Thread by @srookejd

1/ McGahn is right that “real lawyer[s]” take notes. This is one of the first lessons of 1L legal practice.

It doesn’t surprise me that @realDonaldTrump lawyers didn’t take notes, especially when he holds up Roy Cohn as an example of a great lawyer. Here’s why... #MuellerReport

2/ Lawyers take notes to create a record and so they can fulfill their clients’ interests—especially when working on multiple matters. Relying on one’s memory is dangerous. Even lawyers need to “refresh their recollection” and having a contemporaneous record is essential.

3/ We also grant lawyers attorney-client privilege to protect their notes and work product so there is rarely a reason to not take notes.

* Yes, I know, McGahn did not have privilege here. But it’s good for the country that our government lawyers create records.

4/ So why then would Trump’s lawyers not take notes? They probably did; but if they didn’t one reason could be to avoid creating a discoverable record.

But privilege? Privilege does not apply if you are advising or participating in an unlawful enterprise. See, Cohen.

5/ It’s also doesn’t surprise me that @realDonaldTrump loves Cohn, an attorney at the heart of McCarthyism and the #LavenderScare, which raised fears of gays passing secrets to Soviets and led to an exec. order barring gays from working in the fed. govt. timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1…

6/ While working for McCarthy, Cohn advocated for special treatment of G. David Schine, a wealthy hotel heir, when he was drafted into the Army. He allegedly threatened to “wreck the Army” if they didn’t provide these privileges. (This sounds familiar). content.time.com/time/magazine/…

7/ Cohn also disclosed prejudicial communications with the judge during the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg trial. As @AlanDersh said: “I believe that Cohn's account is probably credible. If it is, it tells a shocking story of corruption in the highest places.” latimes.com/archives/la-xp…

8/ Cohn engaged in bribery and corruption, such as when he had Roger Stone (@realDonaldTrump associate charged by Mueller) deliver a suitcase full of $125,000 to sway the 1980 presidential election in NY for Reagan. web.archive.org/web/2015022419…

9/ Cohn’s career is littered with the mafia and other accusations of deceitful acts, like trying to force a dying woman to make him trustee of her estate—a matter he lost and led to his disbarment. nymag.com/intelligencer/…

10/ When Cohn was disbarred, “a New York State Court...call[ed] his conduct in four legal matters 'unethical,' ‘unprofessional' and, in one case, 'particularly reprehensible.'”

Or as @realDonaldTrump says: a “great attorney”

nytimes.com/1986/06/24/nyr…

11/ So while my fellow lawyers laugh at @realDonaldTrump assertion that lawyers don’t take notes, we should all be alarmed that our President’s go-to example of a good lawyer was disbarred and, according to @AlanDersh, the “quintessential fixer.”

pbs.org/wgbh/frontline…

@threadreaderapp please unroll