/Bragg investigation and indictment is anything but a witch hunt.

ELECTION TAMPERING
Based on a recording of a phone call Donald Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, where Trump pressured Raffensperger to "find" him 11,780 votes, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis initiated a state election-tampering investigation. A special grand jury was empaneled, and after hearing the evidence, they recommended indictments of multiple individuals. That grand jury was not empowered to issue indictments. The details of their recommendation remain under seal. All they disclosed was that they had recommended indictments of some very famous public figures as well as some people who are not as widely known. But because we have all heard the recording of Trump's call to Raffensperger, it is reasonable to assume that one of the famous people is Trump. (A second grand jury, one with the power to indict, was later empaneled, and that one definitely did indict Trump.) If we can go by the findings of the Georgia special grand jury, Fani Willis' investigation was no witch hunt.

THE J6 INSURRECTION
Following the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi authorized the formation of a select committee to investigate the origins of the insurrection. The bipartisan Committee's investigation, led by Chairman Bennie Thompson [D], and Vice Chair Liz Cheney [R], lasted approximately 18 months. Finally, the Committee held nine public hearings. The vast majority of the witnesses who testified were nominal Republicans, many of whom worked in the White House. These included insiders of the Trump administration and former members of militia groups who stormed the Capitol. The Committee heard testimony indicating that Trump knew he lost the 2020 election, knew many people in the crowd at the Elipse were armed, knew the fake elector scheme was unconstitutional, and for hours did nothing to stop the attack. In fact, he did the opposite. Trump poured fuel on the fire by tweeting, "Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done." To date, the DOJ has charged over 1,100 individuals who attacked police officers and broke into the Capitol. The Committee recommended that the Department of Justice charge and prosecute Donald Trump and several of his cronies for offenses that fall into four categories:

1. obstruction of an official proceeding,
2. conspiracy to defraud the United States,
3. conspiracy to knowingly make a false statement,
4. assisting, aiding or comforting an insurrection.

The leaders of both the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers militias have already been convicted on sedition and are currently serving lengthy prison sentences. The investigation carried out by the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 attack was certainly not a witch hunt.

MISHANDLING CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE
Following a highly unusual series of events where the National Archives and the FBI attempted but failed to retrieve sensitive government documents from former president Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence/golf club, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Special Counsel Jack Smith to launch an investigation. After looking into the matter for approximately one year, a federal grand jury in south Florida voted to indict Donald J. Trump on 37 felony counts including mishandling of classified documents, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice. The unsealed indictment reveals damning evidence that Trump stole classified documents relating to national defense, conspired to obstruct efforts to retrieve them, attempted to suborn perjury, showed classified documents to people not authorized to see them or even know they existed, and stored them in a wantonly careless manner that invited foreign adversaries to read them and/or photograph them and/or steal them. At this time, the damage to US national security, and that of our allies and operatives, is unknown. Apparently, some documents are still missing. Where are they? Did Trump sell them? Are they now in the hands of a foreign adversary? One thing is certain: Jack Smith's investigation does not qualify as a witch hunt.

CONSPIRACY TO DELETE SERVERS, SHOWING WAR PLANS TO GHOST
In late July, 2023, a superceding indictment added two more felony counts, one for obstruction of justice and one for willful retention of sensitive military documents, to the list of federal felony charges against Trump in the south Florida jurisdiction. Jack Smith's team has uncovered evidence that Trump directed his "body man" Walt Nauta and his head of Mar-a-Lago maintenance Carlos de Oliveira to "delete the servers" holding security camera video images of Nauta moving boxes of government documents, in furtherance of Trump's efforts to illegally retain the documents and conceal them from the government. The government has testimony concerning the plot to obstruct the government's investigation by "deleting the servers" from Mar-a-Lago "employee number 4." And the government now says it has in its possession the classified Pentagon document that Trump showed off to the ghost writer and to the publisher of former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows' upcoming memoir. There is an audio tape of Trump showing off the document, which apparently contains military contingency plans for a conflict with Iran. Trump has claimed there was no document. Now the Special Counsel has the document in his hands, and has witnesses who will testify that Trump illegally showed it to them at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey. If the DOJ is engaged in a witch hunt, then Trump is a witch!

THE FAKE ELECTORS PLOT
On August 1, 2023, Special Counsel Jack Smith announced that a federal grand jury in Washington, DC had handed down a felony indictment of Trump for his actions preceding, during, and following the January 6 insurrection. The indictment alluded to but did not name 6 co-conspirators who participated in the fake electors scheme (an attempt to defraud the United States and overthrow the 2020 election), as well as their roles in inciting Trump supporters to attack the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. Informed readers of the indictment can deduce the identities of most of Trump's unindicted co-conspirators. They include:

1. Rudy Giuliani (lawyer)
2. John Eastman (lawyer)
3. Sydney Powell (lawyer)
4. Jeffery Clark (DOJ official)
5. Ken Chesebro (lawyer)
6. ? (political consultant)

We knew this was coming because in late July of 2023, Trump announced on his social media platform that he had received a target letter from the Special Counsel's office. The DC indictment charges Trump in four felony categories:

1. conspiracy to defraud the United States,
2. conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding,
3. obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and
4. conspiracy against rights.

The specific "rights" in item 4 are voting rights: the right of every voter to have his/her/their vote count. Trump essentially attempted to nullify the votes of 81,283,501 citizens, all those who voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
Sixteen fake electors have already been charged with forgery in the state of Michigan, where they falsely claimed to represent the state in the Electoral College. And an investigation of fake electors is underway in Arizona. Among the many juicy tidbits revealed in the federal indictment is one from former Vice President Mike Pence's contemporaneous notes on a phone call with then President Trump. Trump exhorted Pence sign on to the fake elector scheme and use his ceremonial role on January 6 to throw out the legitimate election results in favor of Trump. Pence refused, saying that the plan was unconstitutional. Trump replied, "You're too honest." Not looking like a witch hunt, is it? Incidentally, the DOJ is taking a look at Trump's "Stop the Steal" fundraising. It seems that money donated on the understanding that it would be used to litigate supposed election fraud cases was actually simply banked or spent on other things. Trump's lawyers did file over 60 lawsuits alleging election fraud around the country; all were lost or tossed out for lack of evidence. Yet the fundraising continued, even though there was no more litigation. The technical term for this type of activity is FRAUD. Expect more indictments.

RACKETEERING IN GEORGIA AND ELSEWHERE
On August 14, 2023, a second Fulton County, Georgia grand jury handed down a felony indictment of Donald J. Trump and 18 of his co-conspirators. The 19 were charged, under Georgia's RICO statute, with a wide ranging set of crimes relating to Trump's attempted self-coup of 2020/2021. Trump's 18 indicted co-conspirators are:

1. Mark Meadows (WHCOS);
2. Rudy Giuliani (lawyer);
3. Sydney Powell (lawyer);
4. John Eastman (lawyer);
5. Jenna Ellis (lawyer);
6. Jeffery Clark (DOJ official);
7. Kenneth Chesebro (lawyer and apparent originator of the fake elector scheme);
8. David Shafer (former chairman of the Georgia Republican Party and fake elector);
9. Cathy Latham (former chairwoman of Coffee County Republican Party and fake elector);
10. Misty Hampton (Coffee County elections director);
11. Shawn Still (Georgia state senator and fake elector);
12. Scott Hall (bail bondsman);
13. Ray Smith (lawyer);
14. Robert Cheeley (lawyer)
15. Michael Roman (former Trump campaign aide);
16. Harrison Floyd (head of Black Voices for Trump);
17. Stephen Lee (pastor);
18. Trevian Kutti (with Floyd and Lee, unsuccessfully pressured election worker Ruby Freeman to falsely confess to election fraud).

Trump's criminal gang is charged with:

1. Violation of the Georgia RICO Act;
2. solicitation of violation of oath by public officer;
3. false statements and writings;
4. conspiracy to commit false statements and writings;
5. criminal attempt to commit false statements and writings;
6. impersonating a public officer;
7. conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer;
8. forgery in the first degree;
9. conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree;
10. filing false documents;
11. conspiracy to commit filing false documents;
12. influencing witnesses;
13. criminal attempt to commit influencing witnesses;
14. conspiracy to commit election fraud;
15. conspiracy to commit computer theft;
16. conspiracy to commit computer trespass;
17. conspiracy to commit computer invasion of privacy;
18. conspiracy to defraud the state;
19. perjury.

Co-conspirators Chesebro and Powell have asked for a speedy trial, and DA Willis has proposed a start date of October 23, 2023. Expect motions to sever from the other defendants. It would not surprise us if the requests for speedy trial are eventually rescinded when the defendants get a look at the large volume of discovery materials.
On Friday, August 25, Trump surrendered himself to the Fulton County Sheriff at the Rice Street jail, where he was booked, finger printed, and photographed. Trump was assigned Inmate Number P01135809. Not a witch number; an inmate number.

4 VENUES, 5 GRAND JURIES, 91 FELONY COUNTS
The indictments of Trump in New York, Florida, Washington DC, and Georgia were all handed down by grand juries made up of average citizens who heard and saw enough damning evidence to haul Donald J. Trump into court on serious felony charges. It is probably safe to say that these grand jurors did not see themselves as participating in witch hunts.

CRIMINAL TAX FRAUD
In 2022, a New York jury voted unanimously to find the Trump Organization guilty of criminal tax fraud. The company was fined $1.6 million. Trump Organization CFO Alan Wiesselberg was convicted, sentenced to 5 months in jail, and ordered to pay $2 million in fines for a tax fraud scheme he carried out over a 15 year period. Trump, who has always closely managed his relatively small company, claimed to have no knowledge of the scheme. Wiesselberg was a loyal soldier and took all the heat. Nevertheless, the results speak for themselves. The successful criminal prosecution of the Trump Organization and its CFO was no witch hunt.

INCITEMENT OF RIOT,
INTERFERENCE WITH PUBLIC OFFICIAL IN EXECUTION OF DUTIES
Congressmen Bennie Thompson [D] of Mississippi and Eric Swalwell [D] of California have filed similar but separate law suits in DC against Trump and others who incited the MAGA mob to attack the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Both the Thompson and Swalwell suits rely on a Reconstruction-era law that was originally designed to counter the KKK's efforts deprive Black people of their civil rights. The amount of monetary damages for emotional trauma the Congressmen are seeking has not been disclosed. However, if either of them prevails, it could open the door to a flood of such suits from hundreds of House members, senators, and their staffs. They all lived through a terrifying ordeal, and their collective recollection is no witch hunt.

FRAUDULENT UNIVERSITY
In February of 2018, Trump paid $25 million to settle a class-action law suit. Former students of Trump University had proved in federal court that they had been duped by Trump, who had promised to teach them the "secrets of success" in the real estate industry. Trump University was permanently shuttered. Who would pay $25 million over a witch hunt?

FRAUDULENT CHARITY
In December of 2019, New York State Attorney General Leticia James announced the successful conclusion of litigation against Trump Foundation, a scam "charity" that Trump had in fact used as a personal slush fund. Trump Foundation was permanently shut down, and fined $2 million. Another $1.8 million that remained in the Foundation's coffers was ordered to be disbursed to several actual charities. Witch hunt? Hardly.

SEXUAL BATTERY & DEFAMATION²
In April 2023, a Manhattan jury of his peers found Donald J. Trump liable for sexual battery and defamation against the writer E. Jean Carroll. The jury ordered Trump to pay $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages. A day after the verdict was announced, Trump went on national TV and repeated the defamation. Carroll's lawyers have duly amended another, earlier lawsuit that has been pending since Trump occupied the Oval Office. This suit will probably be a slam dunk for Carroll, since a court has already found the battery and defamation to be FACTS. No witch hunt here.

And there are more pending civil cases against Trump yet to be adjudicated.

BANK FRAUD, TAX FRAUD, INSURANCE FRAUD
New York Attorney General Leticia James is currently suing Trump, the Trump Organization, and three of his children for fraud in New York State. The New York AG alleges that for years Trump "inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to induce banks to lend money to the Trump Organization on more favorable terms than would otherwise have been available to the company, to satisfy continuing loan covenants, to induce insurers to provide insurance coverage for higher limits and at lower premiums, and to gain tax benefits, among other things. From 2011-2021, Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization knowingly and intentionally created more than 200 false and misleading valuations of assets on his annual Statements of Financial Condition to defraud financial institutions." (Trump systematically undervalued real estate properties in order to avoid paying taxes, and overvalued the same properties in order to obtain bank loans and insurance.) If successful, the State of New York will force Trump to pay $250 million in fines and will permanently bar Trump and his offspring from doing business in the state of New York. Stay tuned for more details.

PONZI SCHEME KICKBACKS
Donald Trump and his hell-spawn, Don Jr., Eric, and Ivanka, along with the Trump Organization, are also being sued for fraud in New York State for promoting a pyramid scheme. The Trump crime family allegedly took large, secret payments in return for touting companies promising fraudulent, get-rich-quick schemes. More details to follow.

OKHAM'S RAZOR
William of Okham was a 14th century English philosopher with a knack for cutting through bullshit. He is remembered today for his common-sense approach to getting to the truth: the simplest explanation is usually the correct one.

For Trump's claim that he is an innocent victim of a witch hunt to be true, hundreds of witnesses would have to be lying; reams of video would have to have been doctored; many thousands of documents, emails, and text messages would have to have been forged; and a very talented voice impersonator would have to have been recruited to portray Trump incriminating himself on phone calls that emanated from the Oval Office and in at least one meeting in his office in Bedminster. And ALL the people behind such a diabolical scheme would have to be very, very good at keeping a secret! The complexity of such a plot beggars the imagination.

However, there is a far simpler explanation: Donald J. Trump is a lying, conniving, egomaniacal, money-grubbing, power-hungry, neo-fascist, sexual predator and all-around crook, and his feeble protestations of innocence constitute a criminal's desperate attempt to evade accountability.