#Securities fraud lawyer Georgia

[razorroy]

Tale of the Tape

81 year old Joe Biden. Who during his three and a half years as President of the United States of America, reduced costs on prescriptions for countless numbers of Americans. Secured a bill for an inflation reduction act, and an infrastructure bill to help rebuild America.

Vs.

78 year old Donald Trump. A man whose charity was shutdown as a fraud. Had his fake university shut down as a fraud. Had one of his businesses convicted on multiple felony fraud counts. His CFO is sitting in prison. One of his personal lawyers went to prison. A second has lost his law license. Trump has been charged under the espionage act with highly classified documents including multiple sources reporting nuclear secrets. Trump was found liable by jury for sexual assault. Trump was charged with more than a dozen felonies under a RICO indictment in the state of Georgia. And finally, Trump was found guilty by a jury for 30 plus felonies and now is awaiting a possible prison sentence.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jay Kuo at The Big Picture:

Activist documentarian Lauren Windsor, the woman who recently surreptitiously recorded conversations with the Alitos, released another pair of recordings on Tuesday, this time of Trump ally and pardoned felon, Roger Stone. Stone was instrumental in Trump’s Stop the Steal campaign, and he was fairly forthcoming about his plans to undo yet another democratic election.

Windsor and a colleague asked Stone, in two different instances, how Republicans would secure the election this time, and Stone replied, “We’re working on this.” He added that their side will be armed with “lawyers, judges, technology,” all in place to challenge the official results if needed.   “At least this time when they do it, you have a lawyer and a judge—his home phone number standing by—so you can stop it,” Stone continued. “We made no preparations last time, none… There are technical, legal steps that we have to take to try and have a more honest election. We’re not there yet, but there’s things that can be done.” All this leads to some important questions: Will the Trump Campaign try to pull off another overturning of the election results? If so, will they face new obstacles in such an attempt, and will the guardrails hold? Finally, is there a point of vulnerability we should know about?

[...]

Stop the Steal, version 2024

Key allies of Donald Trump have made no secret of their plans to challenge the election. For example, Steve Bannon, who is scheduled to go to federal prison on July 1 for two counts of contempt of Congress, recently suggested another violent MAGA reaction should Trump lose at the ballot box. At an extremist Turning Point Action rally in Michigan this week, Bannon exhorted the crowd to action. “If they steal this election, and they fully intend to steal it, this republic ends. Are you prepared to fight? Are you prepared to give it all? Are you prepared to leave it all on the battlefield?”  Most of Trump’s top possible VP picks have refused to state on the record that they will accept the November election results. Contenders like Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) instead hedge their answers, saying that they will only accept them if the Democrats did not cheat. This of course is highly disingenuous. It falsely suggests that the Democrats cheated in 2020, even though there isn’t a shred of evidence to support that claim. If they proceed in 2024 in a similar evidence-free way, mere allegations of election fraud could justify, at least in their minds, a refusal to accept the results.

Trump himself has often suggested that the Democrats will attempt to steal the election, justifying some kind of response from the GOP. Before the same crowd Bannon spoke to in Michigan, Trump declared, “We got more votes than anybody's ever had. We need to watch the vote. We need to guard the vote. We need to stop the steal.” (He then confusingly, and deploying typical Trumpian word vomit, added, “We don’t need the votes. We have to stop, focus, don’t worry about the votes. We got all the votes.”)

[...] MAGA extremists have since taken over the state parties in many of these states, so if the 2022 elections had been a “red wave,” we would be in serious trouble today. There is little doubt that Trump would seek to use the same tactics to invalidate the popular votes in key swing states by act of the legislatures there. Moreover, the Republicans would have passed even more voter suppression bills there, just as they have been able to do in Georgia where the GOP maintains a state-level trifecta in government. But in November of 2022, something extraordinary happened. Voters in these battlegrounds rejected MAGA extremism and election denialists at the ballot box, and instead elected Democratic governors in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Arizona. They flipped the state legislatures in Michigan and Pennsylvania, and they elected Democratic secretaries of state and attorneys general in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Arizona.

That means that in 2024, the administration, safety, and certification of elections in four of the five 2020 battleground states will be completely in Democratic hands. It is hard to understate the importance of this when it comes to election integrity and protection of the right to vote. These Democratic officials very likely will not tolerate illegal voter intimidation or disruptions of the vote count, and they have learned a lot from their experiences in 2020. Further, the string of indictments brought by Democratic state attorneys general against fake electors and their co-conspirators in Washington will act as a strong deterrent to the kinds of illegal conspiracies, forgeries, and strong-arming that we saw in 2020. The fact that Trump does not currently control the Department of Justice is another reason to believe law enforcement cannot be weaponized in 2024 to throw the election.

The possibility that the Trumpist faction of the GOP seeking to attempt to steal another election is still a big worry, as Jay Kuo breaks it down in The Big Picture. Their 2020 bid was foiled, but will it remain the case this year?

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

DERSHOWITZ: Gore's team and I contested 2000 vote. Why go after Trump?

Trump "supposedly" lost GA by approximately 10,000+ votes. Stacey Abrams spent 3 years pretending to be GA's governor after losing by 30,000+ votes.🤔

ALAN DERSHOWITZ: Al Gore, his legal team and I tried to find uncounted presidential votes, lobbied officials and fought in the courts in 2000. The only difference now? The candidate's name is Donald Trump... That's why this prosecution is an outrage

By Alan Dershowitz For Dailymail.Com12:17 EDT 16 Aug 2023 , updated 12:56 EDT 16 Aug 2023

Alan Dershowitz is a lawyer, Harvard Law School Professor and author of 'Get Trump: The Threat to Civil Liberties, Due Process, and Our Constitutional Rule of Law'

Electoral challenges have long been part of American history. 

Only now are they being criminalized.

I was one of the lawyers involved in objections to Florida's presidential vote in 2000.

A margin of less than 600 ballots determined that Governor George W. Bush rather than Vice President Al Gore won the state and, thus, the electoral college vote.

I was convinced then and I am convinced now that this result was wrong.

No one was indicted, disbarred, disciplined or even much criticized for those efforts, yet here we stand today.

President Donald Trump and 18 other defendants has been charged with election fraud, conspiracy, racketeering and more, under a law designed to take down criminal organizations, known as the RICO Act.

Should Al Gore have been charged in 2000?

What about me?

I represented the voters of Palm Beach County, many of whom voted by mistake for Pat Buchanan rather than Gore because of the infamous butterfly ballots and hanging chads that prevented their votes from being accurately counted.

During the course of our challenges, many tactics similar to those employed in 2020 were attempted.

Lawyers wrote legal memoranda outlining possible courses of conduct, including proposing a slate of alternate electors, who would deliver our preferred election results to Congress.

A margin of less than 600 ballots determined that Governor George W. Bush rather than Vice President Al Gore (above) won the state and, thus, the electoral college vote.

I represented the voters of Palm Beach County, many of whom voted by mistake for Pat Buchanan rather than Gore because of the infamous butterfly ballots (above) and hanging chads that prevented their votes from being accurately counted.

Electoral challenges have long been part of American history, only now are they being criminalized. I was one of the lawyers involved in objections to Florida's presidential vote in 2000. (Above) Alan Dershowitz is a lawyer, Harvard Law School Professor and author of 'Get Trump: The Threat to Civil Liberties, Due Process, and Our Constitutional Rule of Law'

Now, Trump and his attorney Rudy Giuliani, along with others, are accused of conspiracy to commit forgery and false statements for drafting their list of alternate electors.

In 2000, Florida state officials were lobbied to secure recounts in selected counties in which we thought the tally would favor us. We were trying to find at least 600 votes that would change the result.

This new indictment features Trump's phone call with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, which was captured in an audio recording. In the conversation, Trump asks Raffensperger to 'find' 12,000 votes.

In my mind, this call is among the most exculpatory pieces of evidence. Trump was entitled as a candidate to ask a Georgia state official to locate votes that he believes were not counted.

In 2000, attempts were made to influence various Florida officials to recount the votes.

Now, the former president's request that Georgia's Republican Speaker of the House reconsider the count is being charged as soliciting a public official to violate his oath.

Florida state officials were lobbied to secure recounts in selected counties in which we thought the tally would favor us. We were trying to find at least 600 votes that would change the result. (Above) Paln Beach, Florida County elections officials conduct presidential vote recount on November  11, 2000

President Donald Trump and 18 other defendants has been charged with election fraud, conspiracy, racketeering and more, under a law designed to take down criminal organizations, known as the RICO Act.

But if similar behavior was legal in 2000, how could it be illegal in 2023?

In the end, all those efforts in Florida failed when the Supreme Court in a five-to-four vote ordered the recounts stopped thereby turning the election over to President George W. Bush.

I wrote a book entitled Supreme Injustice, condemning the Supreme Court's decision and insisting that the election had been stolen from Gore and improperly handed to the candidate who received fewer votes.

The book was a bestseller, featured in front page reviews in the New York Times and other major publications. Most Americans thought that those challenging the Florida vote had acted in good faith, even though the courts ruled against them.

What's different today is that many observers do not believe that Trump and his advisors were sincere when they declared that he had won the election. But that doesn't make what they did a crime.

The Georgia indictment hinges on the allegation that Trump was lying in order to corruptly prevent the inauguration of the candidate who won the election fair and square.

Conspiracy and RICO violations are specific 'intent' crimes. In order to secure a conviction, prosecutors must prove a personalized agreement to join a criminal activity.

That will be an incredibly difficult case to make, especially regarding Trump himself who — to my knowledge – has never wavered from his belief that the election was stolen.

In the end, all those efforts in Florida failed when the Supreme Court in a five-to-four vote ordered the recounts stopped thereby turning the election over to President George W. Bush.

Most Americans thought that those challenging the Florida vote had acted in good faith, even though the courts ruled against them. (Above) Demonstrations at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, DC where justices determined whether the Florida recount could continue

He is wrong, but again, that is not enough to prove him guilty.

The First Amendment and general criminal law principles protect the right to be wrong, especially if that right is based on an honest mistake or belief.

Many point to the claim that Trump associates allegedly stole voting machine data, but that accusation is hotly contested. The jury will have to assess the credibility of each side.

The fundamental truth of this indictment is that if the evidence of specific crimes were compelling, there would be no need to charge under the onerous 'intent' requirements of RICO and conspiracy laws. The proof is not compelling, because these electoral challenges have precedent.

Once again, as with the preceding three Trump indictments, the law is being stretched to its limits in order to snare a former president.

'Show me the man, and I'll show you the crime,' is the infamous Soviet-era boast attributed to Joseph Stalin's chief of the secret police.

Is this really what our country has become?

When prosecutions are rooted in the fickle ground of politics and not the solid rock of justice everything will crumble.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

August 28, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

After making it clear that she would run her courtroom in the interests of justice without reference to the 2024 presidential election, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has set March 4, 2024, as the start date for former president Trump’s trial on four criminal counts for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. 

Those charges are not about anything Trump said. The 45-page indictment acknowledges Trump’s right to speak about the election and even to lie that he had won, and the Department of Justice did not charge him with incitement. The indictment charges Trump with being part of three conspiracies: one to defraud the United States by “using dishonesty, fraud, and deceit” to stop the lawful government function of determining the results of a presidential election, a second conspiracy to obstruct the lawful January 6 congressional proceeding to count and certify the results of the presidential election, and a third conspiracy to take away from other Americans “a right and privilege secured to them by the Constitution and laws of the United States—that is, the right to vote and to have one’s vote counted.”  

Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith’s office had asked the judge for a January 2 start date, saying the date “serves the public’s interest and the interests of justice, while also protecting the defendant’s rights and ability to prepare for trial.” (A Politico Magazine/Ipsos poll from August 18–21 bears out this position: it shows that 61% of the American people believe that Trump should go to trial for election subversion before the Republican primaries.)  

Trump’s lawyers countered with a proposal to start the trial in April 2026, an extraordinary request that they attributed to the need to sift through enormous amounts of evidence—12.8 million pages worth—but which might well have been an attempt to get the judge to split the difference and give Trump a court date in 2025, after the 2024 election. 

Trump has told his aides he intends to solve his legal problems by winning the next election. 

Today, Department of Justice prosecutor Molly Gaston responded to Trump’s request by noting that 7.8 million pages of that material either came from Trump himself—tweets, for example—or from those associated with him, or had been public for months already. She noted that Trump’s lawyers themselves have publicly called the case a “regurgitation” of the report from the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, and noted that the Department of Justice had been careful to make sure the new material it provided is easy to review. 

Trump lawyer Alina Habba didn’t help the Trump camp yesterday when she told Fox News Sunday that Trump wouldn’t need to prepare for his many legal cases because he’s “incredibly intelligent.” Nonetheless, Trump lawyer John Lauro used the March 4 trial date to begin laying the groundwork to argue he could not provide adequate representation.

Before she set the date, Chutkan said, she conferred with New York state judge Juan Merchan, who is set to preside over Trump’s trial for campaign violations when he paid hush money to an adult film actress to cover up an affair. That case is scheduled to start on March 25. Trump’s federal trial for his theft of national security documents and hiding them at Mar-a-Lago is currently scheduled to begin in May 2024. 

The trial date on racketeering charges in Georgia for a conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election has not been set yet, but today the arraignment for all 19 defendants was set for September 6, 2023.

In the midst of all these court dates, Judge Chutkan’s establishment of March 4 for the federal trial over Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election means that Trump-appointed federal judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing the Mar-a-Lago documents trial and who seems eager to protect the former president, will have far less power to shape public perceptions of the cases against Trump. Los Angeles Times legal affairs columnist Harry Litman noted: “This is the centerpiece now of accountability for Trump, which is as it should be.”

Meanwhile, in an Atlanta courtroom, Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows took the stand to try to get charges against him as part of the Georgia indictments transferred to federal court with the ultimate goal of getting them dismissed. Meadows took the unusual step of testifying himself in the case, and he argued for a sweeping interpretation of a chief of staff’s official duties. 

He claimed that it was his job as chief of staff to address anything that might distract Trump or divert his attention, and therefore his work to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election fell within his job description. If so, his case belongs in federal court because federal officials are protected from state prosecution over things they did as part of their official duties. But working for a political campaign is explicitly not part of an officer’s duties: the Hatch Act prohibits federal officials from engaging in partisan activities while on duty. 

U.S. District Court Judge Steve C. Jones said he would rule as quickly as he can after considering the arguments.

Three Republican false electors from Georgia have also asked to move their cases to federal court, arguing that they were acting at the direction of Trump and his people, who were agents of the federal government. So has lawyer Jeffrey Clark, who tried to take over the office of attorney general to push Trump’s claims that the election was stolen, and who was employed at the time by the Department of Justice.

Nicole Narea of Vox noted that dividing up the defendants in the Georgia indictments serves Trump’s case by slowing everything down as Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis has to prosecute each defendant separately. Cornell University law professor Randy Zelin told Narea that such a scenario will permit Trump’s lawyers to prepare their defense based on the previous cases. It is, he said, “a defense lawyer’s dream.” 

Republicans are planning to stand behind Trump, echoing his lawyer’s argument that Trump is being prosecuted selectively because he is Biden’s political opponent. John Lauro called the case a “show trial,” suggesting Lauro does not see any reasonable likelihood that he can produce evidence to convince a jury Trump is not guilty. 

Republicans in Congress appear to be in a similar place, apparently planning to defend Trump not by arguing he is not guilty, but by launching more investigations to tarnish Democrats, as they did with the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails and as Trump did in his attempt to get Ukraine president Voldymyr Zelensky to announce an investigation into President Biden’s son Hunter in 2019. 

Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH), chair of the Judiciary Committee, has demanded that Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney Fani Willis turn over internal documents related to the grand jury’s indictment of Trump on racketeering charges, implying that they will show illegitimate coordination between her and the Department of Justice, when in fact federal and state prosecutors often confer on cases that involve both of their jurisdictions. 

House Republicans also are moving forward on impeaching President Joe Biden, although there is no evidence that there are any grounds for such a proceeding. One Republican lawmaker told CNN’s Melanie Zanona: “There’s no evidence that Joe Biden got money, or…agreed to do something so that Hunter could get money…. And they can’t impeach without that evidence. And I don’t…think the evidence exists.”

But polls last spring indicated that the American people think the Republicans’ investigations are a waste of time. Now the lack of evidence for an impeachment inquiry makes some Republican lawmakers unwilling to vote for one, just as they were unwilling to vote to “expunge” the former president’s impeachments, recognizing that such votes might turn off some of their more moderate voters. So the extremists eager to run the playbook of using an investigation are talking about skipping a formal vote and just launching an inquiry without one. 

Trump yesterday wrote on his social media network: “You don’t need a long INQUIRY to prove it, it’s already proven…. Either IMPEACH the BUM, or fade into OBLIVION. THEY DID IT TO US!”

But Republicans who jump on board this effort will be working against the American people. According to that Politico/Ipsos poll, 59% of Americans think the Justice Department decided to indict Trump after a fair evaluation of evidence and the law. 

And the March 4 trial date means backing Trump for the Republican presidential nomination has a new pitfall. March 4 is the day before Super Tuesday, when more than a dozen states will hold Republican presidential primaries. Philip Bump of the Washington Post noted today that by mid-March, more than half the delegates allotted for the Republican nomination will have been assigned and, since the Republicans have designed their nomination process to consolidate quickly with winner-take-all primaries, Trump could win the Republican nomination in the midst of his trial for trying to overturn the foundational principle of our democracy.

March 4 is also a historically significant date. Until 1936 it was the date on which presidential inaugurations were held (unless it fell on Sunday, in which case the inauguration was moved to the following day, Monday, March 5). Lawmakers chose that date because it was the one on which, in 1789, the Constitution went into effect.

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

In case you missed it, and you’re forgiven if you did, former President Donald Trump isn’t happy with the special master he fought so hard for. “Special master” is a fabulous duet of words that should be reserved exclusively for samurai training, BDSM orgies and chess rankings. Alas, “special master” in today’s context gets lumped in with terms such as “Senate parliamentarian” and “Hatch Act” that I have been reluctantly forced to acquaint myself with over the past six years, all because Trump is an asshole who turned America into the No. 1 asshole country in the universe.

And so we come to said special master, Judge Raymond (British accent) Dearie, whose appointment has not stopped the Department of Justice from poring over some of the most sensitive documents they seized earlier this fall from Mar-a-Lago: documents that Trump definitely accidentally absconded from the White House with after his term as President came to an end.

Dearie has not been kind to Trump’s lawyers and even tried to force Trump to appear in court under oath. These plans were scuttled by a federal judge Thursday, but the special master’s moves are just one of many signs that the walls are closing in around our beloved Don-Don. The Department of Justice is still actively engaged in a criminal investigation of Trump. One of Trump’s most vocal defenders in the past is currently arguing that the former President’s attempts to ward off the probe may in fact be aiding it. I love it, unironically, when Trump hires people who he assumes will protect him and then they’re like, “Actually, fuck this guy.” And there are so many people like this out there! Fantastic.

Meanwhile, the House Jan. 6 Committee is still in the process of conducting hearings on Trump’s role in the failed insurrection attempt on the U.S. Capitol, hearings that have already resulted in onetime Trump ally Cassidy Hutchinson testifying that Trump actively ordered security not to prevent armed rioters from reaching the Capitol. Meanwhile meanwhile, New York’s attorney general just filed a massive civil suit against Trump and his awful family for committing flagrant acts of real estate fraud. Meanwhile meanwhile meanwhile, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis is also jumping onto the hogpile, convening a grand jury that may be looking to charge Trump, or at least associates like Rudy Giuliani, with gross election malfeasance in 2020. Any one of these investigations could result in Trump being supremely fucked, but I’d like to use this space now to demand that the “could” part of this no longer apply.

It is time, both procedurally and metaphorically, to fuck Donald Trump. After all, if the guy who defended Trump against presumed white knight Robert Mueller thinks that Trump is in a highly fuckable position, let’s go ahead and take advantage of that.

It’s well past time, really. If you disdain Trump as much as I do, you’ve been on a six-year-long catharsis hunt in which every victory — even the 2020 election! — has felt hollow. I thought Trump was finished when he fired James Comey. I thought he was finished when Mueller was drafted to investigate him. I thought he was finished when he got COVID-19. You get the idea. It’s been an agonizing stretch in which all of us have had to live through Donald Trump being president, Donald Trump violently refusing to stop being president and then Donald Trump threatening to become president again. All Americans deserve a break from his bullshit. We voted Joe Biden into office for this very reason.

And yet, here Trump remains. Still here. Still not officially fucked. For six years, I’ve been waiting for a cavalry that always arrives unarmed. I’ve been counting on Democrats to put Trump’s head on the chopping block when that party’s leaders all share a bizarre reticence to prosecute him because they believe that indicting Trump is an indictment of the American Idyll or something. It’s possible that Trumpism is a fad and will die out on its own. Perhaps as soon as November, when a red wave that the dreaded polls supposedly once foretold fails to materialize. But given the damage that Trump and his cohorts have wrought, it feels wrong, IS wrong, to hope nature takes its course with this movement. I’ve done the hope thing. I did it in 2008. It only got me here, so you’ll excuse me if hope and I aren’t on the best of terms right now.

What I require, and what is there for the taking at last, is action. All of this due diligence has to be for something, and not just for due diligence’s sake. If Democrats want me to have faith in their precious institutions, then what I need is for those institutions to do what the label on the “Institutions” box promises and indict this man. I’m as sick as you are of the “Today would be a good day to charge Donald Trump with high treason” brand tweets that have polluted the internet since his inauguration, but the receipts are flooding in and the excuses have all sunk to the bottom of the sea in a beautiful, idiot boat. Truly, today WOULD be a good day for the hammer to drop. Don’t wait until after the election, when Republicans will have fucked with an election that they have already pledged to fuck with. Don’t gimme some bullshit about how there’ll be another civil war if we dare to prosecute Trump because I already watched the insurrectionists try to start that war and fail miserably. Most of those people thought they were going to a furry convention or something. And don’t put on your law degree and tell me about dangerous precedents and how fluid the definition of “crimedoing” is. I’ve been watching this shitshow for six years now. I know what I’m looking at. I’m looking at robbery, treason, fraud and awful nutrition habits. Everyone knows what went down, what is going down and what Republicans WANT to go down. And I think I’ve had enough of the down parts. Joe Biden may be an underwhelming replacement, but even he had the stones earlier this month to call all this out for what it is:

“Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”

That’s accurate as it comes to rhetoric, but it also serves as an implied order … to the DOJ, to the state of New York, to Willis and to Congress: It’s time. Let’s get on with it.

[sirgold]

The corruption runs so deep it’s almost hard to believe.

Here is a network of connections and corruption that explains a lot in today’s politics.

Yes, Michigan's governor worked for George Soros.

Yes, California governor Gavin Newsom is Nancy Pelosi's nephew.

Yes, Adam Schiff's sister is married to one of George Soros's sons.

Yes, John Kerry's daughter is married to the son of a mullah in Iran.

Yes, Hillary's daughter Chelsea is married to George Soros's nephew.

Yes, ABC NEWS executive producer Ian Cameron is married to Obama's former national security adviser, Susan Rice.

Yes, CBS president David Rhodes is the brother of Obama's deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, Ben Rhodes.

Yes, ABC NEWS correspondent Claes Ship man is married to Obama's former press secretary, Jay Carney.

Yes, ABC NEWS and UNIVISION reporter Matthew Jaffe is married to Katie Hogan, Obama's former deputy press secretary.

Yes, ABC president Ben Sherwood is the brother of Elizabeth Sherwood, Obama's former special adviser.

YES, CNN vice president Virginia Moseley is married to Tom Nides, Hillary Clinton's former deputy secretary of state.

You may remember James Comey, who investigated the Clinton/Clinton Foundation email scandal and made the final decision not to recommend prosecution to the Justice Department.

It turns out that the Clinton Foundation audit was conducted by a law firm, DLA Piper. One of their executives was responsible for the Clinton Foundation audit.

Who was it? Peter Comey, James Comey's brother. Peter Comey was a senior executive at the Washington, D.C., law firm that audited the Clinton Foundation in 2015. Peter Comey was officially named "Senior Director of Real Estate Americas" by DLA Piper in 2015, when the Clinton Foundation scandals first broke and Hillary was preparing her presidential campaign. Not only was DLA Piper, the firm where Comey’s brother worked, involved in the Clinton Foundation audit, but according to the foundation’s donor records, DLA Piper gave the foundation between $50,000 and $100,000.

DLA Piper CEO Douglas Emhoff is taking an extended leave from the firm. Who is Douglas Emhoff? He’s Kamala Harris’s husband!

And it only gets worse.

Dominion (a supplier of voting machines) services 40% of the U.S. market. That’s in 30 states.

– in 2009, Smartmatic (another voting machine supplier) entered into an agreement with Dominion.

—Admiral Peter Neffenger was the President of Smartmatic.

—Neffenger was in the Biden transition team.

– Smartmatic counted votes in Venezuela

– Smartmatic is linked to election fraud in the Philippines

– Smartmatic is run by Lord Mark Malloch Brown, who works for George Soros (he and Brown are lifelong friends)

– Brown chairs the boards of several nonprofits, including the Open Society Foundation

– Brown chairs the Center for Global Development.

– Open Society is, of course, owned by George Soros.

– Smartmatic is in partnership with DLA Piper Global

– who owns Dominion? Blum Capital Partners, LP

– who's on the board? Richard Blum, Dianne Feinstein's husband.

– Nancy Pelosi's husband is also a major investor.

– Nancy Pelosi's aide Nadeem Elshamy has been hired by Dominion Voting Systems.

– Dominion Voting System is listed on the Clinton Foundation's website.

-In 2014, the Washington Post listed Dominion Voting as a $25,000-$50,000 donor to the Clinton Foundation.

– Georgia Governor Kemp used Dominion Voting after Texas and Florida rejected it.

– Dominion has a lobbyist named Jared Thomas.

– Jared Thomas was Governor Brian Kemp's chief of staff and press secretary from 2012 to 2015.

You have to remember the Feinstein-Kavanaugh-Soros connections to understand the following information:

– Debra Katz (Christina Ford's lawyer) worked for George Soros at the Open Society Foundations.

– Debra Katz also worked at the Project on Government Oversight (POGO).

– POGO is funded by Soros's Open Society Foundations.

– POGO co-authored Dianne Feinstein's letter opposing Kavanaugh's nomination.

– Kamala Harris did not prosecute OneWest Bank for fraud when she had the authority – Soros owned OneWest Bank.

Now you know why the woman who came in 7th in her state, running for president, was the choice for Biden’s vice president and was put in place by Pelosi and Obama for nomination as president!

[garudabluffs]

Trump LEGAL DISASTERS Follow CATASTROPHIC DEBATE 9/14/2024

Legal AF Podcast Ben Meiselas and Michael Popok are back for the weekend edition of the top-rated Legal AF podcast. On tap? Did Kamala’s debate performance just win her the election, as her national polling lead crosses the magical +5 point threshold. Did Trump just commit securities fraud by pumping up his stock price just before taking out a large loan against it; Will Alina Habba be sanctioned and possibly lose her law license for defrauding a client in yet another Trump hush money cover up case; how badly has Trump’s lawyers performed in his New York criminal matter and in their approach to sentencing; what’s left of the Georgia Trump indictment after some recent pivotal court rulings, and so much more at the intersection of law and politics.

34:58if he sold all of his shares now if he sold all of his shares into the into the

35:03market he would crush that stock um and he would just he'd still make money but everybody else would be crushed that's

35:09where the Securities fraud and class action suits that you refer to come from

35:15so since he's not going to be selling we're now down to the other two

35:20things and really one particular that I think Donald Trump is going to do because he needs the money I you and I

35:26have with with biting our tongue uh and uh and a hole in our cheek have done various hot takes

35:34about the flea market that is Donald Trump's business model Bibles and

35:39sneakers and nfts and trading cards and Memoir you know it's just he's running

35:45out of t-shirts and Suits off his back he's running out of stuff to sell and

35:51you know and he's not making any New Deals that's that has been one of the under reported not on the might touch

35:58Network IL legal AF but it's been an underreported fact that since the financial monitor has been put in place

36:03over Donald Trump and his business Affairs for the last two years in the New York fraud case uh who watches like

36:10a hawk everything that he does he hasn't made any new deals other than abroad in Dubai and Oman he's not making any new

36:17money in America he hasn't built a new building he really doesn't build buildings anyway he hasn't put his name

36:22on any new buildings he's living off of Old dollars and those are drying up and there's a lot of mouths to feed over

36:27there in the Trump World you know you got Melania you got ianka you got you know Don Jr and Eric it's a lot of and

36:34the other one you got a lot of mouths you know a lot of families that have to rely on this family office so he's got

36:40to sell he's got to get money or he's got to monetize or what we say hypothecate off of his stock portfolio

36:48because he owes he's G to end up paying over $500 million and running with interest to New York State and the

36:54people of New York State once that appeal is done and he owes a $100 million running with interest at this

37:00point to egene Carol and he's got other civil suits against him for other fraud that he's committed so he can't just he

37:06doesn't we know from how hard it was for him to even find somebody to OPP post a

37:11bond for him how how how in shambles his finances are so he needs the money so I

37:17think this is a long-winded way of saying he's gonna get a loan if he gets a loan against his stock okay at an

37:24exorbitant interest rate he might be able to get 500 million I if I had to make a prediction he's going to get a

37:30three to $500 million loan from some Consortium some syndication of Wall

37:38Street types that are also supporting his campaign you can look it up and are

37:43in that business who are going to put together a group it's going to be a trump Wall Street bailout you know one

37:50that he was never in favor of for America or the workers of America or the unions of America he didn't care about

37:55the auto the auto manufacturer or the unions there he didn't care about bailing out and saving America's economy

38:01but we're going to get we're going to watch a trump bailout in the form of a giant loan the loan will not be seen by

38:08Wall Street it won't Hammer the stock price um because I mean it could in the

38:13future but it won't immediately but he's but for him he the question that was never asked because he didn't plant this

38:19question it's not helpful to him but should have been asked by the media at that press conference is are you going

38:25to do are you going to monitor ize your financial stake in any in any way

38:30including in a giant loan that you'll have to disclose to the people and then what is that they just let him get away

38:37with all these all these platitudes and yeah I think it's a great place to be and we're you know whatever but they

38:43should have asked them the more insightful question which is are you loaning against it who's the Consortium that's going to be loaning you are you

38:49getting a bailout Mr Trump and are you using your stock as assets for a future

38:54loan and leverage against your stock position that's the question

VIDEO 1:18 LIVE: Trump LEGAL DISASTERS Follow CATASTROPHIC DEBATE | Legal AF (youtube.com)

[novumtimes]

Former Attorney Sentenced 7 Years For Stealing $15M In PPP

by Cedric ‘BIG CED’ Thornton June 9, 2024 Shelitha Robertson was convicted in December. A judge sentenced former Atlanta Assistant City Attorney Shelitha Robertson to seven years and three months in prison for stealing approximately $15 million in loans from the government-assisted Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced Robertson’s punishment after her Dec. 19, 2023, conviction. A jury convicted her of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, three counts of wire fraud, and one count of money laundering. U.S. District Judge Steven D. Grimberg also sentenced her to three years of supervised release following her prison term. “Motivated by greed, Robertson deceptively obtained funds that were designated to provide emergency financial relief to struggling small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute criminals who stole pandemic relief funds.” Robertson used the money she received to buy luxury items, including a 10-carat diamond ring. She and her co-conspirator, Chandra Norton, submitted false tax documents to support the false statements for each of the four companies listed on the application. Robertson used the loan proceeds to purchase luxury items, including a 10-carat diamond ring. She also transferred funds to Norton and family members. “I’m dead broke. My business is gone. My (law) license is gone. My assets are gone. The only thing I have left is my family and my faith in God,” she said in court hours before learning her sentence, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Robertson will serve the sentence minus the six months she has already spent in custody since her December conviction. PPP was a federal stimulus program authorized as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Authorities have seized over $78 million in cash proceeds from more than 192 fraud defendants in over 121 criminal cases involving fraudulently obtained PPP funds. Numerous real estate properties and luxury items purchased with these funds were also confiscated. RELATED CONTENT: Atlanta Lawyer Found Guilty In PPP Loan Fraud Case Source link via The Novum Times

[aacd2020]

违反税务法特别大案.举报投诉

Special case of tax violations in Canada. Report a Complaint

The most respected tax bureau, leaders, Your Excellency hello!

1, I report a fraud group. Robbery and sale of my sole proprietorship.250acres of land, worth $500 million CAD, fraud syndicate. Illegal evasion of state personal income tax, hundreds of millions of dollars, my land is listed at 980,000 to 3.8 million Canadian dollars/acre, the fraud group is below the listing price, hundreds of times,(buyer + seller. Are members of the fraud group). Forging false illegal. Ultra low price transaction, and then secret operation, both sides return cash, illegal to avoid the state income tax (in violation of the tax law), recover the land. 16.39 million yuan sold

2. (falsifying debts + falsifying judgments) defrauding the court security company. Defrauding the police. Defrauding the Crown Prosecutor. Will be independent. Sole proprietorship joint-stock company, $500 million CAD land. Plunder for sale,

3, tax levy calculated cost: there is no cost, than robbing a bank, safer, more vicious, defrauding the group. Provide real evidence of debt, (signed by both parties. Agree to recognize the agreement + loan evidence + bank statement certificate) can not falsify the debt, need bank statement evidence, payment voucher

4. List of fraud group members:

A, partner, Weiguo Jin, Tel: 6046305036 Fax: 6046874258 Email

cwatson@swadden.com Address 1401-808 Nelson Street Vancouver,BC V6Z 2H2, partnership, Jin holding 25% of the shares, Only invest 630,000 yuan in 8 years, default on equity principal 4.7 million yuan in 8 years, bank loan 4.2 million yuan, not pay a cent of interest and fees in 8 years,

B, mastermind of the planning and design: Jin's lawyer :(E.Craig Watson) Swadden & COMPANY E-mail: jkim@swadden.com Tel: 17788583210, fax:6046883830

C, ShiyouWang + Shiyou Wang, 700-401 West Georgia Street Vancouver,BC V6B 5A1 Email:nmangan@rbs.ca 604-661-9257, The partnership, Wang holds 25% of the shares, only invested 630,000 yuan in 8 years, defaulted on the equity principal of 4.7 million yuan in 8 years, took out a bank loan of 4.2 million yuan, and did not pay a cent of interest and fees in 8 years

D, lender and loan intermediary: Tang Han: Tel: 7788298766, email: Steven.tang1972@gmail.com

The high interest rate of 14%-18% will be charged to avoid the state tax. The loan amount will be 3 million yuan and the loan period will be 8 years.

E, fake land buyer Jim and 4 others

5 Hope law enforcement, organize team, conduct investigation review,

Xuan Wen Yang, Chinese Mutual Cooperative of North America

2024-2-27

[the-firebird69]

Couple more things the battle at the rings is exhausting, it is tiring the warlock and the pseudo empire. The max are trying to use it to move in closer they have one bunker and it's only 20 miles away and it's pretty hefty 20x20x30 it went in last month while they were yammering we're going to stop them now

-another news John remillard is getting nailed in court as his Trump character and what happened today sent him in like a tailspin is very upset about it and he went into court it is on trial and the court raised the gavel said we're sending two more cases your way and their Federal cases he says you can't do that you live in a federal judge and the judge said I'm a judge and I enforce the law and I can charge people with federal crimes and refer you to a higher Court and all of it came out all at once and he said no you can't and argued it like a child for a couple minutes and the judge said I'm going to hold you in contempt if you keep saying that one line or other lines that are just meaningless and he asked the lawyer to intervene and the lawyer requested that Trump sit down and shut up and he would not and was held in contempt and has a charge on him has appear tomorrow in court in Georgia and he's getting screwed there but nobody wants to hear him and he probably hit with that skull thing from space

-other things happening Dave is delusional next to her and needs to leave and so is Trump they are way out there they're getting crushed and beat up it's really going to take the landlord or the state and another one wants to do it and Jason is working on social security keep saying you got a money and stuff like that and it's proof and it doesn't. He paid him cash and he wants to use the videos as proof he was paying for him to do stuff and he doesn't have any backup as to what he's paying him for and could we just gasoline and reimbursement and that's not paid for doing something and this others are trying that stupid stuff and it's for gasoline cuz they were not paying a decent rate even though yeah and he's saying this it's more than enough it's not for unloading stuff and so he said I'm going to get out of here it's stupid and of course it is everyone told you it's stupid and he's getting hammered because of it we mean it we're saying it too they are attacking him and it's really they're going through pretty good and the results of people like him are that his people get pulled in by police and more for fraud against social security and these days they go to prison and don't come out or worse and that's what's happening to them all over Florida all over the country in the world it's a pretty big deal because he keeps harping on it and keeps getting hit and his get hit very badly and boy guy that's kind of annoying someone's going to put you in jail for paying someone money and I'll try and get it to come out in court you're asking for it it is a few people doing that it's a couple more items happening here

-her son has difficulty doing everything he grew up that way it was kind of rough but you people are not leaving him alone at all I'm going to start harassing the s*** out of you every few seconds you're idiots and we're going to prove it I'm acting the plan now but I'm sending it up

-tons of vehicles and other things are going on huge ideas by our son and daughter and to make cigarettes and sell them with a tobacco we're making same label same machine making the labels the same machine making the boxes and to see what the max are up to I'm going to do that and several other things and we're going to get him funding and see what happens there you're also going to take liberties and do away with people we think need to be done and we're talking about these people here they are atrocious

-have the line of demarcation is trying to move towards the 75 Westward and we don't want that to happen so we are installing and doing things really windy tomorrow there that's too close

I'm almost now for Freya Thor Olympus Hera and me

[ovpwebnetwork]

Ex-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell pleads guilty, could testify in Georgia case

A former lawyer for Donald Trump on Thursday pleaded guilty to aiding the former U.S. president's efforts to overturn his election defeat in the state of Georgia, agreeing to testify against him if called.

The lawyer, Sidney Powell, pleaded guilty to six counts of conspiracy to commit intentional interference with performance of election duties, a misdemeanor charge.

She agreed to testify against Trump and the other 16 co-defendants in the case if prosecutors ask her too.

The Georgia case is one of four concurrent criminal cases that Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is facing, and one of two specifically focused on his attempts to overturn his election defeat. Trump continues to falsely claim his loss was the result of fraud.

Powell's plea came just days before she was set to go to trial beginning on Monday on charges including racketeering and conspiracy to commit election fraud.

A lawyer for Powell did not immediately return a request for comment.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to a sweeping Fulton County, Georgia, indictment charging him with violating the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, act in his efforts to overturn his loss to Democratic President Joe Biden.

Powell admitted to plotting to unlawfully access secure election machines in rural Coffee County in southeastern Georgia in January 2021. The plea agreement calls for her to be sentenced to six years of probation.

Powell's guilty plea is a significant victory for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, whose team has now gained the cooperation of a lawyer closely tied to Trump's efforts to reverse his election defeat.

Powell represented Trump following the 2020 presidential election and helped spread his false claims that the election had been marred by widespread voter fraud. She famously threatened to "release the kraken," a mythological sea monster.

Prosecutors said Powell and other co-defendants tampered with electronic ballot markers and accessed data belonging to Dominion Voting Systems, the voting machine company that Powell and other Trump allies falsely claimed helped rig the election against Trump.

Powell's attorneys contested the charges in legal motions ahead of trial, arguing that access to voting equipment in Coffee County had been authorized.

Powell was scheduled to be tried alongside Kenneth Chesebro, another lawyer who assisted Trump following the election.

If Chesebro goes ahead with trial, Trump could gain a strategic advantage in preparing for his own upcoming Georgia trial, since his attorneys would get a preview of much of the case against him.

(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward, additional reporting by Kanishka Singh; Editing by Scott Malone and Bill Berkrot)

[ailtrahq]

Amid its ongoing lawsuit against crypto exchange Coinbase, support for the SEC is gaining traction.  The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is gathering support from other securities regulators in its high-profile lawsuit against cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. On Tuesday, two amicus briefs were filed supporting the agency’s argument that it should oversee the industry.  SEC Gains Tractions in its Action Against Coinbase The SEC and Coinbase Fight is heating up as the crypto exchange faces another obstacle in its battle against the securities agency. US state authorities and legal experts have joined the SEC’s cause in arguing that Coinbase operated an unregistered exchange. The SEC primarily contends that the exchange acted as an unregistered securities exchange, broker, and clearing house and offered unregistered securities. The SEC’s primary position centres on Coinbase’s staking program and several digital assets traded on its platform, which the agency contends are “investment contracts” and, therefore, should fall under its purview.  The SEC alleges Coinbase violated the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 and the Securities Act of 1933. The case’s eventual decision stands to shape the US’s future regulatory approach to digital assets.   Former SEC Officials Jump on The Bandwagon Amicus briefs allow parties not directly affected but interested in the case to submit arguments to help the courts make a decision regarding the matter. The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) submitted arguments to the court stating that the SEC’s legal position is not remarkable or novel and digital assets should not get special treatment. The association, which comprises 68 members and includes securities regulators from all US states, said digital assets should not receive special treatment. It stated:  “The SEC’s theory in this case is consistent with the agency’s longstanding public position”, adding it is “well within the bounds of established law.” The filing further said: “There is no practical economic use case identified or widely adopted for the vast majority of digital assets, other than speculation. While they receive outsized attention from the media and regulators because they are aggressively marketed and fertile ground for fraud, that attention belies the very limited size and significance of this ‘industry’ in the context of the broader U.S. economy.” The NASAA brief, submitted by former SEC officials, including past Chair Mary Jo White, underlines the notion that traditional securities law should automatically apply to digital assets. “Digital assets with characteristics typical of securities offer investors the same promise of a return and carry the same risks that led to the enactment of the federal securities laws.”   “Major Questions doctrine is irrelevant to this action” Todd Phillips and Beau Baumann, two academic administrative lawyers, filed a second amicus brief. Phillips of Georgia State University and Baumann of Yale Law School argue that “the major questions doctrine simply is irrelevant to this action.” The two academics argue this because the Coinbase matter concerns enforcement against a specific company and not quasi-legislative rulemaking. They stated: “Far from asserting new power to regulate the ‘national economy,’ the SEC brought a specific complaint in federal court.”  

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

August 24, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON Today a former U.S. president and the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination turned himself in to be arrested in Georgia. He had to because a grand jury of ordinary Americans indicted him, along with 18 other defendants, for conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. For the first time in U.S. history, there is a mugshot of a former president. And, for that matter, mugshots of his chief of staff and key advisors. With noon tomorrow, August 25, the deadline for the defendants to surrender, they have been showing up since Tuesday, when Scott Hall, accused of breaching election equipment in Coffee County, Georgia, became the first of the defendants to surrender. Since then, several of the lawyers behind the election scheme, including John Eastman, Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, and Rudy Giuliani have surrendered. So have Mark Meadows, Trump’s final chief of staff, and David Shafer, the former chair of the Georgia Republican Party. All but one—Harrison Floyd, the former executive director of Black Voices for Trump, who is charged with harassing election worker Ruby Freeman and who had previously assaulted an FBI agent—have been released on bail. Trump is the first president to be charged with crimes, and he is facing an astonishing 91 counts in four different cases, two at the state level in New York and Georgia, and two at the federal level. In addition, Trump, his two elder sons, and the Trump Organization are also facing an October trial in a civil fraud case in New York City, after which he has a January trial in a defamation suit from writer E. Jean Carroll for denying that he raped her (a judge recently agreed that his sexual assault of her was rape by common understanding, although the narrow definition of rape in the New York penal code meant that a New York jury in May did not find him liable for it). And then there are the criminal charges. In New York he is charged with 34 counts surrounding an alleged hush-money scheme before the 2016 election. He has been charged with 40 counts in the federal case concerning his theft and concealment of national security documents at his organization’s Mar-a-Lago property. In a separate federal case, he is charged with 4 counts of conspiring to defraud the government, obstruct an official proceeding, and take away voters’ right to have their vote counted. In the Georgia case for which he was arrested today, he has been charged with 13 crimes under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute of Georgia, a law that permits a group working together for a criminal purpose to be charged as a criminal organization. True to form, Trump appears to have timed his surrender to make the evening news. And then, after he surrendered, he posted his mugshot himself on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, telling his supporters “NEVER SURRENDER!” In our system, Trump, like any defendant, is presumed innocent until proven guilty. But here’s the thing: At last night’s Republican primary debate, all the candidates except former New Jersey governor Chris Christie (polling at 3.3%) and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson (polling at 0.7%) pledged they would support Trump as the 2024 Republican nominee even if he’s convicted. [MORE]

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Donald Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows has been subpoenaed by the special counsel investigating the former president and his role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

Special counsel Jack Smith’s office is seeking documents and testimony related to January 6, and Meadows received the subpoena sometime in January, the source said. An attorney for Meadows declined to comment.

The Justice Department did not respond to CNN’s request for comment on the subpoena.

The move to subpoena one of Trump’s most senior aides – in addition to the recent subpoena of former Vice President Mike Pence, as CNN reported last week – marks the latest significant step in the special counsel’s investigation into Trump’s role in seeking to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election.

Smith also is simultaneously investigating Trump’s handling of classified documents after leaving office. While the subpoena is related to January 6, Meadows also may be of interest in the documents investigation. He was one of Trump’s designees to the National Archives and played a role in discussions around returning government records in his possession.

The special counsel’s subpoena could set up a clash with the Justice Department and Meadows over executive privilege. The former White House chief of staff, citing executive privilege, previously fought a subpoena from a special grand jury in Georgia that was investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. A judge later ordered Meadows to testify, finding him “material and necessary to the investigation.”

Meadows was involved in the infamous phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and in a December 2020 White House meeting about election fraud claims. Meadows also visited a site where an audit of Georgia’s election was underway and sent emails to Justice Department officials about unsubstantiated fraud allegations.

On January 6, Meadows was in and out of the Oval Office and witness to Trump’s actions as rioters overtook the US Capitol that day.

The recent subpoena for Meadows also underscores the aggressive nature of the special counsel’s probe. CNN has reported that Smith also has subpoenaed former Trump national security adviser Robert O’Brien in both of the Trump-related probes, and Justice Department lawyers interviewed Trump’s former acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf in recent weeks as part of the probe into 2020 election interference.

[dnaamericaapp]

Judge Rules For Georgia Election Workers In Defamation Suit Against Rudy Giuliani Over 2020 Election Falsehoods

A federal judge on Wednesday sided with two former election workers from Georgia who filed a lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani alleging he defamed them by falsely claiming they engaged in an election-fraud scheme during the 2020 presidential election.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, who sits on the federal district court in Washington, D.C., awarded default judgment against Giuliani holding him liable on several claims, including defamation, brought by Ruby Freeman and Wandrea ArShaye "Shaye" Moss, who are mother and daughter, respectively. The two served as election workers in Fulton County, Georgia, in the last presidential election and assisted with the vote-counting process at Atlanta's State Farm Arena.

Howell also ordered Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City who served as an outside lawyer to former President Donald Trump, to reimburse Freeman and Moss more than $89,000 in attorneys' fees and costs related to a request that the court force Giuliani to fulfill his discovery obligations. Giuliani also must ensure his eponymous businesses cover more than $43,000 in attorneys' fees associated with an effort to force them to respond to requests for documents and depositions, the judge said.

"Rather than simply play by the rules designed to promote a discovery process necessary to reach a fair decision on the merits of plaintiffs' claims, Giuliani has bemoaned plaintiffs' efforts to secure his compliance as 'punishment by process,'" Howell wrote in a 57-page opinion. "Donning a cloak of victimization may play well on a public stage to certain audiences, but in a court of law this performance has served only to subvert the normal process of discovery in a straight-forward defamation case, with the concomitant necessity of repeated court intervention."

The two sides must propose three dates between November and February for a trial to determine the amount of damages, if any, Giuliani owes to Freeman and Moss. -(source: cbs news)

DNA America

“It’s what we know, not what you want us to believe.”

#dna #dnaamerica #news #politics

[trendingnewsalert]

Trump is losing his capacity to control his fate with legal threats swirling

Trump has long conjured political storms, alternative realities, legal imbroglios and media spectacles to blur the truth or discredit institutions that have constrained his rule-busting behavior. He’ll lose that ability when he steps before the court at his arraignment in a case related to a hush money payment to an adult film actress. And there are increasing signs that this new reality – which will come with hefty financial commitments in legal fees and locks on Trump’s calendar – could be multiplied at a time when he’s already facing the intense demands of another White House bid. That’s because the ex-president – the first to face criminal charges – also appears to face serious problems in a potentially more perilous case involving his alleged mishandling of secret documents being investigated by special counsel Jack Smith. Charges look like an increasing possibility as the Justice Department secures evidence about Trump’s handling of classified documents after leaving the White House. Trump’s former lawyer, Ty Cobb, told CNN’s Erin Burnett that the developments represent a serious turn in the case for the ex-president. “We’ve known the investigatory steps were under way, we just haven’t known alleged results until today,” Cobb said. “I think these are highly consequential.” The documents case may not be the end of it. Smith is also investigating Trump’s conduct in the run-up to the US Capitol insurrection. Then there’s also a possible prosecution in Georgia led by a district attorney probing the ex-president’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election result in the swing state. Trump denies any wrongdoing in all of these investigations. He has described his behavior in Georgia as “perfect.” And he has lambasted the sealed indictment in New York, where he faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud, as an example of politicized justice. But at a grave moment for the country, given that an ex-president and current presidential candidate is about to appear in court, there’s also growing sense of inexorably building pressure on Trump that will compromise his capacity to evade accountability. Read the full article