Friday, January 17, 2020

What did Donald Trump do today?

He named the rest of his impeachment defense team.

On Tuesday, Trump announced that he'd be represented at his impeachment trial by his lawyer, Jay Sekulow. The same day, Sekulow was revealed by newly-released evidence to be a fact witness to the very things Trump is accused of, if not a co-conspirator.

Trump continued the theme today by adding Pam Bondi to his defense team. She, too, has a connection to a Trump/Ukraine co-conspirator, but she and Trump also have a deeper legal history together. His now-defunct "charity," the Trump Foundation, made an illegal campaign contribution of $25,000 to Bondi in 2013. At the same time, Bondi—then Attorney General of Florida—decided not to join in a lawsuit against Trump's fake "university." 

It's against the law for charitable organizations to contribute to political campaigns, and it's illegal for politicians to make decisions about prosecutions based on who has given them money.

Both the Trump Foundation and Trump University were eventually shut down as a result of other states' lawsuits against them. Trump paid millions of dollars in fines and settlements in each case.

Why does this matter?

  • Innocent people can generally manage to find a lawyer to defend them who isn't implicated in their alleged crimes.