Julie Banderas thinks she knows what she's talking about because she did actually graduate from college with a degree, but her degree isn't in the law, which is evident from her interview with former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Tom Dupree on Fox "News" Monday.
The point of this clip appears to be to mislead Fox viewers into thinking the indictments against Trump are political and attacking his right to free speech, an idea that is gaining traction among Republicans who are desperately grasping at any small straws they can hold onto to keep worshipping their hero.
Banderas launched into a litany against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
"The attorney [in Fulton County], Fannie [sic] Willis, is probing whether Trump committed crimes in trying to overturn the election results in Georgia. Committing crimes, okay?" she led off. "I want to talk about Trump's alleged crimes for a second."
Okay, Julie. Let's talk about the 71 counts he's currently charged with in three different venues, before we get to whatever Fani Willis may want to do.
"He hasn't been indicted with incitement, we know that, right?" she asked rhetorically. And she's right, because that would be something that might impinge on his free speech rights.
"So it's not a crime to tell lies." True, for the reasons stated above.
"Being a narcissist isn't a crime." Maybe not, but it's a crime waiting to happen if the narcissist has his ego bruised in any way, like say, losing an election.
"Hatching schemes to stay in office is not a crime." SHE ALMOST GETS IT, BUT MISSES THE MARK. Julie, Julie, Julie. Scheming in itself may not be a crime, but acting on it IS, and that is exactly what the man is being charged with. He can fantasize all day long about staying in office, but the day those fake elector slates hit the National Archives it was a full-blown conspiracy to steal an election.
Almost as an afterthought, she added, "And claiming you won an election that you know you lost is not a crime." Also true, unless the purpose of doing so is in furtherance of the underlying conspiracy to steal the election and stay in office.
Now I know these things because I do not watch Fox News, and because I read the actual documents with my own eyes and can make a distinction between the saying of things and the doing of things. I am not a lawyer, but the documents are pretty clear.
What Fox News is doing here is despicable. Bolstering Trump is bad enough, but misinforming their viewers into believing this isn't really about anything other than political speech ought to be a crime in itself. Unfortunately, it's not a crime to lie to millions of people, whether it's Fox News or Donald Trump.
[h/t Justin Baragona]
