Last night we learned DOJ re-arrested Smirnov after his release. Now we know why. A California judge seems to be suggesting his lawyers are complicit in his efforts to flee, in a remarkable line ordering detention for the FBI source whose lies propelled Biden impeachment efforts
@GottaLaff The guy smearing Biden being named #Smirnov is a great example of why I don't take this timeline seriously anymore. The writing has just gotten too lazy.
Smirnoff's lawyers release a terse statement about the extraordinary order.
They did not respond to questions about the language in the judge's order suggesting a "likely" aim to "facilitate" their client "absconding from the United States."
After a California federal judge setting Alexander Smirnov's upcoming detention hearing, the magistrate who previously ordered Smirnov's release notes he "no longer has jurisdiction" to pending motions.
@GottaLaff I don’t know why Smirnov thinks that fleeing the country would improve his prospects at all. He’s a blown double agent who botched his operation and compromised several other Russian agents in the process—does he seriously think that doesn’t launch him the top of Putin’s to-be-murdered list?
Can the CA court do that? This is basically one state's (federal) court seizing the suspect and the case from another state's (federal) court. I mean, we'd be pissed if judge cannon tried to yoink away the jan 6th case from judge chutkan.
@GottaLaff So, any federal court can grab any other court's defendant by declaring him a flight risk? If so there's a crooked judge in texas licking his chops.
In principle, yes, it is. I'm trying to understand the parameters around what's going on here, and saying that he's quite a flight risk doesn't explain why another state's court can reach in and interfere. Would you be ok with texas courts ordering the arrest of out of state women having unwanted pregnancies on the pretext that they are flight risks who might travel to a state where women's health care is not crippled?
@artemesia@GottaLaff No, this is not one state just taking a defendant away. The defendant was indicted in federal court in Calif. The Calif court is concerned with ensuring his return to answer the California federal charges. This is a federal judge evaluating a federal magistrate's (lower level judge) (and from a district outside of where the indictment is filed) assessment of risk of flight.
@GottaLaff I was worried that they didn't have him in custody, but it looks like he was re-arrested yesterday. I figured he'd be long gone after that stupid release. Maybe something will actually come of this.