CrackerJack
2023-10-25 01:11:00 UTC
This is all on Trump. Can't wait until they lock him up.
Trump admitted to dancing with the celebrating muslims in NYC during 9/11.
He sucks so much Saudi cock that he barely finds time to swallow those
hamburgers.
Trump won't be POTUS again, but he will end his days behind bars.
Trumps ex-lawyers become prosecutors star witnesses
Prosecutors are increasingly pitting ex-members of Donald Trumps legal
team against him. Jenna Ellis sits with her lawyers.
Jenna Ellis (center) has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge over efforts
to overturn Donald Trumps 2020 election loss. | John Bazemore/AP
By Kyle Cheney, Betsy Woodruff Swan and Josh Gerstein
10/24/2023 05:07 PM EDT
In two courtrooms 800 miles apart on Tuesday, a stark reality for former
President Donald Trump became clearer than ever: If Trump is taken down in
his myriad criminal and civil cases, it will likely be at the hands of his
own former lawyers.
In the morning, Jenna Ellis pleaded guilty to an election felony in
Georgia and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors who have charged Trump
and various allies with a racketeering conspiracy to subvert the 2020
election. She became the third Trump-affiliated lawyer in the past week to
flip in the Georgia election case.
Then, in the afternoon, Trumps longtime personal lawyer and fixer,
Michael Cohen, took the witness stand in Manhattan and told a judge how
his former boss fraudulently inflated his net worth.
Trumps lawyers have long served as a force field separating him from
investigators and prosecutors targeting him. He and his allies have
invoked attorney-client privilege to shield potential evidence, and Trump
has even floated an advice of counsel defense in some of his criminal
cases, arguing that he cannot be guilty because he was simply following
the advice of his lawyers.
But as Trumps legal troubles mount, prosecutors are increasingly turning
his relationships with his lawyers against him.
Just last week, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro two lawyers who
helped advise Trump on his desperate last-ditch strategy to subvert the
2020 election pleaded guilty in Georgia to aspects of the alleged
scheme. In an ominous split screen for Trump, another architect of his
effort attorney John Eastman retook the witness stand in a
long-running disbarment trial in California, describing Oval Office
meetings and phone conversations in the frenzied weeks before Jan. 6,
2021.
Ellis plea means nearly every high-level attorney who worked with Trump
in that period has provided voluminous testimony to congressional
investigators or prosecutors. The group includes campaign attorneys who
have spoken with prosecutors and the House Jan. 6 select committee, as
well as Trumps two top White House lawyers from the final period of his
presidency: Pat Cipollone and Patrick Philbin.
Ty Cobb, another White House lawyer from earlier in Trumps administration
who helped him navigate special counsel Robert Muellers probe, said he is
not surprised that many ex-members of Trumps legal team have found
themselves in legal trouble.
Hes had lawyers abandon their ethics for him for decades, he said. And
he puts enormous pressure on lawyers. Thats why Trump went through a lot
of lawyers, in my own view.
Trump has no ability to be grateful, he added. Gratitude is something
that does not exist in his narcissistic world. So, the fact that these
people are sacrificing their lives, reputations, and careers, that will
not register with him, he said. Michael Cohen: Trump fraud trial is
about accountability
Its not just Trumps election-related cases that feature evidence
supplied by his own lawyers. In New York, Cohen is a star witness for the
government both in Trumps ongoing civil fraud trial and in Trumps
pending criminal case stemming from hush money payments to a porn star.
And in Florida, where Trump is facing federal charges for warehousing
national security documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving office,
Trump attorney Evan Corcoran was ordered by a court to provide notes,
recordings and testimony about Trumps alleged efforts to obstruct the
government from reclaiming the materials.
Trump and his current lawyers have already moved to distance the former
president from figures like Ellis and Powell. Cohen, who turned on his
former boss years ago, gets harsher treatment: a scathing, direct attack
on his character.
Well, hes a proven liar, as you know. Hes a felon. He served a lot of
time for lying and were just going to go in and see. And I think youll
see that for yourself, Trump said before court Tuesday morning. Hes a
liar trying to get a better deal for himself but its not going to work.
What remains unclear: How damaging will these lawyers testimony actually
be for Trump? Chesebros attorney Scott Grubman insisted Saturday that
Trump doesnt need to worry about his clients testimony.
I can say personally that I do not believe the state will call him to
testify on their behalf, Grubman told MSNBCs Katie Phang. If they do,
and Im wrong, Mr. Chesebro will be there, he will testify truthfully. If
I were the state, I would not call him.
Prosecutors in Georgia have not explicitly indicated that those who
pleaded guilty had evidence to offer about Trump or whether they might be
likelier to testify about others charged in the conspiracy, like Eastman
or yet another Trump lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
Trump tried to suggest on his own social media site Sunday that Powell
didnt really work for him, despite his close consultation with her during
the post-election period and his campaigns public description of her as
part of an elite strike force leading his battle to reverse his 2020
election loss.
MS. POWELL WAS NOT MY ATTORNEY, AND NEVER WAS, Trump wrote on Truth
Social Sunday, three days after Powell entered her plea deal in Georgia.
But just days after the 2020 election, Trump took to X, formerly Twitter,
to tout Powell by name, along with Ellis, as part of a truly great team,
added to our other wonderful lawyers and representatives! And in December
2020, he considered appointing Powell special counsel to empower her to
seize voting machines and investigate her fringe claims of voter fraud.
Trump ultimately reversed course amid pushback from his White House staff.
As with Powell, the role of Trumps lawyers in his criminal cases has also
shined a light on the murky arrangements he and his campaign had with some
of those who took on key leadership roles in Trumps orbit.
For example, Eastman and Chesebro spent weeks facing questions about
whether and when they actually entered into attorney-client relationships
with Trump if they ever in fact did. A federal judge in California
ordered Eastman to produce evidence of his formal relationship with Trump,
and he turned over an unsigned retainer agreement with Trumps campaign
that he said was subsequently put into effect. MOST READ
image.jpg
Another Trump lawyer who pushed to overturn 2020 election pleads
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Trump presses presidential immunity defense in E. Jean Carrolls
defamation suit Netanyahu Got All the Warnings, Says Former Head of
Israeli Military Intelligence Pentagon says it will hold Iran
responsible for attacks on U.S. troops
Eastman has continued to cite attorney-client privilege to decline to
answer certain questions posed by California investigators seeking to take
away Eastmans law license.
Before he took his plea deal, Chesebro had sought to block prosecutors
from introducing key pieces of evidence by citing attorney-client
privilege. But Georgia prosecutors contended that Chesebro had similarly
not proven his formal affiliation with the Trump campaign or the scope of
work Trump required of him. The judge in the case, Scott McAfee,
ultimately rejected Chesebros effort for a different reason: The
materials prosecutors intended to introduce against him would be disclosed
under the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege.
Now, all three lawyers pleading guilty in the Georgia case have agreed to
surrender relevant documents to prosecutors subject to privilege claims
that judges may have to sort out.
Trump admitted to dancing with the celebrating muslims in NYC during 9/11.
He sucks so much Saudi cock that he barely finds time to swallow those
hamburgers.
Trump won't be POTUS again, but he will end his days behind bars.
Trumps ex-lawyers become prosecutors star witnesses
Prosecutors are increasingly pitting ex-members of Donald Trumps legal
team against him. Jenna Ellis sits with her lawyers.
Jenna Ellis (center) has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge over efforts
to overturn Donald Trumps 2020 election loss. | John Bazemore/AP
By Kyle Cheney, Betsy Woodruff Swan and Josh Gerstein
10/24/2023 05:07 PM EDT
In two courtrooms 800 miles apart on Tuesday, a stark reality for former
President Donald Trump became clearer than ever: If Trump is taken down in
his myriad criminal and civil cases, it will likely be at the hands of his
own former lawyers.
In the morning, Jenna Ellis pleaded guilty to an election felony in
Georgia and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors who have charged Trump
and various allies with a racketeering conspiracy to subvert the 2020
election. She became the third Trump-affiliated lawyer in the past week to
flip in the Georgia election case.
Then, in the afternoon, Trumps longtime personal lawyer and fixer,
Michael Cohen, took the witness stand in Manhattan and told a judge how
his former boss fraudulently inflated his net worth.
Trumps lawyers have long served as a force field separating him from
investigators and prosecutors targeting him. He and his allies have
invoked attorney-client privilege to shield potential evidence, and Trump
has even floated an advice of counsel defense in some of his criminal
cases, arguing that he cannot be guilty because he was simply following
the advice of his lawyers.
But as Trumps legal troubles mount, prosecutors are increasingly turning
his relationships with his lawyers against him.
Just last week, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro two lawyers who
helped advise Trump on his desperate last-ditch strategy to subvert the
2020 election pleaded guilty in Georgia to aspects of the alleged
scheme. In an ominous split screen for Trump, another architect of his
effort attorney John Eastman retook the witness stand in a
long-running disbarment trial in California, describing Oval Office
meetings and phone conversations in the frenzied weeks before Jan. 6,
2021.
Ellis plea means nearly every high-level attorney who worked with Trump
in that period has provided voluminous testimony to congressional
investigators or prosecutors. The group includes campaign attorneys who
have spoken with prosecutors and the House Jan. 6 select committee, as
well as Trumps two top White House lawyers from the final period of his
presidency: Pat Cipollone and Patrick Philbin.
Ty Cobb, another White House lawyer from earlier in Trumps administration
who helped him navigate special counsel Robert Muellers probe, said he is
not surprised that many ex-members of Trumps legal team have found
themselves in legal trouble.
Hes had lawyers abandon their ethics for him for decades, he said. And
he puts enormous pressure on lawyers. Thats why Trump went through a lot
of lawyers, in my own view.
Trump has no ability to be grateful, he added. Gratitude is something
that does not exist in his narcissistic world. So, the fact that these
people are sacrificing their lives, reputations, and careers, that will
not register with him, he said. Michael Cohen: Trump fraud trial is
about accountability
Its not just Trumps election-related cases that feature evidence
supplied by his own lawyers. In New York, Cohen is a star witness for the
government both in Trumps ongoing civil fraud trial and in Trumps
pending criminal case stemming from hush money payments to a porn star.
And in Florida, where Trump is facing federal charges for warehousing
national security documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving office,
Trump attorney Evan Corcoran was ordered by a court to provide notes,
recordings and testimony about Trumps alleged efforts to obstruct the
government from reclaiming the materials.
Trump and his current lawyers have already moved to distance the former
president from figures like Ellis and Powell. Cohen, who turned on his
former boss years ago, gets harsher treatment: a scathing, direct attack
on his character.
Well, hes a proven liar, as you know. Hes a felon. He served a lot of
time for lying and were just going to go in and see. And I think youll
see that for yourself, Trump said before court Tuesday morning. Hes a
liar trying to get a better deal for himself but its not going to work.
What remains unclear: How damaging will these lawyers testimony actually
be for Trump? Chesebros attorney Scott Grubman insisted Saturday that
Trump doesnt need to worry about his clients testimony.
I can say personally that I do not believe the state will call him to
testify on their behalf, Grubman told MSNBCs Katie Phang. If they do,
and Im wrong, Mr. Chesebro will be there, he will testify truthfully. If
I were the state, I would not call him.
Prosecutors in Georgia have not explicitly indicated that those who
pleaded guilty had evidence to offer about Trump or whether they might be
likelier to testify about others charged in the conspiracy, like Eastman
or yet another Trump lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
Trump tried to suggest on his own social media site Sunday that Powell
didnt really work for him, despite his close consultation with her during
the post-election period and his campaigns public description of her as
part of an elite strike force leading his battle to reverse his 2020
election loss.
MS. POWELL WAS NOT MY ATTORNEY, AND NEVER WAS, Trump wrote on Truth
Social Sunday, three days after Powell entered her plea deal in Georgia.
But just days after the 2020 election, Trump took to X, formerly Twitter,
to tout Powell by name, along with Ellis, as part of a truly great team,
added to our other wonderful lawyers and representatives! And in December
2020, he considered appointing Powell special counsel to empower her to
seize voting machines and investigate her fringe claims of voter fraud.
Trump ultimately reversed course amid pushback from his White House staff.
As with Powell, the role of Trumps lawyers in his criminal cases has also
shined a light on the murky arrangements he and his campaign had with some
of those who took on key leadership roles in Trumps orbit.
For example, Eastman and Chesebro spent weeks facing questions about
whether and when they actually entered into attorney-client relationships
with Trump if they ever in fact did. A federal judge in California
ordered Eastman to produce evidence of his formal relationship with Trump,
and he turned over an unsigned retainer agreement with Trumps campaign
that he said was subsequently put into effect. MOST READ
image.jpg
Another Trump lawyer who pushed to overturn 2020 election pleads
guilty Trump glowers as Cohen dishes
Trump presses presidential immunity defense in E. Jean Carrolls
defamation suit Netanyahu Got All the Warnings, Says Former Head of
Israeli Military Intelligence Pentagon says it will hold Iran
responsible for attacks on U.S. troops
Eastman has continued to cite attorney-client privilege to decline to
answer certain questions posed by California investigators seeking to take
away Eastmans law license.
Before he took his plea deal, Chesebro had sought to block prosecutors
from introducing key pieces of evidence by citing attorney-client
privilege. But Georgia prosecutors contended that Chesebro had similarly
not proven his formal affiliation with the Trump campaign or the scope of
work Trump required of him. The judge in the case, Scott McAfee,
ultimately rejected Chesebros effort for a different reason: The
materials prosecutors intended to introduce against him would be disclosed
under the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege.
Now, all three lawyers pleading guilty in the Georgia case have agreed to
surrender relevant documents to prosecutors subject to privilege claims
that judges may have to sort out.