It’s a judgement. Trump has property in NY. If he doesn’t pay the sheriff can take his possessions and sell them at auction to satisfy the judgement.
The rationale I heard is there’s a provision for federal officials to move cases against them into federal court under certain circumstances. Because the conduct here happened when Trump was still President (unlike the New York campaign finance case), that could arguably apply. Not sure what the thinking behind that provision was in the first place.
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This is a semi-complex issue, but I am a bit concerned that the case will be moved to federal court. Without knowing more I’d put it at 40/60 chance. If it does move to federal court the state prosecutors will still handle the case, just in a different court with somewhat different procedural rules. The same GA RICO claims will stay in the case, it wouldn’t change to federal RICO, for example, which is harder to prosecute.
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Just to remind everyone how stupid this all is, Trump’s entry into “conservative” politics was basically hammering on Obama’s birth certificate for a year. The Obama birth certificate “controversy” is what brought our current timeline into being.
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Curious how far my thinking is from the group.
Will Trump spend at least one day in jail?
- No
- Yes but less than 10% likely
- Yes between 11-30% likely
- Yes between 31-50% likely
- Yes more than 50% likely
0 voters
Ur mom
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They’re busy pushing RFK.
I believe Trump has paid the $5.5mm - in order to appeal, the money has to go into a court controlled escrow. But it stays there until all appeals are exhausted. I don’t know if that’s happened yet, I know the first appeal got slapped down.
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I assume the money came from his PAC?
The fact that Mr. McAfee worked under Ms. Willis, a Democrat, might provide an opening for critics of the investigation, but Mr. McAfee also has conservative bona fides. While at the University of Georgia’s law school, he was the vice president of the Federalist Society, a conservative law group, and was the treasurer for the Law Republicans, which was described as serving “conservative, moderate and libertarian” law students, according to rosters of student group officers. He graduated in 2013.
While most judges are elected in Georgia, Judge McAfee was appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, and sworn in on Feb. 1 to fill a vacancy on the bench.
I’m now hoping Meadows wins his motion to remove. This guy is another conservative noob judge with a major trial that he will not know how to handle.
Less than a fucking year on the bench and he’s going to handle a 19 defendant RICO case. I don’t think so.
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Also, I think federal case would pull from a different (broader, more Conservative) jury pool, b/c the federal district is more than just Fulton County
My understanding was it was seen as a separation of powers kind of thing. Like, imagine you are a member of the National Guard mobilized by LBJ to go desegregate some schools in Arkansas. If a local DA tries to jam you up on some charges related to interfering with schools or something, removal to federal court theoretically gives you a chance to remove the case from the local judge and get the trial in front of a Federal Judge who arguably is not as beholden to the local passions and who would have a deeper understanding of the federal interests involved.
[Tl/dr: they knew there were situations where local officials might just want to mess with the federales, so they gave the Feds a way to get to a “more neutral” venue]
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If it’s moved to federal court, does the RICO statute change dramatically? And do we lose the mandatory minimum sentencing? And I assume it’s then pardonable by a future president?
Nothing changes other than venue. The judge still applies Georgia state law.
edit: this might be too simple, I know the court still applies Georgia substantive law, but I think in some situations the court applies federal procedural law (not sure if this would be one of them).
Anyone know this? I’m super curious.