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Trump claims he didn’t have ‘fair notice’ that Georgia actions could be illegal
(www.independent.co.uk)
this post was submitted on 08 Jan 2024
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In general no. Some laws have this written as a specific out though right into them. Not aware if Georgia's laws have anything like this, but Trump Jr not being charged for criminal conduct in his meetings with Russian agents is a pretty famous example:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/mueller-report-no-evidence-trump-knew-about-trump-tower-meeting-n995816
Mueller declined charging him because "On the facts here, the government would unlikely be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the June 9 meeting participants had general knowledge that their conduct was unlawful. The investigation has not developed evidence that the participants in the meeting were familiar with the foreign-contribution ban or the application of federal law to the relevant factual context."
By no means am I saying this should be a valid defense, I don't think it should. As our laws are written though, sometimes being too dumb to know it's illegal might be a defense, at least for some of them.
Edit: this may not be the case, also see replies below.
Mueller dropped the biggest ball in American history with that whole report. He tried his best to deflect responsibility to deal with the situation to Congress and in so doing gave Republicans everything they needed to spin it all as inconsequential. What a fucking coward.
Mueller did exactly what he was legally allowed to do. A DOJ special counsel is not the same thing as an Independent Counsel.
He could not bring any charges himself, only report to the Attorney General or Deputy Attorney General. And he was also legally bound to follow all DOJ policy, which under AG Barr was that the DOJ could not charge a sitting President or even recommend.
agreed. his name should go down in history as 'Failure'
Poor but uneducated = burden on society, better sterilize these folks
Rich but dumb = this person should have been taught better, shame on you all! Give them another chance and another company to be CEO of
Foreign contributions laws do not have anything written about ignorance of the law granting immunity. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CFR-2017-title11-vol1/CFR-2017-title11-vol1-sec110-20
Interesting. IANAL, you could be right. I'm only taking the reporting of why Mueller didn't indict trump Jr at face value. Petty egregious he wasn't indicted if that's the case. It is the excuse the Justice department lawyers used. Like it's right there in the report.
Edit: Copy pasted out the definition of "knowingly" from the law in question
Doesn't seem like this refers to knowing the law exists, I wonder what Mueller was on about in his report, or if there's some other court precedent not directly in the law or something. Maybe Mueller meant he didn't have knowledge that information was an "in kind" contribution equivalent to funds, and therefore did not accept funds knowingly? Seems like a stretch though I don't know, would still be ignorance of the law in the end. Need an actual campaign finance lawyer, haha.
Also consider who they are saying is ignorant of campaign law, its Trumps campaign team, not just Jr but also Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner were at that meeting. I mean if the political campaign of a frontrunner presidential candidate isnt expected to know campaign law, who the hell is?