By statute, Acting U.S. Attorney/SDNY Audrey Strauss' term will now last 120 days, unless a Presidentially appointed nominee is confirmed by the Senate in the meantime. That takes her into mid-October, effectively until the Election. Not what Barr was trying for, obviously.
However, Strauss can be expected to abide by the generally sensible rule (policy, not law) that no politically sensitive indictments should be issued within a 'quiet period' of 60 days prior to an election. That period starts Sept. 4th.
Therefore, in practice, the period in which any sensitive indictments might be issued by SDNY is from now until Sept. 4th: approximately 12 weeks.
Whether Barr's move against Berman was related to this timeline, i.e., anticipating that indictments might drop in the next 3 months, is unknown. Given the political cost implicit in the move, however, inferences can be drawn. Barr seems to have been 'motivated.'
That said, SDNY will *not* rush out indictments to hit a window. Indictments will be issued when ready. These are complex cases, and SDNY will cross every 't' and dot every 'i.' Whether we're now in an SDNY 'drop zone' for indictments therefore remains almost completely unknown.
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🧵Interesting convo with an old friend this a.m. Raised in a trailer up a dirt road in rural Missouri. Military officer for 10 years, then successful entrepreneur. Now living a ‘red neck’ life (his description) on a NH mountainside. ‘Libertarian,’ anti-DEI and anti-‘woke.’
Says Dems are “their own worst enemy,” should “stop all this lawfare crap, trying to impeach Trump for made up stuff,” etc. You get the drift.
But guess what ? HE’S VOTING FOR HARRIS ! Why ? “It’s about the Constitution. Trump’s dangerous.” Cited Trump’s praise of Orban at NY Economic Club y’day. Quoted Franklin’s “a Republic, Madam, if you can keep it.”
🧵 The epithet ‘quisling’ is much on my mind. Vidkun Quisling was the Norwegian PM who collaborated with the Nazi invasion of Norway and presided over German occupation of his country. He was executed for treason in Oct. 1945.
It was Churchill, in 1940, who introduced ‘quisling’ to the English language as a synonym for ‘traitor.’
For me, ‘quisling’ connotes something deeper and more prolonged than a one-off traitorous act (like Benedict Arnold delivering the plans of West Point and then defecting to the British). It stands for active, long term collaboration with the enemy.
🧵 IN MEMORIUM. It grieves me to share that ‘Harry Godwyn,’ @harrygod, one of Twitter's brightest lights, died on August 17th in Ohio.
Because of the privacy with which ‘Harry’ treated his illness and hospice care, his closest Twitter friends learned of his passing after a slight delay.
‘Harry’s' real name was Charles Hankey. He was at the forefront of a pioneering generation of software designers and programmers, held in high regard by his professional peers. His debut novel, Headhunter Jazz (published in 2022 and available on Amazon), was a tour de force.
🧵 I believe these are objective facts: 1. Trump is a life long malignant narcissist and sociopath. As part of that, he is an inveterate liar and cheat. 2. Trump is a career criminal, closely tied to organized crime (which is why he may have been an FBI informant).
3. Trump has entered into deeply corrupt and treacherous relationships and transactions with foreign governments, for personal gain.
4. Trump is a racist. 5. Trump is a misogynist, and an adjudicated rapist. 6. Trump abhors the Constitution and has actively subverted it.
I’m under no illusions: a significant minority of our citizens are desperately unhappy with our system of government and our inclusive values of equality and justice for all. They make it plain, and I get it.
They include evangelicals who’ve always hated church/state separation. Racists pining for Jim Crow. Paternalists who want to re-establish the ‘traditional’ role of women and make decisions for them. Corporate chieftains eager to slip free of the ‘administrative state.’
Above all, they are people attracted by an authoritarian vision because they understand that none of the above will come to pass in a participatory, pluralist democracy. They’re *done* with democracy (see Project 2025 and Trump’s latest about voting becoming a thing of the past).
🧵 The Biden mantra, “building the economy from the middle out and the bottom up,” has borne fruit. It’s real. And it has implications for the distribution of wealth and resources in the country.
The Dem party’s current convulsions are directly related to these policies. Fervent support for Biden is rooted, I believe, in support for these policies and an understanding that Biden is ‘walking the Democratic talk’ like no other POTUS since FDR.
Opposition to Biden appears to have several strands (including career antagonisms and opportunism), but an important one is wealthy donors’ resistance to tax and other aspects of Biden economic policy.