Trump threatens to 'blackmail' Biden if he doesn't make charges go away

Jaysyn@kbin.social to politics @lemmy.world – 548 points –
Trump threatens to 'blackmail' Biden if he doesn't make charges go away
rawstory.com

Former President Donald Trump ramped up his threats to prosecute President Joe Biden if he wins another term in the White House.An appeals court rejected Trump's claims of immunity in the federal election subversion case in the District of Columbia, although he intends to press the same argument in ...

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"If a President does not have Immunity, the Opposing Party, during his/her term in Office, can extort and blackmail the President by saying that, 'if you don’t give us everything we want, we will Indict you for things you did while in Office,' even if everything done was totally Legal and Appropriate," Trump posted on Truth Social.

Leave it to Donnie to misrepresent what the ruling means. Presidents still enjoy lots of immunity, especially where it pertains to their "color of office" duties. They just don't have total immunity from anything and everything, especially where it doesn't pertain to their duties. We do not have monarchs or dictators.

So no, you can't just shoot someone on Fifth Ave and declare Presidential Immunity to avoid justice, and you can't just steal government secrets to use as business leverage, and you can't make phone calls to heads of states to "find votes," and you can't incite an insurrection and claim plausible deniability.

Eat shit. I hope you get no sleep because of these rulings.

Yeah but what if the person on fifth Avenue was literally holding the original constitution and threatening to tear it in half? Would presidential immunity apply then?

Hear me out: what if the person had a pussy and you wanted to grab it?

According to their logic, it is ok if you are famous. Clearly we should base our jurisprudence on fame then. /s

if the person on fifth Avenue was literally holding the original constitution and threatening to tear it in half?

That would be him committing be suicide then

Ah yes, the age old "if you are facing felonies, threaten to blackmail the US President trick."

I'm sure that will work.

"threaten to blackmail" is such a funny expression, that threat is literally blackmail already.

His uh, posts sound really desperate. 🍿

Hey you gonna share that popcorn?

You said when I went to make popcorn that you didn't want any, so I only made enough for myself. I'll go make more though 🍿🍿.

You want cheese powder on it?

Salt and vinegar please

Wait....you can do that? I thought that was a chips-only-condiment-combo. Blowing my fucking mind right now chief.

Keep the requests coming, I want to learn more popcorn secrets. I'm a butter and salt person. I grind my salt in my coffee grinder to a fine powder though and use that, I get better coverage.

M S G.

Add that in with your salt 50/50, You'll thank me later.

This seems like it is probably somewhere between Cocaine and Fentanyl on the addictive scale.

Yeah but the difference is this stuff kills you on the order of decades instead of minutes.

Healthier option: Brewers/Nutritional Yeast (in addition the required salt and butter anyway).

I usually just have it however it comes out of the bag, but I'll occasionally add a seasoning blend I have in the kitchen.

Two favorites have both been from Trader Joe's, their Umami mushroom powder and their "everything but the leftovers" blend.

While nicely frugal, I just buy a small shaker of popcorn salt for $2. A shaker lasts roughly one human lifetime if not accidentally spilled all over the counter.

The best popcorn is the popcorn you add weird toppings to.

Garlic and onion is my favorite, but you can use basically any seasoning shaker. I use a spray bottle of distilled water, spray on, add flavor shaker, done.

Super low calorie option that still tastes great. You can use oil if you want but it really doesn’t add much when you have actual flavors.

You can do the same thing with sweet flavors if you want, cinnamon sugar or drink powder mixed with sugar make for great sweet popcorns.

Nutritional yeast, tamari, and red chili powder for me, please. I thought I didn't want any but it smells so good, and this is getting entertaining.

Can we just, lock him up already?

Please? Or at the very least break his jaw so he has to shut the fuck up while it heals?

We all know he’s guilty. We all know he’s a treasonous insurrectionist. We all know he belongs in prison.

We all know that any normal person would have been hanged by now.

Lmao

He's blackmailing him with blackmail?

That's some real 4d chess, man.

Just this whole attitude towards the thing shows how crooked he is. As far as I can tell, Biden has tried to remain hands-off from the Justice Dept and just let them do their own thing to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. And I believe that's more or less been how most Presidents have tried to behave since maybe Nixon EXCEPT for Trump, who seems to view it as his own personal legal hit-squad, to be used for just litigating people he doesn't like, instead of... y'know, administering justice. He completely misunderstands the purpose of government and really should not be allowed anywhere near the position. He should be rotting in prison now, he's a complete shitstain on history.

Perfectly reasonable thing to do for someone that clearly never did anything wrong, right?

Threatening the president is a federal crime, right?

Maybe they can kill two birds with one stone - visit him about this threat to the president, and quickly check in the hidden room that they missed during the mar a lardo search warrant.

Oh they didn’t miss it… they chose not to check it.

Why

Member how the entirety of the DCI’s TLDs did sweet fuckall about Trump while he was in office? Even after Mueller found there was significant cause to charge him? Well, that’s not because they’re incompetent necessarily.

Consider Officer Sicknick was a Trump supporter.

And a metaphor.

I think they politely enquired as to whether there was anything they ought to see in the hidden room. When Trump confirmed that there was not, they accepted that claim at face value, because trump would never lie... right ?

With prosecution, if he wins an election?

Maybe. But he’s not outright threatening assassins in the night. (They’re too incompetent for that. They’ll show up in the day and ask the secret service for directions to his office.)

Biden should tell him he’ll pardon him if he drops out and then not pardon him.

Biden would probably get charged with murder because that would surely cause the inevitable aneurysm.

Biden should tell him he’ll pardon him if he drops out and then not pardon him.

Ah, the Underwood approach.

I’d hate to say it, but the very act of voting for trump is, at this point, an act of evil.

The same was true 7 years ago as it will be for the foreseeable future.

It's an act of willful ignorance, something this country doesn't take seriously enough.

Headline is technically true but this is a non story.
Trump is mad about the appeals court ruling that he isn't immune from prosecution and is lashing out.

Everything about this turd is a non story except for the fact that he incited an insurrection on the US capital for which he has not been committed to prison or executed for. Now that's a story.

No. I'd say his willful mishandling of a pandemic outbreak, for which he'll never be punished, is a pretty fucking horrific story. Way worse than his little temper tantrum at the Capitol.

Not just the attack, but he actively tried to secretly replace electors in states as well. We literally know he tried to cheat and are like, "it's fine".

That's going to be really hard to do while you are rotting in custody, Donnie.

Custody?! In prison? Nah Trumpy boy is never gonna set foot in prison. Guantanamo is never gonna close though...

I said custody and not prison for a reason.

He'll be on house arrest in a shitty barrack on a military base somewhere, just like Nixon's lawyer.

Like a fatter, dumber, less charming Napoleon sent to Elba.

I feel like the absolute harshest punishment I can reasonably see him ever facing is nothing more than a ban from holding public office.

That's it.

Maaaaaybe a few months of house arrest at Mar a Lago. Maybe punitive fines.

No prison time. Nothing that will affect his wealth. Nothing that will deplatform him as the grotesque figurehead of American conservatism until he dies.

I'm confident he will play kingmaker for that half of the American political landscape until he's dead.

Nah, the feds know where those missing top-secret files ended up at by now. The DoJ doesn't spend this amount of time, money & manpower to hand out a slap on the wrist.

Nothing that will affect his wealth.

New York is quite literally about to make Trump insolvent.

Any. Day. Now.

Yes, literally. It would have been last week, but Judge Engorgon decided he needed to tack on more zeros since he discovered Trump's financial controller committed perjury in his court room.

🥱 Wake me up when he pays a dime.

Difference between most Democrats and Republicans is that if a Democrat committed a crime another Democrat would want them prosecuted, same if a Republican committed a crime. Whereas if a Republican committed a crime other Republicans want the charges dropped and if a Democrat committed a crime they’d be calling for the death penalty.

Crimes are bad, mmm-kay. Doesn’t matter what side you’re on, mmm-kay. So, let’s not be bad, mmm-kay.

People give my "deep blue" state crap for corruption because so many of our politicians have been sent to prison for it.

... Ignoring that they're in prison because we actually investigate and charge our politicians for corruption, unlike their corrupt as hell states where those people are protected.

Not a lawyer and not sure if this applies here, but the threat of blackmail itself seems like it should constitute a crime:

18 U.S.C. § 873 (2021)
§873. Blackmail

Whoever, under a threat of informing, or as a consideration for not informing, against any violation of any law of the United States, demands or receives any money or other valuable thing, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

Yeah that was what I was thinking : in America, land of the lawyers, can't you sue someone who make such important threats ?

You would think so, but apparently Trump had it right when he said he could shoot somebody on 5th Avenue and not get in trouble. The laws never seem to get applied to him as they would anyone else in the country.

the threat of blackmail itself seems like it should constitute a crime

My guy has been indicted 91 times and counting. What's one more?

Your boss, Sleepy Joe, is a man with considerable means and connections, and if he's what you say he is, a communist with the power to imprison you, your plan is to blackmail this person?

The dichotomy of the GOP and specifically trump: they're both strong and weak at the same time.

Actually, that's a play right out of the fascism handbook.

If communists in the United States played an important role struggling for the rights of workers, the poor, African-Americans, women, and others, this was only their guileful way of gathering support among disfranchised groups and gaining power for themselves. How one gained power by fighting for the rights of powerless groups was never explained. What we are dealing with is a nonfalsifiable orthodoxy, so assiduously marketed by the ruling interests that it affected people across the entire political spectrum.

Obama, Bush, and soon, Crooked Joe Biden, would all be in PRISON

Don’t threaten me with a good time! Virtually all U.S. presidents have caused thousands of civilians to be killed in wars we shouldn’t be fighting.

We put all our politicians in prison as soon as they're elected. Don't you?
Why?
It saves time.

Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent

5 more...

He's asking Biden to pardon him... "or else..."

That sounds like an admission of guilt to me.

Pardons by law are an admission of guilt since like 1925.

GETTING a Pardon is an admission of guilt, but not only would said pardon absolve the guilty of any punishment for the crime, asking for a pardon is not an admission of guilt.

I don't see how asking for permission to admit guilt is not in itself an admition of guilt, unless it were stated as a hypothetical "if I were offered a pardon, then I might accept it"

Small clarification.

Accepting the pardon is accepting the guilt for the crime for which you were pardoned.

You could always choose not to accept the pardon and fight the charges in court.

Do what I say or ill do something horrible!

Honey, that's already blackmail.

Good. Get unhinged you fuck.

Realize this, fatty donnie, you have a cap of voters. A cap which, you can't even guarantee that you'll meet by the general election should your ass somehow squeak by being on the ballot in every state. You're going to lose because you're a loser in denial, in life, in election and as a human being.

Oh and I bet Donnie has shit through several diapers too throughout this trial. Yeah, imagine that, electing a diaper-shitting president. Good on ya, republitards.

I wish I shared your optimism, but I've read way too many YouTube comments. There is no shortage of knuckle-dragging soldiers waiting to do Trump's bidding. It is beyond scary how many of them there are, and I don't see the problem just magically disappearing if/when old Adolf Shitler finally sees some consequences. Now that there is a permanent strategic unification between Evangelicals, Fascists, and Capitalists they will continue to use their uneducated, quickly reproducing, white-trash, zombie army to do their collective bidding.

Evangelicals, Fascists, and Capitalists

Sounds a little redundant there, dontcha think?

At this point yes, but it is a relatively modern development for there to be so much organized mobilization of these factional groups. The most dangerous thing that Trump accomplished was getting them all to identify as one big in-group, so there really is no functional difference anymore.

They are about 3 minutes from eating their own. They are just barely holding their party together and I really don't think Donny can bring them together this time, what with being so busy trying not to go broke and go to jail.

They'll turn on each other the moment they can. Just look at the Minnesota GOP. They literally cannot resist dividing because they're beliefs are so fucking specific and niche and everyone who doesn't fall in line with them is a 'rino'

Is he threatening the president? Doesn't that usually end with a visit from FBI Secret Service?

Edit: Thank you for the correction...twistypencil?

Add it to the list. Keep prosecuting till the end of his days.

Secret service

I bet that protectees ordering each others assassinations or getting in a physical fight with each other wasn’t something the Secret Service thought about before, but definitely thinks about now

If you find crimes worthy of putting any of them in prison then do it. Dont threaten us with a good time.

The thing about blackmail is that it doesn’t have to be about crimes. You dipping your genitals into a teacup before drinking out of said teacup, it’s perfectly legal. But if I see it, I can still threaten to tell everyone about it unless you give me $100.

Everything about this is just awful. The fact that someone so criminal and so thuggish is exactly who about 30% of this country thinks should be President - and they might get their way due to our broken election system (electoral college means a minority get to choose the leader of the free world).

Even after being president for 4 years, he still doesn't understand what a president can and cannot do.

to be fair, he doesn't understand anything.

Does he not realize that if he gets his wish, there would be nothing stopping Biden from having him assassinated as he walks out of the courthouse?

Out of the courtroom? Joe Biden could Terminator march into the courtroom and cap everyone! Who could stop him? Any judge ruling Trump's way would simply put a hand over the gushing wound in their heart and say "God bless America" as everyone is summarily executed by order of the President. I can only assume it would be illegal to stop him at that point.

I think the first step should be to just be to strip him off his secret service bodyguards...

Next thing is that he demands a presidential pardon from Biden for his crimes. I can already see him whining on his loser social insurrectionist network.

Isn't that what this article is saying? Make charges go away = pardon?

At the moment, Trump expects Biden to illegally meddle with the juridical process. Which would be the most stupid thing Biden could do.

A pardon can only be granted after a process when a person has been sentenced. Which, in this case, would also be a stupid thing to do.

Oh fuck off President Piss Tape. You loser.

The tape wasn't piss... the P in the P-tape has a more Epstien meaning.

At least one woman has come forward and said he was into piss and that it was taped.

That... certainly is a tactic... I bet it's info about his son everyone is already aware of.

Blackmail doesn't work if everyone knows you're being blackmailed!

he won't blackmail, he will have-murdered Biden, in 2025.

Anyone who can't see that coming is wearing rose glasses.

_ /\ _

Are there any kind of standards on sources here? Raw Story is garbage, and this article basically boils down to a clickbait headline about a Truth Social post.

He's been floating this shit for months and just yesterday his lap dogs in the house tried to impeach Mayorkas cause they had nothing on Biden, he's said "I'm your retribution". This whole "presidents need immunity cause they would be subject to harassment when leaving office" is thinly veiled code for I'm gonna do it. The crucial part is that if you're not a declared criminal that gets difficult to accomplish when indictments are handed down by a jury

“do what I say or get blackmailed” so is that blackmailing with threating to blackmail someone? Did he technically just publicly blackmail POTUS? I have a feeling that's not fully legal.

I love his "I'm bored" stupid faces hes forced to make when in court 😭🤣 not even in his wildest dreams he imagined himself in that position and the DC jan 6 criminal onel seems to be primed for this summer 🤩🍿

I have a shitbag neighbor that sent me blackmail. Now his friends follow me all over town and shit-talk me to anyone that helps me in stores.

what a fucking loser my neighbor. he voted for trump and plays his dirty games. but he still smells walks and talks loser just like trump.

Obama, Bush, and soon, Crooked Joe Biden, would all be in PRISON.

Promise?

I want to know why he snubbed the Clintons here. I figured his phone would have added them using the auto complete feature.

The syphilis in his brain has rendered him unable to remember back that far.

and I'll be there TOO to make sure they get what they DESERVE.

I'm starting to think I should take what this guy says with a grain of salt