Thread by @lawofruby

I am headed back to the office after yet another long day in court that ended with a bang, not a whimper. But what was today’s latest skirmish about Judge Engoron’s principal law clerk really about? Controlling what we, the media, say and write tonight—and depriving the AG’s team of a major dunk on Eric Trump. 1/

Let me explain. Andy Amer of the AG’s office was focused on a 2021 conference call about Trump’s statement of financial condition that one participant, Patrick Birney, testified was convened to apprise Don Jr. and Eric of a change in the valuation methodology for their golf courses. 2/

Despite Eric’s agreeing that he likes Birney very much and his inability to refute Birney’s testimony, nothing Amer showed Eric shored up any recollection of the call whatsoever. 3/

That call, however, was not only just over 2 years ago, but as Amer pointed out, took place well after the AG’s investigation was underway and nearly two years after Eric Trump gave his first of two depositions related to this case. 4/

At that first, October 2020 deposition, Eric Trump took the Fifth more than 500 times, a fact that the attorney general highlighted in a Jan. 2022 court filing. 5/

businessinsider.com/eric-trump-wei…

And that’s where Amer was headed. He was going to show that especially once Eric perceived that he was at sufficient risk that he had to plead the Fifth hundreds of times in fall 2020, his lack of recollections as to how they handled later statements of financial condition (and related valuation changes) was not credible. 6/

That’s likely where we would have ended the day but for vociferous objections from Cliff Robert & then Chris Kise, who, in supposedly trying to shut down that line of questions sideswiped the judge’s principal law clerk. 7/

Predictably, that enraged the usually droll Engoron, and we were off to the races about a potential expansion of the gag order, the legitimacy of the notes the judge and his clerk exchange, and whether Kise’s First Amendment rights trump (no pun intended) the clerk’s right to safety. 8/

Lawyers joke if the law’s not on your side, argue the facts. If the facts aren’t on your side, argue the law. And if you’ve got neither, pound the table and yell. That’s what happened today with the added factor that Trump’s team timed their outrage to strip the AG’s team of a last, devastating word today.

Don’t buy it. As Amer himself said with a grin, today was a great day for the AG’s team, even if Don Jr.’s joviality and Eric’s stinginess disguised that at times. More on why later…. FIN.