My quick take on the bribery-for-pardon judicial order:
1) There was a separate ongoing investigation that involved (likely multiple) search warrants that yielded 50 electronic devices seized. That’s a lot of devices, so I’m guessing it was an office that was searched.
1/4
2) upon reviewing these devices, agents identified separate crimes from those under investigation, incl a bribery-for-pardon scheme. They sought permission from the judge to search the devices for further evidence of that scheme. (SW’s are limited to specific offenses.)
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3) that scheme involved a lawyer who, the judge concluded, did not have an attorney-client relationship with the person seeking the pardon. It appears that that lawyer served as an intermediary with the WH, but did not represent the briber, who is currently in jail.
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The bribe appears to include both past political contributions and future political contributions. In addition, I assume the prosecutors took whatever investigative steps they needed to take prior to the disclosure of this order, including approaching members of the scheme.
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At Trump’s command, the GOP is killing a border policy bill that reads like a GOP wish list – all because they would rather have chaos at the border for their political purposes than to actually solve problems for the American people.
To correct their misinformation, here are the GOP priorities in the bill: (2/7)
1) Rewrites asylum law – raises the legal standard; removes due process before a judge; requires application process to be resolved within 6 months. Any incentive to come to the U.S. to work pending asylum is eliminated. (3/7)
I visited the HERRC in Red Hook yesterday, and while the City is doing an admirable job given its limited resources, it’s clear the situation is far from ideal.
If you are able, please consider supporting these orgs working on the ground to support migrants in our city. ⬇️
Happy Labor Day! New York is a union town, and this Labor Day it’s especially important that we take a moment to appreciate everything unions have done in our nation’s history to fight inequality, expand the middle class, and produce a stronger economy.
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It is also an opportunity to recommit to finally passing the PRO Act into law. The PRO Act will:
1) Make it easier for employees to form a union
2) Increase penalties for corporations that engage in union-busting
3) Expand workers’ collective bargaining rights
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After years under attack, union power in America is growing. Over the last week alone there have been some significant victories ⬇️
The Jan 6 hearings have shown that our democracy barely held in 2020.
Donald Trump is now gearing up to try to steal the 2024 election. Congress must stand strong and protect our democratic values and institutions.
Here is my 5-Point Plan to Defend Our Democracy.
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To protect the right to vote and ensure that voters – not politicians – decide our elections, we must:
[2/6]
In order to preserve the fundamental principle of one person, one vote, we must minimize the influence of special interests and ensure fairness in the electoral process. We must:
The existential threats to our democracy and fundamental rights are real & urgent. We need voices in Congress with experience and courage to defend our democracy & rights, as I did leading the impeachment investigation of Trump.
SHORT THREAD: It appears that @ManhattanDA and Mark Pomerantz had a good faith disagreement about the strength of the evidence of a low-level felony against Trump — the type of disagreement that line prosecutors and their superiors have all the time.
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There is a BIG difference between *knowing* somebody committed crimes and *proving* those crimes in court. The problem with this case has always been the evidence of Trump’s knowledge — it is not enough to say “of course he knew.” And Michael Cohen is a tarnished witness.
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The easy thing for Bragg to do would be to charge Trump. It certainly would be the politically expedient thing to do. He’s got every incentive to pursue charges, including as a distraction from the backlash from the Day One memo.
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