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."
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."
Hegseth's Defense Department's flat denial from March 31 (now appears to be provably false)⤵️
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."
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."
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.”
DOJ admits repeatedly made "material mistaken" representations to judge. ICE never had authority (under 2025 Guidance) to conduct arrests at immigration courthouses!
"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 ..."
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.