Flotsam and Jetsam - Trump Indicted Again, Dems Float 'Illusion' of Influence Defense for Biden

We knew it was coming. Given that the jury pool in Florida is likely to be unfriendly to Special Persecutor Jack Smith's "Mar-a-Lago" documents case, he needed a back up in the Democrat friendly Washington D.C. courts. Yesterday, after Joe Biden had an extremely bad day after the revelations of his  participation in phone calls with Hunter Biden and his various nefarious client by Devon Archer, Jack Smith came out with a new indictment in Washington D.C., essentially charging Trump with having defrauded the government by publicly doubting the fairness of the the 2020 election, when he had been advised by many people that there was not sufficient fraud to alter the election results  (Never mind that others were telling him otherwise), and claiming that led to the Jan. 6 melee (without really charging him with inciting the riot). 

Kaelen Deese at WaEx, Donald Trump indicted: Jack Smith says 'lies by the defendant' led to Jan. 6

"The attack on our nation's capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy," said Smith, who was appointed to the investigation by Attorney General Merrick Garland last November. "It was fueled by lies. Lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the U.S. government, the nation's process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the presidential election."

Madeleine Hubbard and Ben Whedon at JTN, Trump indicted in federal election probe on four counts. PJM's Matt Margolis, Trump Indicted by Biden DOJ for His ‘Role’ in January 6. John Sexton at Hat Hair, Trump has been indicted again. Althouse wades through the NYT so you don't have to, Trump — indicted again.  "ADDED: I have a feeling most people aren't going to understand that this is something new! Just in the last few minutes, I've heard: "I’ve officially lost track of all his indictments" and "I don’t know how that’s different from the old news." The NYT seems to recognize this problem. It's also got this on the front page:"  At TNP, Trump Indicted Over Jan 6 in Blatant Election Interference Attempt. NYT cited at Hat Hair, Trump’s Case Has Broad Implications for American Democracy.  Sundance at CTH, Special Counsel Jack Smith Unseals Criminal Indictment of President Trump for Protesting Results of 2020 Election. 

Interestingly, nowhere in the indictment is anything criminally alleged relating to the January 6, 2021, events at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington DC. However, you will notice in the Lawfare delivery of the remarks, Special Counsel Jack Smith factually speaks almost exclusively of the January 6th events.

The absence of a criminal charge (ie. seditious conspiracy or insurrection) when contrast against the extreme verbal emphasis of the event as outlined by Smith in the presser, will be missed by most. Speaking of the non-criminal event as the context for a fabricated/stretched criminal allegation, is Lawfare in action. Why emphasize but not charge? Because the DOJ/FBI does not want the risk of litigated discovery and evidence of coordinated government activity therein, that’s why.

Jack Smith knows he is out on a limb with his Lawfare effort to criminalize the legal and constitutional challenge to an election outcome. He is nervous, WATCH:

PM reports Trump says Biden's DOJ sat on charges for 2.5 years in order to interfere with 2024 presidential election "They waited because they wanted to illegally and negatively influence the 2024 Presidential Election." It's not illegal if they don't get convicted. At Twitchy, Andrew McCarthy & Jonathan Turley pour cold water on latest Trump indictments

Andy McCarthy pours cold water on Jack Smith's latest prosecution of Trump: "He has extravagantly stretched these statues in order to try to capture this behavior and that's because this is really a proxy for what should have been a political impeachment process..." pic.twitter.com/CtDDOSSzOd

— Kevin Tober (@KevinTober94) August 1, 2023

...I felt that the Mar-a-Lago indictment was strong. This is the inverse. This is closer to the case against former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell where Smith was overturned by an unanimous Supreme Court...

— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) August 1, 2023

Matt Vespa is a fan of Turley, How a Law Professor Gutted the January 6 Indictment Against Donald Trump, but it really doesn't matter (until it gets to appeal) because the DC jury pool is so heavily stacked against Trump. 'Bonchie' at Red State, The Judge Assigned to Trump's January 6th Indictment Is Going to Be a Nightmare. The toughest judge for J6 sentencing, appointed by Obama. Kyle Griffin

@kylegriffin1, "The Trump case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan. Chutkan, an Obama appointee, is the only federal judge in Washington, D.C. who has sentenced Jan. 6 defendants to sentences longer than the government had requested." Breitbart notes how Trump Indictment Continues Pattern: Day Of, or After, Bad News for Biden. Funny how that works. At WaEx, Donald Trump trial: Former president faces Aug. 10 arraignment in Florida case. At Da Wire, Dan Chaitin reports Georgia Prosecutor ‘Ready To Go’ With Trump Case. Dave Strom at Hat Hair asks At this point, why not bypass the legal niceties and just put Trump in jail? "The Biden Administration has clearly given up on the idea that the federal government exists to do anything but satisfy Joe Biden’s whims. So why not get it over with? Throw Donald Trump in jail without due process, construct reeducation camps, and rename the FBI the Stasi?"

Back in Bidenland, the word has gone out for Democrats to spin the story that yeah, maybe Hunter was selling the 'illusion' of access to Joe, who would never to anything like demand that the govt of Ukraine fire the prosecutor looking into corruption at Burisma, the energy company with both Devin Archer and Hunter Biden on its BoD, after having been asked to by Devin and Hunter, with a $10 million bribe being waved around in the background. Poor old Joe was just blinded by fatherly affection. PM, CNN claims Hunter Biden was selling the 'illusion' of access to his father to overseas business associates. "Archer stated that "Burisma would have gone out of business if 'the brand' had not been attached to it." Ace, The Talking Points Go Out: Unable to Deny Any Longer That Hunter Biden Was Selling Access, The Media Now Claims He Was Only Selling the "Illusion of Access," Because Of Course the Incorruptible Joe Biden Could Never Be Bought. "Update: Of course -- Trump indicted again. Is this a real indictment, or just the illusion of an indictment? The real kind, right?" Sundance, Lawfare Rep Daniel Goldman Spins Devon Archer Testimony About Intent of Joe Biden Phone Calls During Hunter Biden Business Meetings. Althouse, "Until it is proved otherwise, I will find it extremely hard to believe that the president was a party to his son’s nefarious schemes."

"But he enabled them. What on earth was Hunter Biden doing on that 2013 plane to China with his father, then the vice president? Why, after all of Hunter Biden’s dealings with Ukrainian energy company Burisma, did Joe Biden countenance hundreds of thousands of dollars in 'art sales' by his son in recent years, art — to my untrained eye — best displayed on the walls of budget motels? Who bought the stuff and why? Why was Joe Biden... so slow to embrace the grandchild that Hunter Biden had fathered? Why, after the younger Biden tried to cop to a plea deal on tax and gun charges, did the elder Biden invite him to, of all places, a White House state dinner?..."

Althouse, Let's talk about Devon Archer. "I'm reading "Devon Archer Throws a Curve" by William McGurn (Wall Street Journal)." OK, let's. From Fox, Devon Archer confirms Joe Biden 'lied' about knowledge of Hunter's business dealings, Comer says "'Joe Biden was 'the brand' that his son sold around the world to enrich the Biden family,'" and  Hunter Biden told Archer that Chinese chairman loved him for his 'last name,' posse of 'godlike Aryan men,' "Joe Biden had coffee with Hunter Biden's Chinese business partner, Archer told Congress."  At JTN, John Solomon writes Devon Archer tells Congress Burisma pressured Hunter Biden to deal with Ukrainian prosecutor, "Archer also told lawmakers Joe Biden frequently got on the phone with Hunter Biden's business associates, undercutting president's longstanding claims to the contrary", and  Nick Ballasy, Devon Archer's testimony shows 'real quid pro quo' in Ukraine was Joe Biden, Comer says. "Democrats in Congress in 2019 argued Trump had no basis to ask Ukraine's president to investigate Hunter Biden." Ace, Devon Archer Testifies That Burisma Pressured Hunter Biden to Take Care of the Prosecutor Investigating Them, "
And boy oh boy, did the Bidens deliver!" and Devon Archer: Hunter Biden Told Me to Buy a Burner Phone Just Before a Meeting with Then-VP Joe Biden; A Few Weeks Later, Hunter Biden Was On the Burisma Board, "Remember Hillary Clinton's, "Wiped? You mean with a cloth?" Now we're going to be hearing, "Burner? Like on a stove?""

Gratuitous picture of Ana Paulina Luna

From the Conservative Brief, Dem Lawmaker Says It’s ‘Clear’ To Him Hunter Biden Broke Laws. When the WaPoo won't cover you, John Sexton at Hat Hair, Fact-Checker gives Joe Biden four Pinocchios over claim Hunter never made any money from China, Using my algorithm, that's six Pinocchios! NewsMax hypes a Rasmussen Poll: Most Suspect Biden Covered for Son. Matt Margolis again, Are More Hunter Biden Associates About to Blab? AMAC calls it The National Scandal That Is Too Big To Break, because everybody is implicated. At the Daily Fetched, Anna Luna Says She’s Ready to Impeach Joe Biden: “I’ve Seen Enough!”

PJM' Vicky Taft reports Ashley Biden Recording CONFIRMS That the Infamous Diary Is Hers, and Sick Joe May Have to Head to the Showers. Hat Hair's Beege Wellborn, Oh, ick, ick, ick, Ashley Biden, ICK. Twitchy, 'Inappropriate showers' ... Tom Elliott brutally takes media's Joe Biden is a 'loving father' spin APART. 

Breitbart sees Kamala Harris Rush to Center Stage as Joe Biden Hits the Beach. Red State's Nick Arama busts Desperate Dems who Dish out More Photoshops of Joe Biden, Get Busted With a Little Reality. 

From the Free Bacon,  Biden Wages War on America’s Favorite Vehicles: Trucks "Environmental group lauds admin’s work to stop the nation’s ‘truckification.’" At Zero Hedge, Biden Gaslights Americans With Fake "Manufacturing Boom" As US Production Plunges and "Arbitrary... Outdated!" - Yellen Outraged After Fitch Cuts USA's AAA-Rating. Don't you dare tell me Bidenomics isn't working!

Anxious anxiously claims a Scoop: Why Biden's team soured on Dems' election lawyer, Marc Elias. Because he's a dishonest piece o' shit? No, that would be a plus. It's because he did stuff without consulting them. At Trending Politics, Democrats Hit The Panic Button On 2024 As Black Voter Turnout Begins To Plummet. John Sexton again, Progressive plan to win over white voters: Talk more about race. At SFGate, cited at Hat Hair, Newsom lurking might have influenced Kamala's spat with DeSantis. Beege Wellborn comments "Oh, that’s brilliant if he forces her to look even more dense than she already does. There’s a fiendishly effective plan." Can she look more dense? Hat Hair's KT is amused when DeSantis invites Kamala to meet as early as Wednesday unless she has “a trip to the southern border planned that day.”

Mediaite is pissed by CNN’s Data Guru who Concludes Trump’s In a ‘Historically Strong Position’ to Return to the White House. ET reports Trump Suggests GOP Primary Debate Could Decide His 2024 Running Mate. PJM's VodkaPundit claims DeSantis Reveals Pro-American, Anti-Global Elite Agenda: 'We Win, They Lose' but never-anybody-but-Trump sundance says the DeSantis Economic Policy Looks Like Typical GOPe Think Tank Work Product of Mindless Platitudes.

At YaHoo! FBI Ordered to Find Out Which Agency Disobeyed White House in Secret Deal, Finds Out It Was Itself. Mistakes were made, but nobody will be punished. Paul Sperry at RCI explores FBI Deception by Redaction: More FBI FISA Abuses, This Time Using Fake News in the Washington Post.

For example, the FBI tried to justify continuing to spy on Page in early 2017 by indicating to the secret FISA court that it had verified a rumor about Page receiving dirt on Hillary Clinton from the Russian government and facilitating a “well-developed conspiracy of cooperation” with the Kremlin to swing the 2016 election in Trump’s favor. But the bureau had corroborated no such thing. Its source was a front-page report in the Washington Post – one the newspaper later retracted after determining it was false, according to two former U.S. officials who have seen the original, unredacted FISA applications and described the passages to RCI.

The embarrassing revelation hasn’t been previously reported thanks to redactions blacking out references to the Washington Post article in the still-partially classified applications. The officials confirmed to RCI that the censored section covers up the FBI’s reliance on the bogus Post story, published in March 2017, as purported evidence supporting probable cause to continue spying on Trump’s former aide. In the sections of the FISA renewal applications blacking out references to the Post, the officials said, the FBI claimed the underlying text was “sensitive information.” The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss still-classified sections of the FISA warrant affidavits.

The FBI’s references to the Post story are contained in the April and June 2017 FISA applications. These applications were so tainted by bad information, politics, and glaring exculpatory omissions that after an inspector general’s probe, the Justice Department years later had to secretly concede to a federal surveillance court that they were “insufficient” to establish probable cause to spy on Page and therefore “were not valid.”

At Racket, a Video: Interview With Reason, how the left lost its mind "A fun, wide-ranging conversation with Nick Gillespie of the acclaimed libertarian magazine." It's worth the time.

A very quite day in the Culture War section, At the College Fix, Civil rights complaint filed against med school programs that gave preferential admissions to non-whites. At his substack, Insty has "Thoughts on education, age segregation, and politics," Hey, teacher, leave those kids alone.

Ace is jazzed that The Sound of Freedom Breaks $150 Million Domestically, and Prepares, Finally, for a Global Release "The Sound of Freedom has made $150,000,000 so far, and that is only domestically. It is still pulling in over $4 million a day without a single overseas screen showing the film. But it's about to go global. . ." No wonder Disney was ashamed of it. 

The Wombat has Rule 5 Monday: Public Benefactors and FMJRA 2.0: On The Road up and awaiting your digital delight.