5 ms·

What crimes were committed and could be prosecuted under the Supreme Court's immunity ruling?

amelius 2y ago
Market manipulation? https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/well-timed-options-trades-ahead-trumps-tariff-pause-draw-questions-2025-04-10/ https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/well-timed-options-... (Besides, at this point I wouldn't be surprised if Trump's Russian oligarch friends were among these traders.)
- pseudalopex 2y ago
  Pausing tariffs was an official act. The Supreme Court ruled courts could not consider presidents' motives for official acts.
  - amelius 2y ago
    But what about leaking information about it?
    - pseudalopex 2y ago
      Leaking is vague. What part of what law?
      - amelius 2y ago
        It's not vague. I'm not a lawyer but usually cases of trading with insider information are taken very seriously. It's theft, basically. And the scale here is enormous.
        pseudalopex 2y ago
        Leaking, insider trading, and theft are different. And laws contain specific definitions.
        amelius 2y ago
        There is evidence of him tweeting insider information. Again I'm not a lawyer, and I don't care what law is applicable here. But surely this warrants further investigation.
    - freeone3000 2y ago
      It’s not “insider” trading if you post about it publicly on Truth Social, the same way it’s not “insider” trading if you took out an ad in the New York Times. The government is allowed to announce policy before doing it! Even if it affects stock prices!
      - amelius 2y ago
        Yeah, I'm not on that social media, nor do I read NYT. The same holds for millions of others.
        freeone3000 2y ago
        Too bad! Insider trading, as a crime, requires that the information be nonpublic material information. You can join Truth Social and follow Donald Trump, so that makes the information public. It actually is that broad. Futures traders often rely on industry-specific periodicals, which are “public”. Same for anything in the (high monthly cost!) Bloomberg terminal. So posting on a specific social media platform, where subscribing is free? That’s 100% public.
        amelius 2y ago
        Except he didn't announce anything. He said "a good time to buy" which may be code language that his friends understand.
        freeone3000 2y ago
        … are you hearing yourself? “It’s a good time to buy!” has the plain english meaning “you should buy stock”. Everyone, you included, understood he was talking about US company stocks. Which, if you did, you would have profited. This theoretical code would be “when i say it’s a good time to buy stock, we should all buy stock!”. That is, well, not a code.
        amelius 2y ago
aisenik 2y ago
It's very clear that the system of Constitutional governance has been intentionally broken. It is very common for authoritarian regimes to have compliant judiciaries and broad legislative control. Effective restoration and reconstruction of Constitutional governance will necessarily be dramatic. It's still doable, but optimism is more of a survival strategy than an obvious conclusion at this stage.

Market manipulation? https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/well-timed-options-trades-ahead-trumps-tariff-pause-draw-questions-2025-04-10/ https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/well-timed-options-... (Besides, at this point I wouldn't be surprised if Trump's Russian oligarch friends were among these traders.)

pseudalopex 2y ago
Pausing tariffs was an official act. The Supreme Court ruled courts could not consider presidents' motives for official acts.
- amelius 2y ago
  But what about leaking information about it?
  - pseudalopex 2y ago
    Leaking is vague. What part of what law?
    - amelius 2y ago
      It's not vague. I'm not a lawyer but usually cases of trading with insider information are taken very seriously. It's theft, basically. And the scale here is enormous.
      - pseudalopex 2y ago
        Leaking, insider trading, and theft are different. And laws contain specific definitions.
        amelius 2y ago
        There is evidence of him tweeting insider information. Again I'm not a lawyer, and I don't care what law is applicable here. But surely this warrants further investigation.
  - freeone3000 2y ago
    It’s not “insider” trading if you post about it publicly on Truth Social, the same way it’s not “insider” trading if you took out an ad in the New York Times. The government is allowed to announce policy before doing it! Even if it affects stock prices!
    - amelius 2y ago
      Yeah, I'm not on that social media, nor do I read NYT. The same holds for millions of others.
      - freeone3000 2y ago
        Too bad! Insider trading, as a crime, requires that the information be nonpublic material information. You can join Truth Social and follow Donald Trump, so that makes the information public. It actually is that broad. Futures traders often rely on industry-specific periodicals, which are “public”. Same for anything in the (high monthly cost!) Bloomberg terminal. So posting on a specific social media platform, where subscribing is free? That’s 100% public.
        amelius 2y ago
        Except he didn't announce anything. He said "a good time to buy" which may be code language that his friends understand.
        freeone3000 2y ago
        … are you hearing yourself? “It’s a good time to buy!” has the plain english meaning “you should buy stock”. Everyone, you included, understood he was talking about US company stocks. Which, if you did, you would have profited. This theoretical code would be “when i say it’s a good time to buy stock, we should all buy stock!”. That is, well, not a code.
        amelius 2y ago

aisenik 2y ago

It's very clear that the system of Constitutional governance has been intentionally broken. It is very common for authoritarian regimes to have compliant judiciaries and broad legislative control. Effective restoration and reconstruction of Constitutional governance will necessarily be dramatic. It's still doable, but optimism is more of a survival strategy than an obvious conclusion at this stage.