White Collar Crime Is Not Really Crime

Donald Trump says he’s a target of special counsel’s criminal probe into 2020 election aftermath. Here’s why that’s bad news for Joe Biden.

— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) July 18, 2023

You know it’s coming. And 

Haley on Trump Target Letter: That's why I am running is because we need a new generational leader. We can't keep dealing with this drama or dealing with the negativity. pic.twitter.com/EC9oRYVOK3

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 18, 2023

Two federal criminal indictments and two separate state criminal indictments are just so much “drama” and “negativity.”

Scalise on Trump Target Letter: I think it’s interesting that the same week you have this whistleblower coming forward to testify, you see different attacks by the Biden Administration on President Trump pic.twitter.com/K9ERqHVWVR

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 18, 2023

And so far, which has proven to have more substance?

Reporter: You said you’re standing up to anti-semitism, this week you’re literally platforming someone who said anti-semitic comments

Scalise: I’m not sure what you’re referring to pic.twitter.com/CoszVvkbnd

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 18, 2023

He hasn’t read that tweet.

Reporter: Doesn’t that muddy your message on Israel by giving RFK Jr. that enormous platform?

Scalise: We’re bringing legislation so that every member can be on record on whether or not they stand up to this crazy notion that Israel is a Jewish state pic.twitter.com/cAanTWMoXs

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 18, 2023

Did I miss a memo? Isn’t Israel a Jewish state? Is that in controversy? It’s getting very hard to keep up with the latest bubble magic of the House GOP.

Before Karoline Leavitt went to work for Trump, she had a gig putting her name on op-eds prepared by supporters of alleged Chinese agent Guo Wengui, who has since been jailed for fraud. https://t.co/ixEkQ1Uy4I https://t.co/iieyeQ5C8z

— Dan Friedman (@dfriedman33) July 18, 2023

Large grains of salt, and all that.

Why wait? https://t.co/RApniIQSdY

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) July 18, 2023

I’m old enough to remember when conservatives told liberals: “America! Love it or leave it!” So pardon me if my response is: “Don’t let the doorknob hit ya where the Good Lord split ya!”

Is special counsel Jack Smith running up the score by trying to indict Trump for every crime he ever committed?

— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) July 18, 2023

And I drop this in for reasons I’ll explain on the other side:

For journalists who are about to cover January 6 after ignoring it for 2.5 years, I HIGHLY recommend you read this finding of facts that Royce Lamberth wrote in the case of Alan Hostetter for a charge--obstruction--that may be used w/Trump too. https://t.co/QUJNEr3bBL

— emptywheel (@emptywheel) July 18, 2023

Ana Cabrera on MSNBC this morning had a phalanx of legal analysts opining on Trump’s announcement of his target letter, and what they thought the indictment would look like. And what was immediately obvious was that not one of them had read a word of the Just Security memo, which made them all sound irresponsibly ignorant. So, same energy. And it turns out they we speaking with less knowledge than I thought:

A source confirms Trump received a Jack Smith target letter that the source said is in connection with J6. Unclear which aspect of the sprawling investigation it relates to. https://t.co/ToF0L32MCk

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) July 18, 2023