Freedom of #Assange is IMMENSE news!💗 Still processing the multiple emotions: joy, relief, gratefulness.. and a bit of worry.
Sure it IS a reason to celebrate🥳
His unjust ordeal is (probably) over (for now). He walks out of this hellhole that is Belmarsh.
Now there are also reasons to be concerned🧐
The plea deal is nor public nor signed yet. It may contain tons of unjust clauses (gag order? etc.) and is still a strong political signal to deter further journalistic efforts like #WikiLeaks
In NY State, after a person is #convicted of a #felony or serious misdemeanor, a #probation officer must prepare a pre-sentence report, which the judge uses to help determine the defendant’s #punishment.
In some instances, the defendant can also be interviewed by a #SocialWorker or #psychologist working for the Probation Dept. Such reports also include a defendant’s #criminal history…& the probation officer often interviews the arresting officer…& the defendant’s family members & friends.
I love this story about how this woman got this guy, Andrew Taake, to admit what he did on Jan 6th via the Bumble app.
"The woman's strategy was to say, 'Wow, crazy, tell me more,' on repeat until she had enough to send to the FBI.
A Jan. 6 rioter who assaulted law enforcement officers with bear spray & a metal whip — & who was arrested thanks to a woman's sting operation on the dating app Bumble — has been sentenced to just over six years in prison. #JAN6#Convicted
The latest #doxxing attempt fits a pattern of #threats against people who speak out against Trump.
The addresses & phone numbers of fmr Trump lawyer Cohen's family members were posted to a doxxing website after Trump was #convicted of 34 #felony counts in connection w/a scheme to illegally #influence the #2016election.
9 #witnesses in the #criminal cases against #Trump have received significant financial benefits, including large raises from his campaign, severance packages, new jobs, & a grant of shares & cash from Trump’s media co.
Attempts to exert undue #influence on #witnesses have been a repeated theme of #Trump investigations & #criminal cases over the yrs.
Trump’s fmr campaign mgr & fmr campaign adviser were #convicted on #WitnessTampering charges in 2018 & 19. The adviser told a witness to “do a ‘Frank Pentangeli’”–a character in “The Godfather Part II” who lies to a Senate cmte investigating #OrganizedCrime. Trump later #pardoned both men….(He didn’t pardon a co-defendant of the campaign manager who had cooperated)
The most recent example: In his first interview since being #convicted on 34 #felony counts in Manhattan, #Trump this weekend addressed the possibility of being imprisoned or put under house arrest by saying, “I’m not sure the public would stand for it.”
“I think it would be tough for the public to take,” Trump told #FoxNews. “You know, at a certain point, there’s a breaking point.”
Each page yesterday took him just a little more than a minute, so this will take >30 mins.
Between that & the testimony readbacks, also expected to take >30 mins, there will likely be >1 hour this morning w/the jury in the courtroom, not actively deliberating.
The judge excused the parties, but not before asking about #Trump’s #bail status. He then releases him on his own recognizance.
Trump leaves the courtroom, & spews a bunch of nonsense to the media.
Trump spoke for less than three minutes in total. He did not answer a shouted question by a reporter who asked why Americans should vote for a #convicted#felon.
Tues 29 May 2024 🧵
Good morning! It’s the last day of the #TrumpTrial before jury #deliberations.
Today Justice #Merchan will give #JuryInstructions. Then they will discuss the case among themselves for the first time; they have not been allowed to even discuss it w/each other as yet.
Closing arguments took place yesterday, & the lawyers will have no further opportunity to address the jurors before they determine whether #Trump is #guilty or not guilty of 34 felonies.
Trump is charged w/ 34 counts of falsifying business records related to the coverup of a $130k #HushMoney payment that was made to the porn star #StormyDaniels in the days leading up to the #2016election.
All of the charges are class E felonies, or the lowest category of felony in #NewYork State.
What emerged in 2 interviews w/ #Trump, & conversations w/more than a dozen of his closest advisers & confidants,were the outlines of an imperial presidency that would reshape #America & its role in the world. To carry out a #deportation operation designed to remove >11M people from the country…he would be willing to build migrant detention camps [#ConcentrationCamps] & deploy the #US#military…
He is weighing #pardons for all of his supporters accused of attacking the Capitol on #Jan6, >800 of whom have pleaded #guilty or been #convicted by a jury. He might not come to the aid of an attacked #ally in Eur or Asia if he felt they weren’t paying enough for its defense. He would gut the US civil service, deploy the #NationalGuard to US cities as he sees fit, close the WH #pandemic-preparedness office, & staff his Admin w/acolytes who back his false assertion the 2020 election was stolen.
Trump said Fri that a Colorado woman #convicted of 4 federal misdemeanor charges related to the Jan 6, 2021 #insurrection l is a “patriot” & shared a link on social media where people can donate money to help defray her legal expenses.
Despite that, court documents showed that #BrianPritchard signed voter registration forms in 2008 in which he affirmed that he was “not serving a sentence for having been #convicted of a #felony involving moral turpitude.” He then cast ballots in four #Georgia primary & general elections in 2008, as well as five special, primary & general elections in 2010.
Chief Justice #JohnRoberts said he saw no reason to disagree w/an appeals court decision denying #PeterNavarro's request to remain free, adding that that decision is distinct from a ruling on the appeal itself.
#Navarro was #convicted in Sept for refusing to #testify or provide documents to the House cmte that investigated the #Jan6, 2021, Capitol attack.
…The cmte wanted to question Navarro bc he wrote, in his book…about the scheme to delay certification of Pres Joe #Biden's election.
#Trump may enlist #PaulManafort
…While no formal decision has been made, 4 people described the hiring as expected & said Trump was determined to bring #Manafort back into the fold.
Manafort worked for Trump in 2016 before being ousted & later #convicted of tax & bank #fraud#felonies as part of Robert #Mueller’s investigation into #Russia’s 2016 #ElectionInterference. He served time in #prison before receiving a #pardon in the final days of Trump’s presidency.
Navarro’s attys told #SCOTUS on Fri that #Navarro is “indisputably neither a flight risk nor a danger to public safety should he be released pending appeal.”
“For the first time in our nation’s history, a snr presidential advisor has been #convicted of #contempt of #congress after asserting executive privilege over a congressional subpoena,” [he cannot assert executive privilege, only the president can do that] his attys, Stan M. Brand & Stanley Woodward, said in court filings Fri.
Trump has said one of his 1st acts if given a 2nd presidency would be to pardon the #insurrectionists who carried out the #Jan6 attack on the #UnitedStates Capitol, referring to them as “hostages” in a post on Monday night.
This isn’t even the 1st time we’ve learned that a person has been #indicted after the #GOP cited his claims. Nor…the 1st time a person has been accused of ties to #RussianIntelligence after the GOP leaned on their version of events.
The…characters #Republicans have sought out to substantiate Pres #Biden’s purported corruption…has come to include half a dozen #convicted & accused #criminals, + mult people the #UnitedStates govt has linked to #Russia, #corruption & subverting American #democracy.