BREAKING: A federal judge DISMISSES the DNC's lawsuit against the Trump campaign, Russia, WikiLeaks et al. with prejudice, and DENIES the Trump campaign's sanctions motion.
@CourthouseNews As for the "second-level participants" in the alleged racketeering scheme, Koeltl says that they are shielded by the First Amendment from liability related to disseminating the stolen emails.
@CourthouseNews Judge Koeltl, a Clinton appointee, cited the Pentagon Papers case in finding that there could not be liability for the publication of stolen materials.
@CourthouseNews "If @WikiLeaks could be held liable for publishing documents concerning the DNC’s political financial and voter-engagement strategies simply because the DNC labels them 'secret' and trade secrets, then so could any newspaper or other media outlet."
-Judge Koeltl on 1A concerns
@CourthouseNews@wikileaks DEVELOPING story for @CourthouseNews on the ruling dismissing the DNC's suit. Still awaiting comment from many of the parties, and a new update is in the editing queue.
DNC spokeswoman Adrienne Watson just sent me this statement.
Story will be updated soon.
From Roger Stone’s attorney, with echoes of George Papadopoulos’s attorney’s statement.
This statement from Trump is misleading.
The judge did not say the DNC case was “entirely divorced” from the facts. He wrote that the DNC’s claim that Trump campaign and Russia conspired in the hack itself was “entirely divorced” from what they alleged in the lawsuit.
The distinction is subtle but important.
Judges don’t decide the facts on a motion to dismiss. They rule on whether the allegations represent a plausible claim.
Final updates coming up soon.
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Trump’s appeal of a federal judge’s ruling finding his federalization of the National Guard illegal heads to court minutes from now (noon Pacific Time).
Follow along for analysis, and watch live on the court’s YouTube page.
BREAKING: Trump admin must process education grants "without delay"
A federal judge preserved his ability to enforce the ruling even if the Senate passes a budget bill restraining his contempt power. @AllRiseNews allrisenews.com/p/linda-mcmaho…
A quick thread on this:
This is the first time I personally have seen a court proactively address the possibility of Congress restraining the enforcement power of the federal judiciary.
(There are a lot of cases out there, and perhaps it's come up elsewhere.)
Here's how it went down:
Assistant NYAG Andrew Amer brought up the restraints on contempt power included in the budget bill toward the end of the hearing.
Prosecutors immediately show her a still frame of the surveillance video from the hotel.
Q: Who introduced you to the term "freak off"?
A: Sean did.
Asked what a "freak off" is, Cassie responds: "It basically entails hiring of an escort (deep exhale) setting up this experience so that I could perform for Sean."