Lisa Rubin Profile picture
Apr 29 5 tweets 2 min read Read on X
NEW: You might have heard folks say, in the wake of the Supreme Court immunity argument, that sending this case down for the district court to parse what is official versus personal could substantially prolong the time to trial. Enter Ex. A: Image
This is an order entered tonight in three civil cases against Trump for his role in 1/6; in those cases, the D.C. Circuit reaffirmed former presidents are entitled to civil immunity for acts even on the "outer perimeter" of their official duties.
But they held Trump had not yet shown his entitlement to such immunity and would instead have a chance to prove in the lower court that "his alleged actions in the runup to and on January 6 were taken in his official capacity as President." Image
That opinion was handed down on December 1, 2023. And now, in the last days of April, Judge Amit Mehta, the district court judge to whom the case has been assigned, has allowed the parties to conduct "immunity-related discovery" through September 11, 2024.
Now think about the criminal case before Judge Chutkan: In a world where the Supreme Court similarly decides there must be further lower court proceedings to determine whether Trump can mount an immunity defense, can that case be tried before 2025? Increasingly, I think not--and that might be the only win Trump wants or needs.

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More from @lawofruby

May 16
NEW: When Michael Cohen testified in the New York attorney general’s civil fraud trial on 10/24 and 10/25/23, he testified that in pleading guilty to federal tax evasion charges, he had lied to spare his family. But asked about that episode Tuesday, Cohen was more nuanced. 1/
Specifically, Cohen acknowledged that in October, he testified he lied in federal court when he pleaded guilty to tax evasion and bank fraud. 2/ Image
Yet he tried to explain that testimony, noting he took responsibility because “the underlying fact he never disputed” and that he pleaded guilty to protect his wife. That doesn’t quite explain why he testified he lied in pleading to those counts—something he has said publicly too. 3/
Read 5 tweets
May 13
NEW: In August 2018, Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to causing American Media’s unlawful campaign contribution to Trump and to making an unlawful contribution of his own through the Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels payments respectively. 1/ Image
And during his plea allocution — the process by which a pleading defendant takes responsibility for his crimes — Cohen said he acted not only “in coordination with” but “at the direction of” one Donald Trump. 2/
And that’s the crux of what the prosecution needs from Cohen (and can’t get from anyone else) as they wrap up their case as soon as this week: how, when, and why Trump expressly directed Cohen to ensure McDougal and Stormy’s stories stayed buried. 3/
Read 8 tweets
May 10
NEW: At the end of today's abbreviated court day, Team Trump and the DA's office squared off about the most glaringly absent witness: former Trump Org. CFO (and two-time convict) Allen Weisselberg. 1/
By charging Weisselberg with perjury in connection with his testimony in the New York AG's civil fraud case, the DA basically made Weisselberg's testimony in this case a non-starter, leaving Cohen unrebutted, even if still vulnerable on cross, with respect to critical events. 2/
But the DA now has a problem of a different order: Sure, Weisselberg won't be called as a defense witness, but he looms large in the repayment scheme & the related cover-up. And without some explanation, the jury could hold his absence against the prosecution. 3/
Read 11 tweets
May 8
I’ve heard a number of people refer to the Stormy Daniels testimony as “graphic,” and as a person who embarrasses easily, that’s not how I experienced it. 1/
Yes, there was a stray detail that I expect prosecutors and the defense alike wish she hadn’t said. But her description of the sexual encounter itself was brief and largely devoid of details. 2/
But even if it was not graphic, her testimony was vivid. The black and white tile on the floor of the foyer of Trump’s penthouse suite. Her hands shaking as she put her strappy gold heels back on. The Pert Plus, Old Spice, and gold tweezers she saw when snooping around the bathroom. 3/
Read 4 tweets
May 7
NEW: The ongoing Trump criminal trial is the fourth Trump trial in the last 12 months—and it’s my fourth too. And after watching dozens of witnesses, I’m afraid the more they change, the more things stay the same. 1/
I’ve watched a nearly 80-year-old E. Jean Carroll, who successfully accused Trump of sexual assault and defamation, fend off the implication that she was lying because she never called the police and didn’t tell her story for two decades plus. 2/
And now I’ve seen an adult film star more comfortable with her stage name than her given one similarly attacked for not calling the police or telling those closest to her after she was threatened in a parking lot 7 years before she went public with her whole story. 3/
Read 7 tweets
May 7
NEW: How do you prove a defendant caused others to make false business records where those with direct knowledge of his intent and involvement are limited to the defendant, a man now in jail for perjury, and Michael Cohen? 1/
You surround Michael Cohen’s expected testimony with a mountain of circumstantial evidence, an already substantial pile to which prosecutors just added excerpts from Trump’s books How to Get Rich and Think Like a Billionaire. 2/
Those excerpts reveal Trump as a micromanager who advised never taking one’s eyes off his checkbook, advertised he negotiated the price of everything “down to the paper clips,” trusted Weisselberg wholly, and boasted that he even loved signing checks. 3/
Read 4 tweets

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