Let’s hear it for New York Attorney General Letitia James! Today AG James filed suit in New York state court against Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and the Trump Organization.
James said her suit is seeking around $250 million in disgorgement from the defendants. She is also asking that the Trump Organization be barred from engaging in any commercial real estate acquisitions in New York for five years and Trump and his children be prohibited from serving as officers or directors in any corporation in the state. She is further seeking the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee compliance, financial reporting and valuations at the Trump Organization as well as disclosures to lenders, insurers and tax authorities for at least five years.
And Trump appears to have had a bad day in court yesterday, also. One of the ongoing puzzles of the Trump defense has been the choice of senior US district judge Raymond Dearie as one of their two special master candidates. The legal bobbleheads on MSNBC, Andrew Weissmann et al., have nothing but good things to say about Dearie. He’s a judge’s judge, one said yesterday. But then Axios reported that the Trumpers believe Dearie has a grudge against the FBI. Whatever. I suspect this is not going to work for them. In court yesterday Dearie let them know he’s not playing their games.
Robert Katzberg writes at Slate,
I and so many others have been unable to figure out why in the world the Trump legal team nominated Judge Dearie to serve as Mar-a-Lago special master in the first place. Yes, Judge Dearie is apparently a Republican, and yes, he was appointed to the bench by President Ronald Reagan. But, really, Judge Dearie? Didn’t Team Trump know that the person they were choosing to uphold their dubious legal position is among the most respected members of the New York federal judiciary, admired for decades by prosecutors and defense counsel alike for his rational, ”by the book” approach?
Given Judge Dearie’s reputation for integrity and objectivity, it is no surprise that the Department of Justice quickly agreed to his appointment. After all, DOJ is appropriately convinced its legal position on the Mar-a-Lago seizure will be upheld by any fair minded, experienced judge, one like, say, Raymond Dearie. But from the Trump perspective, having lucked into the clearly sympathetic Judge Cannon to oversee the Florida seizure litigation, why would they let a model of judicial objectivity serve as special master to make key rulings in a matter in which they are, as a matter of law, flying by the seat of their pants? Why not just nominate another member of the Federalist Society with ties to the Republican right? Had they done so, the Department of Justice would have surely objected to both of their nominees, leaving it to Judge Cannon to make the selection. Given her rulings thus far, it would have been a good bet she would have chosen a Trump nominee, or at least selected a new special counsel of her choice who might have had sympathies consistent with her own.
Maybe someone on Trump’s team really wants him to lose.
BTW, I thought these Weissmann tweets were interesting —
Exactly ??
Trump appeal argument: govt has not proved it’s a duck other than it walks talks and looks like one, govt swore it’s one and we don’t deny it’s one. And it has a big sign on it saying “I’m a duck.” But other than that, govt has nothing. https://t.co/AV0X9EmGcw— Andrew Weissmann ? (@AWeissmann_) September 20, 2022
This ?? is why the conservative scholars and their ilk are not supporting Trump argument. Undermines unitary (current) executive theory they champion. https://t.co/xSXollbZSc
— Andrew Weissmann ? (@AWeissmann_) September 20, 2022
I’m feeling a bit better. The antiviral pills seem to work well.
Looks like Trump's supporters are going the have cough up another 250 mill. A fool and their money soon parted? I wonder if the goats that Trump keeps for agriculural exemptions will be affected by the lawsuit. I guess they can always drive them down to Virginia to see if they can claim some sort of an exemption at Eric's vinyard.
The nicest part in all this is that Weisselberg is going to have to sing for his freedom. 12 years is a long time. The judge warned him not to be playing games.. testify truthfully.
Math magic.. Q. How do you convert 100 days into 4,384 days?
A. Fail to tell the truth. ( ratting out the Trump organization)
Maybe someone on Trump’s team really wants him to lose.
Who knows, maybe 3 million bucks can buy you a sound appeal on the grounds of ineffective counsel. What's 3 million bucks when you can easily milk the rubes for 150 million bucks?
I read that Dearie sat on the FISA court (it's how he has the needed security clearance), and was known to be skeptical about it – or at least that's what I recollect – and so perhaps that made him a good choice, so thought the trumpers.
Glad to read you're well enough to write.
Moonbat – I think you are right that FISA affects how Dearie sees his job. IMO, Dearie takes national security very seriously. Cannon seems to not care.
Some have suggested Cannon can and will pull Dearie to put in somebody sympathetic to Trump. Problem: Dearie owes Cannon nothing – he didn't need this job or this headache. If Cannon pulls him to subvert justice, I think Dearie will get vocal about it and the apparent motives.
The 11th Circuit has sided with the Justice Department's appeal, allowing the DoJ to continue doing damage assessment and criminal investigation of the classified documents. The panel pretty much told Cannon that Trump has no claims to the documents, period, end of story. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/21/mar-a-lago-appeal-court-ruling/
Will Trump appeal to the Supremes?
First guess: Yes.
Will the USSC hear the case?
First guess: No
Glad to hear you're on the road to healing, maha!
Few in history have earned their kick(s) in the ass from Karma, like Donnie has coming.
And more kick(s) comin'!!!
I'm glad the antivirals are helping. Just get lots of rest. I hope you get better. The vaccines really do help your system cope with it I think.
E. Jean Carrol plans to file another lawsuit against Trump under a new law in NY that allows a civil suit with damages after the statute of limitations has run out. Two characteristics of Trump are gonna be called into question in front of two juries. The first is his business integrity. The second is his masculinity. Real men don't grope and rape women. Trump has already confessed to groping. I'm not sure what the NY policy about cameras in the courtroom is.
Not long ago tonight, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals halted Dearie's review of classified documents and allowed the DoJ to resume work with those documents. The ruling from a three-judge panel included two judges appointed by Trump. The review by DoJ would be the foundation of criminal charges – the Espionage Act and Obstruction charges have been suggested in the request for the search warrant. Tidbit: the DOJ also got internal surveillance video from outside the storage area at MAL – FOR SIX MONTHS! My guess is those tapes are why the lawyers for Trump who said in writing that everything bearing classified markings had been turned over are hiring lawyers. Last year, a former Trump WH lawyer told Trump that if he had classified stuff at MAL, to turn it over. If that's true, Trump knew and DOJ can prove it.
Civil cases against Trump related to J6 are ramping up. Some PR people think the volume of trials against poor lil Donnie will create sympathy for him leading up to the election. Especially with Trump whining from one coast to the other in a refurbished plane. I don't agree. No case without legal merit should be brought but every case that has evidence and a reasonable chance of securing a "guilty" verdict should be brought.
If GA can bring charges against Rudy for interfering, there's a good chance he'll turn on Trump to save his own ass. That will be enough to bring charges against Trump for interfering in the election in GA. I don't have an opinion about the odds on the GA investigation. But it would be sweet.
The NY civil case can produce criminal charges. IRS has been notified where the fraud affected taxes. I think Trump will become more direct in calling for street "protests." Trump stands a good chance of getting convicted if the cases go to a jury. Trump wants them all to go away and he thinks riots will do it. But his fans aren't lining up to get shot or go to prison.
So, what happens from here. Forbes did have the great prevaricator on his 500 richest list during those years. In the interest of journalistic integrity isn't old flat tax bound to print a bold retraction and fill his spot with the person that was the unlucky 501st richest? You talk about inflation. By Trump's accounting principles well…no not even then would I have to worry about getting all that notoriety. The best outcome I could expect would be that Forbes would admit he made a mistake and did not see a possible error in his thinking. Chances of that equal probability of a hard frost in hell.
May the antivirus continue to be working with you. At least the news is uplifting.
File under, "Believe it or Not", (but there's video) Trump went on Fox in an interview with Hannity and said he declassified the documents, there did not have to be a process, and the president can declassify "just by thinking about it."
Which suggests to me: 1) The documents were not ever declassified before Trump moved out of the WH 2) Trump convinced himself that the claim the documents are declassified would be a Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card whenever he played it.
From the submissions of Trump's lawyers, Trump demanded they play that card – and they (in lawyerly fashion ) asked for proof, or where there is proof, like a document or list filed with National Archives of the declassification. And Trump demanded the lawyers just assert it because (Trump thinks) the burden of proof shifts to the National Archives to prove Trump did not declassify by telepathy. (Trump undoubtedly thought his reasoning flawless.) The lawyers said, "We won't do that because we don't want to be disbarred." And so the submissions to the court by Team Trump have danced around the issue Fred Astaire style.
The kicker I read this morning – the 11th declared the classification controversy to be a "red-herring" – yeah, they used the term. The court decided (two of three judges being Trump appointees) that the law is clear – regardless of classification status, the records are the property of the government. Which makes Trump's insane interview with Hannity a PR stunt for the cult.
Trump could appeal to the USSC. (Fat chance there.) Or Team Trump could suddenly reverse six weeks of discussion over whether the documents that they demanded be returned, with a new defense that everything was actually planted in MAL by the FBI. (I hope Garland has a neck brace to prevent whiplash.)
PS Delighted to hear you are feeling (somewhat) better, Barbara.