A federal judge said Trump probably committed a crime. The DOJ can't ignore that.

[Zorro]

“A coup in search of a legal theory.”

That was the sober, and apt, assessment made this week of former president Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election — not by a partisan or pundit, but in an opinion by a federal judge. And although that ruling, by U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, did not decide a criminal case, it ought to presage one.

We don’t know whether the Justice Department has been considering criminal charges against Trump, or whether it will. We do know that Attorney General Merrick Garland, in a speech commemorating the one-year anniversary of the Capitol insurrection, vowed that the Justice Department was “committed to holding all Jan. 6th perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law — whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy.”

Carter’s conclusion makes clear that, for the attorney general’s commitment to be met, the Justice Department’s criminal investigation of Jan. 6 must focus closely on Trump.

The court’s ruling came in a lawsuit that one of Trump’s lawyers, John Eastman, brought against the select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Eastman served as the legal architect of Trump’s effort to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to count numerous states’ electoral votes on Jan. 6. Eastman asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 146 times at his deposition before the select committee. His lawsuit argued that some of his emails should be kept from the committee because they were shielded by either attorney-client privilege or “work product” privilege, which protects confidential documents prepared for litigation.

The opinion by Carter, a former prosecutor nominated to the bench by President Bill Clinton, makes clear Eastman has good reason to worry about criminal consequences. The attorney-client and work-product privileges must give way if they involve communications that further the commission of a fraud or crime. And Carter found that at least one of the emails did just that.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/30/george-conway-trump-eastman-garland-investigate/

[RockRaven]

1. "Oh yeah? Watch this..." -- The DOJ, probably.

[Hoyt]

2. Wish Judge had been more emphatic. "Probably" ain't gonna cut it in court.

“Probably” might get some records released, which will likely show nothing damning. But that’s about all.

[onecaliberal]

3. Watch them.

[Eliot Rosewater]

4. Zero chance trump is indicted by DOJ, and now we know Manhattan wont...

Sorry to be an asshole about it, but I am PISSED

[Stargleamer]

5. They can if they don't have the guts to go after Trump

Link to tweet

[gab13by13]

6. Judge said, "more than likely,"

but the bar for a criminal case is beyond a reasonable doubt, Garland has an out. Nothing stopping him from investigating though.

[dem4decades]

7. He's looking into it, right after Hunter's laptop. Hunter' laptop, Weiner's laptop, the DOJ

Really knows his to fuck with Democrats.