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Thursday, March 28, 2024
But He's Not Gone Yet
Making
Attorneys
Get
Attorneys
Questions:
- 128-page opinion? Is that a lot? Seems like a lot
- Is a disbarred attorney allowed to do any lawyer stuff, other than actually practicing law?
“The most severe available professional sanction is warranted to protect the public,” Judge Yvette Roland wrote.
A California judge on Wednesday recommended the disbarment of John Eastman, calling to revoke the law license of one of former President Donald Trump’s top allies in his failed last-ditch gambit to subvert the 2020 election.
Judge Yvette Roland, who presided over months of testimony and argument about the basis of Eastman’s fringe legal theories, ruled that the veteran conservative attorney violated ethics rules — and even potentially criminal law — when he advanced Trump’s efforts to overturn the election results based on weak or discredited claims of fraud.
Eastman plans to appeal Roland’s decision to a panel of judges, an interim step before the matter reaches the state Supreme Court. But while his appeal is pending, the ruling forces his law license into “inactive” status, meaning he can no longer practice law in California.
“Given the serious and extensive nature of Eastman’s unethical actions, the most severe available professional sanction is warranted to protect the public and preserve the public confidence in the legal system,” Roland ruled.
Roland’s 128-page opinion was a lacerating rebuke of Eastman’s conduct and his subsequent lack of remorse. She concluded that he made knowingly flimsy claims of fraud and irregularities in legal filings on Trump’s behalf, including his brief for Trump in a Supreme Court fight.
The judge walked through Eastman’s extensive involvement in Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, from his early lawsuits that failed to gain traction to his bid to solicit GOP state legislatures to send “alternate” electors to Congress, a last-gasp bid to keep Trump in power. At every turn, Roland said, Eastman ignored evidence that was unfavorable to his case and accepted at face value claims of fraud or misconduct aimed at sowing doubt about the election results.
“He turned a blind eye to any information that would not support his position of election fraud,” Roland wrote.
In all, Roland found Eastman culpable for 10 of 11 charges that state bar investigators brought against him, including misleading courts, lack of candor and, most notably, plotting with Trump to derail the transfer of power.
“Eastman conspired with President Trump to obstruct a lawful function of the government of the United States; specifically, by conspiring to disrupt the electoral count on January 6, 2021,” Roland ruled.
Eastman’s attorney, Randall Miller, said Eastman still believes his work on Trump’s behalf in 2020 “was based on reliable legal precedent, prior presidential elections, research of constitutional text, and extensive scholarly material.” He also noted that Eastman is facing criminal charges in Georgia and has now lost the ability to finance his defense with his work as an attorney.
“Any reasonable person can see the inherent unfairness of prohibiting a presumed-innocent defendant from being able to earn the funds needed to pay for the enormous expenses required to defend himself, in the profession in which he has long been licensed,” Miller said. “That is not justice and serves no legitimate purpose to protect the public.”
Roland found, in contrast, that the state bar investigators had failed to convincingly show that Eastman’s remarks to a Jan. 6 rally — which preceded the violent assault on the Capitol — played a role in ginning up the subsequent attack.
Roland said her disbarment recommendation was in part based on Eastman’s refusal to express regret and his attacks on the proceedings against him as politically motivated.
“Eastman has exhibited an unwillingness to acknowledge any ethical lapses regarding his actions, demonstrating an apparent inability to accept responsibility,” she wrote. “This lack of remorse and accountability presents a significant risk that Eastman may engage in further unethical conduct, compounding the threat to the public.”
Eastman testified for hours during his disbarment trial, claiming that he relied on a cadre of statisticians and data analysts to conclude that the 2020 election was rife with misconduct and that state legislatures in a handful of swing states should step in to replace Joe Biden’s electors with Trump’s. But Roland said those analysts’ claims were easily refuted by expert testimony, and Eastman should have known better than to rely on them.
In addition, Roland concluded that Eastman stretched and contorted even his own outlier theories to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to single-handedly block Joe Biden’s victory, even when no state legislatures had signed onto the effort.
Eastman’s pending disbarment compounds the legal trouble he’s facing in other states. He’s been charged alongside Trump and other allies in Fulton County, Georgia, as a member of an alleged racketeering conspiracy aimed at corrupting the results of the 2020 election in the state. He was also identified, but not named, in Trump’s federal indictment in Washington, D.C., as one of six unindicted co-conspirators assisting Trump’s bid to seize a second term.
Eastman’s trial, which spanned portions of six months last year, was the most exacting test of the legal theories he employed that nearly upended the transfer of presidential power for the first time in American history. Witnesses for the state bar discipline authorities included top election officials in several states challenged by Trump, constitutional law expert Matthew Seligman and even Eastman himself.
Eastman first came into Trump’s orbit in September 2020, when Trump tasked another lawyer, Cleta Mitchell, to put together a team of election lawyers to prepare for post-election challenges. In early November 2020, Mitchell encouraged Eastman to craft a legal argument in favor of state legislatures overturning election results.
By early December, Eastman had been engaged by the Trump campaign to represent Trump in ongoing legal challenges to the election results in Georgia and at the Supreme Court.
As Trump’s legal challenges faltered, Eastman turned his focus to the Jan. 6, 2021, session of Congress, when the House and Senate were required to meet — in a session overseen by Pence. Eastman drafted memos describing “scenarios” in which Pence asserted the unilateral authority to refuse to count some of Biden’s presidential electors, forcing a delay in the election and giving more time for state legislatures to consider reversing Trump’s defeat.
Pence, however, refused to adopt Eastman’s theory, saying it would be illegal and unconstitutional, and ultimately upheld the certified election results in all 50 states, ensuring Biden’s victory. Eastman famously argued with Pence’s legal counsel, Greg Jacob, by email, encouraging Pence to reconsider his position, even as rioters attacked the Capitol and forced Pence and Congress into hiding.
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Next Up
Hush money judge warns Trump’s lawyers to abide by rulings
Judge Juan Merchan on Tuesday warned former President Trump’s lawyers in his hush money case to abide by the court’s rulings.
“The Court advises counsel that it expects and welcome zealous advocacy and creative lawyering,” Merchan wrote.
“However, the Court also expects those advocates to demonstrate the proper respect and decorum that is owed to the courts and its judicial officers and to never forget that they are officers of the court. As such, counsel is expected to follow this Court’s orders,” he continued, also referencing his power to issue criminal contempt punishments.
The stern warning came at the end of the judge’s four-page ruling denying Trump’s request to lift a requirement that the parties seek permission before filing any new motions prior to trial.
Merchan had implemented the requirement on March 8, portraying it as a move to manage the case more efficiently as Trump mounts various attempts to delay his trial at the last-minute.
On Tuesday, the judge accused Trump’s lawyers of attempting to “circumvent” the new requirement by filing one of their proposed motions as an exhibit to their letter seeking permission before Merchan signed off.
“This Court emphasizes that it hopes for and fully expects zealous advocacy from counsel as well as spirited contribution from witnesses and parties alike,” Merchan wrote. “Nonetheless, the Court expects that the line between zealous advocacy and willful disregard of its orders will not be crossed.”
Merchan’s ruling came one day after he refused to delay Trump’s trial further, setting jury selection to begin on April 15. It is set to mark the first criminal trial of a former president.
Trump is charged in the case with 34 counts of falsifying business records over reimbursements to his then-fixer, Michael Cohen, who paid porn actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 just before the 2016 election to stay quiet about an alleged affair with Trump.
Trump, who acknowledges the reimbursements but denies the affair, pleaded not guilty.
The ruling was one of two Merchan issued on Tuesday. He also rejected Trump’s motion to post any communications between the judge and the parties not already made public.
“To be clear, all motions, decisions, orders, and pleadings, normally maintained in the court’s public file are in the public file,” Merchan wrote.
“However, the Court also expects those advocates to demonstrate the proper respect and decorum that is owed to the courts and its judicial officers and to never forget that they are officers of the court. As such, counsel is expected to follow this Court’s orders,” he continued, also referencing his power to issue criminal contempt punishments.
The stern warning came at the end of the judge’s four-page ruling denying Trump’s request to lift a requirement that the parties seek permission before filing any new motions prior to trial.
Merchan had implemented the requirement on March 8, portraying it as a move to manage the case more efficiently as Trump mounts various attempts to delay his trial at the last-minute.
On Tuesday, the judge accused Trump’s lawyers of attempting to “circumvent” the new requirement by filing one of their proposed motions as an exhibit to their letter seeking permission before Merchan signed off.
“This Court emphasizes that it hopes for and fully expects zealous advocacy from counsel as well as spirited contribution from witnesses and parties alike,” Merchan wrote. “Nonetheless, the Court expects that the line between zealous advocacy and willful disregard of its orders will not be crossed.”
Merchan’s ruling came one day after he refused to delay Trump’s trial further, setting jury selection to begin on April 15. It is set to mark the first criminal trial of a former president.
Trump is charged in the case with 34 counts of falsifying business records over reimbursements to his then-fixer, Michael Cohen, who paid porn actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 just before the 2016 election to stay quiet about an alleged affair with Trump.
Trump, who acknowledges the reimbursements but denies the affair, pleaded not guilty.
The ruling was one of two Merchan issued on Tuesday. He also rejected Trump’s motion to post any communications between the judge and the parties not already made public.
“To be clear, all motions, decisions, orders, and pleadings, normally maintained in the court’s public file are in the public file,” Merchan wrote.
Today's TweeXt
.@realDonaldTrump, you want to talk about corruption? I’ve released 21 years of my tax returns — release yours or shut up. pic.twitter.com/5JFDINCSeQ
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 16, 2019
Monday, March 25, 2024
It's The Fraud, Stupid
- The Stormy Daniels thing - Fraud
- The Jan6 thing - Fraud
- The Georgia RICO thing - Fraud
- The NYC fuck-the-banks-thing - Fraud
Trump
is
a
fucking
FRAUD
Naughty Nana
... lines it out for us on Agenda 47
Trump’s radical second-term agenda would wield executive power in unprecedented ways
The agenda they are crafting would put into practice Trump’s hardline views that he has publicly expressed during his latest campaign for president and will almost certainly face a series of legal and political challenges.
Behind the scenes, Trump-aligned outside groups have been working on crafting executive orders, studying the Constitution in anticipation of legal challenges, and looking for work arounds to give Trump the power to invoke some of these policies on day one should he regain power.
These outside loyalists are keenly aware of the chaos and disorganization of Trump’s first term. Now at the helm of a number of conservative groups in Washington, they are waiting in the wings, helping structure a plan that would have the wheels in motion on implementing the sweeping agenda.
Project 2025, a transition project run by the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, has brought many of these groups together to “pave the way for an effective conservative administration.”
The efforts by outside groups to map out the legal and policy specifics of a second Trump term were recently met with some pushback from Trump’s official campaign apparatus.
“The efforts by various nonprofit groups are certainly appreciated and can be enormously helpful. However, none of these groups or individuals speak for President Trump or his campaign,” campaign advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita wrote in a statement.
Still, the broad contours of Trump’s agenda have been laid out by the former president himself on the trail as well as in a series of videos and releases put out by the campaign.
Trump’s campaign has recently brought on policy-focused hires who will help craft his policy messaging and eventually look at proposals from various conservative groups. The goal is to have executive orders prepared – on everything from immigration to the removal of government protections for civil servants – for Trump to sign on day one of a potential second administration.
Using the Justice Department for revenge
Part of Trump’s plans would reclassify tens of thousands of civil service workers — who typically remain on the job as presidents and their administrations change — as at-will employees, a move that would make it much easier to fire them.
Trump said in a March video that he would sign an executive order doing so, which he said would allow him “to remove rogue bureaucrats.” He vowed to “wield that power very aggressively.”
“We will clean out all of the corrupt actors in our National Security and Intelligence apparatus, and there are plenty of them,” Trump said. “The departments and agencies that have been weaponized will be completely overhauled so that faceless bureaucrats will never again be able to target and persecute conservatives, Christians, or the left’s political enemies.”
Privately, Trump has blamed some of these career government employees as the reason some of his policy proposals were not enacted quickly during his first term and called for loyalists with similar ideology to be installed in every area of government.
Part of Project 2025’s objective is to build out a database of vetted potential conservative staffers that an incoming Republican president could draw from, which a source referred to as “a conservative LinkedIn.” The database, which is being managed by tech company Oracle, has seen thousands of applications and has hopes to have thousands of vetted prospects for a future administration in place for a potential transition.
While a source familiar with the program said there was currently no FBI level background check or loyalty test for applicants, resumes are being marked with potential “red flags” that allow for a new administration to draw their own conclusions about possible hires.
Hardline immigration policies
Trump is also planning a widespread expansion of his former administration’s hardline immigration policies if elected in 2024 that would restrict both legal and illegal immigration.
“Stopping the invasion at our southern border is an urgent national security necessity and one of President Trump’s top priorities. For that reason, he has laid out – in his own speeches and Agenda 47 platform – by far the most detailed program for securing the border, stopping illegal immigration, and removing those who should never have been allowed into our country in the first place,” a spokesperson for the Trump campaign said in a statement to CNN.
The plans would include rounding up undocumented immigrants already in the US and placing them in detention camps to await deportation, a source familiar with the plans confirmed to CNN.
The proposals would necessitate the building of large camps to house migrants waiting for deportation and the tapping of federal and local law enforcement to assist with large-scale arrests of undocumented immigrants across the country.
Should Congress refuse to fund the operation, Trump could turn to a tactic used in his first term to secure more funding for a border wall – redirecting funds from the Pentagon, the source confirmed.
Trump has publicly said he wants to revive many of his first-term immigration policies to restrict both legal and illegal immigration — including reinstating and expanding a travel ban on predominantly-Muslim countries and bringing back a Covid-era policy, known as Title 42, to further restrict immigration into the country, though this time it would be based on the assertion that migrants carry other infectious diseases.
Trump also pledged to “terminate all work permits for illegal aliens and demand that Congress send me a bill outlawing all welfare payments to illegal migrants of any kind.”
The former president also warned of caravans coming from Mexico to the US border, and vowed to prosecute groups and charities that he claimed facilitated the large-scale unlawful immigration.
A sweeping domestic agenda
In a second term, Trump also has designs on drastically reshaping the lives of Americans when it comes to policies affecting law enforcement, trade and the social safety net.
The former president has said he would require local law enforcement agencies to use the controversial police practice of stop-and-frisk in order to receive some Justice Department funding. He’s also suggested he would deploy the National Guard to cities dealing with high levels of crime.
Another policy aimed at combating homelessness calls for the creation of “tent cities” on “inexpensive land” that would be staffed by health care workers, giving people a choice between relocating or facing jail time.
When it comes to the economy, Trump has floated across-the-board tariffs on all imported goods, signaling an aggressive approach to trade policy, with a focus on China.
“When companies come in and they dump their products in the United States, they should pay, automatically, let’s say a 10 percent tax,” Trump said during an interview with Larry Kudlow on Fox Business.
- A massive operation to detain and deport undocumented immigrants.
- A purge of the federal workforce of anyone deemed disloyal.
- Wielding the power of federal law enforcement against political enemies.
The agenda they are crafting would put into practice Trump’s hardline views that he has publicly expressed during his latest campaign for president and will almost certainly face a series of legal and political challenges.
Behind the scenes, Trump-aligned outside groups have been working on crafting executive orders, studying the Constitution in anticipation of legal challenges, and looking for work arounds to give Trump the power to invoke some of these policies on day one should he regain power.
These outside loyalists are keenly aware of the chaos and disorganization of Trump’s first term. Now at the helm of a number of conservative groups in Washington, they are waiting in the wings, helping structure a plan that would have the wheels in motion on implementing the sweeping agenda.
Project 2025, a transition project run by the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, has brought many of these groups together to “pave the way for an effective conservative administration.”
The efforts by outside groups to map out the legal and policy specifics of a second Trump term were recently met with some pushback from Trump’s official campaign apparatus.
“The efforts by various nonprofit groups are certainly appreciated and can be enormously helpful. However, none of these groups or individuals speak for President Trump or his campaign,” campaign advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita wrote in a statement.
Still, the broad contours of Trump’s agenda have been laid out by the former president himself on the trail as well as in a series of videos and releases put out by the campaign.
Trump’s campaign has recently brought on policy-focused hires who will help craft his policy messaging and eventually look at proposals from various conservative groups. The goal is to have executive orders prepared – on everything from immigration to the removal of government protections for civil servants – for Trump to sign on day one of a potential second administration.
Using the Justice Department for revenge
Trump’s plan includes asserting more White House control over the Justice Department, an institution the former president has said he would utilize to seek revenge on his critics, including former allies.
“I will appoint a real special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president in the history of the United States of America, Joe Biden, and the entire Biden crime family,” the former president said in June after his arraignment in Florida. “I will totally obliterate the Deep State.”
During a recent interview with Univision, Trump took it a step further.
“If I happen to be president and I see somebody who’s doing well and beating me very badly, I say go down and indict them,” he said.
Despite the long-standing tradition of DOJ and several other smaller government agencies operating independently, those in Trump’s orbit have referred to these agencies as an “administrative deep state” and “rogue fourth branch of government” that they believe should answer to the president as part of the executive branch.
In videos and speeches, he has laid out his plans to gut the current Justice system by firing “radical Marxist prosecutors that are destroying America.”
It’s part of a broader effort that would break down legal restrictions and traditional protections against political interference and give the White House more authority to install ideological allies throughout the federal government.
If Trump is elected next year and pursues the blueprint his campaign and allies are now developing, legal experts say it would lead to years of legal battles and political clashes with Congress over the limits of presidential authority.
“To some degree we would be in uncharted territory,” Stephen Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas School of Law and CNN legal analyst, said. “A lot of the relevant constraints have been norms and not rules. Those norms were enforced not by litigation, those norms were enforced politically. The reality of a second Trump administration is going to be a lot of novel litigation about these kinds of abuses of what were historically norms constraining the executive.”
Purging the federal bureaucracy
“I will appoint a real special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president in the history of the United States of America, Joe Biden, and the entire Biden crime family,” the former president said in June after his arraignment in Florida. “I will totally obliterate the Deep State.”
During a recent interview with Univision, Trump took it a step further.
“If I happen to be president and I see somebody who’s doing well and beating me very badly, I say go down and indict them,” he said.
Despite the long-standing tradition of DOJ and several other smaller government agencies operating independently, those in Trump’s orbit have referred to these agencies as an “administrative deep state” and “rogue fourth branch of government” that they believe should answer to the president as part of the executive branch.
In videos and speeches, he has laid out his plans to gut the current Justice system by firing “radical Marxist prosecutors that are destroying America.”
It’s part of a broader effort that would break down legal restrictions and traditional protections against political interference and give the White House more authority to install ideological allies throughout the federal government.
If Trump is elected next year and pursues the blueprint his campaign and allies are now developing, legal experts say it would lead to years of legal battles and political clashes with Congress over the limits of presidential authority.
“To some degree we would be in uncharted territory,” Stephen Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas School of Law and CNN legal analyst, said. “A lot of the relevant constraints have been norms and not rules. Those norms were enforced not by litigation, those norms were enforced politically. The reality of a second Trump administration is going to be a lot of novel litigation about these kinds of abuses of what were historically norms constraining the executive.”
Purging the federal bureaucracy
Part of Trump’s plans would reclassify tens of thousands of civil service workers — who typically remain on the job as presidents and their administrations change — as at-will employees, a move that would make it much easier to fire them.
Trump said in a March video that he would sign an executive order doing so, which he said would allow him “to remove rogue bureaucrats.” He vowed to “wield that power very aggressively.”
“We will clean out all of the corrupt actors in our National Security and Intelligence apparatus, and there are plenty of them,” Trump said. “The departments and agencies that have been weaponized will be completely overhauled so that faceless bureaucrats will never again be able to target and persecute conservatives, Christians, or the left’s political enemies.”
Privately, Trump has blamed some of these career government employees as the reason some of his policy proposals were not enacted quickly during his first term and called for loyalists with similar ideology to be installed in every area of government.
Part of Project 2025’s objective is to build out a database of vetted potential conservative staffers that an incoming Republican president could draw from, which a source referred to as “a conservative LinkedIn.” The database, which is being managed by tech company Oracle, has seen thousands of applications and has hopes to have thousands of vetted prospects for a future administration in place for a potential transition.
While a source familiar with the program said there was currently no FBI level background check or loyalty test for applicants, resumes are being marked with potential “red flags” that allow for a new administration to draw their own conclusions about possible hires.
Hardline immigration policies
Trump is also planning a widespread expansion of his former administration’s hardline immigration policies if elected in 2024 that would restrict both legal and illegal immigration.
“Stopping the invasion at our southern border is an urgent national security necessity and one of President Trump’s top priorities. For that reason, he has laid out – in his own speeches and Agenda 47 platform – by far the most detailed program for securing the border, stopping illegal immigration, and removing those who should never have been allowed into our country in the first place,” a spokesperson for the Trump campaign said in a statement to CNN.
The plans would include rounding up undocumented immigrants already in the US and placing them in detention camps to await deportation, a source familiar with the plans confirmed to CNN.
The proposals would necessitate the building of large camps to house migrants waiting for deportation and the tapping of federal and local law enforcement to assist with large-scale arrests of undocumented immigrants across the country.
Should Congress refuse to fund the operation, Trump could turn to a tactic used in his first term to secure more funding for a border wall – redirecting funds from the Pentagon, the source confirmed.
Trump has publicly said he wants to revive many of his first-term immigration policies to restrict both legal and illegal immigration — including reinstating and expanding a travel ban on predominantly-Muslim countries and bringing back a Covid-era policy, known as Title 42, to further restrict immigration into the country, though this time it would be based on the assertion that migrants carry other infectious diseases.
Trump also pledged to “terminate all work permits for illegal aliens and demand that Congress send me a bill outlawing all welfare payments to illegal migrants of any kind.”
The former president also warned of caravans coming from Mexico to the US border, and vowed to prosecute groups and charities that he claimed facilitated the large-scale unlawful immigration.
A sweeping domestic agenda
In a second term, Trump also has designs on drastically reshaping the lives of Americans when it comes to policies affecting law enforcement, trade and the social safety net.
The former president has said he would require local law enforcement agencies to use the controversial police practice of stop-and-frisk in order to receive some Justice Department funding. He’s also suggested he would deploy the National Guard to cities dealing with high levels of crime.
Another policy aimed at combating homelessness calls for the creation of “tent cities” on “inexpensive land” that would be staffed by health care workers, giving people a choice between relocating or facing jail time.
When it comes to the economy, Trump has floated across-the-board tariffs on all imported goods, signaling an aggressive approach to trade policy, with a focus on China.
“When companies come in and they dump their products in the United States, they should pay, automatically, let’s say a 10 percent tax,” Trump said during an interview with Larry Kudlow on Fox Business.
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