Donald Trump responded to his latest round of criminal charges by going on Truth Social Tuesday morning to announce an upcoming “major News Conference” at which he would present “A Large, Complex, Detailed but Irrefutable REPORT on the Presidential Election Fraud which took place in Georgia.”
This is it, guys—this report will make all those pesky Georgia charges go away: “Based on the results of this CONCLUSIVE Report, all charges should be dropped against me & others — There will be a complete EXONERATION!”
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Yes, Trump is supposedly going to unveil the evidence of massive election fraud that no one else, including a lot of very motivated Georgia Republican officials, has been able to turn up. In fact, he and whoever is producing this report could not come up with it a week or two before the Georgia grand jury decided to charge him. Is anyone willing to bet against it being a rehash of the same old discredited claims?
Also, people don’t generally get a free pass for committing crimes just because something was unfair to them before. In this case, the “just because” doesn’t exist—there was an election administered at the state level by a member of Trump’s own party. He had his chance to be heard in both the courts and by the Georgia Legislature. He lost. This may be the first time in his life that Trump has truly faced consequences for his actions, and no doubt it’s a strange and unwelcome feeling. That doesn’t mean he gets to exonerate himself via press conference. He’ll have to try to do that in court.
Most people just charged with 13 felonies for trying to overturn an election would have lawyers urgently advising them to keep their mouths shut. Trump was indicted alongside seven of his former lawyers who participated in the conspiracy to overturn the Georgia presidential election in 2020, so clearly his lawyers are a special bunch. Although he’s not currently being represented by his co-conspirators in this criminal case, Trump continues to choose lawyers who are eager to go on TV; maybe they don’t understand the jeopardy he’s putting himself in with his plan to go in front of cameras and continue making the type of claims that got him charged in the first place. Everything we’ve seen from him suggests he’ll throw in some slurs and threats against the prosecutor, and possibly the judge as a little bonus.
Maybe despite their own eagerness to go on TV, Trump’s lawyers will see the danger in this. But Trump isn’t known for listening to his lawyers when they don’t tell him what he wants to hear, so there’s the question: Will this go the way of the press conference at which Melania Trump was supposed to explain how she didn’t break immigration laws—a press conference that still hasn’t happened, seven years later? Or will Trump reject the best legal advice he could be given and show up to further incriminate himself?