Trump’s judgment day approaches
Will the jury convict? Here are the clues.
The historic criminal trial of former President Donald Trump is barreling toward an inevitable outcome — but which way will the jury swing?
In this week’s Friday Read, former federal prosecutor Ankush Khardori games out all the potential scenarios — the likelihood of a conviction (“fairly good, but not overwhelming”), an acquittal (“slim at best”) or a hung jury (“a very real chance”) — and what they’d mean for American democracy.
“In order to establish Trump’s guilt on the felony charges that have been brought, prosecutors have to persuade all 12 of the jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump falsified … records with the intent to conceal ‘another crime,’ such as breaking election laws,” Khardori writes. “In the end, the case could rise or fall on that ostensibly narrow — but essential and still hotly contested — factual question.”
“If someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody’s bleach-blonde, bad-built butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct?”
Can you guess who said this about Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene last week? Scroll to the bottom for the answer.**
Congress and DC Point Fingers Over Crime … The Republican-controlled House permanently prevented the city of D.C. from changing its criminal codes, blaming locally elected Democratic officials for the 2023 crime spike. But the city is pointing the finger right back at the Hill, saying a shocking number of D.C. judgeships — which could be trying criminals — have been left vacant by Congress. “As local crime in Washington has become a national-politics issue, what strikes me is that abject unfairness isn’t even the biggest failing of the weird system that governs law enforcement in the federal city,” writes Michael Schaffer in this week’s Capital City column. “What’s even more galling is that the current setup is almost designed to enable just about every party to let itself off the hook.”
Last week, news broke that an upside-down American flag, a symbol associated with Jan. 6, flew outside Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s home in 2021. This week, it came out that another controversial flag carried by rioters during the assault on the Capitol — and adopted by Christian nationalists — flew over his vacation home more recently. Haven’t kept your eye on the flagpole? Drop these details to sound like an expert when it comes up in conversation this weekend. (From associate editor Dylon Jones):
- Show off your knowledge of political philosophy with some info about the “Appeal to Heaven” flag, with its pine-tree design, that flew over Alito’s New Jersey vacation house: “The phrase actually comes from John Locke’s Second Treatise of Civil Government, in which he writes about resisting tyranny.”
- Delight your liberal friends by wondering aloud whether Justice Elena Kagan was throwing shade at Alito yesterday, when she deployed this pointed phrase in her dissent against the Court’s decision to strike down a challenge to a South Carolina congressional redistricting plan (italics mine): “But as with its upside-down application of clear-error review, the majority is intent on changing the usual rules when it comes to addressing racial-gerrymandering claims.”
- Prove you’re a longtime observer of Supreme Court drama by bringing up another familiar name: Leonard Leo, the conservative judicial powerbroker who played a major role in the confirmation of the conservative justices — including Alito — also had the Appeal to Heaven flag outside his Maine home, according to ProPublica.
- Look for some common ground between liberals and conservatives: They both blame their wives. Alito told The New York Times in an email last week that the upside-down flag “was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito” — the same week that Democratic New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, through his lawyer, blamed his wife for his alleged bribery scandal.
Don’t Come for Her … Scarlett Johansson — the Avengers star who voiced the AI in the 2013 film Her — alleged that OpenAI stole her voice for a new AI tool this week. CEO Sam Altman and OpenAI say it’s a different actor’s voice, “but that didn’t stop a massive backlash that threatens to undo the goodwill they’ve painstakingly worked to build since the advent of ChatGPT,” writes Derek Robertson. “Altman now appears to be … burning through the goodwill and awe his products inspire just as governments across the world are poised to set hard regulatory boundaries around them.”
A Financial Influencer’s Advice for Joe Biden … Financial adviser Ramit Sethi — famous for his Netflix show, How to Get Rich — has a new client in mind: Joe Biden. In an interview with POLITICO’s Alexander Burns, Sethi said he is eager to talk to President Biden about communicating with a public that’s apoplectic about the cost of living. “Housing costs are high not just because young people are eating too many avocados and they can’t afford a house,” he said. “There are structural reasons that are deeply embedded in society. And I think it’s really important to talk about them.”
Editorial cartoonist Matt Wuerker is currently suffering from a case of Trump fatigue.
**Who Dissed answer: It was Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, responding to a personal insult from Greene that boiled over into a chaotic viral moment involving Greene and Rep. AOC.
