Just Cases: Issue #3
This issue features big news in several cases introduced in Issue #1, plus we dig into X v Media Matters
The Just Cases newsletter focuses on tracking cases that are politically charged in some way. I will give commentary here and there, but my primary aim is to mark the progression of these cases and, along the way, perhaps determine if they are just.
United States v. Combs
(Diddy RICO Case)
On October 15, Combs’ counsel filed a letter motion for a bill of particulars, asking “the Court [to] direct the government to identify its alleged victims so that Mr. Combs can prepare for trial” and to do so by October 21. As of right now, “there is no way for Mr. Combs to determine who the other unidentified alleged victims are.”
Well, that’s probably intentional and correctly so, considering Mr. Combs’ history of witness tampering, obstruction, and similar behaviors both prior to and during the investigation that led to the indictment in this case.
From SDNY’s detention submissions.
"Throughout the time period charged in the Indictment, when the defendant faced the possibility that his violent and criminal conduct could become public, the defendant and other members and associates of the Enterprise pressured witnesses and victims not to report what they saw or heard to law enforcement or to otherwise conceal the criminal conduct."
And this submission was presented by SDNY at his bond hearing.
Combs even attempted to contact witnesses post indictment unsealing.
SDNY asked, and Judge Subramanian agreed to give them until October 30, one week more than Combs counsel proposed, but technically only one more day than the default time period for a response according to the local rules. SDNY also has until the 30th to respond to Combs’ requests for an evidentiary hearing, which would concern the alleged leak of the hotel security camera footage.
United States v. Routh
(West Palm Beach, FL Trump Assassination Attempt)
DOJ filed a letter motion on Wednesday asking for a 60-day continuance of deadlines, or more, if the case is successfully designated as complex. The motion is unopposed.
Prosecutors tell Judge Cannon that there may be “several thousand terabytes of electronic data” to process and provide to Defense, plus hundreds of witness interviews, hundreds of seized items, forensics, and over a hundred subpoenas.
Defense received their first batch of discovery on Thursday—6 terabytes worth.
Two sealed docket entries followed this filing, and then Routh’s counsel filed a motion for Judge Cannon to recuse. The basis for removal is Trump appointed Cannon and has spoken favorably of her; she had his documents criminal case, dismissed it, which he praised, and now Trump is the victim in Routh’s case which has also landed in her court.
Prosecutors also filed their first response to the discovery order, listing discovery materials to be turned over once a protective order is issued (lots of phones on that list) and they asked for a 30 day delay in expert disclosure deadlines.
And finally, we have an Order from Judge Cannon.
She “agrees that a continuance of the specified deadlines is warranted for the reasons stated in the Motions, including Defendant’s”, however, she “disagrees with the United States’ broader request for a Complex-Case Designation and for Cancellation of Deadlines and Removal from Trial Calendar.” In her view, the prosecutors have not shown that the case is so “unusual and complex” as to “require” such a designation.
So, YES to the request for more time, NO to the complex case designation.
As of right now, this case is set for trial on February 10, 2025.
I wonder if prosecutors will try again for that complex case designation? Perhaps with a bit more disclosure as to why it is necessary.
United States v. Trump
(J6 Election Interference Case, DC)
Special Counsel Smith responds to Trump’s supplement to his motion to dismiss based on the Supreme Court’s opinion in Fischer. I’m certain Smith will prevail on this, and I just want to point out that one of the key reasons he will prevail is the fake elector scheme—a scheme Trump had nothing to do with— and one that I think was always nefarious, was always a trap.
Good thing neither Trump, Pence, the Parliamentarian, nor any Senator fell for it.
Now we come to what may be the most consequential news from this docket:
Judge Chutkan has issued a 50-page Order addressing Trump’s Motion to Compel Discovery and his motion for an order defining the prosecution team (for purposes of discovery). We have been waiting since November 2023 for Chutkan to issue an order on these motions.
The short of it is that the motions are both partly GRANTED and partly DENIED. Furthermore, Trump has until October 30 to file discovery motions related to immunity issues.
That’s the TLDR and most of the coverage of this order characterized it as a loss for Trump and/or a win for Smith, many making sure to highlight that Trump was only getting a small portion of the discovery he was seeking.
This order is fifty pages long…
Let’s skip to the end and see exactly what Judge Chutkan has ordered the Special Counsel’s Office to search for and produce:
And here is where the Special Counsel’s Office must look:
Plus, they must search for additional Brady, Giglio, Jencks, and Rule 16 materials in those places.
Smith has until October 26 to accomplish this, file to make withholdings, or ask for more time.
Also this week, as expected and despite another motion from the defense to continue the stay (meaning delay the public release of the appendix), which was denied, Judge Chutkan made publicly available the Appendices to Smith’s “Immunity Brief”.
Appendix Volumes I, II, III, IV (almost 2000 pages)
Just like with the immunity brief from a couple weeks ago, you have seen and can expect to continue seeing the usual suspects in the media mining these pages for whatever sensational lines there may be in an effort to support their specious narratives about President Trump.
X Corp v. Media Matters for America
As you likely recall, X sued Media Matters about a year ago for “knowingly and maliciously” “exploiting” the platform and fabricating information for a smear report they wrote against the social media company. Elon sued in the Northern District of Texas, MMFA tried to get it removed, but in August a federal judge ruled that the case could proceed in the Texas district.
Jonathan Turley said of the lawsuit,
“Musk’s lawsuit may be the most defining for our age of advocacy journalism…
[The] Media Matters lawsuit directly challenges the ability of media outlets to create false narratives to advance a political agenda… it can expose how the media first decides on a conclusion and then frames or even invents the facts to support it.
While rejecting the longstanding principles of journalism, such as objectivity, these media outlets are citing the cases and defenses secured by those now-outdated media organizations. They want to be advocates, but they also want to be protected as journalists.
[Musk is] exposing the bias that now characterizes much of American journalism.
In the age of advocacy journalism, a bill has come due.”
On September 27, the judge ordered MMFA to provide certain discovery items to X. I have a thread on it here.
The specifics of that discovery are highly interesting.
This appendix filing has a little more information on each of these.
On October 1, MMFA filed for and later received a stay of that order while they appealed to the 5th Circuit.
There have been further motions to compel (and another) and another stay in the weeks that followed.
Over the weekend, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals STAYED that September 27 Order which directed MMFA to turn over certain discovery to X Corp while they continue to consider it.
If I am reading the docket correctly, and I may not be, it looks like MMFA will in the near future also appeal the August Order denying their motion to dismiss the suit.
That’s it for this issue. Share your thoughts on these developments in the comments, and let me know what cases you would like to see in the newsletter.
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-Just Human
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Thanks for the updates, Kyle! So grateful we have you, like a pitbull, doing the heavy lifting of digging through these legal case filings, and making sense of them for us....I have neither the knowledge or the patience to make sense of them on my own! Keep up the great work, brother!
Please advise if you will ever be back on rumble; while you're writing is great with all the source documents, I've used Substack as resource to grab docs you've presented but prefer your Rumble podcast. I have numerous folks that prefer to listen over reading. Blame it on the fact I work with a bunch of construction guys and reading is not how they obtain information. Was able to get them off MSM with your podcasts.