Donald Trump arrives in D.C., ahead of third arraignment (BBC)
Donald Trump, facing a third indictment for which he was arrested and appeared in a Washington, D.C., federal court yesterday. is facing a fight for his life," according to a longtime Alabama attorney and nationally known criminal-defense expert. Donald Watkins, throughout an almost 50-year legal career, has seen a number of clients in these kinds of thickets -- with no readily discernible pathway out -- and he knows Trump is in an unenviable position. Under the headline "Donald J. Trump: A “Do or Die” Fight for His Life," Watkins writes: "
Donald J. Trump is in a “do or die” fight for his life. At 77-years-old, Trump is facing three state and federal indictments that allege a total of 78 felony counts of criminal offenses against him.
This month, a fourth indictment is expected in Atlanta, Georgia. When it comes, Trump can expect 30 or more felony counts to be added to his legal woes. After he is arrested in Georgia, Trump will have his mugshot taken for the first time.
Presently, Special Counsel Jack Smith, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani T. Willis have Donald Trump tagged and bogged down in a triangulated-takedown scenario.
What does that mean? For one, it means prosecutors have an advantage in these encounters, even if the defendant is a former president, as Watkins explains:
By the end of August, Donald Trump will be facing more than 100 criminal counts, with hundreds of years of possible imprisonment upon conviction. At Trump's age, this outcome is equivalent to a death sentence, assuming Trump dies of natural causes while imprisoned.
If Trump is imprisoned, he could also die from a “shanking” (stabbing), beating, or poisoning administered by fellow inmates. Trump’s Secret Service protection detail and his expected isolation from the general inmate population would not be enough to prevent this possible outcome.
As such, Donald Trump must win the 2024 presidential election in order to save his own life.
Watkins has some extraordinary courtroom victories to his credit, but he is not sure such an outcome is possible in the Trump case:
No attorney has ever won more than 85 felony counts for a single defendant. I currently hold the record in American jurisprudence for defeating federal prosecutors on 85 felony counts in the case of U.S. v. Richard Scrushy.
In 2003, Richard Scrushy, the former CEO of HealthSouth, was indicted on 85 felony counts of Sarbanes Oxley offenses and related charges. If convicted on all charges, Scrushy faced 650 years in prison. On June 28, 2005, Scrushy walked out of the federal courthouse in Birmingham, Alabama, as a free man. Over a two-year period, my legal team defeated federal prosecutors on all charges in Scrushy’s case.
Richard Scrushy’s case is featured in the May 11, 2020, "King Richard" episode of the Netflix Trial by Media documentary series.
Presently, Donald Trump does not have any attorney on his criminal defense teams who is capable of winning acquittals on 100 or more felony counts. I am not sure if this feat is even possible today.
Watkins spells out the tactics prosecutors have used to make an acquittal in the Trump case very difficult to reach:
Prosecutors have used every technique at their disposal to maximize their chances of winning a conviction and imprisoning Donald Trump. In the process, they have overwhelmed Trump's mediocre criminal-defense teams. Here's how they did it:
First, three different prosecutors have Trump trapped in a scenario where he is fighting for his life in criminal cases in judicial venues that are located in four states at the same time. As such, Trump is at war on four fronts with highly skilled and well-financed prosecutors at the same time.
Second, these prosecutors have worked the grand-jury process in a way that allowed them to shop for pro-prosecution judges in at least two of the four cases against Trump. Only the federal judge assigned to Trump's case in Miami has shown a willingness to provide Trump a fair trial.
Third, prosecutors only need a single guilty verdict on one of the multiple felony counts in each of the four cases, while Trump must win a “not guilty” verdict or a mistrial on every count in each of the four cases. This result is virtually impossible for Trump's underperforming legal team to accomplish.
Fourth, Special Counsel Jack Smith has "flipped" multiple members of Trump’s circle of legal advisors. These attorneys are now witnesses against Trump in his federal cases in Miami and Washington.
In blunt language, here is how Watkins describes the situation in which Trump finds himself:
Winning the Presidential Election is Trump’s Only Ticket Out of a Death Sentence. As for details, Watkins writes:
Donald Trump has only one option available to him for saving his life – he must win the 2024 presidential election.
Thus far, Trump’s criminal cases have not posed a credible threat to his re-election chances or his return to the presidency. Trump has found a creative pathway to neutralize these impediments without using highly skilled defense lawyers in the pending criminal cases.
Federal prosecutors in the Hunter Biden case gave Donald Trump the political ammunition he needed in the court of public opinion to graphically demonstrate the unequal and unfair administration of criminal laws within the federal justice system.
In a highly public and partisan way, federal prosecutors in Hunter Biden’s criminal case have performed unprecedented legal maneuvers and backflips to prevent an admitted crack and powder cocaine user, tax cheat, unlawful possessor of a firearm, and obstructor of justice from going to federal prison -- solely because Hunter Biden is the son of President Joe Biden. At the same time, federal prosecutors have used every tool at their disposal to charge, try, convict, and imprison Donald Trump for life.
The U.S. Department of Justice's two-tiered standard of criminal justice is very public, easy to understand, legally and politically indefensible, and is hurting Joe Biden’s chances for re-election.
Today, Donald Trump and Joe Biden are tied in the latest New York Times/Siena College poll. Independent voters will determine the outcome of the race for the White House in 2024.
If Trump wins the presidency, which certainly is possible, he will surely pardon himself on all federal charges/convictions. Trump will also use the awesome powers of the presidency to pressure the governors of New York and Georgia to grant him a full and unconditional pardon, which they will do.
At this point, Donald Trump is fighting for his life. He must win the presidency to save his own life. Losing is not an acceptable option.
