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Tuesday October 3, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday October 3, 2023

Donald Trump’s Legal Battles: A Timeline as He Eyes 2024

July 19, 2023

In the realm of American politics, few figures have been as polarizing as former President Donald Trump. As he campaigns to take the White House in the 2024 presidential election, Trump is facing a series of legal challenges that could significantly impact his political future. These legal battles span a range of issues, from allegations of business fraud to charges related to the tumultuous aftermath of the 2020 election. Here, we chronicle these legal entanglements in a clockwork fashion.

Business Fraud in New York (Civil)

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In the heart of Manhattan, a courtroom showdown between Trump and New York Attorney General Letitia James is currently underway. The lawsuit, filed by James, alleges widespread fraud in Trump’s financial dealings, accusing him, his adult children, and the Trump Organization of misrepresenting financial information to deceive banks and lenders. The sought-after damages amount to a staggering $250 million. The trial, which commenced on October 2, 2023, marks a pivotal moment in Trump’s legal battles.

Video: Trump and New York AG sit just feet apart in courtroom. See the moment  

E. Jean Carroll (Civil)

December 21, 2022

E. Jean Carroll’s accusations of sexual assault against Trump led to a defamation lawsuit. In a landmark verdict, a jury found Trump liable for battery and defamation in May 2023, awarding Carroll $5 million in damages. Represented by attorney Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s legal pursuit continues with a second defamation trial scheduled to commence on January 15, 2024. This trial allows Carroll to amend her initial defamation lawsuit, addressing claims made by Trump during a CNN town hall.

Stormy Daniels Hush Money (Criminal)

March 22, 2023

The saga surrounding hush money payments to Stormy Daniels during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign has resulted in criminal charges. Trump is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, related to how the payments to Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, were recorded by the Trump Organization. Scheduled for March 25, 2024, this criminal trial has the potential to unearth crucial details surrounding the payments and their alleged cover-up.

Election Tampering in Georgia (Criminal)

In Fulton County, Georgia, a grand jury indictment rocked Trump’s inner circle, including Rudy Giuliani, with charges under the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The indictment, issued on August 14, 2023, followed a two-year investigation led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis into allegations of election interference. The charges extend beyond RICO violations, encompassing allegations such as forgery and criminal attempt to commit influencing witnesses. A trial date is expected to be determined in the coming weeks.

News: Donald Trump Gets McDonald’s Delivered To Court During Civil Fraud Trial  

Classified Documents at Mar-a-Lago (Criminal)

Wednesday August 10, 2022

A year after the FBI recovered numerous classified documents from Mar-a-Lago, Trump faced the unprecedented situation of being indicted as a former president. The indictment, consisting of 37 counts, includes charges of willful retention of national defense information and conspiracy to obstruct justice. The trial, scheduled for May 20, 2024, promises to shed light on the circumstances surrounding these classified documents and their implications.

January 6 and the 2020 Election Aftermath (Criminal)

July 23, 2022

Arguably the most significant case brought against Trump, his indictment on August 1, 2023, centers on his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, which culminated in the Capitol attack. This federal criminal case, handled by DOJ special counsel Jack Smith, is set to commence on March 4, 2024. The trial’s timing is notable, as it falls just one day before Super Tuesday, a crucial juncture in the presidential election calendar.

These legal challenges represent a complex and multifaceted backdrop to Donald Trump’s potential bid for the presidency in 2024. As the legal proceedings unfold, they hold the power to shape the political landscape, influence public opinion, and ultimately determine the viability of a Trump return to the White House. The confluence of law and politics in these cases makes them not only significant legal battles but also key factors in the upcoming presidential race. (AI) 

 

Saturday February 23, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday February 23, 2019

Jody Wilson-Raybould has Trudeau in checkmate

“Is Jody Wilson-Raybould going to burn my government to the ground?”

February 15, 2019

It’s the question Justin Trudeau must surely be asking as his former attorney general and justice minister prepares to “speak her truth” this week at the justice committee on the question of SNC-Lavalin.

If the dribs and drabs of information appearing on the front pages of The Globe and Mail over recent weeks turns out to be accurate foreshadowing, Trudeau might not be able to surviveWilson-Raybould’s truth, let alone handle it.

As “did not direct” Wilson-Raybould has morphed into a “vigorous debate” on the question, and then to an admission of “pressure” from the Clerk of the Privy Council, but of the “lawful advocacy” kind, not the ‘do as you’re told’ vintage, Team Trudeau has, to date, succeeded only in lighting itself on fire when it comes to SNC-Lavalin. Now it’s time to see if Wilson-Raybould rocks up to committee with the final keg of kerosene.

If you’re Trudeau, it’s hard to envision an appearance in which Wilson-Raybould doesn’t burn everything—Trudeau included—to the ground.  There has been some serious red-on-red action on the nation’s front pages in the past few days, and only one side can survive.

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Wilson-Raybould and the forces aligned with her have been putting out a narrative of undue pressure on the non-partisan attorney general over the criminal prosecution of SNC, a Liberal-loving Quebec behemoth. And they’re making a compelling case.

Despite the independent director of public prosecutions saying ‘no’ to SNC on Sept. 4 of last year, Trudeau, his office, and the clerk—we now know, after initial denials—continued to revisit the issue with Wilson-Raybould and her office until Dec. 19, i.e. a few short weeks before she was shifted out of the attorney general role. It turns out ‘no means no’ meant nothing in Trudeaupia, at least when it came to SNC. (Source: Macleans) 

 

Wednesday February 20, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday February 20, 2019

Gerald Butts and Justin Trudeau ‘would finish each others’ sentences’

The two men, who met at McGill, forged their bonds in debate club. In an interview with McGill News, Trudeau said the experience helped convince him he wasn’t cut out for a career as a lawyer or a debater.  

January 21, 2016

Nonetheless, in 2013, like a throwback to his college days, he was smack back in a debate while running the campaign that would land him in the PMO, and Butts was advising during each commercial break.

“Butts … practically pinned his friend against the wall,” according to a 2015 Maclean’s profile. “He slung a jacketed arm over Trudeau’s shoulder and spoke in hushed tones, inches from his face. It wasn’t so much aggressive as intensely friendly — a boxer with his longtime coach — with Trudeau occasionally nodding at Butts’s words.”

January 12, 2007

That helped reinforce a stereotype that Butts served as the brain of the operations while Trudeau provided the charming smile and personality to woo voters.

Their life stories, are of course vastly different: Butts, 47, born to a coal miner and nurse in Cape Breton, graduated from McGill, and after earning a master’s degree even briefly pursued a PhD in literature at York University in Toronto.

Before finishing his degree, he entered politics, rose through the ranks of former Ontario Premier Dalton McGinty’s office and later became chief executive of World Wildlife Foundation-Canada.

90s sensation: Beavis & Butts

Trudeau, meanwhile, the son of a former prime minister, pursued a career as a teacher after McGill until decades later, Butts helped convince him to run for office.

“I often did get the sense that they often would finish each others’ sentences,” said Jonathan Kay, who helped Trudeau with his autobiography and was a columnist for the National Post.

Kay said their personalities helped balance each other out, and the stereotype of Butts as the brains behind the operation is a mistake.

“They were very much equals,” he said, adding, “when they’re together they balance each other out.” (Continued: Financial Post) 

 

Saturday February 9, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday February 9, 2019

Trudeau is lending credibility to SNC-Lavalin pressure allegations

It’s been a burning question for weeks in politics — what did Jody Wilson-Raybould do to get bounced out of her job as justice minister in Justin Trudeau’s cabinet?

October 13, 2016

Well, now we know one theory about her firing offence: an alleged refusal to do a legal favour for SNC-Lavalin, the Quebec firm with long and lucrative ties to the federal Liberals.

And so, the once-burning question in the capital’s chattering corridors of power is now a flaming bag of trouble sitting on the very doorstep of the Prime Minister’s Office. In the process, the biggest victim of Trudeau’s relatively minor cabinet shuffle last month is now perceived as its loudest whistleblower, whether she embraces that new role or not.

Pez Prime Minister

Not that Wilson-Raybould, now veterans affairs minister, was particularly loud on Thursday. In fact, she didn’t have a thing to say in the wake of the Globe and Mail’s explosive story of how the former justice minister reportedly stood in the way of a deal to let SNC-Lavalin detour around prosecutions that could have blocked it from receiving government contracts for years to come.

Wilson-Raybould’s silence, however, was far louder than the prime minister’s carefully chosen words of denial, about how his office had not “directed” the former minister to give the go-ahead to what’s known as a “deferred prosecution” of SNC-Lavalin.

December 14, 2016

Her nondenial denial, first reported in The Globe and not withdrawn on Thursday, fairly yelled in support of spirited opposition cries in support of her alleged refusal to play ball with the PMO and its cosy corporate friend in Quebec. Wilson-Raybould is now being cast as a hero who “spoke truth to power” — even if, technically speaking, it was more like a whisper to a newspaper.

Pro tip: “No comment” only works as a clever misdirection in fictionalized political journalism. In real life, it is often regarded as confirmation. That’s certainly how Wilson-Raybould’s failure to comment was being interpreted in government and opposition circles on Thursday.

Speaking of no comment, Trudeau hasn’t really explained why he plucked Wilson-Raybould out of her post as Canada’s first Indigenous justice minister and put her in charge of a department where many political careers go to die. (Continued: Hamilton Spectator) 

Update, Sept. 11, 2021…

The Prime Minister seemed to be listening intently. “I never directed,” he said, referring to interfering in my role as the attorney-general in relation to the SNC-Lavalin prosecution. His public lines started coming, which were designed to deny responsibility and culpability. There are differences between pressure and direction, he emphasized. We talked about our soon to be infamous meeting with the clerk of the Privy Council on September 17, 2018, where I had asked him directly, when SNC-Lavalin was raised, “Are you politically interfering with my role, my decision as the attorney-general? I would strongly advise against it.” He repeated in that airport room that I was not shuffled from being minister of justice and attorney-general because of SNC-Lavalin. To which I thought to myself, Oh yes, I remember Scott Brison resigned from Treasury, so, of course, you then had to move the attorney-general and two other ministers and elevate two MPs to fill one spot. Good grief. (Excerpt printed in the Globe & Mail, from ‘Indian’ in the Cabinet: Speaking Truth to Power by Jody Wilson-Raybould)