Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
About
Christology
Israel/Palestine
Publications
KermitZarley.com
Archives
Categories
- Angels
- Blog Description
- Book Reviews
- Christian Living
  - Unconditional Love?
- Christianity
- Christology
  - Deity of Christ?
  - Holy Spirit
  - Incarnation?
  - My Change
  - Trinity?
- Church History
- Current Events
- War on Terrorism
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
- Eschatology
- Ezekiel 38-39
- Last Empire
- Primitive Weapons
- Film Reviews
- God
- Golf
  - Billy Graham
  - Karsten Solheim
  - Lee Trevino
  - Major Championship Winners
  - Masters
  - Purpose
  - Ryder Cup
- Gospel Harmonization
- Interview
- Islam
- Jesus
- Literary Announcements
- Monotheism
- My Books
  - The Restitution of Jesus Christ
- Old Testament
- Politics
- Society of Biblical Literature
- The Bible
- Trinitarianism
- Uncategorized
FREE NEWSLETTER

Home
Progressive Christian
Religion News
Is Trump Above the Law?

Is Trump Above the Law?

Last updated on: August 11, 2023 at 4:39 pm by Kermit Zarley

0 Comments

Is Trump Above the Law? 2023-08-11T16:39:44-07:00 Kermit Zarley

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Donald Trump Indicted at Manhattan Criminal Courthouse April 4, 2023. (Timothy A. Clary. Pool Photo via AP)

Last week, ex-President Donald Trump was arraigned in a federal courthouse in Washington, DC, for his third, and second federal, indictment. He was charged for four crimes of planning and instigating the overthrow of the U.S. government regarding its presidential election results in 2020. Trump is accused of trying, on January 6th, 2021, to prevent members of the U.S. Congress from certifying the election results, in which Trump lost and Joe Biden won. Some call this action treason, which is the exact opposite of Trump slogan Make America Great Again.

Donald Trump has a history of speaking out against prosecutors, judges, and perhaps witnesses in legal cases he has been involved in, of which there have been thousands. He has pushed the boundaries without ever being issued a court gag order and jailed. Now he’s doing it again, more than ever.

During last week’s arraignment of Trump in the J6 Capitol riot case, Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya told Trump and his lawyers, “it is a crime to intimidate a witness or retaliate against anyone for providing information about your case to the prosecution, or otherwise obstruct justice.” Yet, the next day Trump wrote this public message on his Truth Social media account in full caps, “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU.”

Of course, this message was unspecific. But most reasonable people would conclude that, according to the circumstances and Trump’s past behavior, he intended this pronouncement to intimidate people involved in the upcoming trial, which some experts are saying will be THE TRIAL OF THE CENTURY. Why? The maximum, total penalty for the four criminal counts that the DOJ’s Special Counsel Jack Smith is charging Trump, a former U.S. president, with is 55 years in prison!

Today, Washington, DC, federal Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who will oversee this trial, held a 90-minute meeting in the Federal District Court in Washington, DC, with Trump’s lawyers to issue a protective order regarding discovery evidence being given them, which consists of over 11 million pages of investigation. She said, “I intend to ensure the orderly administration of justice in this case as I would in any other case.” She added, “I caution you and your client to take special care in your public statements in this case,” she added. “I will take whatever measures are necessary to protect the integrity of these proceedings.”

But Trump has said this week that he will exercise his First Amendment rights, apparently meaning he will not abide by the protective order. And he will surely be doing this both on his Truth Social and in political rallies as he campaigns for the Republican nomination for president the subsequent 2024 presidential election.

Nick Akerman, former federal prosecutor who was involved in the Watergate hearings and assistant prosecutor in the U.S. Southern District of New York, had a op-ed piece in The Atlantic Wednesday entitled “Why Televising the Trump Trials Is a Bad Idea.” Even though most Americans probably want the trial televised, he says it should not be because jurors and especially witnesses would not be protected. He says he was involved in prosecuting many Mafia and other organized crime cases, and those defendants sometimes would speak out publicly against witnesses and cause them to refuse to show up for the trial due to fear for their lives. Trump appears to be operating according to the Mafia’s playbook.

Actually, Trump may even be exercising threatening rhetoric for the purpose of trying to force the court to issue a gag order for him or even imprison him before the trial. Why? He may think it would further gin up his Republican base of supporters. And he appears to be trying to divide the nation politically. I’ve been posting for a long time that I think Trump’s main strategy is to do whatever he can to stay out of prison come hell or high water concerning the laws of the United States of America.

Because of this, it appears that the court(s) want to avoid issuing a gag order or jail time for Trump no matter what he says publicly about these legal matters. But the court would not give any other U.S. citizen a pass like that. Many experts are saying Judge Chutkan is in a difficult position. Trump may be pushing her to “lock him up” even before the trial begins.

The more that Donald Trump’s legal woes progress, the more my Trump book appears prescient. Entitled Bible Predicts Trump Fall, it relates that during Trump’s presidency and his first campaign for it, I often posted on my blog wisdom literature verses in the Bible and applied them to Trump. They also were prophecies telling what happens to a person who acts like him. Examples were, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16.18). And I often said I had never seen such pride and lying as that exhibited by Donald Trump. Therefore, I posted on my blog on May 20, 2016, “I think Donald Trump is a big bag of hot air ready to blow up like the Hindenburg blimp if he become U,S. president.” And I posted on July 21, 2018, “I think Trumpgate will make Watergate look like a Sunday school picnic.”

Education and Religion

Politics

The Bible

Donald Trump

Judge Tanya S. Chutkan

Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya

Nick Akerman

Special CounselJack Smith

Previous Post

August 10, 2023

Seven Reasons Jesus Is Not God

Next Post

August 11, 2023 Will America Stand?

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Glen, you seem to be advocating a preterist viewpoint, with which I disagree." I'm a ..."

Kermit Zarley

Family Estrangement Versus Honoring Father and ..."

"THESIS is a SCRIPTURE QUOTE.“Remember the predictions foretold by the holy prophets and by the ..."

glen smith

Family Estrangement Versus Honoring Father and ..."

"How are they going to answer it. They don't have unlimited financial resources. They're trying ..."

Kermit Zarley

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Getting Much Worse

"...but isn't that an important question to answer?"

Harold Porter

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Getting Much Worse

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Angels Billy Graham Blog Description Book Reviews Christian Living Christianity Christology Church History Current Events Deity of Christ? Disarmament Eschatology Evangelicalism Ezekiel 38-39 Film Reviews God Golf Gospel Harmonization Health History Holy Spirit Incarnation? Interview Islam Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Jesus Last Empire Literary Announcements Major Championship Winners Masters Monotheism My Books New Testament Old Testament Politics Primitive Weapons Ryder Cup Science Society of Biblical Literature The Bible The Restitution of Jesus Christ Trinitarianism Trinity? Uncategorized Unconditional Love? War on Terrorism

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Dry bones in a valley came together, received sinews and flesh, then breath entered them. What did this valley represent?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The resurrection The dead The house of Israel God's army

Books by This Author Books by Kermit Zarley Blog

See All Titles »