A Trump indictment moves closer with McGahn agreement to testify to Congress, as with a variety of other possible witness cooperation and NY DA activity. The Manhattan DA is signaling such possible indictments, according to Preet Bharara
Law enforcement officials in Palm Beach County, Florida, have discussed contingency plans in the former President Donald Trump is indicted on criminal charges, according toPolitico.
Officers have “actively prepared” for the possibility that Trump is indicted by Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, according to the report. Vance has led ayears-long probeinto Trump and his businesses. Officials have discussed potential “thorny extradition issues” if Vance indicts Trump, who currently lives at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.
But the report also noted an “obscure clause” inFlorida lawregarding interstate extradition that gives Gov. Ron DeSantis, a close Republican ally of the former president who is reportedly considering his own 2024 presidential bid, to intervene or investigate “the situation and circumstances of the person” in question “and whether the person ought to be surrendered” to law enforcement in a different state.
“The statute leaves room for interpretation that the governor has the power to order a review and potentially not comply with the extradition notice,” Joe Abruzzo, the Palm Beach County Circuit Court clerk who would be involved in any extradition process, told Politico. The report noted that Abruzzo is a former close associate of President Joe Biden's brother Frank but the clerk insisted that “the full extent of the law will be followed and carried out appropriately, without bias.”
If an indictment comes down while Trump is in Bedminsterfor the summer, this could all play out very differently.New Jersey’sextradition statuteis similar to Florida’s, giving the governor the power to investigate an out-of-state warrant. But its governor is DemocratPhil Murphy,who is no fan of Trump’s, and would not likely intervene to stop Trump’s extradition. In the event of an indictment, Trump’s lawyers could also negotiate a condition of surrender, which could cut local law enforcement out. An attorney for Trump declined to comment.
Trump might skip Bedminster and hide out in Palm Beach if he fears an indictment by a NYC grand jury run by Cy Vance. Gov. Phil Murphy of NJ would readily extradite Mr. Trump on Gov. Andrew Cuomo's demand. Not so sure about Gov. Ron DeSantis of FLA. He'd be more likely to defy. https://t.co/EwEdyT3a2M
One of the biggest revelations this month was in the court decision by federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who ruled that former Attorney General Bill Barr lied to Congress, the court and the country when he claimed that the Justice Department had done an investigation into whether it could charge Donald Trump. Not only was there no investigation or collaboration with deputies and prosecutors, it was Barr's decision, followed by the falsification of documents to justify it after the fact.
Those documents are slated to become public by Monday if the new Justice Department doesn't fight the case. That comes as Democrats got former White House Counsel Don McGahn to agree to testify about what he told special counsel Robert Mueller in the Russia investigation that resulted in so many examples of obstruction of justice in part two of Mueller's report.
Judge Jackson “has already told us what her review of that document and of the Justice Department's actions around that time indicate about the process that was followed in terms of deciding whether or not Trump would be criminally charged,” said Maddow. “What she's told us already in her ruling is that the Justice Department didn't substantively consider potential criminal charges against former President Trump, despite the evidence that was laid out against him.”
