The Fulton County District Attorney’s case against Donald Trump is proceeding, and various machinations are involved. Many of those come from the DA herself, as her office attempts to secure favorable timing and rulings. However, some of them are coming from the former president’s own “side,” inasmuch as he may have one.
In a piece at POLITICO this morning, there is some speculation that many of Trump’s alleged co-conspirators are framing their defenses around throwing Trump under the bus. That could prove to be a bit more problematic for the 2024 candidate as he attempts to secure his own path forward through this mess.
From the POLITICO piece:
[Trump’s former fixer Michael] Cohen broke with Trump years ago. But in recent weeks, Trump allies who are facing or could have faced jeopardy in connection with three of his four pending criminal cases have shown that they might follow Cohen’s lead.
In late August, an information technology aide at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort dramatically changed his story about alleged efforts to erase surveillance video and agreed to cooperate with special counsel Jack Smith, who has charged Trump with hoarding classified documents. The aide, Yuscil Taveras, was not charged in the case, but his flip may help him dodge a possible perjury charge prosecutors were floating — and it is likely to bolster Smith’s obstruction-of-justice case against Trump and two other aides.
Then, three GOP activists who were indicted alongside Trump in Georgia for trying to interfere with the certification of President Joe Biden’s win in the state asserted that their actions were all taken at Trump’s behest.A
nd last week, Trump’s former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows — also charged in the Georgia case — signaled that his defense is likely to include blaming the former president as the primary driver of the effort.
Before we go any further, we have to stop and appreciate the fact that Michael Cohen is doing whatever he can to stay relevant, as he is the key witness against Trump in the Manhattan DA’s (laughably weak) case against him. The man is working that hustle as much as he can, because when this is all over, so is he.
But, back to the issue at hand.
The media has latched on to the Georgia case in ways it has not with any of the other cases against Trump, which is odd considering that the Mar-a-Lago case is probably the strongest one against the former president. But Fulton County is the newest and shiniest case, and it’s the biggest case by far – the use of RICO statutes makes this a ticking time bomb in their eyes.
Not only that, but a guilty verdict in Georgia means their silly optimism about using the 14th Amendment to disqualify Trump lives on.
That’s not to say there isn’t any danger to Trump here. In fact, his personal history does make it easier for people to throw him under the bus, as he’s been known to do the same for years.
LOL omg pic.twitter.com/jwBAMvhLMl
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 19, 2023
Trump has a history of trashing the people he once hired and praised. It’s not hard to imagine that defense lawyers are pointing that out to their clients, suggesting that there is no loyalty from Trump, so he isn’t owed any. This will turn into a very large spectacle of finger-pointing that you won’t get anywhere else.
But, in spite of all that, Fani Willis’ case in Fulton County is still not as strong as one might hope for. A RICO case this big means you have to tie a lot of things together and convince a jury that they are all related. And it only takes one juror to disagree to cost Willis the entire case.
The spectacle, however, will keep the media going, at least. Will it lead to a conviction? Who knows.
