Will Trump Be Indicted -- Again?
Georgia DA looks to get her pound of flesh
It’s no secret that every Democratic prosecutor in the country sees Donald Trump as a ticket to legal stardom. So: Does Fulton County DA Fani Willis actually have a case?
She certainly seems to think so. And in light of reports that crowd barriers have been erected outside the county courthouse in Atlanta, an indictment based on many of the same activities recounted in Jack Smith’s federal case looks imminent.
(Fulton County DA Fani Willis)
As I’ve stated previously, I believe the key problem for Team Trump is in the area of the fraudulent electors. Those are acts — not thoughts or statements. They may only amount to attempts — but you can charge attempts.
What’s likely going to feel new to many in the Georgia case will be Rudy Giuliani’s involvement. I believe, based on the reporting and rumors, that Giuliani will be charged as well.
Which means: again, conspiracy charges, based not on a completed scheme, but on the planning of one.
Can the state of Georgia bring charges based on essentially the same actions that underlie the federal case? Yes.
But wow, might this get messy. Consider: Giuliani could be a witness in the federal case, but a co-defendant in the state case.
Your humble narrator has been involved in criminal cases that could’ve been done at both levels. Deference was generally given to the federal case. And while that didn’t always make for a satisfying outcome, I never once saw it seriously contemplated to charge simultaneously on the state level.
And were this anyone but Donald Trump… it wouldn’t be contemplated here, either.
You can argue the merits of the federal case. But piling on with a state case that essentially duplicates the federal case is, based on the facts we know now, gratuitous and blatantly political.
And yet a further abuse of our criminal justice system.
Yet ANOTHER Key Witness DOJ Is Not Interested In?
News comes now that the former FBI head of counter-intelligence for the NYC area, Charlie McGonigal, will plead guilty in his pending corruption case.
Now: Let’s follow the money. Charlie (who, full disclosure, your humble narrator crossed paths with professionally a few times) is alleged to have accepted illicit money from former Albanian intelligence officer Agron Neza — exactly why is not clear.
Neza introduced McGonigal to a fellow Albanian named Dorian Ducka — who McGonigal then met with at least once. Ducka was an advisor to the Communist Party-linked Chinese oil company CEFC.
Yup — that CEFC. The one whose point man in the U.S. was Patrick Ho (see here for our coverage on Mr. Ho) — and who was Hunter Biden’s Chinese contact and sugar daddy.
And all the while, McGonigal had operational control of the CEFC-Ho investigation that eventually resulted in Ho’s arrest (again, as recounted last time in this space).
So, to recap: McGonigal was introduced by one of his co-conspirators to an Albanian employee of CEFC. All while he was investigating CEFC and its American rep, Patrick Ho.
And to further recap: Hunter Biden and Jim Biden are reported to be on the wiretaps used in McGonigal’s Patrick Ho/CEFC case (which was a FISA wire).
Now, Patrick Ho is gone — he seems to have (conveniently and quietly) been repatriated back to Hong Kong (why he wasn’t flipped on Hunter is still a puzzle, as all this occurred while Hunter had an open case against him in DOJ).
But to cut to now: Why isn’t McGonigal being used against Hunter and Jim Biden?
Shouldn’t that be part of McGonigal’s plea deal? Recall, DOJ’s case against Hunter Biden remains open.
As I stated last time: House Ways and Means needs to get hold of the Patrick Ho line sheets from that wiretap.
McGonigal would’ve been briefed regularly on those line sheets. Why didn’t he forward any of this to the Delaware office that had an open case on Hunter?
Did he ever talk to Hunter? To Jim Biden? Was he one of the “FBI agents” Hunter reached out to after Patrick Ho got arrested?
And the fact that McGonigal didn’t move on Hunter or Jim related to CEFC — while CEFC was showering the Bidens with money — is troubling, at the least.
And recall: It was McGonigal’s reporting that helped launch the bogus “Crossfire Hurricane” FBI case against Donald Trump.
Simple question: Is there an entry for “Charlie McGonigal” in Hunter Biden’s phone contacts? I’d bet there is.
McGonigal still has a pending case against him in Washington, D.C. So DOJ still has the leverage.
Flip this guy.
Gilgo: We Hear….
That the defense team of accused Gilgo killer Rex Heuermann is about to get a bit larger. At least one attorney will be joining defense attorney Mike Brown as Team Heuermann contends with more than eight terabytes of discovery material the prosecution has provided.
The question: Can the Heuermann estate afford a growing defense team? Looking at it from the outside, it wouldn’t appear so. But there is always the publicity value in such a case… which might make a lawyer sign on anyway.
There are issues on the Heuermann home front as well. Let’s just say the family really needs the money. Asa Ellerup, Heuermann’s wife, has retained attorney Bob Macedonio to handle the couple’s pending divorce.
Macedonio’s former law partner is: Rex’s defense attorney, Mike Brown.
So: Heuermann’s defense team needs to be paid, and Heuermann’s family needs to survive. A conflict. Between two former law partners.
Defense attorney Brown, by the way, is a former Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney, who joined that office in 1992.
Who also worked in that office, joining that same year? Ray Tierney, lead prosecutor on the case.
Meanwhile: Heuermann’s two adult children have their own attorney: Long Islander Vess Mitev. They, too, need their interests protected, regarding any distribution of assets.
But who may also seek a piece of the Heuermann estate? The families of the Gilgo victims.
Well-known Long Island attorney John Ray represents potentially two of those families — those of Shannan Gilbert and Jessica Taylor.
Ray’s former law partner? Vess Mitev.
Welcome to Suffolk County.
In Closing….
Not since the 1980 U.S. Olympic Men’s hockey team — the “Miracle on Ice” — have I rooted so hard for an American team in international competition.
I couldn’t wait for the U.S. Women’s Soccer team to lose.
Good riddance.
