BREAKING: Merrick Garland opened an investigation into Trump as soon as he got to the DoJ in March 2021.

Actually, this news is over a month old. But I bet you haven't heard about it much in the media. 1/ According to multiple sources familiar with multiple conversations in the first months of Garland's tenure, "Garland gathered his closest aides to discuss a topic too sensitive to broach in bigger groups: the possibility that evidence from the far-ranging Jan. 6 investigation could quickly lead to former President Donald J. Trump and his inner circle." 2/

New thread. Dreeban is up for DoJ. The existing system is a balanced framework, it protects POTUS but not at the high cost of blanket immunity.

Thomas: are you saying there's no immunity for official acts? D: yes, but for today, our position is POTUS as head of art II branch can assert art II objections to criminal laws that interfere with a POTUS power or that prevent him from his constitutional functions. What petitioner wants is blanket immunity absent impeachment and conviction which has never happened in our history and we submit that isn't necessary to assure POTUS can perform his tasks. Roberts: The DC Circuit says "a former POTUS can be prosecuted for his official acts if he's acted in defiance of the laws". Doesn't that seem tautologically true? It sounds like the circuit court is saying a POTUS can be prosecuted because he's being prosecuted. That concerns me. D: I wouldn't suggest that's the governments position. R: You know how easy it is to get an indictment. Relying on the good faith of a prosecutor and a grand jury, and if those are the only protections the court of appeals gave, and that's no longer your position, why shouldn't we send it back to the court of appeals? (That would be bad), or issue an opinion that's not the law?

D: I do support the circuit court's ruling and I think there are layered safeguard that will emiliorate the concern of chilling the POTUS. A politically driven prosecution would violate the constitution. I don't want to overstate your honors concern with relying on good faith, but that's an ingredient, and the courts stand ready to provide oversight.

R: yes but the appeals court didn't get into what acts or what documents we're talking about. Because the fact of prosecution takes away immunity according to the appeals court, they had no need to look at what acts were immune and which weren't.

D: (this is great) Well i take issue with the idea of taking away immunity. There is no immunity in the constitution unless this court creates it today.

Good morning! I'll do my best to live tweet the SCOTUS immunity arguments starting now. John Sauer, for trump, says "Without immunity, there can be no presidency." Which makes no sense because we've had plenty of presidents and no immunity 1/ He brings up some hypotheticals about drone strikes and border policy, and how every president from now on will face blackmail and prosecution. Thomas asks to clarify what the source of the immunity is. Sauer says the executive vesting clause - that it encompasses all the powers of the president. (That's wrong. The executive vesting clause actually limits the term to four years so that cuts against trump.) He then cites (and cherrypicks) Marbury v Madison 2/

THREAD: Good morning! Oral arguments are about to begin in Fischer v US. This is the case about the interpretation of Title 18 USC 1512c2 Obstructing an Official Proceeding. I'm going to do my best to live tweet the arguments. 1/ For background, over 300 insurrectionists and trump himself are charged with 1512c2. It carries a maximum 20 year sentence. Several insurrectionists challenged the meaning of this law, but only ONE judge out of 14 went along with this nonsense. 2/

THREAD: I’m sorry. But this filing is shady AF. This is Hankey Subprime’s filing proving that knight insurance can guarantee Trump’s bond. I’m very much looking forward to the April 22 hearing on the matter. 1/ iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewDoc… The reason it seems shady to me is that Knight Specialty Insurance Company (KSIC) only has $138M in cash, and is relying on a trump Schwab account that’s supposed to be worth just about exactly $175M 2/

THREAD: I think it's brilliant that Jack Smith crafted his 1/6 indictment of trump to withstand 1) a court determining that a former president is immune for some official acts and 2) a court determining 1512(c)(2) must involve a document or documents. 1/ Smith's indictment works EVEN IF the Supreme Court decides that some presidents have immunity for some official acts because the charges are against him as a CANDIDATE for office, not as a sitting president. 2/

NEW: Jack Smith has responded to Trump’s delay attempt in the documents case. You can see what I posted about Trump’s request to delay here: 1/

https://twitter.com/muellershewrote/status/1779253775586476308

Jack Smith opens by reminding the court that she set the May 9 deadline very recently. April 10th to be exact. 2/

THREAD: My dad wrote to his parents about the threat of autocracy abroad (Russia) on October 19th, 1965. It reminds me of why we need to #PassUkraineAidNow

"Communism is my enemy. I hate it. It's my moral responsibility to to do all that I can to prevent its spread in any direction." 1/ "A good analogy would be this: A man has cancer in his big toe. He decides to do nothing about it because he doesn't want to spend the money. Besides, it hasn't killed him yet, and if it spreads too far, he can cure it at the last minute." 2/

THREAD: Let's have a heart to heart about Garland and Wray for a second, because I personally think all the heat on Garland should actually be on Christopher Wray. And I'll tell you why I think that. 1/ We now know that Garland wanted to investigate the top of the coup as soon as he got to DoJ in March 2021. We know that from multiple sources telling the press that Garland and Monaco were extremely frustrated by the slow pace of the probe into the top of the coup by June 2021. 2/

Trump has just filed his speedy trial report - same as the DoJ's calculation that 70 days remain on the speedy trial clock. But it's got all kinds of weird extra info, and it doesn't include a footnote that they met and conferred with DoJ, and whether DoJ agrees with the filing 1/ In addition to the regular calculations, trump uses the report to complain, yet again, about the amount of discovery. First, he brings up the CCTV video issue - that De Oliveira apparently can't figure out how to watch. 2/

THREAD: I've read over all the filings, & after consulting a bunch of experts, & after recording this weekend's episode of the Jack podcast, here's what I think Jack Smith will do w/re to Cannon's ruling on Trump's motion to dismiss based on the Presidential Records Act. 1/ Smith asked her to dismiss trump's PRA motion, adapt his correct jury instruction based on a proper reading of the statute, and said that if she uses incorrect jury instructions, he would seek a writ of mandamus from the 11th circuit. 2/

I read Smith's motion as asking the court to both deny trump's motion to dismiss based on the PRA, AND adopt the government's proposed correct jury instructions. "As such, it should deny Trump’s pending motion to dismiss and adopt preliminary jury instructions as proposed by the Government." 1/ But Smith goes on to say that if the court does NOT deny the PRA motion, it should tell the DoJ now before double jeopardy attaches: "If, however, the Court does not reject that erroneous legal premise, it should make that decision clear now." 2/

BREAKING: Jack Smith has filed his response to the jury instruction order by Cannon. "Both scenarios rest on an unstated & fundamentally flawed legal premise...That legal premise is wrong, & a jury instruction... that reflects that premise would distort the trial." 1/ Smith says "if you really think that's what the law says, tell us now so we can appeal to the 11th circuit before double jeopardy attaches. A clearly erroneous jury instruction would cause us to seek a writ of mandamus" (I'm paraphrasing) Fuck yeah, Jack Smith. 2/

Trump's entire argument is that his lies were told as part of the "outer perimeter" of his job as president. That'll be tough since he's admitted he did it all as a CANDIDATE for office, and not as president. 1/

https://twitter.com/TimInHonolulu/status/1774286202092523796

For example, in Fulton County, he's arguing that his case should be thrown out because as a CANDIDATE for office, he has the first amendment right to lie to the public about election fraud in 2020. 2/

THREAD: We learned a few more things today per multiple sources who spoke to the New York Times. I’ll post a gift link at the end of this thread. 1/

https://twitter.com/muellershewrote/status/1771045919695282490

First, we learned that Garland told the U.S. Attorney’s office in DC to investigate all the way up, even if it included Trump. He told them that the month he got there. March 2021. 2/

THREAD: I’d like to share some facts. That’s all. Just facts.

DoJ opened an IG investigation into Trump’s DoJ’s involvement in the coup on January 25, 2021. 19 days after the insurrection. 1/ In 9/2021, shortly after DoJ got data from Rudy’s seized phones, subpoenas were issued for coup fundraising groups including Sidney Powell’s. At this time, Biden’s DC US Atty pick was being blocked by Ron Johnson - who participated in the fraudulent elector scheme himself. 2/

THREAD: I talk a lot about the importance of accountability on this app. Time for a little mea culpa: I want to apologize if I’ve ever been jerk to you on this app. No one deserves that (unless you’re a fascist, obvs). 1/ As you probably know, I have severe and sometimes debilitating PTSD. It stems from a violent sexual assault followed by repeated intimidation and retaliation for trying to report it. 2/

THREAD: DA BRAGG DELAY: So I'm thinking about who is to "blame" for the delay in the election interference trump trial that was supposed to begin March 25th. Apparently, the SDNY was asked for these documents a year ago, and then again 2 months ago. 1/ And it seems as though SDNY didn't hand them over a year ago, but DID recently, prompting the delay - which Alvin Bragg doesn't oppose (he's okay with a 30 day delay). So WHO at DoJ refused to hand the stuff over a year ago? 2/

THREAD: Are you better off than you were 4 years ago? Some great graphics from @chrislhayes. Bookmark this to show your MAGA fam. First up: GDP 1/ Stock Market 2/

THREAD: THOUGHTS ON NANCY MACE: So I can't speak for Nancy Mace, or why she not only forgives trump for the adjudicated rape of E Jean Carroll, but actually supports him, but I can speak from what I've experienced personally. 1/ After I was sexually assaulted, I blamed myself. The people I tried to report it to convinced me it was my fault. They threatened me with consequences if I filed a "false report". They said I could be charged with adultery because my *rapist* was married. 2/

THREAD: I've long wondered why republicans don't take the opportunity to be heroes. What I mean is that when Trump incited an insurrection, Mitch McConnell could have pushed to convict him in the Senate and barred him from running for office again. 1/ Or when Pence was the target of an attempted assassination, he could have come forward and cooperated with Jack Smith instead of suing to block his subpoena. 2/