Trump apologists now argue that Trump’s 34 crimes were wrongly upped to felonies—as if 34 misdemeanors are A-OK, on top of civil judgments for persistent fraud on lenders, charity fraud, sex abuse, 3 defamations, his company’s 17 felony convictions for tax fraud, etc. ...
1/15
... But what of the simple scumminess of this candidate, as evinced by the NY trial evidence? Let’s look at a few examples. E.g., remember that one component of the Trump-Cohen-Pecker deal was to smear Trump’s primary opponents. ...
/2
... According to AMI CEO David Pecker’s testimony, Cohen would say “we would like a negative article on, let’s say, Ted Cruz” or Ben Carson or Marco Rubio. After a primary debate, Cohen would direct the National Enquirer on “which direction we should go,” Pecker testified ...
/3
... So between 10/17/15 & 12/7/15, the Enquirer ran 6 hatchet jobs that plastered Carson with epithets like “bungling surgeon,” “brain butcherer,” “Ben the butcher” & accused him of “ ‘lies’ over military & violent past." (Trump later named him his HUD Sec’y.) ...
/4
... And between 2/12/16 & 7/25/16, the Trump-Cohen-Pecker deal smeared Ted Cruz 18 times, dubbing him “boozin’” & “pervy”; linking him to a “porn star”; “5 secret mistresses”; an “alleged prostitution secret”; & linking his father to JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald ...
/5
... And between 12/16/15 & 2/2/16, the trio, per their deal, allegedly smeared Marco Rubio in 3 headlines, suggesting a “love child” scandal; a “cocaine connection”; & a “cheating scandal.” ...
/6
.. Remember when a political party might have recoiled from a candidate who, when he was 60, allegedly pressured a 27-yr-old to have sex with him, saying, “I thought you were serious about what you wanted. If you ever want to get out of that trailer park—” ...
/7
... Or by loyalist Hope Hicks’ testimony that when confronted with the Access Hollywood tape transcript on 10/7/16, instructed Trump’s team to “deny, deny, deny.” The lie was “reflex,” she said. She wasn’t embarrassed about the lie on the stand—only about its inefficacy ...
/8
... And when the WSJ came to Hicks on 11/4/16 with its info about AMI having bought Karen McDougal’s silence about her alleged affair with Trump, you see the whole Trump lie factory reflexively kick into operation once again. ...
/9
... Hicks instantly drafts four potential statements blaming “the liberal elite” & “a publicity hungry individual with a get rich and famous quick scheme.”...
/10
... She shows her 4 proposals to Trump & then to Cohen, who know they’re false ...
/11
... Cohen then proposes an alternative false statement. He blames “the liberal media” and “Clinton machine.” ...
/12
... Hicks then shows Cohen’s proposed lie to Trump, & informs him of a proposed lie by Pecker, admitting paying McDougal but claiming it was just a legitimate contract for her to write health columns. ...
/13
... Finally, Trump instructs Hicks to adopt a vaguer lie—to just deny everything and deny knowledge of any payment—the approach she takes.
/14
... When choosing a presidential candidate, the crucial question isn’t whether, on appeal, he can persuade an appellate court that his crimes should have been charged only as misdemeanors. The question is whether the candidate is a pathological liar with no moral compass. ...
/15
... If you doubt the fairness of my descriptions, you can review the full context of Pecker’s testimony in this Dispatch by my @lawfare colleagues @annabower, @tylermcbrien & Ben Wittes ...
/16 lawfaremedia.org/article/catch-…
@lawfare @AnnaBower @TylerMcBrien ... and, similarly, if you want to see the full context of
Stormy Daniels’ testimony, see this dispatch by my @lawfare colleagues @annabower, @tylermcbrien, Ben Wittes, & @quintajurecic here:
/17 lawfaremedia.org/article/stormy…
@lawfare @AnnaBower @TylerMcBrien ... There are similar dispatches for every day of the trial. Finally, please consider a donation to the @lawfare crew to continue covering the Trump trials below. Thanks!
/end givebutter.com/c/trumptrials
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Yesterday, in declining to enter a temporary restraining order (TRO) barring DOGE from accessing data systems at the Dept of Labor, CFPB, & HHS, Judge Bates actually delivered a blow to DOGE—though it may only be felt in other cases. A thread. ...
Different suits challenge DOGE on different grounds. The suits challenging its access to data systems in Treasury, Labor, CFPB, & HHS focus on the Privacy Act. The claim is that DOGE is rooting around in our ultra-sensitive data without our permission. ...
/2
... The hurdle for plaintiffs is that DOGE is structured so that DOGE cadres are “detailed” from US DOGE Service to the agencies and then become “agency employees.” (I’m simplifying.) It’s set up that way so that DOGE cadres appear to fit into ...
/3
Trump Adm brings emergency motion to dissolve NY judge's TRO re DOGE; claims it bars TreasSec from access [based on comma ambituity]; threatens mandamus to appeals court arguing no executive action can be insulated from political appointees. ...
/1 storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
... Judge Vargas (the judge now assigned to the case, not the emergency motions judge who entered TRO) has ordered parties to confer to see if they can narrow issues. If not, plaintiff state AGs respond by tonight at 5pm, with govt reply by 11pm tonight. ...
/2
... Trump Adm eager to tee up key "unitary executive" claims—that no executive function can be insulated from political appointees of President—for appellate courts. ...
/3
The challenge that all the DOGE-related lawsuits face is that DOGE has a formalistic structure that’s designed to look benign, but which appears to be a charade. Proving it’s a charade in court in a compressed time-frame will be hard. A thread: ...
1/14
As originally described in Nov. in the WSJ, DOGE was about saving trillions of dollars through vast “regulatory recissions, administrative reductions, & cost savings.” ...
/2
... Yet when unveiled in Trump’s executive order, DOGE’s purported purpose mentioned none of those goals. Instead, the EO claimed that DOGE was about “modernizing federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency.” ...
/3
Here is Judge Paul Engelmayer’s remarkable TRO barring (in effect) DOGE from accessing Treasury’s payment system & ordering (in effect) any DOGE person who has had access to destroy anything already copied. A short thread ...
This is broader than the “consent order” entered Thurs. by Judge Kollar-Kotelly in DC. Latter allowed 2 DOGE “special govt employees” (SGEs) to keep working but not send data out of Treas. This one bars access to SGEs & orders them to destroy anything already copied ...
/2
The new TRO is supposed to be served on DOJ by noon today. Unless challenged or altered, it would last till 2/14, when a different judge, Jeannette Vargas (a federal judge in Manhattan) would hold a hearing on whether to issue a preliminary injunction. ...
/3
At today’s hearing in the FBI agents’ suits to enjoin the govt from disclosing the names of agents who worked on Jan. 6 cases, Judge Cobb’s most interesting comments related to her desire to know more about the survey that DOJ made agents fill out. ...
1/4
At future hearings, she said, she wants to know: “What's [the survey] for? Nothing on its face has anything to do with misconduct. What's being investigated?” (Quotes approximate.) What she’s getting at is that retaliation is the *only* explanation. ...
/2
... As @MarkSZaidEsq & @NormEisen wrote in their complaint, “Defendants do not have discretion to redefine the truth of Jan. 6, 2021 [or] to recast the lawful actions taken ... as illegal ....”
/3
At 3:00pm ET Judge Kollar-Kotelly will hold a hearing on whether to issue a TRO barring Treasury from giving DOGE access to its payment systems & ordering Treasury to claw back info already disclosed. Hoping to follow by telephone. You can too. See below ...
/1
... Plaintiffs are a retiree group and 2 unions (SEIU & AFGE) who argue that Treas Sec Bessent is violating Privacy Act of 1974 & the Internal Revenue Code by letting DOGE “root” through their records. They say Bessent has also violated the Adm Procedure Act ...
/2
... As I’m writing this, & because of the rush, only the plaintiffs have filed a brief (below). When I get DOJ’s, I’ll post. ...