Live blogging of Trump indictment.

  • So his defense is to just say “not guilty - I didn’t do anything wrong”? I mean, that’s a perfectly valid plea to start with (as opposed to “guilty - I totally did that stuff”), but it’s not a legal defense. If all his lawyers can muster during the trial is “our client says that he didn’t do this and it’s all a witch hunt” then he’ll be going to prison for a long time.

      • Yep, here’s the relevant update:

        Trump now claims classified documents were ‘planted’ in Mar-a-Lago boxes in wild arraignment morning rant Former president Donald Trump has now claimed that the classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago were “planted” in the boxes after they were obtained by the Department of Justice.

        In a Truth Social rant, Mr Trump lashed out at Special Counsel Jack Smith on the morning of the former president’s arraignment at a Miami federal courthouse.

        “This is the Thug, overturned consistently and unanimously in big cases, that Biden and his CORRUPT Injustice Department stuck on me. He’s a Radical Right Lunatic and Trump Hater, as are all his friends and family, who probably ‘planted’ information in the ‘boxes’ given to them. They taint everything that they touch, including our Country, which is rapidly going to HELL!” Mr Trump wrote on Tuesday morning.

        • That makes more sense. Well, at least so far as anything Trump says makes sense. I don’t envy his lawyers trying to prove that the FBI came in and planted all those documents and that all the text messages and audio that they got from all the Trump employees’ phones were faked as well.

          It’s easy for Trump to do this in a rally. He just yells “FAKE NEWS” and nobody asks him for proof. In court, though, his lawyers will be required to give factual evidence proving that the DOJ made everything up.

          I wonder if this is why his recent lawyers quit and others are staying away. He’s telling them “just lie in court and say it was all planted.” Even the worst lawyer will know that this is a Very Bad Idea™.

          • I wonder if this is why his recent lawyers quit and others are staying away.

            My exact first thought as well. I mean, besides the non payment of bills, the lies and the fact that some of the charges are because he tried to make a liar of his previous lawyer.