Late Monday afternoon, Donald Trump did the unthinkable: He obeyed the law. The former president got in trouble on Friday after he dropped a threatening post on Truth Social, which appeared to target those prosecuting him over his third indictment. Judge Tanya Chutkan, who’s presiding over the case, gave the Trump team till Monday at 5pm to respond the alleged infraction. They tried to stall. Judge Chutkan wouldn’t let them. And lo and behold, their response came in just under the wire. Naturally it was filled with some whoppers.
The Trump team’s response runs some 29 pages, and it doesn’t get off to a great start. For one thing, it mischaracterizes the case — about his role in fomenting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot — as being about “First Amendment rights,” which is how Trump has been trying to frame it. That’s one page two. On page three comes a whataboutism whopper attacking Joe Biden and the new mug he’s selling.
Trump just complained to the court by claiming that a tweet from Joe Biden where he drinks from a Dark Brandon mug is actually a “thinly veiled” attempt to attack Trump for being arrested.
Can’t make this up. pic.twitter.com/miZaIHdKX1
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) August 7, 2023
The response accuses Democrats and the media of having “campaigned” on his third indictment and “proliferated its false allegations.” The Trump team then argued Joe Biden posted a “thinly veiled reference to his administration’s prosecution of President Trump.” They’re referring, of course, to Biden hawking a “Dark Brandon” mug, which has already enraged Fox News.
“Dark Brandon,” of course, is how Democrats, including Biden, have co-opted “Let’s Go Brandon,” the Republican taunt hatched in late 2021 which was supposed to be code for “F*ck Joe Biden.” That one was popular for a few months. One MAGA guy even said it to Biden personally during a Christmas phone call for kids. But its stock soon dropped and as Biden enjoyed one success after another, it evolved into a joke at Trumpworld’s expense.
As for the Trump team’s argument, it’s not exactly strong. It’s even hypocritical. In their filing, the Trump team argued that their client’s inciting tweet “does not contain or reference sensitive information of any kind.” A similar argument could be made about Biden’s mug ad, in which all he says is “I like my coffee dark” — a simple reference to “Dark Brandon,” with no direct mention of anything or anyone else, much less his potential 2024 rival.
But what does one expect from a legal team that keeps blurting out that their client actually committed the crimes of which they’re accused?
(Via Raw Story)