Justice delayed is justice denied
I disagree with the former President of the United States and his diehard supporters on just about everything. Except his claims we have a two-tiered justice system.
That infamous mug shot, taken when he was whisked in and out of the Fulton County Jail after his arrest on racketeering and other charges, earned him more than $9 million in fundraising and merch sales in the immediate aftermath of the August booking.
He was allowed to declare he was 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighed 215 pounds, the same dimensions as NFL Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway (in his prime).
And thanks in large part to all that fundraising from his loyal suckers, er, cult followers, er, supporters, he has been able to tie the legal system up in knots to the point where it is increasingly unlikely he will face a trial before a jury of his peers before the November election on charges related to his attempt to overturn the last one.
Equal justice my (name your body part).
Want a more concrete example? The Trump-appointed federal judge hearing charges he improperly retained classified documents has (finally) released a short opinion denying his request to have the case dismissed.
Judge Aileen Cannon, who was swiftly and roundly overturned by the conservative 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on a previous effort to slow walk the case, is still doing what many observers would consider Trump’s bidding in handling motions designed to delay a scheduled May 20 start date.
As the New York Times dryly noted about her most recent rulings:
“The two motions discussed in court on Thursday were only some of the barrage of filings that Mr. Trump’s lawyers have submitted to Judge Cannon in a kind of kitchen-sink approach that has assailed the indictment from every conceivable angle — not to mention from what a lot of lawyers might consider some inconceivable ones as well.”
In contrast, consider the case of Jack Teixeira, the now 22-year-old former Air Force reservist who agreed to a 16-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to six counts of unlawful retention and dissemination of classified material.
The North Dighton, Massachusetts gamer was arrested last April. Trump’s indictments in the classified documents came last June, after almost a year spent trying in vain to have him voluntarily return them.
Cannon isn’t the only federal official who’s been ready to help a POTUS out.
Consider former FBI Director James Comey who not once, but twice, put his fingers on the scales of justice with public statements questioning Hillary Clinton’s handling of an email server — the second time days before the 2016 election — when Justice Department rules did not call for a public statement over declining prosecution.
“I should've worked harder to find a way to convey that it's more than just the ordinary mistake, but it's not criminal behavior, and find different words to describe that,” Comey said.
Oops, my bad!
Then there’s Robert Hur, who issued a 345-page, contradictory report declining to bring charges against President Joe Biden for retention of classified documents. Hur, who was quoted in a transcript complimenting Biden for his “photographic understanding and recall” chose to call him a"well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory" in a report released weeks before the transcript.
Much like former Attorney General William Barr, who offered a misleading four-page summary of the Mueller Report that dominated news coverage before the massive and largely unreadable two-volume document was released publicly.
Last but not least is the Supreme Court of the United States, which has done its level best to slow walk the January 6th case by denying special counsel Jack Smith’s request for a speedy review in December, before agreeing to take the case in February, then scheduling arguments for late April.
It remains to be seen whether the New York case against Trump for fraud in buying the silence of a porn star prior to the 2016 election will go to a jury before November, giving the American public a chance to determine for themselves whether or not their once and maybe-future president is a crook.
Name any other defendant in four criminal cases and multiple cases of civil fraud, sexual abuse and defamation who gets such as easy pass from the justice system.