(Photo
by
Ali
Shaker/VOA)
This
week,
future
deputy
attorney
general
Todd
Blanche
and
principal
deputy
attorney
general
Emil
Bove
informed
Justice
Juan
Merchan
that
the
safety
of
the
republic
requires
him
to
dismiss
the
criminal
charges
against
Donald
Trump.
“Immediate
dismissal
of
this
case
is
mandated
by
the
federal
Constitution,
the
Presidential
Transition
Act
of
1963,
and
the
interests
of
justice,
in
order
to
facilitate
the
orderly
transition
of
Executive
power
following
President
Trump’s
overwhelming
victory
in
the
2024
Presidential
election,”
they
huffed,
adding
that
“dismissal
is
necessary
here”
because
“the
Constitution
forbids
‘plac[ing]
into
the
hands
of
a
single
prosecutor
and
grand
jury
the
practical
power
to
interfere
with
the
ability
of
a
popularly
elected
President
to
carry
out
his
constitutional
functions.’”
That
quote
is
from
an
Office
of
Legal
Counsel
memo
from
2000
opining
that
a
sitting
president
is
immune
from
criminal
indictment
or
prosecution.
Of
course,
Trump
has
already
been
indicted
and
convicted,
and
he
won’t
be
the
president
again
until
January.
But
in
his
telling,
the
pendency
of
his
appeals
bars
the
state
judge
from
sentencing
him.
Also,
he’s
basically
president
now,
since
he’s
in
the
middle
of
the
transition
and
has
to
go
find
another
sex
crimer
to
serve
as
Blanche
and
Bove’s
boss.
Whodathunk
that
these
guys
would
demand
that
sentencing
be
moved
until
after
the
election
to
avoid
looking
political,
and
then
turn
around
and
claim
that
the
entire
case
must
be
dismissed
because
of
politics!
DA
Bragg
objects
to
dismissing
the
case,
requesting
instead
that
it
be
stayed
until
the
end
of
Trump’s
presidency.
But
he
knows
he
got
outmaneuvered
here
by
sitting
on
this
prosecution
for
two
damn
years.
Meanwhile
across
the
street
in
federal
court,
Trump’s
lawyers
are
singing
a
different
tune.
There
the
president-elect
is
suing
Bob
Woodward
and
Simon
and
Schuster
for
copyright
infringement
over
an
audiobook
using
tapes
made
during
his
first
term.
He’s
alleging
a
conspiracy
to
“collate
and
cobble
together
more
than
eight
hours
of
‘raw’
interviews”
and
demanding
$50
million
to
make
him
whole.
In
November
of
2023,
Trump
filed
an
opposition
to
the
defendants’
motion
to
dismiss
his
second
amended
complaint
—
third
time’s
a
charm!
—
after
which
everyone
wandered
off
to
do
literally
anything
else.
But
now
Trump
is
hot
to
trot.
In
a
letter
to
Judge
Paul
Gardephe,
his
counsel
Robert
Garson
wrote
yesterday
that
Trump
is
eager
to
pursue
this
case:
The
Court
is
aware
that
President
Trump
is
soon
due
to
be
inaugurated
as
the
47th
President
of
these
United
States
of
America.1
The
issues
in
this
case,
namely
the
unlicensed
for-profit
use
of
President
Trump’s
voice
that
was
recorded
in
an
unofficial
interview,
is
both
timely
and
ripe,
for
fear
of
further
unaccounted
for
profit
being
made
from
the
President’s
voice.
In
addition,
we
trust
that
the
Court
can
accommodate
a
discovery
process
that
will
cause
minimal
interference
with
the
President’s
impeding
obligations.
Indeed,
Trump
continues
to
vigorously
pursue
civil
litigation
against
ABC
and
CBS,
while
threatening
to
sue
the
New
York
Times
and
Penguin
Random
House
for
$10
billion.
He’s
got
time
for
that,
of
course.
And
he’s
got
time
to
hawk
merch
from
the
businesses
he’s
not
even
pretending
to
divest
from
this
time
around.
But
criminal
process?
That’s
a
threat
to
a
democracy.
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos substack and podcast.