Federal prosecutors will reportedly hold off on any public announcement of charges for former President Donald Trump until after the midterm elections.
Bloomberg News reports that this is in accordance with longstanding policy at the Department of Justice (DOJ) to not conduct any investigative steps within 60 days of an election.
Reporter Chris Strohm cites “people familiar” with the situation as indicating that any charges, “if they determine he broke laws,” would come after the November elections.
Scoop: Federal prosecutors likely to wait until after Nov election to announce any action against Trump, if they determine he broke any laws, sources tell @cstrohm. Under DOJ policy, no investigative steps 60 days before election. This year, that’s Sept. 10.
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) August 31, 2022
Charges For Trump Wouldn’t Be Announced Until After the Election
The report opens up an avenue for which the media and Democrats – as they did for years with the Russia collusion investigation – to selectively leak information and speculate wildly as to what Trump’s future may hold with these investigations.
“The unprecedented prospect of bringing charges against a former US president is creating intense scrutiny of the Justice Department in the aftermath of its search of his home at Mar-a-Lago,” Bloomberg News states.
“Under long-standing department policy, prosecutors are barred from taking investigative steps or filing charges for the purpose of affecting an election or helping a candidate or party, traditionally 60 days before an election.”
Bloomberg goes on to point to the recent raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home and alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election as potential avenues for such charges.
This DOJ decision makes it unlikely anything would be announced on whether any charges will or won’t be filed against Trump until after Nov. 8, sources said.
https://t.co/tUlo8dqCf4— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) August 31, 2022
Media Speculation Will Run Rampant
It seems like a reasonable policy for the DOJ to have but it certainly remains to be seen if rogue officials will be able to remain quiet about potential charges for Trump prior to the midterm elections.
The fact that anonymous sources leaked this story itself to Bloomberg is evidence of what is to come.
Trump and his supporters can instead brace themselves for 2+ months of selective leaking to the media, loads of reports citing “people who asked to remain anonymous,” and lots of speculative reporting from the left-wing media.
Recent stories about the former President having stolen “nuclear documents,” for example.
Not to mention the constant badgering of Republican candidates about their relationship with Trump leading up to the elections based on rumors and false innuendos.
Strohm, in his reporting, even speculates on that notion.
“This time around, the impact of any criminal case against Trump would likely be significant,” he writes. “While he isn’t on the ballot in November, Trump has endorsed candidates who are, and he leads a fierce political movement.”
The #DOJ would likely be applying the law unequally if it charged Trump over his handling of classified docs after US prosecutors chose not to pursue charges against other top US officials, including former #FBI Director @Comey, said @RepMikeTurner. https://t.co/3OtETdLqne
— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) August 29, 2022
Oddly enough, President Biden isn’t on the ballot either and you know full well that despite multiple investigations being conducted into his son Hunter, the media will avoid any speculation about charges and pending indictments in his cases.
Funny how the selective lying and leaking only go in one direction.
One of the more infamous examples of the DOJ not adhering to its pre-election policy was in 2016, just days prior to the presidential election, when former FBI Director James Comey revealed that the bureau was reopening a probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.
In an example that would demonstrate any charges thrown at Trump would be an unequal application of the law, Comey said Clinton “should have known” she mishandled classified documents but refused to pursue charges.
And, famously, Comey was never charged himself by the DOJ for leaking classified memos in 2017 to the media describing his interactions with Trump.
BREAKING: DOJ will not prosecute Comey for leaking memos after IG referral https://t.co/qySFsXev5q
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) August 1, 2019
The National Review’s Andrew McCarthy indicates that this week’s court filing by the DOJ suggests Trump “is likely to be charged with obstruction of justice and causing false statements to be made to investigators.”
Hillary was never been held accountable for mishandling classified information on a private server. Nor was she charged with obstruction of justice.
This, despite having deleted over 33,000 emails while aides used hammers and BleachBit to destroy their cell phones and laptops.
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The Biden DOJ is planning to pursue charges against the former President. Using your own DOJ to potentially jail your likely presidential election opponent in 2024 is one of the more brazenly dangerous and dictatorial efforts this country may ever see.
Democracy is on the line in November. It’s just that the Democrats in this case are the actual ‘semi-fascists‘ threatening the foundation of this nation.
And they know it.
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