If at first you don't succeed,
try, try again. That appears to be the motto for
Trump's legal teams as they continue their desperate attempts to
try just about anything at this point to get the
numerous cases against their client thrown out,
including citing presidential immunity, the charges being too vague,
the legality of the special counsel statute,
selective and vindictive prosecution, and as we saw this morning
in Georgia,
their attempts to throw out the whole Fulton County case
on the grounds of the 1st Amendment.
I don't think there's any question that
statements, comments, speech, expressive conduct that deals with campaigning or
elections has always been found to be at the zenith
of protected speech. The only reason it becomes unprotected in
the state's opinion is because they call it false.
Well, they were false, but that is not the only
reason why it's not protected by the 1st Amendment.
Here is the prosecution's response.
It's not just that they were false.
It's not that the defendant has been hauled into a
courtroom because the prosecution doesn't like what he said.
These statements are part of criminal conduct that is larger
than just the false statement on its own.
Mind you, the same First Amendment challenges were made by
two of Trump's former Co defendants in that case,
and they were unsuccessful. And Trump's lawyers tried the same
argument in the federal January 6th case,
which also failed. Once again,
this brings us back to what has been Trump's real
goal,
which is to delay the start of any of the
trials until after the November election.
Rinse, repeat. However, the New York hush money trial is
presently the only one that he has failed to delay
any further,
with the judge saying it will start on tax day,
April 15th. And as a result of having the audacity
to not let Trump play his delay games anymore,
Judge Juan Marchon is facing Trump's revolting wrath.
Trump is also continuing to target the
judge's daughter once again, including just in the last few
hours in a post that names her.
And while neither the judge nor his family are covered
under the judge's recently imposed gag order on the trial,
we could see that coverage expanded.
Joining me now is Andrew Weissmann,
former FBI General Counsel, former senior member of the Mueller
probe,
and MSNBC legal analyst Andrew IT.
I I cease to be able to be surprised,
Except that Donald Trump is now literally making up a
story about Judge
Marshawn's daughter,
posting about it, railing about it,
naming her by name. And there's still nothing anyone can
do to stop it.
Well, it it actually is something that could be stopped.
I mean, there could be the gag order could apply
to both the judge and the judge's family.
And this is 1 where,
as a matter of grace,
the judges have not imposed the gag order as to
themselves.
It reminds me when Amy Berman,
Jackson, Roger Stone had posted a picture with crosshairs next
door and and she said you couldn't find another photo
that we didn't have you know didn't have that there
And judges I think bend over backwards
but it'll be interesting to see whether Judge Marshawn does
expands it. But I just would like to step back
to it is true that you see this and you
think
it's it's just Donald Trump.
It's just Donald Trump more more of the same.
It is. It is really important not to just get
to normalize this and not to.
I mean
so many people talk about
sort of predicting what would a Trump two point O
administration be and should we really think he's going to
be a dictator and what will happen And my response
to that is you can look right now at what
he's doing and saying and for people who are fair
minded I would say
what do you say about somebody who attacks the daughter
of a judge.
That's right as I mean that does I mean is
there no depth to which you will not you know
descend.
I mean it is, it is so important to not
get in your to what this is.
Yeah. And I mean the bottom line is the reason
that he's attacking Judge Marshawn and his family is the
same reason he attacks Jack Smith.
They won't stop prosecuting him and he can't delay the
trial anymore.
He's found a way to even delay the Georgia trial,
which is I never thought they'd figure out a way.
But they literally went after Fonnie Willis relationship had nothing
to do with the case.
That did delay it. This is the one case he
can't stop.
He knows it's coming. And therefore,
he's trying to personally destroy this man's family.
And just remember what we're talking about.
He will be given his day in court.
Yes. This is, this is not.
He's not being nailed against a cross,
although he does claim his Jesus.
Exactly. Yeah. He is doing the whole I am God,
I am suffering for you.
Yeah. He is being given what every defendant is given.
And as you said, more,
so much more. And he is getting for this sense
that the state has its day in court
simultaneously he has his day in court.
That's right. He will be able to defend himself.
He has excellent counsel. He will be able to cross
examine,
put on witnesses. He could be acquitted.
Exactly. And so this is really somebody who's saying,
you know what, I am not acting the way somebody
who is innocent who wants to clear his name.
He is saying, I rather have nobody find out what
the facts are because I'd rather engage in spin.
He is getting due process in our court system and
he's basically saying I'm running against
the reality is, is that it is not just the
defendant who has a right to a speedy trial.
The American people, the plaint.
We are the plaintiff who also has a right to
a speedy trial.
And what he's saying is you can't try me at
all.
Absolutely. And that's dictator talk.
Absolutely. And you by the way you know who has
said that it is the public who has a right
to a speedy trial.
In the latest the the most recent Supreme Court case
on that was decided and written.
Don't tell me, Scalia.
Almost, Justice Alita. Oh, come on.
And so the point is,
all of us, everyone who is watching this,
has a right to this public trial,
the trial that is finally going to happen on April
15th,
where everybody gets their day in court.
Just to be clear, the state and the defendant is
something that we are all entitled to.
And what Donald Trump's fundamental argument is,
and they're using all these tactics,
They're getting more and more creative.
It's the First Amendment. It's a,
it doesn't almost matter what the individual arguments are at
this point.
It's just to throw an appeal in or throw some
other way to get more adjudication.
And then the system, the grinding system,
gives them the other opportunity to do it.
But it the bottom line is that he does not
feel that any judge,
state or federal, has the right to put him on
trial for anything,
right. Well, that is autocracy versus the rule of law,
the dictator. And I mean that is what is on
the ballot.
I mean that is those that extreme.
The reason you have Liz Cheney saying,
you know I can get over policy differences because this
is not this is about democracy and what it means
to have a rule of law country
and not. And the the reality is,
is folks like me who I fundamentally disagree with everything
Liz Cheney believes it.
I'm on teen Cheney at this point because she and
I agree on something fundamental that this is a democracy
where every person if you commit a crime you have
the right to your day in court and then if
you are innocent you have the right to be acquitted.
Donald Trump has not gotten to the point where he
can accept that he even must stand before the court
and the personal attacks on this judges daughter was nothing
to do. She's not putting him on trial,
right. At this point, Let's just say they added him
to the
gag order. We go back to the same question.
I've asked you this 400 times.
Could they put them in
jail and they won't, right.
The answer is you could and they won't.
But just to bring it back to your first segment,
you know, there is a reason that you are not
seeing George Bush
campaigning for Donald Trump. I mean,
this is it goes to this idea of what is
fundamentally at stake that you it is not normal.
You do not have traditional Republicans viewing this as normal.
The reason you have, you know,
I'm sure both of us were not sitting there going.
Liz Cheney is who we believe in,
in terms of a policy.
Not at all. But she,
her father, the president, that her father
was a vice president for all actually operate within a
construct that we agree on because that's what it means
to be American.
And we can have lots and lots of differences.
That's right. In that system.
That's. That's fine. That is what we.
That's what we signed up for.
That's right. We did not sign up for this.
We sure didn't. Andrew Wiseman,
it's always a pleasure. Thank you very much.
Let's just hope we make it through
January 1st in one piece as a country.