Dem
51
GOP
49
Of course, Donald Trump isn't the only one in legal hot water right now, and there was some news yesterday on the non-Trump-crook front. First, Sen. Bob Menendez' (D-NJ) bribery trial is about to get underway in earnest (in other words, jury selection is complete). And yesterday, the Senator got some unhappy news: The psychiatrist he wanted to call to testify will not be allowed to take the stand.
The point of the psychiatrist was to try to establish that the Senator has a pathological "fear of scarcity" due to his upbringing, and so THAT is why he squirrels away large amounts of cash and gold bullion. This seems like a pretty desperate defense strategy, to us. Further, even if the shrink was able to justify Menendez' hoarding of hundreds of thousands of dollars in lucre, that still does not explain where it came from. Or, more specifically, how he was able to accrue more than half a million dollars in cash and gold on a salary of about $200,000 a year. In any case, Team Bob is going to stick with this apparently, and will call some of his Senate colleagues to testify about his cash-hoarding tendencies instead. Undoubtedly, a Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) or a Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will be just thrilled to end up in the middle of this.
Meanwhile, when we last wrote about Steve Bannon, we wrote that he might mount further appeals of his conviction for contempt of Congress, but that he would just be throwing money away. Not so fast, wrote reader R.E.M. in Brooklyn:
No, I think he's pursuing the same delay strategy as Donald Trump—keep things going to January 20, 2025. If Bannon seeks rehearing with a suggestion for rehearing en banc, I believe he has 45 days from the entry of the decision. Then after that is disposed of, he would have 60 days to petition for cert. to the Supreme Court. That petition would likely be addressed in October or November, though the Court could choose to hold it, or to grant the petition, in which case it would not be heard until 2025. If Donald Trump wins reelection, he pardons Bannon, who thereby spends not a day in jail.
Fair point. Thanks, R.E.M.!
We should have thought of that, but we did not, because we are not lawyers. R.E.M. is. And you know who else is? The folks who are prosecuting Bannon. And they apparently thought of it, too. In a move that would forestall the above strategy, the DoJ filed a motion yesterday asking Judge Carl Nichols to order Bannon to prison immediately, since there is no possibility of Bannon's prevailing in his appeals. It's not clear when the Judge will rule, but it's at least possible that Bannon could be a resident of the crowbar hotel by the time June rolls around. (Z)