Judge denies Jan. 6 defendant’s bid to delay trial that could straddle Trump inauguration

This trial could be the last if Trump and his new DOJ leadership act quickly to pull the plug on lingering prosecutions.

Kyle Cheney

A Jan. 6 defendant facing five felony charges could be on trial at the precise moment power changes hand from President Joe Biden to President-elect Donald Trump — an uncomfortable prospect for prosecutors bracing for a leadership change that could upend cases stemming from the attack on the Capitol.

U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich on Tuesday denied a bid by defendant Michael Picciuto to postpone his Jan. 13 trial into April, who cited the prospect of a pardon from Trump and the potential awkwardness of being on trial at the moment the transfer of power occurs as a reason to delay.

“The chances of this going a week could easily actually roll into the date of the inauguration itself,” Picciuto’s attorney Jay Crook said.

But Friedrich, a Trump appointee, said the hope for a pardon is “entirely speculative in nature.” Trump has not indicated whether any future pardons would extend to all members of the Jan. 6 mob or only those facing misdemeanor charges. And she said she was hopeful that Picciuto’s trial would be over before crashing into the new administration.

“Delaying every January 6th case with the expectation that some or all will result in a pardon is an unmanageable suggestion,” she said.

About 200 Jan. 6 defendants have faced trials over the last four years, and Picciuto's could be the last if Trump and his new Justice Department leadership act quickly to pull the plug on lingering prosecutions.

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/11/19/congress/january-6-donald-trump-doj-00190348

(Actually that sounds reasonable, since Trump the pardons would ve based on circumstance.)

Gaetz May Not Be Confirmed, Trump Admits. He’s Pushing Him and Others Anyway. 1/3

Nov. 18, 2024, 6:45 p.m. ET

(Written by Maggie Haberman so take with a grain if salt)

The president-elect is taking a flood-the-zone approach to his cabinet nominations,betting that the Senate won’t dare to turn them all down.

In his private conversations over the past few days, President-elect Donald J. Trump has admitted that his besieged choice for attorney general, Matt Gaetz, has less than even odds of being confirmed by the Senate.

But Mr. Trump has shown no sign of withdrawing the nomination, which speaks volumes about his mind-set as he staffs his second administration. He is making calls on Mr. Gaetz’s behalf, and he remains confident that even if Mr. Gaetz does not make it, the standard for an acceptable candidate will have shifted so much that the Senate may simply approve his other nominees who have appalled much of Washington.

Mr. Trump’s choice to lead health and human services has made baseless claims about vaccines. His selection for defense secretary is a former Fox News host whose leadership experience has been questioned. His nominee for the director of national intelligence is a favorite of Russian state media.

“Donald Trump is a blunt-force instrument applying blunt-force trauma to the system,” said Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump’s former chief strategist who remains close to himand was recently released from federal prison for defying a subpoena in the congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Presidents do not normally approach cabinet selections this way. Historically, they work with their teams to figure out in advance what the system will tolerate, eliminating the possibility that skeletons in the closet of a nominee might emerge during Senate hearings.

Mr. Trump largely followed this risk-averse approach at the start of his first term. He appointed people like the four-star general Jim Mattis, who was confirmed with a 98-to-1 bipartisan vote to be Mr. Trump’s first defense secretary.

But this time, emboldened by victory and the submission of the Republican Party, Mr. Trump is innovating. He is using an approach that has been discussed in the past for judicial nominees, which is nominating so many extreme choices that they cannot all be blocked. The strategy has never been used for cabinet picks.

It is possible that enough Republican senators are willing to risk their careers to oppose Mr. Gaetz, although it is unclearwhat the backup plan would be should Mr. Gaetz falter. Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer and pick for deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, is seen as a possibility.

It is also possible that Mr. Gaetz is confirmed, along with the three other nominees who have raised such a furor in Washington.Mr. Trump has wasted no time in barreling ahead and putting personal pressure on senators.

One thing is certain: His four choices would have had virtually no chance of confirmation in a Republican-held Senate in the Washington that existed before 2024.

https://archive.is/f2nXR

>>22016868

2/3

The president-elect’s choice to lead the Defense Department, Pete Hegseth, is facing an allegation that he sexually assaulted a woman, which he has denied.Beyond that, Mr. Hegseth, a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has faced questions about having the requisite experience to run a department with an $850 billion annual budget, three million employees and 750 military bases around the world.

Mr. Trump’s choice to run the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is not only a vaccine skeptic but also a supporter of abortion rightswho has all but declared war on the pharmaceutical and food industries that have long funded the Republican Party.

And his choice for intelligence director, Tulsi Gabbard,has blamed the United States and NATO for provoking Vladimir V. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. (It true though)

Then there is Mr. Gaetz, who helped orchestrate the ouster of the previous Republican House speaker, Kevin McCarthy. Mr. Gaetz has been under a yearslong investigation by the House Ethics Committee into allegations that he engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.

Hours after Mr. Trump announced his selection as attorney general, Mr. Gaetz resigned from his seat as a House member from Florida, which effectively ended the investigation. But there is building pressure on the Ethics Committee to release a report on the inquiry.

The question has repeatedly come up in Washington about the vetting done for Mr. Trump’s nominees. The question misses the point. Little more than a cursory Google search would have shown that Mr. Gaetz, Ms. Gabbard and Mr. Kennedy would draw all kinds of protests. Mr. Trump nominated them anyway.

The Trump team, people briefed on its activities say, did engage in vetting for some of his choices, such as Mr. Hegseth. But the sexual assault allegation did not show up because it involved a private settlement agreement with the woman in question, the people briefed on it said.Maggie is the same bitch and liar she's always been)

That left the team dealing with the one thing that Mr. Trump tends not to like: information that he was unaware of, which became an unwanted headline in the media.Still, he has told aides he is firmly behind Mr. Hegseth.

Karoline Leavitt, the incoming White House press secretary, said Mr. Trump had won with “a resounding mandate from the American people to change the status quo in Washington.” She said he had picked “brilliant and highly respected outsiders to serve in his administration, and he will continue to stand behind them as they fight against all those who seek to derail the MAGA agenda.”

For much of the past decade, Mr. Trump has repeatedly swamped the system with provocations. Mr. Bannon memorably stated that their strategy for dealing with the news media was to “flood the zone” with manure.

https://archive.is/f2nXR

>>22016870

3/3

The strategy has ensured that little focus stays on any single scandal.The caravan moves quickly on to the next, and the next, creating an overall blurring and flattening effect. He has survived them all, including 34 felony convictions and being held liable for sexual abuse.

He has already driven into retirement or primary defeat most of the congressional Republicans who opposed him in his first term. And since defeating Vice President Kamala Harris and becoming the first Republican to claim the popular vote since 2004,Mr. Trump has made clear he will tolerate little dissent from the G.O.P. majorities in the House and the Senate.

He has demanded that the next Senate majority leader, John Thune, allow recess appointmentsthat would let Mr. Trump push through appointees who would otherwise be deemed unfit, making such an agreement a condition for anyone who wanted to be leader.

Liam Donovan, a former National Republican Senatorial Committee aide, saidthat “we’re on a collision course between traditional senatorial prerogatives and the unique power dynamics of the Trump restoration.”(a good thing)

Now, as Mr. Trump prepares to take office for the second time, he is demonstrating how confident he is that the branches of government will bend even further to accommodate him.

He plans to test just how far he can go.

https://archive.is/f2nXR

Jim Rickards Breaks Down The Importance Of President Trump's Nominations

7:02

https://rumble.com/embed/v5odz5n/?pub=4

>>22016890

I didn't know Tulsi specialized in Psyops, Rickard just said that

>>22016889

True that with more power under Trump

>>22016901

Sauce?

I hope DOGE starts investigating the DOD, Pentagon and Joint Chiefs of Staff on where did all the trillions went, even back to the $3 Trillion that disappeared at 911. Musk and Vivek if you reading here, go back to Bush, Cheney and others stole that stole the money

You will reveal how our America is still being destroyed by DS, worldwide. No one will get over 911 without the truth! And those guilty need to exposed and punished.And collect all that money that was stolenplease.

This must be done!

Mike Davis: Radical Senate Democrats Are Confirming Their Radical Judges. Why in the hell does MA keep on re-electing this Warren nut?

13:19

https://rumble.com/embed/v5oqcxz/?pub=4

>>22016996

Anons, If you have a republican senator tell him to show up and vote. Elizabeth Warren is working to get a the radical judges through now under Bidan. Republicans are not showing to vote. Contact them either through Mike Davis's Article III app on his websiteor contact their office via email ir phone calls. There are 28 radicals judges that they will put in lifetime positions and reps don't go to work. These judges are Trump's positions. We need to stop more dem judges now.