Ryan Goodman Profile picture
Aug 3, 2022 6 tweets 4 min read Read on X
Trump White House Counsel Pat Cipollone has no legal leg to stand on.

With news reporting Pat Cipollone is considering invoking executive privilege before grand jury.

PSA: DC Court of Appeals rejected such claims of (incumbent!) Deputy White House Counsel before a grand jury.👇
2. The same goes for Greg Jacob, Pence chief counsel.

DC Court of Appeals - in re Lindsey 1998 - made points that are directly relevant to these Trump White House lawyers.

Most important: A GOVERNMENT lawyer has special duty to expose evidence of potential criminal wrongdoing.
3. What's more, DC Court of Appeals noted the weakness in trying to asserting such privilege WITHIN the executive branch (in contrast to asserting it against Congress).

Case involved DOJ seeking information from WH lawyer before grand jury.
4. This prescient piece by former White House Counsel W. Neil Eggleston drives these points home as well:

"In the grand jury context, it is only more apparent that any assertion of privilege would collapse."

justsecurity.org/82201/the-law-…
5. And yes of course, here the President of the United States has taken a decision not to assert executive privilege.

The attempt for Trump to assert executive privilege over White House documents turned over to Congress was rebuffed by the Supreme Court.

Eggleston again:
6/6. Here's the reporting on Pat Cipollone's considering invoking executive privilege before the grand jury.

@PamelaBrownCNN
cnn.com/2022/08/02/pol…

@KFaulders @Santucci @alex_mallin
abcnews.go.com/US/white-house…

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More from @rgoodlaw

May 28
🚨Hegseth's Department of War opens up new military campaign in new country: Guatemala

Stephen Miller holds bimonthly "body counts" meetings

Great reporting by Maria Abi-Habib (@Abihabib) and Eric Schmitt (@EricSchmittNYT)
1/🧵 Image
2/ "Guatemala has agreed to carry out joint strikes with the United States military inside its territory to target drug trafficking groups"

President Arévalo "agreed to both airstrikes and other military action in a call with" Hegseth.

Gift link: nytimes.com/2026/05/28/wor…
3/ "Mr. Miller chairs a bimonthly meeting — called a 'wins' meeting — at which various government agencies report on recent successes, with the Pentagon’s death toll from boat strikes regularly highlighted as one of the biggest."
Read 6 tweets
Apr 17
OMG

Kash Patel a drunken national security threat

"Meetings and briefings had to be rescheduled for later in the day as a result of his alcohol-fueled nights."

"A request for 'breaching equipment'...was made last year because Patel had been unreachable behind locked doors." Image
2/ How long has the White House known this and let Patel keep his job?

How long has Todd Blanche known this?

theatlantic.com/politics/2026/…
3/ Seems to have been widely known.

Sourcing: "six current and former officials and others familiar"
Read 5 tweets
Apr 11
Pete Hegseth's Defense Dept appears to be caught in a lie.

It involves deaths of 21 people (including at least 5 children), injuring 110 in Lamerd, Iran with sports hall and school.

By a U.S. missile (PrSM) never before used in combat.

NYT sources include: 3 US officials!

1/ Image
2/

Gift link to NYT article: nytimes.com/2026/04/10/wor…

Expert backgrounder on the PrSM and U.S. weapons review: justsecurity.org/135490/precisi…

Hegseth's Defense Department's flat denial from March 31 (now appears to be provably false)⤵️ Image
3/ BBC also fact checked the DoD's denial:

Six experts "all commented independently ... citing the missile's visual features, the way it exploded, its trajectory and the number of strikes in the area."

@MerlynThomas @Shayan86 @jalalisarah

bbc.com/news/articles/…
Read 5 tweets
Apr 9
Wow

Ceasefire agreement did include Lebanon.

Trump: "agreed that included Lebanon."

Mediators: "believed the ceasefire to include Lebanon."

Pakistan announced it included Lebanon.

"However, the US position shifted following a phone call between Netanyahu and Mr. Trump."

1/ Image
3/ This reporting (Lebanon was, indeed, part of the ceasefire agreement) makes JD Vance's awful statement below even worse.

The kind of ugly statement that can undermine diplomacy and is even more egregious if Vance's statement on Lebanon was false:

Read 4 tweets
Apr 2
With Todd Blanche taking over the Justice Department.

There will and should be a sharp focus on his gross mishandling/coverup of the Epstein files and Ghislaine Maxwell.

Also do a search for "Deputy Attorney General" to see patterns of misconduct.

justsecurity.org/120547/presump…
2/ Read for yourself:

After outrageous letter by Blanche and Bondi, Judge Novak (Trump appointee) wrote:

“The Court finds it inconceivable that the Department of Justice, which holds a duty to faithfully execute the laws of the United States — even those with which it may have disagreement — would repeatedly ignore court orders, while simultaneously prosecuting citizens for breaking the law."

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
3/ After Blanche's chief of staff violated a court order in Mangioni case, federal judge wrote:

“The Government is also directed to advise the Deputy Attorney General, for dissemination within the Department as appropriate, that future violations may result in sanctions, which could include personal financial penalties, contempt of court findings, or relief specific to the prosecution.”

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
Read 4 tweets
Mar 25
Jaw-dropping DOJ admissions to court

DOJ admits repeatedly made "material mistaken" representations to judge. ICE never had authority (under 2025 Guidance) to conduct arrests at immigration courthouses!

DOJ admits court "relied on...prior misrepresentations"

DOJ blames ICE Image
Image
2/ DOJ blaming ICE:

"This error, however, is not caused by a lack of diligence and care by the undersigned attorneys. The undersigned were specifically informed by ICE that the 2025 ICE Guidance applied to immigration courthouse arrests."

"... agency attorney error ..." Image
3/ You can be assured that we'll add this to 5th edition of Presumption of Regularity study.

Currently tracks 90+ cases in which either court determined the Trump administration submitted false information or the administration admitted it.

justsecurity.org/120547/presump…
Read 4 tweets

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