The imprisonments of Brian Kelsey & Sam Bankman-Fried are flashing red warnings for Trump
The Tennessean reports in a story headlined “Former state Sen. Brian Kelsey sentenced to 21 months in prison on federal campaign violations.” It starts,
A federal judge on Friday sentenced former Tennessee state Sen. Brian Kelsey to 21 months in prison for campaign finance violations, a case Kelsey once referred to as a "witch hunt" before pleading guilty to two felonies last fall.
In other news, as The Daily Mail reported Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried gets the shock of his life as judge REVOKES his $250 million bail and orders him to jail after he 'leaked star witness's love letters' (Note: I link to this source of yellow journalism for its appropriate sensationalism). Their story starts,
Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has had his $250 million bail revoked after he leaked ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison's love letters to the New York Times.
US District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan said in court on Friday that there is 'probable cause to believe that the defendant has attempted to tamper with witnesses at least twice'.
Kaplan rejected a defense request to delay Bankman-Fried's detention pending his appeal of the bail revocation.
Bankman-Fried's lawyers earlier insisted he shouldn't be jailed and argued that he was trying to protect his reputation.
Both of these news items should give Trump pause for thought. They will not. Thinking or pausing are not skills Trump has mastered. However, while the fascist fanfaron may believe he is shielded from the consequences of his actions, American law — once it has indicted an offender — is indifferent to the self-awarded, exalted status of the indictee (as a rule).
Trump may think he has won the lottery with Aileen Cannon thumbing the scale in the stolen documents affair. But the random appointment of Tanya Chutkan to oversee his DC conspiracy case has ushered in a firm hand on the helm. And the early returns suggest that she is unmoved by his lawyers’ free speech blather and girded to resist their pleas they will need years to prep the case.
In a ruling today, Judge Chutkan allowed Trump to control his own destiny while wielding the second most powerful weapon in her arsenal — the trial calendar. In a command that will please justice-loving citizens, Chutkan told the overgrown toddler that should he keep up his “I’ll come after you” intimidation she would be forced to move up his trial date.
The prosecution has suggested Jan 2, 2024, for the event. I suspect that Chutkan’s instinct is to come in close to that, but her sense of fair play would allow a few more months. However, a few threatening ‘truths” will slam the door on that legal equality. As she wrote
“What the effects of my order are on a political campaign are not going to influence my decision. This is a criminal trial. The defendant’s desire to conduct a campaign, to respond to political opponents, has to yield.”
Sam Bankman-Fried’s jailing should alert Trump that federal judges do not like criminal defendants making up the rules. The judge in the crypto case swatted away Sam's lawyers' claim that he was "trying to protect his reputation." That defense was reminiscent of Trump's claim that he is trying to win a campaign. Further, while it seems highly unlikely that Chutkan would send him to jail before trial, she will act if Trump continues his intimidation. And if an expeditious schedule does not stem his effluvium, she is a tough-minded jurist who would order him detained.
Conservatives would lose even more of their shit. Who cares? They already have the outrage dial permanently turned up to 11. What else are they going to do? The Supreme Court has shown itself unwilling to support Trump in his personal legal battles. And presumably, all those attracted to Trump’s woe-is-me brigandry will have already decided their 2024 vote.
This brings us to another sad little man, the felon Brian Kelsey, and the penalties for campaign finance shenanigans. This electoral crime does not get the breathless headlines that incitement to insurrection does. But the Kelsey case proves that the penalties for financial impropriety are not necessarily chicken feed.
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s falsifying business records case seems the weakest of the four criminal suits Trump will face. Its potential severity rests on an untried amalgam of state crimes with a federal election fraud kicker. But should Bragg prevail, there could be a jail sentence. It will not be the 20 years bandied about by sensationalist media — just once, I would like them to report the likely prison sentence -— however, Kelsey shows it might not be negligible.
Kelsey tried the standard conservative defense — that he was the victim of a witch hunt - which, at this point, is essential pro-forma. A box that the guilty must check when they know the evidence against them is overwhelming. The reality of his situation was not lost on Kelsey when he pled guilty shortly afterward.
Trump's mental defects will not allow him to act in his best legal interest — ie to be circumspect in his ad hominem attacks. He is also probably psychologically unable to cut a deal requiring a guilty plea — which must be the minimum for the prosecution. He will continue doing what has stood him in good stead for 50 years - except, even with the slavish backing of a major political party and a far-right Supreme Court he packed, the authorities may finally lock him up.
He does have one possible, literal get-out-of-jail-free card. He wins the Presidency and tries to pardon himself for the federal crimes. What will SCOTUS say about that? Some conservatives have suggested that a reelected Biden could go down as a great statesman by pardoning Trump. They need to stop hitting that pipe.
Unluckily for Trump, at the local level, Georgia requires convicted felons to serve some of their sentences before being eligible for a pardon from the parole board - the Governor has no direct say. And in NY, Gov. Kathy Hochul is a Democrat.
The good news is that, despite the constant stream of invective hurled by rabid Republicans and their conman-in-chief, along with the Federalist Society federal court packing, the US criminal justice system is still functioning. It may be slow, but hopefully, its results will prove it to be the allegorical tortoise.