SERIES 2 EPISODE 36: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:30) BULLETIN: 

Gag Order now. Jail, later. Jack Smith has asked Judge Tonya Chutkan to shut Trump up and there is the tantalizing possibility that he wants her to at least threaten him with revocation of his bail and the terms of his release and that would mean jail.

Smith leaves the penalty TO Judge Chutkan. But he writes “The court should ensure that public statements by the defendant and his agents do not prejudice these criminal proceedings. The defendant’s repeated, inflammatory public statements regarding the District of Columbia, the Court, prosecutors and potential witnesses are substantially likely to materially prejudice the jury pool, create fear among potential jurors, and result in threats or harassment to individuals he singles out…” That is strong language that Smith couches as if – to be blunt – it isn’t. Quote: “The Government proposes two narrowly tailored orders that impose modest, permissible restrictions on prejudicial extrajudicial conduct."

What Smith is accusing Trump of – and what Smith is asking Chutkan to DO – has bearings on Fani Willis’s prosecution of Trump there. You may recall that the Judge’s warnings to Trump about the terms of his release – the fact that he has been permitted to remain free on bail – are FAR more explicit than what Jack Smith has gotten so far in Florida or Washington: “The defendant shall make no direct or indirect threat of any nature against any witness…” and yet Smith’s document says Trump has threatened witnesses. “The above shall include, but are not limited to, posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another individual on social media.” Jack Smith’s motions doesn’t just quote the threats and intimidation in Trump’s “posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another individual” – it actually includes reproductions of images of TEN of them. If Judge Chutkan finds against Trump in Washington, Trump could be immediately found guilty of violating his bail in Georgia.

Trump replied by calling him quote “Deranged Jack Smith” again and referring to himself in the third person again and by mastering sophistry again by explaining that his poll numbers mean he can say anything he wants and claiming quote “I am not allowed to COMMENT? They leak, lie and sue and they won’t allow me to SPEAK? How else would I explain that Jack Smith is deranged…”

This is not about the 1st Amendment. This is not even about the most extreme theoretical example of the 1st Amendment: the cliché about yelling fire in a crowded theater. This is about a man who yells fire in a crowded theater, and then goes to every theater in the country and yells fire again. This is about a creature who believes himself omnipotent and untouchable. This is about a potential scenario in which – if not in response to THIS filing by Jack Smith, then by SOME filing by SOME prosecutor at SOME point after SOME high number of these violations in one of these cases – a judge has to send federal or state marshals to apprehend Trump and bring him to a jail or prison for detention. He is not going to stop – he does not understand the concept of having to stop. He will have to be forced to. You can insert your own thoughts about the implications if he resists arrest.

One thing that Trump and his lawyers and his apologists and his cultists cannot say, is that they have not been warned. “The fact that he’s running a political campaign has to yield to the orderly administration of justice,”Judge Chutkan told the Trump lawyer Lauro on the 11th of last month. “If that means he can’t say exactly what he wants to say about witnesses in this case, that’s how it has to be. Even arguably ambiguous statements from parties or their counsel, if they can be reasonably interpreted to intimidate witnesses or to prejudice potential jurors, can threaten the jurors,” Judge Chutkan continued, on August 11th. “I will take whatever measures are necessary to safeguard the integrity of these proceedings.”

Judge, he’s not going to stop. You’re going to have to lock him up. Do it now.

B-Block (19:02) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Lauren Boebert of the anti-drag party, is dating a bar owner who reportedly hosted a drag party. Drew Barrymore re-starts her talk show even though the writers are on strike. That makes her a SCAB. Bill Maher re-starts his "comedy" show even though the writers are on strike (and he insults the writers in the process) and he is a SCAB. (27:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I didn't know until 2009 that Maher and I met at Cornell in 1978 and in less than a minute he'd been so obnoxious I was ready to sock him. In a terrific irony considering his scabbing for his corporate masters, way back then he called me a "corporate sellout."

C-Block (43:00) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: The immortal short story "The Night The Bed Fell."

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