The Russia Investigations and other Trump-related cases

[N.E. Brigand]

Former Trump advisor Paul Manafort was removed from a plane in Miami that was bound for Dubai because he was carrying an expired passport.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Manhattan prosecutor who resigned says Trump guilty of felonies - New York Times

Mark Pomerantz, who resigned on Feb. 23 after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had indicated to him he had doubts about pursuing a case against Trump, also said it was "a grave failure of justice" not to hold Trump accountable, according to the Times.

"The team that has been investigating Mr. Trump harbors no doubt about whether he committed crimes - he did," Pomerantz wrote, according to the Times, which published what it said was the letter.

[RoseMorninStar]

Our country is going to be in a sorry state if he is not held accountable. If there is no consequence, it was only practice for what is to come.

[N.E. Brigand]

Judges on a D.C. Court of Appeals today suggested during oral arguments that the House Ways & Means Committee should not be able to view my tax records, despite a plain law and ample precedent to the contrary, because someday I might be the President. I hope they were just being rhetorical in those suggestions.

[N.E. Brigand]

RICO!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Trump sues Hillary Clinton and DNC, alleging conspiracy to link his campaign to Russia

Words fail

x-posted with N.E.B. (of course)

[N.E. Brigand]

Actual text from Donald Trump's new lawsuit against 27 named and multiple unnamed defendants:

"In the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton and her cohorts orchestrated an unthinkable plot – one that shocks the conscience and is an affront to this nation’s democracy. Acting in concert, the Defendants maliciously conspired to weave a false narrative that their Republican opponent, Donald J. Trump, was colluding with a hostile foreign sovereignty. The actions taken in furtherance of their scheme—falsifying evidence, deceiving law enforcement, and exploiting access to highly sensitive data sources—are so outrageous, subversive and incendiary that even the events of Watergate pale in comparison."

It's so beautiful.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

My immediate reaction when I heard the news was to wonder whether this will lead the final unveiling of the portions of the Mueller report that are still redacted.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

In a fine bit of forum shopping, Trump's team managed to file the suit in the Southern District of Florida by including Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida as one of the main defendants. The list of defendants reads like a who's who of GOP bogeymen/women, though I'm surprised to see that Barack and Michelle Obama and Joe and Hunter Biden are not included.

[N.E. Brigand]

If this suit were ever to proceed, Donald Trump probably would have to answer the kinds of questions he dodged or ignored when responding in writing to Mueller.

In other words, it's not going anywhere.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

This article is from three days ago. Not surprisingly, Habba is one of the named attorneys on the new lawsuit (and almost certainly the driving force behind this lawsuit).

The One Trump Lawyer the Rest of Trump’s Legal Team Loathes

[RoseMorninStar]

Trump seems to have a talent for choosing really bad lawyers.

As for the text on that lawsuit.. hysteria much?

[Frelga]

So the defense would be to prove that accusations made in 2016 were true? Can it go forward and not require Trump to take the stand?

[N.E. Brigand]

So the defense would be to prove that accusations made in 2016 were true? Can it go forward and not require Trump to take the stand?

If the case ever gets that far, part of the defense could be to show that the accusations of Trump-Russia collusion were plausible. And given what's found in both Mueller's report and the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee's reports, that would be very easy to show.

I think it also helps the defendants that Donald Trump actually colluded with Russia!

Plus in some places, the lawsuit essentially accuses certain defendants of using a time machine.

And yes, if it ever gets past an early dismissal, Trump would likely be deposed, and he'd either perjure himself (and be tied into all sorts of knots trying to extricate himself from his various contradictory lies) or he would take the Fifth.

In short, the lawsuit shows that his lawyers don't know very much about the Trump-Russia affair; it's mainly a tool for Trump to fundraise off.

However, far left journalist Aaron Maté says that Trump has a strong case. Horseshoe theory strikes again! (To be fair, Maté went around that bend a long time ago.)

[RoseMorninStar]

There's an interesting article in WaPo about Trump's lawsuit against Clinton/DNCTrump accidentally proves that the Clinton campaign wasn’t the driving force of the Russia probe.

[N.E. Brigand]

Manhattan prosecutor who resigned says Trump guilty of felonies - New York Times

Mark Pomerantz, who resigned on Feb. 23 after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had indicated to him he had doubts about pursuing a case against Trump, also said it was "a grave failure of justice" not to hold Trump accountable, according to the Times.

"The team that has been investigating Mr. Trump harbors no doubt about whether he committed crimes - he did," Pomerantz wrote, according to the Times, which published what it said was the letter.

Pomerantz could be wrong, of course, but based on what we know, I do think Bragg should have brought these charges.

New York's civil investigation into the Trump Organization continues, though. Attorney General Letitia James's office, in a motion responding to Trump's appeal of a lower court's determination that he and his children must sit for depositions, says that, despite the state having "identified serious lapses in the Trump Organization's document preservation and production," they have evidence "potentially indicating that, for more than a decade," the Trump Organization's "financial statements relied on misleading asset valuations and other misrepresentations to secure financial benefit".

Some of this has been known for a couple months, but I think one new example James provides is this (emphasis in original): "the 2010-12 statements collectively valued the rent-stabilized units at $49,596,000--over sixty times the $750,000 total value the outside appraiser had assigned to those units".

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Bragg made a political calculation, rather than a legal one. I can't really fault him for that; he is, after all, a politician first, and a prosecutor second.

[RoseMorninStar]

Bragg made a political calculation, rather than a legal one. I can't really fault him for that; he is, after all, a politician first, and a prosecutor second.

I think I read somewhere that the politicization of courts is abdication of political duty. By not doing his duty, he is making a political choice.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

No, his job is a political one. From his point of view, he is doing his duty.

[RoseMorninStar]

I am not well versed in the law.. or in the duties of specific political offices, but is it not the DA's obligation/duty to uphold the law and ensure justice is served and that 'no one is above the law'? Wouldn't self-preservation over public duty contribute to the erosion of 'rule of law'' and be an abdication of his duty? I'm not being snarky, I honestly thought that was the job.
*edited for missing 'the'.