Summary

Special counsel Jack Smith dropped 44 federal charges against Donald Trump, citing DOJ policy that sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted.

The charges, including election interference and classified documents retention, could be refiled after Trump’s presidency.

Critics, including Rep. Dan Goldman and former Capitol officer Aquilino Gonell, decried the move as a miscarriage of justice, asserting it places Trump above the law.

Trump and allies celebrated the decision as a victory, with Vice President-elect JD Vance vowing to prevent similar prosecutions.

Democrats fear Trump will seek political retaliation, deepening national divisions.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    17 hours ago

    If only we still had another month with a Dem president and his AG controlling the DOJ…

    I mean a month is a short time, ideally we’d have had that the last four fucking years and had plenty of time to handle this.

    • DancingBear@midwest.social
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      17 hours ago

      Fairly certain and it appears obvious the DOJ believes the president is totally immune.

      Part of the reason we are not members of the ICC.

      Part of the reason Dick Cheney is not in The Hague right now.

      Fairly certain United States has been a fascist country since at least 1790

      • UsernameHere@lemmy.world
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        16 hours ago

        Every single time someone tries to hold Trump accountable he claims it is a witch hunt.

        Every single time the charges don’t stick because of intimidation or corrupt judges the public believes that it is a witch hunt just a little more and it is harder to get people to take it seriously.

        This has happened so many times now that he has been able to win an election as a felon.

        The DOJ knows that even if they successfully charge Trump now, his administration will get him out of it. Their only hope is to put it on pause and wait for an opportunity to actually hold him accountable. Because there is no way that can happen after he won an election.

        • UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml
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          11 hours ago

          Because there is no way that can happen after he won an election.

          “A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one.”

          • Alexander Hamilton
        • Skullgrid@lemmy.world
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          13 hours ago

          Their only hope is to put it on pause and wait for an opportunity to actually hold him accountable.

          it’s fucking over. he won the election, and he’s going to fucking pardon himself, die, or both before anyone holds anyone accountable.

          he’s going to gut any functional part of the legal system and get no reprimand.

        • reddit_sux@lemmy.world
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          12 hours ago

          According to what I heard on youtube from US lawyers, the statuette of limitation will run out by the time Orange Goo finishes with his current term. Leading to no trial. There is no pausing.

        • eran_morad@lemmy.world
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          15 hours ago

          that fat fuck’ll be long dead before any justice could ever be served. justice within the legal system, that is.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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        16 hours ago

        I wouldn’t go that far back, or say we’ve been a fascist country for that long.

        I put a lot of blame on Dems closing ranks for Bill back in the 90s.

        The root of the argument is semantic: The President has testified that he did not touch Lewinsky sexually. Lewinsky’s testimony, and that of her friends and colleagues claim he did.

        But the bottom line is whether this constitutes an impeachable offense. Again, Starr’s report claims there is ample evidence of Clinton lying under oath, and concealing evidence of his relationship with Lewinsky to begin impeachment proceedings. Lawyers for Clinton declared today that the President’s transgressions were “personal,” but do not constitute an impeachable offense.

        https://www.cbsnews.com/news/did-clinton-lie-under-oath/

        Like, people still act like trump has some mastermind legal strategy when he’s just ripping off Bill by blurring the line between president and person.

        At the end of the day for decades both parties have agreed that regardless of which one of them is in charge, no one gets any consequences from the others.

        We can’t count on those groups holding each other accountable. Voters need to hold at least one party to a higher standard, or literally no one is ever going to be held accountable.

        • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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          16 hours ago

          Until we have a different electoral system there is no way to hold a party accountable without losing an election.

          • njm1314@lemmy.world
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            14 hours ago

            Pretty sure y’all just lost the election spectacularly, so might as well hold the party accountable now that the worst has already happened.

            • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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              14 hours ago

              They already think it’s cause they didn’t go far right enough. They’ve got their heads up their asses as always and won’t change as always.

          • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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            16 hours ago

            For an honest attempt at it?

            No, it’ll never be a fair fight.

            But if we want a Dem primary in 2028, we need to keep demanding it, and we need to solidify around a candidate ASAP.

            Voters beat the party in 08, and they’ve had to walk back a lot of what Hillary changed in 2016 to prevent that.

            I still feel crazy that everyone ignored what happened to NH this “primary” but I don’t think we’re really at the point where Dems just appoint candidates without a primary.

            We just need a candidate that refuses to concede until more than a handful of chosen states vote.

              • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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                15 hours ago

                Certainly the game is rigged. Don’t let that stop you; if you don’t bet you can’t win.

                As true today as in 1987 when Heinlein wrote it

                  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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                    14 hours ago

                    With all due respect then, stop playing.

                    Don’t stick around to talk about how you no longer care, go spend your time on communities about different things.

                    Sometimes people need to disengage, just don’t half ass it. If you need a break from it, actually take a break. Hopefully you come back before the next election. But if you just talk about needing a break and never take one, you’ll never stop needing the break.

    • SkybreakerEngineer@lemmy.world
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      16 hours ago

      How about 2.5 years in which everyone held off because they didn’t want to step on the FBI’s toes, and it turned out that they weren’t doing anything?

    • CmdrShepard42@lemm.ee
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      16 hours ago

      This is just like Obama giving Bush and Cheney a pass for war crimes and starting a war based on complete lies.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        Yep. None of this is new, it’s the same song and dance.

        I’ve criticized both parties for acting like voters have the memory of goldfish, but it’s getting harder and harder to argue they’re wrong.

        People don’t remember the shit they literally lived thru already.

    • bostonbananarama@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      You’re talking about a criminal case, what does a month do for you? At every turn, Trump has consistently tried to delay the process. It has nothing to do with the DOJ or AG, they are working the system to intentionally delay everything until now. Why proceed either, he’s going to be president in two months.

      • grue@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        He’s making a facetious point about the huge quantities of time Merrick Garland had to waste to create this outcome.

    • UsernameHere@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      The Russia/Republican propaganda has been too strong to make anything stick. If you try to arrest Trump while he has enough followers to win an election then you’ll get a mob like Jan 6th storming whatever prison he’s held in.

      It’s not as simple as you’re trying to make it sound.

      • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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        17 hours ago

        Give me a break. These charges could have been pursued on day one, in Washington DC.

        The administration sat on their hands.

        • UsernameHere@lemmy.world
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          16 hours ago

          Why do you think they “sat on their hands”? Do you think they are conspiring to help Trump? Do you think your internet armchair analysis of the situation is better that the entire DOJ and they just aren’t as smart as you?

          Or is it the obvious answer that Trump has been able to get away with corruption time and time again due to Russian/republicans? And their control of our government and justice system? And the DOJ knows that if they try to prosecute Trump and the charges don’t stick that they won’t get another try.

      • emax_gomax@lemmy.world
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        16 hours ago

        Sounds to me like a perfect recipe to round up and arrest a bunch of traitors to American principles. Was the thought trump would just shut up and quietly go away if we kept biding time or he lost another election. What, if anything, about trumps character would make anyone think that. 100% the government just dropped the ball on this. They won with trump in the opposition and wanted to time it well enough to win again and have him divide and weaken the republicans.