Brett L. Tolman Profile picture
Executive Director of @RightonCrime. Former US Attorney. Gov't Reformer. Proud Cherokee. Weekend Cowboy. Married to a Queen

Aug 1, 2023, 8 tweets

I’ve now read the new Indictment twice. It is criminalizing speech, thought, legal (right or wrong) positions, and disinformation. It also is shockingly manipulative of statutes and theories which require enormous legal wrangling.

Further, it ignores advice of counsel defenses and mens rea requirements. But the most glaring thing is what’s not in the indictment—the charges of treason, sedition, or any other serious, fact based, count outlining genuinely criminal behavior.

The unindicted co-conspirators are lawyers representing the accused, a DOJ employee and a political consultant. And their conspiracy? Believing there was election fraud, talking about election fraud, and pursuing legal challenges in states they believed election fraud occurred.

They could be dead wrong on their beliefs and lose, as they did, all their legal challenges and such has never been considered even remotely criminal. Until now. So how is this happening?

Because prosecutors have enormous, unchecked power and in the wrong hands, they can bend the law and facts to fit their conclusions and agendas.

Take for example the Section 241 charge. 241 is conspiracy to injure someone trying to exercise their constitutional rights. This is a Civil Rights statute aimed at prosecuting law enforcement who would deny someone’s right through arrest, assault, or even deadly force.

But in Jack Smith’s hands it is a vague enough statute to go after Trump for contesting the election or telling others he believed, as so many politicians do, that the election was rigged.

In the end, it feels like nothing more than a political move by those in power to keep power.

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