He's the chair.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 17 August 2022 13:29 (one year ago) link
Word gets around eventually...
Former president Donald Trump and close aides have spent the eight days since the FBI searched his Florida home rushing to assemble a team of respected defense lawyers. But the answer they keep hearing is “no.”The struggle to find expert legal advice puts Trump in a bind as he faces potential criminal exposure from a records dispute with the National Archives that escalated into a federal investigation into possible violations of the Espionage Act and other statutes.“Everyone is saying no,” said a prominent Republican lawyer, who like some others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential conversations....Ordinarily, the prestige and publicity of representing a former president, as well as the new and complex legal issues at stake in this case, would attract high-powered attorneys. But Trump’s search is being hampered by his divisiveness, as well as his reputation for stiffing vendors and ignoring advice.“In olden days, he would tell firms representing him was a benefit because they could advertise off it. Today it’s not the same,” said Michael Cohen, a former lawyer for Trump who was convicted of tax evasion, false statements, campaign finance violations and lying to Congress in 2018. “He’s also a very difficult client in that he’s always pushing the envelope, he rarely listens to sound legal advice, and he wants you to do things that are not appropriate, ethically or legally.”One lawyer told a story from early in Trump’s presidency of his legal team urging him against tweeting about the Mueller probe, only to find he’d tweeted about it before they got to the end of the West Wing driveway. Several people said Trump was nearly impossible to represent and that it would be unclear if they would ever get paid.
The struggle to find expert legal advice puts Trump in a bind as he faces potential criminal exposure from a records dispute with the National Archives that escalated into a federal investigation into possible violations of the Espionage Act and other statutes.
“Everyone is saying no,” said a prominent Republican lawyer, who like some others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential conversations.
...
Ordinarily, the prestige and publicity of representing a former president, as well as the new and complex legal issues at stake in this case, would attract high-powered attorneys. But Trump’s search is being hampered by his divisiveness, as well as his reputation for stiffing vendors and ignoring advice.
“In olden days, he would tell firms representing him was a benefit because they could advertise off it. Today it’s not the same,” said Michael Cohen, a former lawyer for Trump who was convicted of tax evasion, false statements, campaign finance violations and lying to Congress in 2018. “He’s also a very difficult client in that he’s always pushing the envelope, he rarely listens to sound legal advice, and he wants you to do things that are not appropriate, ethically or legally.”
One lawyer told a story from early in Trump’s presidency of his legal team urging him against tweeting about the Mueller probe, only to find he’d tweeted about it before they got to the end of the West Wing driveway. Several people said Trump was nearly impossible to represent and that it would be unclear if they would ever get paid.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, 17 August 2022 14:49 (one year ago) link
Reynal is probably game.
― Chyiv Kyiv (Fetchboy), Wednesday, 17 August 2022 14:56 (one year ago) link
What lawyer wouldn't want a client who doesn't pay for advice he doesn't pay attention to? Oh, and one who will destroy your career and reputation.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 17 August 2022 14:56 (one year ago) link
Sounds like a job for Giuliani & Powell, LLC!
― nickn, Wednesday, 17 August 2022 16:19 (one year ago) link
Please let this go to trial, please let Rudy and Sidney represent him, please please oh please
― Beautiful Bean Footage Fetishist (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 17 August 2022 17:04 (one year ago) link
Go to trial? I doubt there’s even going to be charges.
― doomposting is the new composting (PBKR), Wednesday, 17 August 2022 18:09 (one year ago) link
*wriggle
― Evan, Wednesday, 17 August 2022 18:47 (one year ago) link
Source confirms Allen Weisselberg will implicate the Trump Organization and Trump Payroll Corp when he pleads guilty to criminal tax fraud charges in the morning — and he will agree to testify against them at trial in October if called as a witness. https://t.co/c7HCjwfm0n— Molly Crane-Newman (@molcranenewman) August 17, 2022
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 17 August 2022 20:58 (one year ago) link
the move by the AG to drop the investigation into Trump looking stupider by the day
― frogbs, Wednesday, 17 August 2022 21:00 (one year ago) link
(DA) otm
― bulb after bulb, Wednesday, 17 August 2022 21:41 (one year ago) link
CNN says just the opposite:
(CNN)The former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization is expected to plead guilty Thursday to a 15-year tax fraud scheme, but he will not enter into a cooperation agreement to aid New York prosecutors in their criminal investigation of the real estate companies' finances, a person familiar with the matter said.
― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, 17 August 2022 22:09 (one year ago) link
my read was that if he pleads guilty 'without cooperation' he can't take the 5th when he's later subpoenaed to testify, and that that was the agreement reached
― Dan S, Wednesday, 17 August 2022 22:32 (one year ago) link
Daily Mail says he is gonna plead guilty & testify in exchange for a greatly reduced sentence - 100 days vs up to 15 years
Can't blame him
― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, 17 August 2022 22:40 (one year ago) link
From Newsweek daily bulletin:
FBI Sought Russiagate Files and Trump’s Personal Stash of Hidden DocumentsTL/DR: "We've still got to unpack all of these terms—nuclear, espionage, classified—so the public understands. That will be tricky because the issues and technicalities are in fact extremely complicated,” one official told Newsweek.The FBI's raid on Mar-a-Lago was intended to recover Donald Trump's personal "stash" of hidden documents, two high-level U.S. intelligence officials told Newsweek. While some of the intelligence documents might have dealt with nuclear weapons, the classification level was not the main focus. "Trump kept documents that interested him," one official said, "sometimes Iranian or North Korean nukes, sometimes Ukraine or Russia, some foreign leaders." But the Justice feared that Trump might "weaponize" the information."Trump was particularly interested in matters related to the Russia hoax and the wrong-doings of the deep state," an ex-Trump official says. Trump may have been planning to use them as part of a 2024 run for the presidency. The FBI were also after documents that they felt the former president had no intention to return," said an official. Trump said the FBI broke into his personal safe. The two officials agree that the private cache was located separately from the storage room that contained the 11 sets of documents that were the bulk of what the FBI retrieved.What happens now? Several Trump supporters have lashed out at the Justice Department’s decision to oppose the release of an affidavit supporting the search warrant. It’s “hard for people to understand” that classification was not the focus, one of the officials said. "It is Donald Trump's potential law-breaking that is the focus… Justice was alarmed that Trump was planning to keep his possession secret," the official said. The other official said that it is what authorities knew (or believed) about Trump's plans that prompted the search now. But the official, who is confident that the search was legally valid, questions whether it was the smartest move.Deeper reading: FBI Sought Documents Trump Hoarded for Years, Including about Russiagate
TL/DR: "We've still got to unpack all of these terms—nuclear, espionage, classified—so the public understands. That will be tricky because the issues and technicalities are in fact extremely complicated,” one official told Newsweek.
The FBI's raid on Mar-a-Lago was intended to recover Donald Trump's personal "stash" of hidden documents, two high-level U.S. intelligence officials told Newsweek. While some of the intelligence documents might have dealt with nuclear weapons, the classification level was not the main focus. "Trump kept documents that interested him," one official said, "sometimes Iranian or North Korean nukes, sometimes Ukraine or Russia, some foreign leaders." But the Justice feared that Trump might "weaponize" the information.
"Trump was particularly interested in matters related to the Russia hoax and the wrong-doings of the deep state," an ex-Trump official says. Trump may have been planning to use them as part of a 2024 run for the presidency. The FBI were also after documents that they felt the former president had no intention to return," said an official. Trump said the FBI broke into his personal safe. The two officials agree that the private cache was located separately from the storage room that contained the 11 sets of documents that were the bulk of what the FBI retrieved.
What happens now? Several Trump supporters have lashed out at the Justice Department’s decision to oppose the release of an affidavit supporting the search warrant. It’s “hard for people to understand” that classification was not the focus, one of the officials said. "It is Donald Trump's potential law-breaking that is the focus… Justice was alarmed that Trump was planning to keep his possession secret," the official said. The other official said that it is what authorities knew (or believed) about Trump's plans that prompted the search now. But the official, who is confident that the search was legally valid, questions whether it was the smartest move.
Deeper reading: FBI Sought Documents Trump Hoarded for Years, Including about Russiagate
― dow, Thursday, 18 August 2022 00:41 (one year ago) link
"Trump was particularly interested in matters related to the Russia hoax and the wrong-doings of the deep state," an ex-Trump official says.
I mean isn't this just the next way they'll lie about the investigation? That Trump was holding on to the materials to justify his arguments about the deep state?
I wish the fucker was dead.
― politics is about vibes and the vibes are off (stevie), Thursday, 18 August 2022 09:41 (one year ago) link
I can’t read Newsweek. It shows up but the words physically blend together. I then export the single mass of words as a cube of extra firm tofu and enjoy it with chipotle sauce
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Thursday, 18 August 2022 13:10 (one year ago) link
― politics is about vibes and the vibes are off (stevie), Thursday, August 18, 2022 5:41 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
he shouldve died of the virus, we were robbed
― lag∞n, Thursday, 18 August 2022 13:17 (one year ago) link
Good chance if that had happened then Pence would have won, and would you want that?
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 18 August 2022 14:02 (one year ago) link
we cant all be political consultants, someones got to want the enemies dead
― lag∞n, Thursday, 18 August 2022 14:09 (one year ago) link
i don't think Pence would have won, he has the personality of a damp sock
― a (waterface), Thursday, 18 August 2022 14:15 (one year ago) link
A month out from the election, Pence delivers nice eulogistic noises to keep MAGA on board, Trump-hesitant GOPers feel comfortable about voting for the GOP again ("he won't embarrass us"), I think it might have been enough in the closest states.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 18 August 2022 14:21 (one year ago) link
I'm not saying I would have WANTED it to happen, but.
The Supreme Court fix would have been in by that point regardless, Ginsburg passed in mid-September.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 18 August 2022 14:22 (one year ago) link
I sincerely doubt Pence would have won. MAGA folk voted for Trump, not him. lot of the may have still voted, a lot of them would have lost their motivation.
not to mention the whole fiasco of how to get his name on the ballot that late would have been tricky.
― Weltanschauung Dunston (Neanderthal), Thursday, 18 August 2022 14:39 (one year ago) link
in general you don't want your party's candidate dying the month before a Presidential election, is how I break things down to an extent.
though for state legislative races, sometimes it doesn't matter lol
― Weltanschauung Dunston (Neanderthal), Thursday, 18 August 2022 14:41 (one year ago) link
It its intersting to speculate whether folx in another reality would have turned out in sufficient numbers to elect a dude who, in our reality, they wanted to see dead less than two months later.
― Beautiful Bean Footage Fetishist (Old Lunch), Thursday, 18 August 2022 14:43 (one year ago) link
honestly don't think a "sane" Romney or McCain type Republican is ever gonna win again in my lifetime. I think Pence would've gotten crushed.
― frogbs, Thursday, 18 August 2022 14:49 (one year ago) link
xp never forget
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/missouri-elects-dead-man-as-senator-623222.html
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Thursday, 18 August 2022 14:50 (one year ago) link
THIS time, Charlie Brown
The moment has finally arrived when Lindell is going to change the world by presenting 12 hours of “evidence” on Sat and 12 more on Sunday to hundreds of millions of viewers on Lindell TV: “I’m telling you everybody, it’s over for them!” pic.twitter.com/CLmRfaJIkm— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) August 18, 2022
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 18 August 2022 16:43 (one year ago) link
get your pillows ready
― StanM, Thursday, 18 August 2022 16:46 (one year ago) link
Who knew Mike Lindell would be the next slow cinema titan?
― Bait Kush (Eric H.), Thursday, 18 August 2022 16:51 (one year ago) link
Is it Pay per View? Should be. Vince McMahon needs some work.
Re: voters, I think we all tend to overestimate the level of engagement of the general public. I saw an interview with one of the Alex Jones jurors, and she's from Texas, identifies as liberal, and yet had never heard of Alex Jones. I suspect that just as there are millions of people that think horribly of immigrants or gays or Jews or whatever without having met a single person in any of those categories, there are probably plenty of people (on, er, both sides) that vote for the idea of a candidate without actually knowing much or anything about them or their policies beyond "not Trump" or "not Biden" or whatever.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 18 August 2022 16:53 (one year ago) link
Fleece or be fleeced
― Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 18 August 2022 16:54 (one year ago) link
Too many people vote on the basis of "I'd have a beer with that guy" or "I like that guy, he's taller than the other guy."
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 18 August 2022 17:30 (one year ago) link
Or "He hates the people I hate, fuck yeah"
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 18 August 2022 17:45 (one year ago) link
pic.twitter.com/kr5BuENl92— 🇺🇦🤝🇺🇸 Monty Boa 🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦 (@MontyBoa99) August 18, 2022
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 18 August 2022 18:55 (one year ago) link
How many lefty podcasters are planning to watch the entire Lindell stream-- ON ACID!
― President Keyes, Thursday, 18 August 2022 19:15 (one year ago) link
pic.twitter.com/tq24Y0BwVl— AVΞNGΞR RΞSISTΞR (@AvengerResister) July 24, 2022
NEW: Unsealed Trump Mar-a-Lago search warrant application cover sheet offers the DOJ’s description of potential crimes:— Wilful retention of national defense information— Concealment or removal of govt records— Obstruction of federal investigationhttps://t.co/tA1vsQz2T7— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) August 18, 2022
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 18 August 2022 19:40 (one year ago) link
(Unrelated, the first is just a funny Lindell moment from a few days ago. The latter is Trump's cage rattling resulting in making things worse.)
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 18 August 2022 19:41 (one year ago) link
The 'evidence of a crime' box checked off is also nice to see so starkly. pic.twitter.com/OZkxV84oKl— Don Lewis (@DonLew87) August 18, 2022
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 18 August 2022 19:42 (one year ago) link
yeah but guys he hasn't been convicted yet so he's innocent
― Weltanschauung Dunston (Neanderthal), Thursday, 18 August 2022 19:47 (one year ago) link
We will all owe him a great big apology.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 18 August 2022 19:49 (one year ago) link
If you need to look for "evidence" to "prove" that someone "committed a crime" then you must suck at investigating
― President Keyes, Thursday, 18 August 2022 20:28 (one year ago) link
cant believe they raided a former president for contraband fruits seems excessive
― lag∞n, Thursday, 18 August 2022 20:42 (one year ago) link
so like, lychees or
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 18 August 2022 20:52 (one year ago) link
the manchurian fruit
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Thursday, 18 August 2022 20:56 (one year ago) link
Pretty sure all fruits are considered contraband at Mar a Lago. And vegetables, too.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 18 August 2022 21:02 (one year ago) link
French Fries are vegetables
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 18 August 2022 21:19 (one year ago) link
gummy worms as well
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Thursday, 18 August 2022 21:21 (one year ago) link