By my reckoning, Donald Trump has violated the terms of his release three times so far this weekend — fairly blatantly, in fact — but an attorney for Trump is telling us not to trust the words we read. He’s also claiming that Smith’s team is worse.
This morning Trump criticized Special Prosecutor Jack Smith as “deranged,” implied that Judge Chutkan was handpicked to unfairly preside over his case, did his best to tamper with the jury by saying that he would federalize the entire city of Washington — calling it “disgusting” — and claimed that DC citizens (potential jurors) hate that Trump has proposed federalizing all blue cities through federalizing the National Guard.
I’m simply counting that as only one violation of his terms of release.
Yesterday, Trump posted on Truth Social that Mike Pence had gone to “the dark side,” that he is delusional and thinks he’s a tough guy, and that Pence is a bad person, while also denying that Trump ever asked Pence to put Trump ahead of the Constitution.
With the possible exception of John Eastman, who is an unindicted co-conspirator, Mike Pence is, by far, the most important witness in this matter.
Trump is already tampering with the most important witness.
I’m counting that as violation number two.
But by far, the most severe violation was Trump’s Friday evening threat that “IF YOU COME AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU,” posted to Truth Social.
The statement is so short and direct that there is only one interpretation. Trump is promising that he will get vengeance over anyone that “comes after him.”
We have already reported on the fact that Trump has a government in waiting ready and is planning on going after everyone involved in his prosecution, including Joe Biden.
Trump is running for president and is currently polling tied with Biden at 43% each.
Trump has a legitimate chance of winning, either through the ballot or the fight, and could easily be in a position to “come after” the people who are going after him.
Rolling Stone has five sources that said Trump plans on prosecuting everyone that prosecuted him. And remember, he considers Biden to be the head of all this.
And yet, on Sunday morning, Newsmax asked Trump’s attorney Jesse Binall whether Trump promised retribution or vengeance in his statement about “Coming after you.”
Binall said that — despite what we can read with our own eyes — Trump didn’t promise retribution: (Broken down for clarity, the video is below)
“No, it clearly didn’t.”
“And here’s the issue, is that the prosecution in this case badly, badly wants to shut Donald Trump up. And more importantly, they want to make it so the American people cannot see any of the evidence they have in this case.”
“Because there is an overwhelming amount of evidence that will exonerate Donald Trump. And so that’s really what this protective order is.”
First of all, notice how Binall simply denied the threat and then went on to whine about a protective order that is pretty standard (though this one won’t be) in “shutting the defendant up” to keep the defendant from trying the case in the media.
If there is an overwhelming amount of evidence that will exonerate Trump, great. Show it at trial. There is no need to be blasting it out to potential jurors and the nation.
Binall then made a bizarre statement right after claiming that a lot of exonerating evidence exists:
“And this protective order really is aimed at silencing the media or really blindfolding the media from even seeing a lot of the evidence in this case.”
“And Jack Smith doesn’t care that at the end of the day, an appellate court overturns this conviction because it’s blatantly unconstitutional, because he thinks the process is the punishment.”
Why wouldn’t Judge Chutkan dismiss the case if it was “blatantly” unconstitutional? And why would the jury find Trump guilty if there is so much exonerating evidence? What is blatantly unconstitutional about this case?
You don’t get to use your right to free speech to overturn an election. That’s about as criminal as it gets!
But also notice that Binall said that the threat was not a threat, then moved into simply criticizing the prosecution.
As an attorney, Binall is right up on the very edge of the line for being sanctioned in accusing Smith of making the process the punishment.
Judge Chutkan will not let her courtroom be used as punishment, and if Binall is right, she’ll dismiss the case. They can make a motion.
But she will also ensure the legitimacy of the process before her by shutting down comments by an attorney, accusing Smith of blatant ethical violations.
The answers are so offensive that one can consider this the fourth breach of Trump’s terms of release, except the statement by his attorney can’t be held directly against Trump.
Binall’s behavior can be addressed in the protective order, however.
Don’t think for a second that Judge Chutkan and her clerks aren’t watching every aspect of Trump’s behavior and the words of his attorneys this weekend.
I can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com and on Twitter @JasonMiciak.
Editor’s Note: This is an opinion piece reflecting the opinion of the author alone
