Indicted Trump To Be Arraigned Today...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Here we go a third time. All aboard the Donald J. Trump merry-go-round to legal hell and back. Yes, Maria, the former Republican president will be arraigned today on the latest federal charges lodged against him in connection with his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Trump has been ordered to appear in federal court in Washington, D.C., this afternoon, at 4 p.m.

The ever-electric Republican Party's leading candidate in next year's election is said to be pleading "Not Guilty" to the four charges, all of which carry prison sentences.

As always in our star-crossed national politics, the action by the Feds has yielded two disparate reactions to the ongoing problems facing Trump. Republicans whole hog agree with him that the two-year-long investigation has been a government over-reach, while Democrats (and now a majority of Americans) say it is merely the wheels of justice at work.

So, when will the trial take place?

This from themessenger.com: [ That's a bid TBD that will be up to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan.

She'll be looking at a jam-packed calendar for 2024 that for Trump already includes two criminal trials: one set for March in New York Supreme Court on state charges tied to hush money payments during the 2016 campaign and another in May in Fort Pierce, Fla., federal court on charges connected to mishandling documents after leaving the White House.

Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, is signaling he’d be willing to make way for Special Counsel Jack Smith if he wants to try calling dibs on the springtime trial date.

In public remarks, Smith said this week that while his investigation continues, he'll be looking to get a speedy trial.

The start date for Trump in the Mar-a-Lago documents federal case has already been a point of contention between prosecutors and Trump’s legal team, and indicates that a similar legal struggle may take place over the scheduling of a trial on the latest charges.

While prosecutors first sought a December 2023 trial date in the documents case, Trump’s attorneys argued no trial should occur while Trump’s 2024 campaign is ongoing. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ultimately scheduled the trial to begin on May 20, 2024.

A source close to Trump’s legal team already signaled in an interview with The Messenger that they intend to once again seek a post-election trial on any Jan. 6 charges, arguing that this one is "probably 10 to 20 times larger than the documents case."

Unlike the documents case in Florida, the federal judicial district that’s home to the latest Trump docket - E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse (see photo above, at right) hosting it - is better equipped for accommodating and reviewing the expansive and historic case. ]

Interestingly, one of the alleged six co-conspirators in this latest indictment is former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a former hard-ass federal prosecutor. He is alleged to have helped feed The Big Lie and steered a "fake elector" plot to change voting in some half-dozen states. Giuliani has yet to be charged, but experts say that's just a matter of time.

Just a matter of time, as with everything to do with Donald J. Trump...

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