emptywheel Profile picture
Apr 7, 2020 5 tweets 2 min read Read on X
So to summarize: The things Trump has done to undercut oversight of an unprecedented aid package include:
1) Stating that Mnuchin could ignore Congress' power of the purse and just spend on what he wants
2) Says CIGIE head doesn't need to consult w/Congress for PRAC head
1/n
3) After CIGIE head, Michael Horowitz names Glenn Fine PRAC head, Trump nominated the totally unqualified Jason Abend to be DOD IG. If he were confirmed, FIne couldn't be PRAC head.
4) Prevent Fine from even starting by making EPA IG acting DOD IG, making Fine ineligible for PRAC
5) Stating that the Special IG for Pandemic Recovery won't tell Congress if Mnuchin refuses his request for information, as mandated by law.
6) Naming one of the lawyers who helped him thru impeachment as SIGPR (tho Brian Miller is very qualified for the job).
Trump has done more to undercut oversight of how we'll recover from the Pandemic he exacerbated than he has done anything to address the pandemic.

It's almost like he plans to bail himself out or otherwise loot the fund?
I think Horowitz now picks another of these IGs to take the position Glenn Fine had. Note that 3 of them are also Acting IGs (which is a testament to how little Trump cares abt oversight), including Acting HHS IG Christi Grimm, whom Trump is pissy at bc of yesterday's report. Image

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More from @emptywheel

Mar 27
I will NOT be in court this PM in LA (considered it, but the recovering foot is at least 2 weeks short of a 12 hour flight). I REALLY don't think Judge Scarsi will be that sympathetic to Hunter Biden's claims--it's not his rep as a judge. BUT
Weiss' AUSAs are vulnerable on a couple of fronts.

First, they falsely claimed that what distinguishes Hunter from Roger Stone is that Stone, who wrote a memoir MORE closely tied to his tax evasion, didn't write a memoir.

🤣

That was dumb.

emptywheel.net/2024/03/11/dav…
Next, Scarsi invited Weiss to brief 2 interesting legal issues: whether a contract bt Hunter & USAO Delaware is valid between Hunter & SCO, & whether Leo Wise can be held to things Wise said at failed plea. Weiss responded, but didn't answer those Qs.

emptywheel.net/2024/03/26/the…
Read 5 tweets
Mar 21
There's an interesting development in Hunter Biden's LA tax case. Abbe Lowell argued that prosecutors can't charge him in LA, bc Hunter was a DC resident for all but 2019. He argued that Leo Wise, who signed DE information stating that is estopped from claimingn different in LA.
So now Judge Mark Scarsi has given Wise a chance to argue that point. One thing David Weiss has been doing, GENERALLY, has been sheep dipping the prosecution to pretend that things DE USA David Weiss knows aren't relevant to SCO David Weiss.

emptywheel.net/2024/03/20/jud…
Similarly, David Weiss said, "Hunter signed a tolling agreement."

But the tolling agreement EXPLICITLY says it is an agreement with DE USAO and DOJ Tax.

Neither of those entities are involved in this prosecution.
Read 6 tweets
Mar 20
For those asking why those involved in this Parnas op were not indicted.

1) Barr did WILDLY corrupt things to shield Rudy, and it's SUPER HARD to indict the AG acting as AG. It's probably the reason he wrote his book, to create a cover story.
2) After SDNY seized Rudy's phones on Lisa Monaco's first day on the job, they discovered the Ukraine-related phones were corrupted (they ended up getting good Jan6 evidence, though!).
3) GOING FORWARD, Weiss needs to be taken off this case. Weiss is a direct witness.
I wrote about Weiss being a direct witness here.

emptywheel.net/2024/03/19/dav…
Read 4 tweets
Mar 19
Here's a Q: If @maggieNYT, @jonathanvswan, @jdawsey1 don't even MENTION that Paul Manafort is a confessed money launderer, if @kaitlancollins suggests we don't have to start hyperventilating over his hire yet, how do they think voters would find out if Manafort did it again?
That is, if journos are provably incompetent in describing how Manafort engaged in money laundering in the past to hide that his influence operations were really paid for by RU-backed oligarchs, who would tell us if he did it this go-around?
The risk to Manafort joining the Trump campaign, in ANY capacity, is that he has proven adept in the past at hiding Russian & Ukrainian oligarchs bankrolling his political work, & he did so PRECISELY to pretend it was real democratic persuasion. He confessed to this!
Read 8 tweets
Mar 18
Aileen Cannon ordered both sides in Trump's stolen docs trial to write jury instructions AS IF Presdential Records Act says something other than it does.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
Image
The 11th Circuit already spanked Cannon on this issue. Classified records are not and cannot be personal.
The more I think about this the more I think Cannon may have finally Checkmated Jack Smith, Via Calvinball. Can a lawyer EVEN WRITE jury instructions as if the law says something wildly different than it does?
Read 5 tweets
Mar 18
Sort of a contest to see how many ways journos can avoid saying, "Trump plans to rehire confessed money launderer who conspired with his business partner, an alleged Russian spy," or at least burying that behind 5 ¶¶ making it look like a sound hire.
Imagine if the NYT had twin side-by-side pictures, one titled, "Trump can't get a $$ to save Trump Tower" and the other saying, "Trump will rehire confessed money launderer Paul Manafort, who conspired with alleged Russian spy"?

Now ask why NYT is NOT reporting it that way?
Image
Image
Reupping: How Josh Dawsey Downplays Paul Manafort's Ties to Alleged Russian Spies

emptywheel.net/2024/03/18/how…
Read 13 tweets

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