'Open-and-shut': Law professor says Michigan fake Trump electors have no defense

ALSO READ: Election denier indicted for Trump aide death threat as MAGA turns on itself

'Open-and-shut': Law professor says Michigan fake Trump electors have no defense
Donald Trump (Photo by Nicholas Kamm for AFP)

The 16 fake Trump electors who tried to convene in Michigan got a big surprise this week: felony indictments brought by the state attorney general.

And it's going to be almost impossible for them to defend against the case, argued New York University law professor and former Pentagon special counsel Ryan Goodman on CNN Tuesday evening, for one key reason: the documents they are accused of forging contain a glaring lie.

"If you're going to charge 16 people there and hundreds of people, you're charging a lot of people with a lot of stuff," said anchor Erin Burnett. "It'd be kind of odd to not charge one person out of all of this. Some of the evidence in Michigan that the attorney general points to is language on the fake elector slate that was submitted to Congress. So they submit this to Congress. And in that you saw something very important. It said, 'we convened and organized in the State Capitol.'"

"So if you're an elector, you're going to convene there," said Burnett. "They said that's what they did. But they actually met at the Republican state headquarters, according to the January 6th Committee report, which I guess is not in the State Capitol, the pro-Trump attorney flagged this as slightly problematic in a memo to the Trump campaign. Now, anyone watching may say this seems like a detail. It is a detail, but a detail you think matters."

"It's a detail that matters," agreed Goodman. "It mattered to the Trump campaign lawyer, and he said this is a problem. He is mapping out the secret memo how they can do these false electors across the seven states. Michigan may have a problem because it's a legal requirement that you have to convene in the State Capitol. That's why they obviously put it in their declaration that we are convened in the State Capitol. And it is just a falsehood."

That's significant, Goodman added, because, "They can say, oh, we thought Trump won the election and that's why we did this. Did you think you were in the Capitol? You are not in the Capitol, you were in the basement of the GOP headquarters in Lansing. That's where you were when you convened. It's a false statement that they submitted to state and federal authorities that is almost an open-and-shut forgery."

Watch below or click the link here.

Ryan Goodman says Michigan fake electors case is "open-and-shut" www.youtube.com

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Jimmy Kimmel says he was blindsided by Trump jab after president's Grammy rant

Jimmy Kimmel says he had not expected Donald Trump to take a swipe at him when responding to questions in the White House.

The president had been fielding questions in the Oval Office and hit out at Grammy Awards show host Trevor Noah, but also included a jab at talk show host Kimmel. Trump would later make a lengthy Truth Social post about Noah, who had made a joke about the president and Jeffrey Epstein.

Noah said when hosting the show, "Song of the Year - that is a Grammy that every artist wants almost as much as Trump wants Greenland, which makes sense because Epstein's island is gone, he needs a new one to hang out with Bill Clinton."

Trump told reporters, "He [Noah] said that I spent time on Jeffrey Epstein's island, I didn't. He's a lightweight, this guy. Terrible. I think he did a terrible job at the Grammy's. I thought the whole Grammy's was terrible, I watched part of it, it's not watchable.

"But he was a lousy host. I'd say not as bad as Jimmy Kimmel, but pretty close." Kimmel, speaking during the opening monologue of his talk show last night, says he was blindsided by the response from Trump.

Kimmel said, "How did I get in there? I was at home last night, minding my own business. Boy, I really got up his a**. He also posted about me last night. Let me tell you something, Donald somehow has time to watch every awards show, and hates them all.

"No one I know watches more awards shows than Donald Trump. He's planning to sue Trevor Noah now, he's also suing the government, our government, for $10million dollars."

Posting on Truth Social, Trump wrote: "Noah said, INCORRECTLY about me, that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton spent time on Epstein Island. WRONG!!!

"I can't speak for Bill, but I have never been to Epstein Island, nor anywhere close, and until tonight's false and defamatory statement, have never been accused of being there, not even by the Fake News Media.

"Noah, a total loser, better get his facts straight, and get them straight fast."

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Trump seeks billion dollars in damages from Harvard University in raging Truth Social post

Donald Trump has threatened Harvard University with a one billion dollar lawsuit in a late night post on Truth Social.

The president called out the Massachusetts-based institute in a post to the social media app after it was reported the Trump administration had to backtrack from a $200million payment demand from the university.

A post to Truth Social from Trump reads, "Strongly Antisemitic Harvard University has been feeding a lot of “nonsense” to The Failing New York Times. Harvard has been, for a long time, behaving very badly! They wanted to do a convoluted job training concept, but it was turned down in that it was wholly inadequate and would not have been, in our opinion, successful.

"It was merely a way of Harvard getting out of a large cash settlement of more than 500 Million Dollars, a number that should be much higher for the serious and heinous illegalities that they have committed. This should be a Criminal, not Civil, event, and Harvard will have to live with the consequences of their wrongdoings.

"In any event, this case will continue until justice is served. Dr. Alan Garber, the President of Harvard, has done a terrible job of rectifying a very bad situation for his institution and, more importantly, America, itself. He was hired AFTER the antisemitism charges were brought - I wonder why???

"We are now seeking One Billion Dollars in damages, and want nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University.

"As The Failing New York Times clearly stated, 'Some connected to the University, however, think Harvard has no option but to eventually cut a deal. The Administration has repeatedly attempted to cut off research grants, which would be an untenable crises. Like many major research universities, Harvard relies on federal funding for its financial model.' Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP."

Trump would follow up this post with another criticizing the New York Times, confirming he would seek legal action against the news organization. He wrote, "The Failing New York Times story was completely wrong concerning Harvard University. I hereby demand that the morons that run (into the ground!) the Times’ change their story, immediately. SEE TRUTH BELOW!

"Also, just like their incorrectly called (by the Times!) Election results, where they got it ALL WRONG, my Poll Numbers are Great! The New York Times coverage of me is so purposely wrong. We will soon see how I do in my lawsuit against these fraudsters! FAKE NEWS!"

Trump's billion dollar damages claim against Harvard comes after the New York Times reported that the president had reportedly dropped his interest in seeking cash from the university.

Columnist warns Trump 'doesn't have a move' left on Epstein — and it could cost him

President Donald Trump may be out of moves to avoid accountability for the Jeffrey Epstein files, and it cost him dearly, one columnist argued on Monday.

David Rothkopf, a columnist for The Daily Beast, discussed the impact of the more than three million documents that Trump's Department of Justice recently released on a new episode of "The Daily Beast Podcast" with Joanna Coles. The release implicated Trump in some vulgar allegations and revealed that many of Trump's allies have been lying about their relationships with the disgraced financier and convicted sex criminal.

Since the release, Trump has ordered his FBI officials to raid an election office in Georgia over the results of the 2020 election and called for Republicans to "nationalize parts of the electoral process.

Rothkopf pointed out that these actions seemed to follow in line with Trump's other attempts to turn attention away from his connections to Epstein.

"The worse the Epstein story got, the more the alerts had to go up in Venezuela," Rothkopf said. "The worse these other stories get, the more it's going to be Greenland, then it's going to be Iran. I have a friend saying, and then Surinam. Who knows where we will wag the dogs next? Trump doesn't have a move except to try to distract."

It also appears that the American public is tiring of Trump's attempts to distract from the real issues his administration faces. Instead, he is hoping to "tip the scales" to avoid impeachment.

Christian Menefee, a Democrat, won the special election for Texas' 18th Congressional District on Saturday, which brought the Republican majority in the House of Representatives down to just one vote.

Rothkopf warned that Trump will likely face impeachment after the midterm election, which could cause him to try and find an even bigger distraction.

"To me, there is something murky at the core of all of this that we just don't know," Rothkopf said. "But all the evidence says there are a lot of people out there trying desperately to hide it."

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