Former President Donald J. Trump said on Tuesday that he had received a so-called target letter from the special counsel Jack Smith in connection with the criminal investigation into his efforts to hold onto power after he lost the 2020 election, a sign that he is likely to be indicted in the case.
It would be the second time Mr. Smith has notified Mr. Trump that he is a target in a federal investigation. The first, in June, was in connection to the inquiry into Mr. Trump’s handling of national defense material after he left office and his alleged obstruction of efforts to retrieve it. Mr. Trump was charged with 37 criminal counts covering seven different violations of federal law, alone or in conjunction with one his personal aides.
Ummm…wouldn’t any logic tree, drawn on strict Aristotelian principles of logic, demonstrate that by his own actions alone, Mr Trump is indeed ‘a target’ of inquiry in the Investigation????
I mean, yeah I know he’s after mass outrage and purely emotive reactions, but come on. Really. *banging my head against the wall* Either choose better nouns for a stronger, more concise argument, or just comply already.
IIUC, to be a "target" means you're probably going to be indicted, as opposed to being a witness or some other possibility that I'm sure an actual lawyer could explain. Anyway, this is how the NYT explains it:
A target letter is an official piece of correspondence from the Justice Department informing someone that he or she is being investigated. It does not formally charge a person, but indicates that an investigation is nearing its end and that the department is actively considering charging them.
Typically, such a letter provides the recipient the opportunity to testify before a grand jury but does not obligate them to appear. Mitchell Epner, a former assistant United States Attorney for the district of New Jersey, said targets of investigations rarely avail themselves of that opportunity.
Ta. I’d still suggest the evidence of the logic tree… but more, it’s the constant unseemly OTT theatrics that simply make me want to shun anything to do with this person. And make him go somewhere very quiet for a bit.
There's the Trump way and then there's "the liberals" way of trying to overturn an election:
Part 1:
Liberal activists like Chris Hayes, Norm Eisen, Laurence Tribe, and George Takei urged electors to vote against President-elect Donald Trump in 2016. pic.twitter.com/lSXOw6dB3f
Democrats have objected to certifying Electoral College wins for the presidential contests of 2000, 2004, and 2016.
In 2004, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) joined Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) in objecting to President Bush’s electoral win in Ohio, noting issues and… pic.twitter.com/uIB9zZ77vW
Do you not see a difference between what was being urged in 2016 (to be a faithless elector) vs. 2020 (create a slate of fraudulent electors and count those votes)? Really.
Do you not see a difference between what was being urged in 2016 (to be a faithless elector) vs. 2020 (create a slate of fraudulent electors and count those votes)? Really.
I like a good whatabout, but this is pretty far from one, isn’t it.
Do you not see a difference between what was being urged in 2016 (to be a faithless elector) vs. 2020 (create a slate of fraudulent electors and count those votes)? Really.
There's a difference. But there's also something in common.
Do you not see a difference between what was being urged in 2016 (to be a faithless elector) vs. 2020 (create a slate of fraudulent electors and count those votes)? Really.
I like a good whatabout, but this is pretty far from one, isn’t it.
One example of how the contexts differ: The petition couldn’t call for electors to switch their votes, because the electors hadn’t cast them yet.
If you want to look at it that way, given the 2016 popular vote, the Electoral College itself is another. Back to square one in your attempt to draw a parallel.
It addresses the very obviously different (nonviolent/violent, constitutional/unconstitutional, disengaged/repulsed) strategies to overturn the will (nonmajority/majority) of the voters.
How they’re so very obviously different, both in means and in the details of the voters’ will, that a comparison doesn’t do your contrarian bona fides justice.
Do you not see a difference between what was being urged in 2016 (to be a faithless elector) vs. 2020 (create a slate of fraudulent electors and count those votes)? Really.
There's a difference. But there's also something in common.
Whatever the "something in common" is doesn't matter. These are two different "strategies", and anyone but a MAGA can see the difference between voting by legitimately chosen electors and fraudulent electors.
Paul has a tendency to ignore what's relevant and focus on what's not. It's telling that he even feels the need to attempt a whatabout here in the first place.
Do you not see a difference between what was being urged in 2016 (to be a faithless elector) vs. 2020 (create a slate of fraudulent electors and count those votes)? Really.
There's a difference. But there's also something in common.
Both involve English words spoken or written by people? Beyond that, I'm struggling.
Do you not see a difference between what was being urged in 2016 (to be a faithless elector) vs. 2020 (create a slate of fraudulent electors and count those votes)? Really.
There's a difference. But there's also something in common.
The big difference is one is legal and the other very, very illegal, and knowingly so.
"Michigan saw some of the most outrageous fake electoral certificates to emerge during the period leading up to the Capitol riot. Unlike the fake certificates in Pennsylvania and New Mexico, the Michigan documents did not include a disclaimer that they were to be used only in the case of litigation. What’s more, the documents contained more outright false statements than simply declaring that the signers were the lawful electors of the winning candidate.
"For example, they state that the electors 'convened and organized in the State Capitol,' when, according to the attorney general, they were hidden away in the basement of the state Republican headquarters. (It seems likely that the fake electors included this lie because Michigan law requires presidential electors to meet in the Capitol — a requirement and legal problem that a Trump campaign legal adviser, Kenneth Chesebro, had flagged in his confidential memorandum setting out the scheme.)
"In proving these cases, establishing intent will be key. Here, there are several indicators that the defendants may have been aware of the illicit nature of their gathering. According to congressional testimony from the state Republican Party’s chairwoman at the time, Laura Cox, the group originally planned to meet inside the Capitol and hide overnight, so they could vote in the building the following day. Ms. Cox said she told a lawyer working with the Trump campaign and supposedly organizing the fake electors 'in no uncertain terms that that was insane and inappropriate' and 'a very, very bad idea and potentially illegal'."
Do you not see a difference between what was being urged in 2016 (to be a faithless elector) vs. 2020 (create a slate of fraudulent electors and count those votes)? Really.
I like a good whatabout, but this is pretty far from one, isn’t it.
Change.org is a global website. People from all around the world can put their signatures behind anything here and it costs nothing. Why anyone would believe that this is the will of 5 million "Americans" is way beyond my ken, and I say this on Barbie's opening weekend.
Paul has a tendency to ignore what's relevant and focus on what's not. It's telling that he even feels the need to attempt a whatabout here in the first place.
He's also a willing conduit for this guy -
Kanekoa News 56,000+ Subscribers Thousands of Paid Subscribers Minimum Monthly Profits: $4,055 Kanekoa the Great (or just Kanekoa), who regularly promotes his Substack on Twitter and Telegram, writes articles pushing repeating debunked conspiracy theories and false claims about election fraud such as ballot harvesting, drop box stuffing, big tech interference and more. In one article, Kanekoa states that Biden’s presidential win in 2020 was the result of “an organized criminal ballot trafficking ring that took advantage of Zuckerberg’s drop boxes.” In another, he alleges “widespread fraud in Wisconsin’s 2020 presidential election which was decided by 20,682 votes.”
“The Chinese companies that develop election software for the Chinese Communist Party with Huawei, China Telecom, and China Unicom should not be coding U.S. election software,” argued one of these influencers, known online as Kanekoa The Great, whose Telegram channel has more than 210,000 followers. The post was viewed more than 170,000 times.
Kanekoa, who did not respond to requests for comment, almost exclusively posts right-wing allegations of election fraud, including that Beijing is responsible for widespread voting-machine tampering.
Trump Says He’s a Target in Special Counsel’s Capitol Attack Investigation (NYT)