Looks like the Oath Keepers are throwing Donald Trump under the bus
The news is literally bursting at the proverbial seams with bad news for Donald Trump, which is awesome. No one could be more deserving. Salon magazine released “secret objections” made by Trump’s legal team in response to Judge Dearie’s challenge that they “put up or shut up” with respect to Trump’s claims that the FBI “planted evidence” while searching Mar-a-Lago for contraband that belonged to the government. In response, Trump’s lawyers filed objections under seal, which means they never wanted anyone outside of this case to see them. Oh, well. The DOJ busted them by filing a response that included their objections. Oops.
Apparently, Trump’s team asked for a “documents-review vendor,” but none that were proposed by the DOJ wanted to work with Trump. Wonder why? They’re likely afraid they won’t be paid, like anyone else doing work for Donald Trump. The DOJ was explicit in its expectation that Trump would pay “the vendor’s invoices promptly when rendered” (Docket Entry 121). As the DOJ listed Trump’s objections to the Amended Case Management Plan, they introduced the objections with the words: “Although the three objections are different, all three are without merit.” Ouch. Let’s face it: Trump’s team has yet to back up its position with relevant case law, which is what made Judge Aileen Cannon’s ruling so puzzling. Trump’s team should just give up this fight; the more they fight, the more incompetent they look. As if that wasn’t enough bad news for Trump, Salon then reported that the Oath Keepers have plans to “throw him under the bus.” Is it yet time for popcorn?
Oath Keeper head Stewart Rhodes and five other Oath Keeper members are set to begin trial for sedition, and jury selection has begun. According to Salon, the DOJ has a massive amount of evidence against them. It doesn’t help that two who were charged struck deals with the DOJ and have already pled guilty, which means they will be testifying against the rest. The DOJ has text messages that prove their plans, and those messages have direct ties to Roger Stone and other Trump cronies. Their defense, as Salon describes it, is novel, and it is damning: Trump told them to do it. Now, he may not have directly told these people to storm the Capitol and otherwise try to thwart democracy, but Trump’s inflaming rhetoric and callous disregard made these people act.
New York Times reported on the plans of these defendants: “They intend to tell the jury that when armed teams of Oath Keeper made plans to rush into Washington from Virginia on January 6, 2021, they believed they were following legal orders from the president himself.” Of course they did. Trump took advantage of mentally unstable people who hung on his every word. In their minds, they answered the call of their president, and as a result, they thought what they were doing was perfectly legal. The evidence is clear that these people felt they were following orders from Donald Trump. It is only right that they point that out to a court of law.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years