For some time now the Left has been salivating over the prospect that New York judge Juan Merchan would jail Donald Trump on September 18, before the election. Reports were that a cell in Riker’s was being readied for him and even that he’d be denied Secret Service protection (such as it is) while incarcerated. Not going to happen. The week started off badly for Manhattan District attorney Alvin Bragg, the prosecutor of that case, when on a hidden camera Nicholas Biase, Bragg’s chief spokesman said, “Honestly, I think the case is nonsense.” (When the video by Steven Crowder’s operative was made public, he claimed he denied he meant it, that he was just trying to impress the woman who taped him so she’d go on a date with him.)  Of course, the case contending it was felonious for the way money paid to “hush” Stormy Daniels was reported is, in fact, nonsense. A few days later, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik filed an official ethics complaint against Judge Merchan for refusing to recuse himself despite “his family’s increased financial ties” to the proceedings. (His daughter has garnered millions of dollars fundraising on behalf of Kamala Harris.)

That same day Merchan announced he is delaying sentencing until November 26 -- that is, after the election. Because of a need to respond on September 16 to another matter, Trump’s attorneys asked for a delay. Bragg’s office deferred to the Court -- that is, they did not object to any delay, and by letter Merchan responded to Trump’s counsel indicating he’d delay imposition to avoid any appearance “that the proceeding has been affected by or seeks to affect the approaching presidential election in which the defendant is a candidate.” (Where would anyone have gotten that impression?) He ordered sentencing adjourned until after hearing Trump’s lawyers’ arguments in November on presidential immunity: “Unfortunately, we are now at a place in time that is fraught with complexities rendering the requirements of a sentencing hearing, should one be necessary, difficult to execute,” the judge said. Trump responded in a Truth Social post, "there should be no ‘if necessary,” indicating the case should be “rightfully terminated.”

The case in D.C. before the intemperate and overtly partisan Judge Tanya Chutkan also is stalled. That case was brought by Jack Smith, whose office has spent $35 million as of April of this year trying to tie Trump to the riot on January 6 of 2020. The Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity has thrown a grenade into this fantastical case as did its ruling on what constituted “obstruction of an official proceeding.”  Chutkan was forced to delay the trial until after the election, but she and Smith are seemingly still doing whatever they can to interfere with the election. She took what I think is an unprecedented step which violated Trump’s due process rights and does so as defiance of the procedures set forth in the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Normally, the defendant (here, Trump) can file a motion to dismiss, the prosecutor can respond, and the defendant can file a reply. She’s turned this inside out by allowing Smith to file an “opening brief” on immunity questions. In this brief you can bet that Smith will throw in things which would never meet the evidentiary standards applicable at trial, like grand jury testimony, which is entirely one-sided and presented with no opportunity for cross examination or rebuttal.

What Chutkan did today by taking the rare -- unprecedented? -- step of allowing DOJ to file an “opening brief” on additional immunity questions is a way to put Trump on trial without a jury and little recourse. Tom Windom, Smith’s prosecutor, told Chutkan the brief would be “comprehensive.” The document will include grand jury transcripts, 302s (FBI) and other cherry picked “evidence” to salvage the “Big Lie” narrative as people start to vote. You can GUARANTEE DOJ will release new bombshells to put Trump on the defensive and create damaging headlines. It’s a paper trial but without cross examination, defense witnesses, or other due process rights.

I haven’t researched what options may be available to the defense to prevent this travesty, but there ought to be a way to protect Trump’s constitutional right to due process in the face of such partisan hackery.

And then there’s Hunter, who probably won’t be jailed either.

If you recall, Hunter was offered an extraordinary sweetheart deal by the Department of Justice, one that fell apart as soon as the judge took a look at it. 

Under the initial plea deal, Biden was expected to plead guilty to two misdemeanors for failing to pay his federal taxes on time in 2017 and 2018, while avoiding being prosecuted for a felony gun charge -- illegally possessing a firearm as a drug user.

But both sides said the bargain was off the table after U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, who is presiding over the case in Wilmington, Delaware, questioned if the deal offered the president's son blanket immunity from prosecution in his plea dealings or only for his tax offenses. After the top prosecutor said it would not offer sweeping immunity, Biden's attorney declared the agreement "null and void."

In June a jury convicted him on federal gun charges. He was  also charged in a nine-count indictment in the central district of California with tax evasion, failure to file/pay taxes, and false/fraudulent tax return.

The indictment details a “four-year scheme” to avoid the $1.4+ million tax obligations he owed between  2016 and 2019 and to file false returns.

Hunter Biden initially entered an ‘Alford plea’ which allowed him to plead guilty while simultaneously maintaining his innocence.

Federal prosecutors fought back and Hunter Biden ended up entering a standard guilty plea.

Judge Scarsi signed off on the guilty plea which means Hunter Biden will avoid a trial. 

President Biden has said he will not pardon Hunter. I wouldn’t bet on him holding to this.

It’s perfectly obvious that Hunter pled guilty to avoid public exposure of the at least 27 million dollars that flowed into his family’s coffers as bribes by foreigners with something they wanted from the then vice-president. These include bribes from a Romanian real-estate magnate with ties to the CEF China Energy and the Ukrainian gas company Burisma. Other bribes involved, Russian, Chinese, Kazakhstan, and Ukrainian individuals. 

At Real Clear Investigations, Paul Sperry reports:

Sources say Hunter threw in towel to avoid trial exposing Biden-China influence peddling, after prosecutors filed "road map" glossary to trial exhibits: "CEFC China Energy" "Patrick Ho" "Kevin Dong" "Mervyn Yan" "Ye Jianming" "State Energy HK" "RosemontSenecaBohai" "SinoHawk."

The glossary to the government’s trial exhibits is here and it’s obvious that the sources Sperry refers to were not just spitballing it. 

If you should harbor the least suspicion that Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice is behaving honorably and worthy of trust, remember that but for Judge Maryellen Noreika’s sharp eye, we’d know little of this.  

Hunter Biden faces the prospect of becoming the first president’s child to be imprisoned when he is sentenced in November on gun charges and in December on tax charges, but legal experts expect relatively light punishment rather than decades behind bars threatened by the convictions.

The two verdicts culminated five years of federal investigation. Biden pleaded guilty Thursday to all nine charges he that failed to pay his taxes from 2016 through 2019. His June trial and conviction on three gun charges featured wrenching testimony about his addiction to crack cocaine during that period and he avoided putting his family through a second ordeal with his surprise tax plea.

Biden, 54, must now prepare for sentencing Nov. 13 of up to 25 years in prison on the gun charges and Dec. 16 of up to 17 years on the tax charges. The convictions came after a plea agreement fell through in July 2023 that provided a chance for him to walk away with probation and no prison time.

I doubt he will get anywhere near the statutory maximums. He’ll somehow pay the back taxes and get probation or home confinement with little if any jail time.

The last “piece” for today is that, when it comes to the government itself, we’ll have what is misleadingly called a “government shutdown” unless by September 30 Congress passes a continuing resolution.

The Speaker has threatened he will not agree to it unless the SAVE ACT is included in the resolution. The SAVE ACT would require proof of citizenship to register for federal elections, mandate states to verify citizenship status, and remove non-citizens from voter lists. It will be interesting to see which members of Congress refuse to sign on to a provision a vast majority of their constituents strongly favor.