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Judd Legum Profile picture
@JuddLegum
Aug 3 • 10 tweets • 3 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
1. @washingtonpost, @axios, @cnn, and @nytimes are all "reporting" that, to convict Trump, Jack Smith has to prove Trump knew he was lying about the 2020 election

Trump's lawyer is saying the same thing. And so is Fox.

The problem with this analysis is it's completely wrong

🧵
2. A successful prosecution does not hinge on what Trump BELIEVED about the 2020 election. If Trump is convicted, it will be based on his ACTIONS.

popular.info/p/the-biggest-…
3. Trump had a right to lie about the 2020 election whether or not he believed his own lies. The problem is Trump, working in concert with his co-conspirators, "pursued unlawful means of discounting legitimate votes and subverting the election results."
4. The indictment details how Trump conspired to create fake sets of electors in seven states. Then it sent these slates of electors to the Senate and the U.S. archivist in an attempt to cling to power.

If proven, that's illegal. Regardless of what Trump believed.
5. You can legitimately believe you won the election and there are legitimate ways to press that claim forward, like filing a lawsuit.

Creating a fake set of electors and then pressuring your VP to declare them valid electors is not one of your legal options.
6. I talked to @marceelias who explained it this way: "I walk into a bank, and I think they are wrongfully holding my money. I think my balance is $5,000, and they think my balance is zero... That doesn't excuse me from robbing the bank. I can't pull out a gun and take the money"
@marceelias 7. Smith spends time on evidence establishing Trump knew he was lying to show Trump's motivation. He is not required to prove motive under the law but juries generally are looking for a motive. In this case Smith is showing Trump was corruptly trying to remain in power.
@marceelias 8. But the media coverage is confusing a trial tactic with a legal requirement. Proving Trump knew he was lying will be helpful to Smith, but it's not central to his legal case. The coverage suggesting otherwise is wrong.

popular.info/p/the-biggest-…
@marceelias 9. This platform is controlled by a mercurial billionaire who uses it to promote right-wing ideology and conspiracy theories.

I recommend getting accountability journalism directly by subscribing to Popular Information.

It's free to sign up.

popular.info/subscribe
@marceelias 10. Also, follow me on Threads.

threads.net/@realjuddlegum

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More from @JuddLegum

Judd Legum Profile picture
Aug 1
1. @RonDeSantis just sent a letter to @KamalaHarris requesting a meeting to discuss Florida's new Black history curriculum

DeSantis said he would bring along William Allen, who helped write the curriculum

Who is William Allen?

We took a deep dive

And it's a WILD ride

🧵 Image
2. Allen has a history of making incendiary remarks and promoting right-wing ideology

In 1989, as chairman of Reagan's Civil Rights Commission, Allen gave a talk at an anti-gay conference titled “Blacks? Animals? Homosexuals? What is a Minority?”

popular.info/p/meet-the-sch…
3. In the speech, Allen said creating legal protections for minority groups “is the beginning of the evil of reducing American blacks to an equality with animals and then seducing other groups to seek the same charitable treatment.''
Read 9 tweets
Judd Legum Profile picture
Jul 20
1. Right-wing activists in Florida are trying to get to ban "Arthur's Birthday" from school libraries

The book tells the story of Arthur, a bespectacled aardvark in the 3rd Grade, whose birthday party is scheduled at the same time as his classmate, a monkey named Muffy

🧵 Image
2. It's unclear exactly why Arthur's Birthday was challenged because Clay County schools would not immediately release the challenge form

On page 5 of the book, one of Arthur's classmates, Francine, says they can play spin the bottle at the party

popular.info/p/right-wing-a…
3. On the book's last page, Arthur's friends present him with a gift. It's a glass bottle with the words "Francine's Spin The Bottle Game" printed on it. No aardvarks or monkeys are shown playing spin the bottle in the book, which was first published in 1989. Image
Read 10 tweets
Judd Legum Profile picture
Jul 19
1. In the 1950s and 60s, southern officials regularly ignored court orders affirming the rights of Black Americans.

In 2023, this is still happening.

The Alabama legislature is ignoring a Supreme Court ruling to create a second majority-Black Congressional district

🧵 Image
2. Black people account for more than one-quarter of Alabama's population. But, for decades, white Republicans have ensured that only one of Alabama's seven members of Congress is Black. They've accomplished this by gerrymandering the state'sdistricts to limit Black voting power.
3. The process is called "packing" and "cracking." First, as many Black voters as possible are packed into a single Congressional district. Then the remaining black voters are cracked — split into multiple districts — to limit their voting power.

popular.info/p/alabama-legi…
Read 11 tweets
Judd Legum Profile picture
Jul 18
1. 13 GOP Attorneys General wrote a letter to 100 top CEOs alleging they were discriminating against white people — "an inversion of the odious discriminatory practices of the distant past."

Is Corporate America really biased against white people?

Let's look at the data.

🧵 Image
2. Corporate America's treatment of white people, according to the GOP Attorneys General, is "immoral and illegal."

They warned the CEOs if they don't stop discriminating against white people in hiring they will be criminally charged.

popular.info/p/is-corporate…
3. NOTE: affirmative action programs in hiring are already illegal. The DEI programs targeted by the GOP AGs involve "expanding outreach for new hires, creating employee resource groups... and reducing bias in hiring through 'blind' applications." It's NOT affirmative action.
Read 9 tweets
Judd Legum Profile picture
Jul 17
1. A Popular Information analysis of @RobertKennedyJr's first FEC filing reveals the lion's share of Kennedy's biggest donors have PREVIOUSLY DONATED ONLY TO REPUBLICANS

Follow along for details.

🧵 Image
2. Through 6/30, Kennedy's campaign has collected the maximum, $6,600, from 96 individuals.

37 individuals have previously only donated to Republican candidates for federal office.

Only 19 have a history of consistently supporting Dem candidates

popular.info/p/gop-donors-f…
3. Mark Dickson, a Californian who amassed a fortune in the aerospace industry, has donated more than 450K to federal candidates since 2015

The total includes $400,000 to Trump Victory

Dickson has NEVER supported a Democrat running for office

Until he maxed out to Kennedy
Read 6 tweets
Judd Legum Profile picture
Jul 13
1. After months of innuendo and speculation, they finally had their man

On May 14, @RepJamesComer appeared on @FoxNews & said he identified an "informant" who had evidence that "Joe Biden...was involved in a quid pro quo with a foreign country in exchange for foreign aid"

🧵
2. There was just one problem: the informant had gone "missing"!

"[W]e can't track down the informant," Comer told Fox News' @MariaBartiromo. "We're hopeful that the informant is still there."

popular.info/p/fox-news-won…
@MariaBartiromo 3. What happened to the informant with bombshell information? Comer was vague. "These informants are kind of in the spy business," he said. "So they don't make a habit of being seen a lot or being high-profile or anything like that."
Read 11 tweets

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