GOP candidate for president and defendant in numerous criminal cases as a result of four separate indictments, Donald Trump is promising — in a fundraising pitch decrying his persecution through witch hunts — to send his supporters a FREE (all caps his) Official Trump 2024 Calendar if they send him $47. A bargain, perhaps, at $4 a month, but hard to describe as free.
But that’s not the ostensible falsehood that caught the attention of journalist Kyle Cheney, nor of legal affairs commentator Lisa Rubin, who point out that in the midst of bemoaning his alleged legal predicament Trump attests that he will be “forced off the campaign trail and into courtrooms for phony witch hunts in both New York and Washington, D.C.”
Sharing a screenshot of the Trump pitch to “patriots like YOU,” Cheney slams Trump for “falsely telling supporters in a fundraising pitch that he’s being ‘forced’ off the campaign trail by two court hearings, neither of which are mandatory.”
All of this, plus to be clear, when Trump's proxies tell folks he is "required" to be at next week's trial of E. Jean Carroll's remaining defamation claim, that's also not true. https://t.co/9OLLPBgEzD
— Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) January 8, 2024
Rubin, commenting on Cheney’s post, adds “plus to be clear, when Trump’s proxies tell folks he is ‘required’ to be at next week’s trial of E. Jean Carroll’s remaining defamation claim, that’s also not true.” (A civil case, not a criminal case, the Carroll defamation trial’s requested delay was shot down last week by the court.)
The wiggle room Trump carves out for himself lies in the unwritten adjective “virtually.” While Trump may show up in DC for his appeal, as he says he will, it’s true his appearance is not mandatory.
However he can claim, as he did when appearing at the civil case in New York against his businesses, that he “had” to be there to protect his assets — that, in other words, he is left no choice but to go to the courtrooms.
In that sense — and his supporters take him at his word — Trump is being “forced” into court, though not by “radical Democrats,” but by multiple grand juries who found, presented with evidence, that prosecuting Trump for his alleged crimes was the appropriate course of action.
.jpg){kind=link}