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9 Jun, 12 tweets, 5 min read
1. The DOJ has decided to continue defending Trump in a case involving his attacks on a woman, E Jean Carroll, who he allegedly raped.

There are lots of VERY SERIOUS LAWYERS defending the DOJ.

But that doesn't mean the DOJ is right.

Let's dive in.

popular.info/p/biden-doj-tr…
2. First, let's talk about what Trump said. After E. Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her in a dressing room in the mid-90s, Trump claimed he never met Carroll, accused her of lying to sell books, & suggested she was conspiring w/the Democratic Party

popular.info/p/biden-doj-tr…
3. Later Trump said he would never have raped Carroll because she is not his "type."

The DOJ's main argument is that when Trump said all this HE WAS ACTING WITHIN THE SCOPE OF HIS OFFICE AS THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

popular.info/p/biden-doj-tr…
4. The DOJ tries to avoid defending what Trump said (which it calls "crude and disrespectful") and focuses on what Trump was doing, which is interacting with the media.

They say interacting with the media is part of the president's job

popular.info/p/biden-doj-tr…
5. The DOJ relies on a case called Ballenger which involves a Congressman who said he was separating from his wife because she was uncomfortable living across the street from @CAIRNational, which he claimed funded terrorists

CAIR sued for defamation.

popular.info/p/biden-doj-tr…
6. In Ballenger, the court found that the Congressman was acting with the scope of his employment because answering questions from the media is part of a Congressman's job.

But here is where everything breaks down for the DOJ's argument

popular.info/p/biden-doj-tr…
7. The Ballenger court realized allowing a Congressman to say whatever they wanted to press & be immunized was a bad idea

So it said its ruling was limited to the facts of the case

Specifically, his separation was a matter of "concern" to constiutents

popular.info/p/biden-doj-tr…
8. The DOJ also makes clear it is not arguing that Trump would be immunized from anything he said. But, citing Ballenger, argues the rape allegation was a matter of "concern" to Trump's constituents.

This is the fatal flaw in the DOJ's argument

popular.info/p/biden-doj-tr…
9. The standard the DOJ is creating would immunize everything a president said to the press because a president has 300M+ constituents and everything about their life is of "concern" to someone

The DOJ is doing exactly what it says it should not do

popular.info/p/biden-doj-tr…
10. To be coherent, the standard needs to consider whether the statement has any relationship to the job of the president.

And by any standard, smearing a woman who says you raped her in the 90s has nothing to do with the job of being president

popular.info/p/biden-doj-tr…
11. The DOJ claims they are neutrally applying precedent but in the end, they are making a subjective call about where to draw the line.

And that call is pretty much indefensible

popular.info/p/biden-doj-tr…
12. I've noticed a lot of the coverage glossed over the actual legal arguments.

If you are interested in independent accountability journalism that respects your intelligence, you'll probably like my newsletter

Sign up --> popular.info/subscribe

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More from @JuddLegum

Judd Legum Profile picture
11 Jun
1. On May 31, Texas Republicans were fully prepared to pass a sweeping voter suppression bill

But the bill failed because House Democrats walked out, denying the GOP a quorum

The GOP will take the bill up again in a special session

But something EXTRAORDINARY is happening
2. Republicans are COMPLETELY UNPREPARED to defend the substance of the bill and are abandoning major provisions.

First, the GOP claimed the ban on Sunday voting before 1PM was a typo

This isn't credible because they defended the ban as the bill was debated

But its OUT
3. Now Republicans are scrapping a provision to allow Texas judges to void an election based on thin evidence of fraud (w/o regard to whether the alleged fraud changed the result)

A chief House sponsor of the bill now calls the provision "horrendous"!

houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas…
Read 6 tweets
Judd Legum Profile picture
8 Jun
1. Manchin's rationale for opposing the For The People Act, which would thwart state efforts to undermine voting rights, underscores the central role of the @USChamber.

Manchin is essentially quoting the Chamber's talking points

popular.info/p/where-joe-ma…
@USChamber 2. April talking points from the @USChamber: "Changes enacted on a partisan basis are the most likely to...undermine public confidence"

Manchin this week: "[P]artisan policymaking won’t instill confidence in our democracy — it will destroy it"

popular.info/p/where-joe-ma…
3. The @USChamber is engaged in an aggressive lobbying campaign against federal action to protect voting rights that is financed by the same corporations who say they support voting rights.

popular.info/p/the-myth-of-…
Read 5 tweets
Judd Legum Profile picture
7 Jun
1. A constellation of obscure websites — populated with content stolen from outlets like @Politico, @Axios, & @BuzzFeedNews — has played a significant role in the fundraising success of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Josh Hawley, and other Republicans

popular.info/p/the-dirty-se…
@politico @axios @BuzzFeedNews 2. Popular.info identified more than 2 dozen websites controlled by @ASGroupInc.

The company is run by @bgrudnick, a GOP operative.

According to internal marketing materials, Rudnick has used the sites to amass 10 million email address

popular.info/p/the-dirty-se…
3. Rudnick rents these emails to political campaigns charging tens of thousands of dollars for each email.

Internal materials obtained by popular.info, show that Rudnick charged 20K to send one email to 1M subscribers to Christian News

popular.info/p/the-dirty-se…
Read 11 tweets
Judd Legum Profile picture
6 Jun
Manchin's justification for opposing to the For The People Act tracks closely to the talking points of the @USChamber

The Chamber, funded by millions from major corporations that claim they support voting rights, is engaged in an aggressive lobbying campaign against the bill
@USChamber MANCHIN, TODAY: "Voting and election reform that is done in a partisan manner will all but ensure partisan divisions continue to deepen"

THE CHAMBER, 4/13: "Changes enacted on a partisan basis are the most likely to erode access and security and undermine public confidence"
I wrote more about the Chamber's role here: popular.info/p/the-myth-of-…
Read 4 tweets
Judd Legum Profile picture
6 Jun
If you are alive in 2021 and believe structural racism doesn't exist you need to get out more*
*please get vaccinated first
If you really believe structural racism is a myth I recommend you go down to your local district court and watch criminal cases for a day.
Read 4 tweets
Judd Legum Profile picture
5 Jun
"In Donald J. Trump’s final weeks in office, Mark Meadows, his chief of staff, repeatedly pushed the Justice Department to investigate unfounded conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election"

nytimes.com/2021/06/05/us/…
"In 5 emails sent during the last week of December and early January, Meadows asked Rosen, then the acting attorney general, to examine debunked claims of election fraud in New Mexico and an array of baseless conspiracies that held that Mr. Trump had been the actual victor"
BIDEN WON NEW MEXICO BY 100,000 VOTES
Read 4 tweets

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