How Trump Suffered Significant Legal Setbacks This Week – Former President Donald Trump suffered a rash of legal setbacks in the past week.
In Georgia, Trump’s former attorney, Jenna Ellis took a plea deal by agreeing to plead guilty to a lesser charge.
His former Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, received immunity from Special Counsel Jack Smith to testify against Trump in his upcoming federal election interference trial.
Meadows reportedly told prosecutors that Trump was being “dishonest” when he first told voters that he had won on Election Night 2020.
“Obviously we didn’t win,” a source claimed Meadows had said to prosecutors.
Could Meadows Sink Trump?
Trump has described Meadows as a trusted aide. He held back against coming at him with a full-force invective on Truth Social in the wake of reports that he had turned.
The former president has called Meadows a trusted friend and “great” chief of staff.
“Some people would make that deal, but they are weaklings and cowards, and so bad for the future [of] our Failing Nation,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I don’t think that Mark Meadows is one of them, but who really knows?”
The prosecutors’ case hinges on their claim that Trump’s lies or exaggerations broke the law, which not everyone agrees on.
Meadows’ statements that he was off the wall or out of touch with reality do not prove that Trump had criminal intent.
If Trump was in personal denial about the accusations against him and could demonstrate that in court the prosecution loses the case.
“Trump was not charged with conspiracy to incite violence or insurrection. Rather, he was charged because he ‘spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election and that he had actually won,’” George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley said in a column that appeared in The Hill in August. “As a threshold matter, one problem is immediately evident. If Trump actually did (or does) believe that he did not lose the election, the indictment collapses.”
Turley continued, “And so in an effort to demonstrate his knowledge, the indictment details how many people told Trump that he was wrong about the election and wrong about the law. I was one of those voices…”
Trump remains in denial of the reports about Meadows.
“I’ve spoken to Mark Meadows many, many times over the years. And he strongly believed the election was rigged,” Trump said following the reports.
Ellis Defection Could Hurt Trump in Georgia
Ellis has grown critical of Trump over the past year. She endorsed his rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and has supported his presidential campaign on X. She represented Trump in the post-election effort to challenge the outcome.
“If I knew then what I knew now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges. I look back on this experience with deep remorse,” Ellis said in a statement delivered in Fulton County District Court last week, while holding back tears. “I failed to do my due diligence.”
Fulton County DA Fani Willis dropped two charges against her in exchange for her cooperation. She raised over $216,000 from a crowdfunding website.
She admitted that she had “in knowingly, willfully, and unlawfully making … false statements to members of the Georgia Senate.”
Ivanka Trump Forced to Testify in Fraud Case
In the ultimate twist of fate, Ivanka Trump will likely have to testify against her father in the ongoing $250 million business fraud case that threatens to upend the former president’s corporate empire.
She could appeal the New York state court’s ruling that she will have to testify.
The former president lashed out at Justice Arthur F. Engoron following the ruling.
“I truly believe he is CRAZY, but certainly, at a minimum, CRAZED in his hatred of me,” Trump said on Truth Social. “This case should have never started, but now must be dismissed.”
Ivanka Trump’s lawyers claim that Engoron lacks the ability to compel her testimony.
“Ms. Trump is not a party in this action. Nor is Ms. Trump a New York resident,” her attorneys wrote. “It is black-letter law that, given those two facts, Ms. Trump is beyond the jurisdiction of this Court.”
These events, combined with the fact Trump will have to defend against claims he supported an “insurrection” at the Capitol in a Colorado ballot access case, show that the former president faces an unprecedented level of legal actions against him. They, thus far, have not harmed his bid for the GOP nomination and have actually bolstered him as a political martyr.
John Rossomando is a defense and counterterrorism analyst and served as Senior Analyst for Counterterrorism at The Investigative Project on Terrorism for eight years. His work has been featured in numerous publications such as The American Thinker, The National Interest, National Review Online, Daily Wire, Red Alert Politics, CNSNews.com, The Daily Caller, Human Events, Newsmax, The American Spectator, TownHall.com, and Crisis Magazine. He also served as senior managing editor of The Bulletin, a 100,000-circulation daily newspaper in Philadelphia, and received the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors first-place award for his reporting.
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