Trump's world....

[DBP66]

1 hour ago, concha said:

LOL...Tara vs. 26 allegations and video tape of him describing how he attacks women...nice try Don!!...you'd defend Satan...🤡

[DBP66]

Jury finds Trump sexually abused and defamed E. Jean Carroll: 5 key moments from the trial

The jury, which was made up of six men and three women, took less than three hours to reach a unanimous verdict, awarding Carroll a total of $5 million in damages.

 

32.9k

Caitlin Dickson

·Reporter

Tue, May 9, 2023 at 3:28 PM EDT

 

 

 

E. Jean Carroll leaves Manhattan Federal Court in New York City on Monday, as her civil rape and defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump goes into deliberations. (David 'Dee' Delgado/Reuters)

NEW YORK CITY — A jury in a civil trial held in lower Manhattan found that former President Donald Trump sexually abused the writer E. Jean Carroll in a dressing room in a Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s, and defamed her after she went public about the incident in 2019, in that he denied that the incident had occurred.

But the jury, which was made up of six men and three women, also found that Carroll did not prove that Trump raped Carroll. The mixed decision, which was unanimous, took the jury less than three hours to reach, and awarded Carroll a total of $5 million in damages.

Carroll sued Trump under the Adult Survivors Act, a New York state law passed late last year, which gave adult victims of sexual assault and abuse one year to bring lawsuits against their alleged perpetrators regardless of when the alleged abuse took place.

 

Trump responded to the verdict with an all-caps post on his social media platform, Truth Social, writing: “I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN IS. THIS VERDICT IS A DISGRACE - A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!”

Yahoo News was in the courtroom throughout the trial. Here are some key moments that led to Tuesday’s decision.

1. Carroll’s three days of testimony

During the first three days of the trial, E. Jean Carroll described in painstaking and, at times graphic detail, her recollection of the alleged assault, and pushed back on attempts by Trump’s attorneys to undermine her credibility.

Carroll, now 79, recalled running into Trump at Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s and agreeing to help him shop for a gift for a woman. They engaged in flirtatious banter as they explored various sections of the store, Carroll said. But what began as a light-hearted, “very joshing” encounter quickly turned “absolutely dark” when, according to Carroll, Trump led her into a dressing room in the lingerie department and shut the door behind him.

Carroll, occasionally choking back tears, told the jury that Trump shoved her against the wall “so hard my head banged,” pulled down her tights and shoved his fingers inside her vagina, then his penis.

During cross examination, Trump attorney Joe Tacopina sought to poke holes in Carroll’s testimony, zeroing in on the fact that she could not recall the exact date of the alleged assault, and questioning why she did not scream for help during the alleged attack.

“You can’t beat up on me for not screaming,” Carroll pushed back, arguing that one of the reasons many women don’t come forward about sexual assault is because they are often asked why they didn’t scream.

“I’m telling you, he raped me whether I screamed or not,” she declared. “I don’t need an excuse for not screaming.”

2. 2 other women testify under oath about alleged assaults by Trump

Among the witnesses Carroll’s attorneys called to testify were two other women who claim that Trump assaulted them in a similar manner.

The first woman, Jessica Leeds, testified that Trump kissed and groped her without her consent during a flight to New York in 1979. The second woman, former People Magazine reporter Natasha Stoynoff, told jurors that she was interviewing Trump and his wife, Melania, at their Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in 2005, when Trump led her into an empty room and forcefully kissed her.

Both women described how they were motivated to speak publicly about their alleged attacks during Trump’s first presidential campaign in 2016 and, specifically, after the release of the now-infamous “Access Hollywood” tape, in which Trump was caught on a hot mic talking about how he likes to kiss and grope beautiful women without waiting for them to consent.

Carroll’s attorneys pointed to the testimony given by Leeds and Stoynoff, as well as Trump’s own words on the "Access Hollywood" tape, as evidence of a pattern of behavior engaged in by Trump, who has been accused by more than 20 women of inappropriate sexual conduct.

3. Trump’s taped deposition testimony

Trump declined to appear at the trial in person, but the jury nevertheless heard from the former president in clips of a taped deposition that he provided to Carroll’s lawyers last fall.

In his deposition, Trump repeated his claim that he didn’t know Carroll and that the alleged encounter at Bergdorf’s “never happened.” He also reiterated his assertion that Carroll is “not my type,” arguing that he had the “right to be insulting” given the accusation of rape, before telling Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan, “You wouldn’t be a choice of mine either, if I’m being honest. I hope you’re not offended.”

However, when presented with a photograph from the mid-1990s of himself, his wife at the time, Ivana, and Carroll and her then-husband, Trump mistakenly identified Carroll as his former wife Marla Maples, whom he married after divorcing Ivana.

During closing arguments on Monday, Kaplan reminded the jury of this mixup, citing it as proof that Carroll was "exactly his type."

In the clips of Trump’s deposition testimony that were played in court, the former president was also asked about his comments on the “Access Hollywood” tape, in which he is heard saying of beautiful women: “I just start kissing them, it’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p***y.”

While Trump repeated his previous assertion that his words were “locker room talk,” he also didn’t deny that they were true.

“Historically, that’s true with stars,” Trump told Kaplan during the deposition. “If you look over the last million years, that’s what’s been largely true of the stars — unfortunately or fortunately.”

Asked whether he considers himself to be a star, Trump replied, “I think I can say that, yeah.”

4. Trump declined to testify

After hearing testimony from 11 witnesses for the plaintiff’s side, attorneys for Trump rested their case last week without calling a single witness, including Trump himself, to testify in his defense.

Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is not related to Carroll’s lawyer, even gave Trump the opportunity to change his mind and file a motion to request to testify over the weekend, but no such motion was filed by the Sunday deadline set by the judge.

Throughout the trial, Kaplan repeatedly admonished Trump’s attorneys and sustained a variety of objections from the other side during their cross examination of witnesses, prompting Trump’s team to request a mistrial, which was denied.

5. Trump lawyer’s closing argument

Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina used his closing argument on Monday to argue that the case against the former president was “outrageous” and motivated by money and politics, and that Carroll’s allegations were “unbelievable” and an “affront to justice” that minimized the experience of “real rape victims.”

Tacopina described Carroll’s account of the alleged encounter with Trump as "completely made up," and suggested that it had been inspired by a 2012 episode of "Law & Order." The episode concerned a rape in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room, and the lawyers noted that under oath, Carroll even described the television storyline as an “astonishing coincidence.”

On rebuttal, Carroll’s attorneys said her testimony about the “Law & Order” episode was taken out of context, and argued that if she had in fact been lying, her story would probably have had fewer gaps and inconsistencies.

While Carroll’s attorneys emphasized the fact that Trump “didn’t even bother to show up here in person,” Tacopina argued that Carroll’s claims were too ridiculous for him to call Trump to testify about them in court.

“What could I have asked Donald Trump?” Tacopina said. “Where were you on some unknown date, 27 or 28 years ago?”

[DBP66]

[DBP66]

Trump digs in on election lies, insults accuser during CNN town hall event

• 
  ASSOCIATED PRESS
•  

 

JILL COLVIN

Wed, May 10, 2023 at 12:05 AM EDT

 

 

During a contentious CNN town hall Wednesday night, former President Donald Trump dug in on his lies about the 2020 election, downplayed the violence on Jan. 6, 2021, and repeatedly insulted the woman whom a civil jury this week found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming.

Trump, returning to the network after years of acrimony, also refused to say whether he wants Ukraine to win the war against Russian aggression and said the U.S. “might as well” default on its debt obligation, despite the potentially devastating economic consequences.

The live, televised event — held in early-voting New Hampshire — underscored the challenges of fact-checking Trump in real time. The former president was cheered on and applauded by an audience of Republican and unaffiliated voters who plan to vote in the GOP primary, as moderator Kaitlan Collins sometimes struggled to correct the record as Trump steamrolled with untrue statements. “You are a nasty person,” he snapped at one point.

The event also highlighted what is perhaps Trump's most fundamental challenge as he emerged as the undisputed frontrunner for the Republican nomination to take on President Joe Biden again. While Trump's tone and divisive statements often thrill Republican primary crowds, he has so far done little to expand his appeal among the moderates and independents who soured on him in 2020 and will be crucial to winning the general election.

 

Indeed, Trump on Wednesday repeatedly doubled down on his lies that the 2020 election had been “rigged,” even though state and federal election officials, his own campaign and White House aides, and dozens of courts, including Republican judges, have said there is no evidence to support his claims.

He also displayed no remorse for what happened on Jan. 6, when a mob of his supporters violently stormed the Capitol in a bid to halt the certification of Biden's win. He excused his delayed response that day — he was silent for more than three hours as the carnage unfolded — pulling out a printout of his tweeted timeline as a form of defense.

Instead, he lashed out at the Black police officer who shot and killed rioter Ashli Babbitt, calling him a “thug," despite a Justice Department finding that the shooting was justified. And he said he is inclined to pardon “a large portion” of the rioters charged in the attack. More than 670 people have been convicted of crimes related to that day, including some found guilty of seditious conspiracy or assaulting police officers.

Trump also rejected a suggestion that he apologize to his former vice president, Mike Pence, who was targeted by the mob after Trump wrongly insisted that Pence had the power to overturn the election results.

“I don't feel he was in any danger," he said. In fact, Trump said, Pence was the one who “did something wrong.”

He would not commit to accepting the results of the next election, either, saying he would do so only if he feels “it’s an honest election” — as he said before the 2020 election.

The primetime forum — the first major television event of the 2024 presidential campaign and Trump's first interview appearance on CNN since before he was elected president in 2016 — drew suspicion from both sides of the political divide as soon as it was announced.

Democrats questioned whether a man who continues to spread lies about his 2020 election loss should be given the airtime. Conservatives wondered why Trump would appear on — and potentially give a ratings bump to — a network he has continually disparaged.

The stakes were raised considerably Tuesday after jurors in New York found Trump had sexually abused and defamed advice columnist E. Jean Carroll nearly three decades ago, though they rejected her claim that he raped her. The jury awarded her $5 million in damages.

Trump, at Wednesday's event, called the case “fake news” and insisted he didn't know Carroll, even as he attacked her in deeply personal terms. "She’s a wack job,” he said, drawing laughs from the crowd.

CNN said in a statement that it was proud of Collins' performance and that voters deserve to hear from a leading White House contender.

“Kaitlan Collins exemplified what it means to be a world-class journalist. She asked tough, fair and revealing questions. And she followed up and fact-checked President Trump in real time to arm voters with crucial information about his positions as he enters the 2024 election as the Republican frontrunner,” the network said after the town hall. "That is CNN’s role and responsibility: to get answers and hold the powerful to account.

Trump has generally not reacted well when pressed onstage about his behavior toward women, most notably during the first Republican presidential debate of 2015, when he sparred with then-Fox News host Megyn Kelly and later accused her of having “blood coming out of her wherever." Carroll is one of more than a dozen women who have accused Trump of sexual assault or harassment over the years; Trump has denied the allegations.

While the civil trial verdict carried no criminal penalties, it is just one of myriad legal issues facing Trump, who was indicted in New York in March over hush money payments made to women who alleged extramarital affairs with him. Trump is also facing investigations in Georgia and Washington over his alleged interference in the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents and potential obstruction of justice.

The difficulties of interviewing Trump live on air became immediately apparent as the town hall began with questions about the 2020 election. As the evening wore on, Collins became more aggressive in trying to pin Trump down on specifics, trying half a dozen times to get him to say what he would do if a federal abortion ban were to reach his desk.

He said that he would “negotiate” so “people are happy.”

During the exchange, Trump repeated the false claim that abortion rights supporters wanted to “kill a baby” in the ninth month of pregnancy or even after a birth — comments that went unchecked by Collins.

He also refused to say whether he wants Ukraine to win its war against Russia. “I don’t think in terms of winning and losing,” he answered. And he declined to say whether he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin is a war criminal, as the International Criminal Court has alleged.

“That’s something to be discussed at a later date," Trump said, arguing that calling Putin a war criminal would complicate efforts to make a deal to end the conflict. Trump was widely criticized during his time in office for accepting Putin's insistence that Russia had not interfered in the 2016 election to help him, even though U.S. intelligence agencies had determined otherwise.

As for the looming risk of an unprecedented government default, Trump sounded blasé.

“Well, you might as well do it now because you’ll do it later because we have to save this country," he said.

A discussion about Trump’s refusal to turn over classified documents kept at his Mar-a-Lago club was particularly contentious. When Collins interrupted him at one point, Trump said, “Can I finish?"

“Yeah, what’s the answer?” she said.

“You are a nasty person,” Trump quipped.

Biden responded to the town hall on Twitter, writing: “It’s simple, folks. Do you want four more years of that? If you don’t, pitch in to our campaign."

Trump has long called CNN “fake news” and sparred with Collins. Nonetheless, Trump’s team saw the invitation from the network as an opportunity to connect with a broader swath of voters than those who usually tune into the conservative outlets he favors. One adviser noted that Trump found success in 2016 by stepping outside Republicans’ traditional comfort zone.

The appearance served as another contrast with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is seen as a top rival to Trump for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024 and is expected to launch his campaign in the coming weeks. DeSantis has taken a sheltered media approach, largely eschewing questions from the mainstream press while embracing Fox News, which was once a loyal Trump cheerleader but is now frequently denigrated by the former president.

Trump's campaign has turned to new channels, including popular conservative podcasts and made-for-social-media videos that often rack up hundreds of thousands of views. His team has also been inviting reporters from a variety of outlets to ride aboard his plane and has been arranging unadvertised stops at local restaurants and other venues to show him interacting with supporters, in contrast to the less charismatic DeSantis.

[concha]

[DBP66]

23 minutes ago, concha said:

it's about time!!....🤡

[DBP66]

This like the John Durham act....LOL...all B.S...wonk..wonk..🙄

‘You Don’t Actually Have Any Facts’: Even Fox Isn’t Buying GOP’s Claims About Biden’s Foreign Business Dealings

 

4.6k

Nikki McCann Ramirez

Thu, May 11, 2023 at 7:34 PM EDT

 

 

 

fox-calls-out-comer.jpg Biden Family Presser - Credit: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc./Getty Images

House Republicans have been promising to expose President Joe Biden’s supposedly criminal business dealings with foreign entities for months. But the biggest takeaway from Oversight Committee Chair James Comer’s (R-Ky.) much-hyped press conference on Wednesday revealing the GOP’s “findings” was just the opposite — they don’t have the goods.

What Republicans presented on “judgment day” was a memo outlining more than $10 million in payments received by members of the Biden family from foreign businesses between 2015-2017. But the findings lacked a crucial detail — concrete evidence linking Biden to the dealings of his family members. The omission was so stark that even the president’s most fervent critics at Fox felt the need to confront Comer on the nothingness of the burger.

“Your party, the Republican investigators, say that that’s proof of influence peddling by Hunter and James [Biden], but that’s just your suggestion. You don’t actually have any facts to that point. You’ve got some circumstantial evidence,” said Fox host Steve Doocey in an interview with Comer on Thursday.

“Of all those names, the one person who didn’t profit — there’s no evidence that Joe Biden did anything illegally.”

Wow! Steve Doocy to James Comer this morning: "You don't actually have any facts to that point. You've got some circumstantial evidence. And the other thing is, of all those names, the one person who didn't profit — there's no evidence that Joe Biden did anything illegally." pic.twitter.com/Ad8L3NSXWE

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 11, 2023

Comer defended himself by arguing that Biden’s family members had taken steps to conceal the president’s involvement in his family’s financial dealings, but conceded that Republicans are in the “beginning stages” of the now five-year investigation and “still looking for more bank records that we believe will implicate Joe Biden’s active participation in this.”

Less than an hour after his exchange with Doocy, Comer told Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo that he and Oversight Republicans were “gonna move forward with plan B.”

“What’s plan B?” Bartiromo asked.

Comer did not have an answer. “Stay tuned Maria, you’ll be the first person that’ll know,” he quipped.

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer on Biden family investigation: “We’re gonna move forward with plan B.”

Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo: “What’s plan B?”

Comer: “Stay tuned.” pic.twitter.com/w9bzHZr4Rb

— The Recount (@therecount) May 11, 2023

Fox was not the only prominent Biden detractor to notice the flop. Right-wing radio host Sebastian Gorka said he’s worried that the findings “won’t make any difference in the eyes of the American public until there’s a smoking gun.”

I'm not impressed with James Comer's Biden bombshell. @EmmaJoNYC with Sebastian Gorka

FUL INTERVIEW: https://t.co/JsI1lFYKu6 pic.twitter.com/DDrrzur8Jt

— Sebastian Gorka DrG (@SebGorka) May 11, 2023

In a statement to Rolling Stone, Oversight Committee Rep. Jimmy Gomez stated his belief that Republicans on the committee have brought the criticism upon themselves. “Chairman Comer has made wild accusations about the President, but after totally failing to deliver any proof to back up his false claims, even the Republican base is calling out his unsubstantiated allegations and empty investigation,” he said. Gomez added that Republicans have “proven they have zero credibility.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, echoed these sentiments in a statement released Wednesday. “Once again Chairman Comer has failed to provide factual evidence to support his wild accusations about the President,” he wrote. “He continues to bombard the public with innuendo, misrepresentations, and outright lies, recycling baseless claims from stories that were debunked years ago.”

[DBP66]

This guy is a real Republican....who I'd vote for...unfortunately he makes too much sense for today's Republicans clowns...🤡

Trump Town Hall Audience Called ‘Embarrassing’ by Their Own GOP Governor

 

2.9k

Charisma Madarang

Sat, May 13, 2023 at 12:46 AM EDT

 

 

 

2022 Concordia Lexington Summit - Day 1 - Credit: Getty Images for Concordia

The governor of New Hampshire, Chris Sununu (R), called out voters from his state that jeered and clapped when Donald Trump mocked author E. Jean Carroll at CNN’s town hall earlier this week.

Trump was found liable for sexual battery against Carroll, who accused Trump of having raped her in the dressing room of a New York Department store in the Nineties. During Wednesday’s town hall, the former president reiterated his unfounded claims of election fraud and insisted the author’s allegations made against him were fabricated, calling her a “whack job” with “a fake story.”

“I was very famous then and I owned the Plaza Hotel right next door and I owned the buildings around it — I’m not going into a dressing room of a crowded department store,” Trump told host Kaitlan Collins.

The audience, which CNN stacked with Trump supporters, laughed in response.

After the event aired, Sununu, who is considering running against Trump for the Republican nomination, spoke with MSNBC’s Jen Psaki for an interview set to broadcast on Sunday. Psaki, President Joe Biden’s former press secretary, shared a preview of the interview Friday.

In the clip, Psaki asks Sununu what his reaction was when he saw the crowd of undeclared New Hampshire voters laughing at “someone a jury says [Trump] sexually abused, defamed.”

“It was embarrassing,” Sununu said without hesitation. “But when you’re talking about a serious issue like that, and laughter and mocking and all that, it’s completely inappropriate, without a doubt, and it doesn’t shine a positive light on New Hampshire.”

“I believe every single one of them have voted for Trump at some point,” he said. “So I don’t know… how [CNN] determined that and set that up, but obviously it was a room full of Trump supporters. So no one should have been surprised to hear the support,” the governor continued before adding, “but again, on that issue, I would call it embarrassing.”

According to a report from the New York Times, Carroll is mulling filing a third lawsuit against the former president after his CNN town hall comments.

I’ve been “insulted by better people,” Carroll told the Times “It’s just stupid, it’s just disgusting, vile, foul, it wounds people.”

[RedZone]

3 hours ago, DBP66 said:

This guy is a real Republican....who I'd vote for...unfortunately he makes too much sense for today's Republicans clowns...🤡

Trump Town Hall Audience Called ‘Embarrassing’ by Their Own GOP Governor

 

2.9k

Charisma Madarang

Sat, May 13, 2023 at 12:46 AM EDT

 

 

 

2022 Concordia Lexington Summit - Day 1 - Credit: Getty Images for Concordia

The governor of New Hampshire, Chris Sununu (R), called out voters from his state that jeered and clapped when Donald Trump mocked author E. Jean Carroll at CNN’s town hall earlier this week.

Trump was found liable for sexual battery against Carroll, who accused Trump of having raped her in the dressing room of a New York Department store in the Nineties. During Wednesday’s town hall, the former president reiterated his unfounded claims of election fraud and insisted the author’s allegations made against him were fabricated, calling her a “whack job” with “a fake story.”

“I was very famous then and I owned the Plaza Hotel right next door and I owned the buildings around it — I’m not going into a dressing room of a crowded department store,” Trump told host Kaitlan Collins.

The audience, which CNN stacked with Trump supporters, laughed in response.

After the event aired, Sununu, who is considering running against Trump for the Republican nomination, spoke with MSNBC’s Jen Psaki for an interview set to broadcast on Sunday. Psaki, President Joe Biden’s former press secretary, shared a preview of the interview Friday.

In the clip, Psaki asks Sununu what his reaction was when he saw the crowd of undeclared New Hampshire voters laughing at “someone a jury says [Trump] sexually abused, defamed.”

“It was embarrassing,” Sununu said without hesitation. “But when you’re talking about a serious issue like that, and laughter and mocking and all that, it’s completely inappropriate, without a doubt, and it doesn’t shine a positive light on New Hampshire.”

“I believe every single one of them have voted for Trump at some point,” he said. “So I don’t know… how [CNN] determined that and set that up, but obviously it was a room full of Trump supporters. So no one should have been surprised to hear the support,” the governor continued before adding, “but again, on that issue, I would call it embarrassing.”

According to a report from the New York Times, Carroll is mulling filing a third lawsuit against the former president after his CNN town hall comments.

I’ve been “insulted by better people,” Carroll told the Times “It’s just stupid, it’s just disgusting, vile, foul, it wounds people.”

... The maga cult is embarrassing...... that's putting it mildly.

[DBP66]

Wisconsin judge allows for lawsuit against fake Trump electors to proceed

Story by By SCOTT BAUER, Associated Press • 2h ago

 

 

FILE - Former President Donald Trump arrives at a rally, Aug. 5, 2022, in Waukesha, Wis. A Wisconsin judge on Monday, May 15, 2023, refused to break up a lawsuit filed against 10 fake electors for Trump and two of his attorneys, saying the case could proceed in the county where it was filed. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)© Provided by The Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin judge on Monday refused to break up a lawsuit filed against 10 fake electors for former President Donald Trump and two of his attorneys, saying the case could proceed in the county where it was filed.

The lawsuit seeks $2.4 million from the fake electors and their attorneys, alleging they were part of a conspiracy by Trump and his allies to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential race. It also seeks to disqualify the Republicans from ever serving as electors again.

Fake electors met in Wisconsin and other battleground states where Trump was defeated in 2020, attempting to cast ballots for the former president even though he lost. Republicans who participated in Wisconsin said they were trying to preserve Trump’s legal standing in case courts overturned his defeat.

 

FILE - People vote at the Milwaukee County Sports Complex, Nov. 3, 2020, in Franklin, Wis. A Wisconsin judge on Monday, May 15, 2023, refused to break up a lawsuit filed against 10 fake electors for former President Donald Trump and two of his attorneys, saying the case could proceed in the county where it was filed. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)© Provided by The Associated Press

Nine of the 10 fake electors in Wisconsin, and one of Trump's attorneys, argued that the lawsuit against them was wrongly filed in Dane County Circuit Court. Since none of them lived in that county, they argued, the lawsuit should be refiled against each of them in their respective home counties.

But Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington disagreed on Monday, saying the lawsuit was properly filed because, in part, at least one of the defendants appears to live in Dane County or does not present evidence to the contrary.

[Slotback Right]

They weren't "fake." They were real electors, with a competing claim of legitimacy to the other slate of electors. Both slates of electors claimed to be the rightful representatives of the state's voters, and it was the duty of the US House of Representatives to determine which slate to recognize as legitimate. That's Congress' job. Nothing fake about it. 

[DBP66]

4 minutes ago, Slotback Right said:

They weren't "fake." They were real electors, with a competing claim of legitimacy to the other slate of electors. Both slates of electors claimed to be the rightful representatives of the state's voters, and it was the duty of the US House of Representatives to determine which slate to recognize as legitimate. That's Congress' job. Nothing fake about it. 

LOL...they were very "fake"....🙄

[DBP66]

Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani plotted to sell presidential pardons for $2 million a piece, former staffer says in lawsuit

 

Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert

Mon, May 15, 2023 at 9:44 PM EDT

 

 

 

Rudy Giuliani, left, and former President Donald Trump, right, in a composite image.AP Photo

• On Monday, Rudy Giuliani was hit with a bombshell rape civil lawsuit filed by a former staffer.

• The staffer alleged in the suit that Giuliani asked if she knew anyone who wanted to buy a presidential pardon.

• The suit says Giuliani said he was selling them for $2 million, splitting the profit with Trump.

A new rape civil lawsuit filed against Donald Trump's former lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, says the pair devised a scheme to make presidential pardons available for purchase for $2 million each.

In addition to claims that Giuliani raped her repeatedly while she worked for him, Noelle Dunphy, who served as his law firm's director of business operations, alleged in a lawsuit filed Monday that Giuliani asked: "if she knew anyone in need of a pardon, telling her that he was selling pardons for $2 million, which he and President Trump would split."

The lawsuit continued: "He told Ms. Dunphy that she could refer individuals seeking pardons to him, so long as they did not go through 'the normal channels' of the Office of the Pardon Attorney, because correspondence going to that office would be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act."

Requests for clemency for federal crimes such as piracy, treason, and counterfeiting are made through the Office of the Pardon Attorney, and, as they are subjected to federal oversight, often take years to be granted. As of 2022, the office has a backlog of more than 17,000 pending applications for pardons, Bloomberg reported.

Representatives for Trump and lawyers for Dunphy did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

Giuliani, through his spokesman Ted Goodman, "unequivocally" denied the allegations: "Mayor Giuliani's lifetime of public service speaks for itself and he will pursue all available remedies and counterclaims."

Compared to other presidents, Trump flexed his power to pardon people of their crimes very little while he was in office, most often offering clemency and full pardons to his political allies — including Roger Stone, his former strategist Steve Bannon, and his son-in-law's father, Charles Kushner — while hinting that he could pardon himself if he were convicted of a crime while in office.

Compared to former President Barack Obama's more than 1,300 clemency grants, Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of 240 people while in office.

While it remains unknown whether recipients of the high-profile pardons paid the $2 million alleged in the lawsuit, The New York Times reported only 25 of the 240 pardons and commutations Trump granted during his term came through the regular Justice Department process, instead being routed through a private process developed by the Trump White House.

The Office of the Pardon Attorney did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

[golfaddict1]

DeSantis and his 2 inch heeled boots is waiting on deck with his Yale baseball bat ready to take some uppercut swings “if” Trump’s legal matters get to the point of Cult numbers flocking away or if Fulton County brings attention in the summer (stop laughing 😂).  

[DBP66]

Trump to appear by video Tuesday for hearing in Manhattan criminal case

Graham Kates

Mon, May 22, 2023 at 4:44 PM EDT

 

 

Donald Trump is scheduled to attend his second court hearing as a criminal defendant Tuesday, but it will be a far different scene than his previous appearance.

When he went to court in New York City on April 4, it was the first time in American history a former president was arraigned for a crime. The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg unsealed a 34-count felony indictment that day, alleging falsification of business records, and Trump entered a not guilty plea.

This time, instead of the dozens of court officers and Secret Service agents who flanked Trump during his arraignment, he'll appear via live video fed into the same courtroom he walked into last month. It will be the first time in American history a former president has appeared virtually for a criminal court hearing.

New York Judge Juan Merchan is expected to explain to Trump the terms of a protective order he issued for much of the evidence prosecutors will give to the defense as part of the case. During a May 4 hearing that Trump was not required to attend, Merchan called the order "standard" but acknowledged it bears unusual significance for Trump, who is running for president.

The order largely bars Trump from publicizing any material that had not already been made public once it's turned over by prosecutors to his team. Merchan wrote in the May 8 order that Trump will only have access to certain information, labeled "Limited Dissemination Materials" by prosecutors, in the presence of his attorneys. He will not be allowed to make copy, photograph or transcribe those documents.

Merchan stressed on May 4 that this is not a gag order, and Trump is not barred from speaking about the case.

"I'm bending over backwards and straining to ensure that he is given every opportunity possible to advance his candidacy," Merchan said.

Trump's attorneys had argued against the protective order, writing in a May 1 filing that it "would be an unprecedented and extraordinarily broad muzzle on a leading contender for the presidency of the United States."

The order also bars Trump and his team from disclosing the names of certain Manhattan D.A. personnel until a trial begins.

In an April 24 filing requesting the order, a prosecutor cited Trump's history of derogatory social media posts and statements related to other investigations, including posts about former special counsel Robert Mueller and his probe into alleged links between Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Russia; Trump's two impeachment inquiries; and a Fulton County, Georgia, investigation into alleged efforts to undermine the presidential election in 2020.

On May 4, Trump sought to have the case moved to federal court. That motion remains unresolved and the case is continuing forward in New York State court for the time being.

[DBP66]

Judge Lays Down the Law for Trump in Hush Money Case

 

528

Jose Pagliery

Tue, May 23, 2023 at 2:28 PM EDT

 

 

 

REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

As the Manhattan District Attorney prepares to hand over huge tranches of evidence to Donald Trump, a New York state judge on Tuesday gently warned the petulant former American president against continuing his incendiary campaign against law enforcement and the courts.

“It's certainly not a gag order. It’s certainly not my intention in any way to impede Mr. Trump's ability to campaign… he's certainly free to deny the charges… he's free to do just about anything that doesn't violate the specific terms of this protective order,” Justice Juan Merchan said from the bench in front of a packed courtroom of attorneys and journalists, as Trump tuned in via videofeed from Mar-a-Lago.

Merchan was referring to a protective order he signed two weeks ago that guards sensitive documents prosecutors are turning over to Trump and his legal team. Defense lawyers need the evidence in those records to fight back against the 34-count grand jury indictment that accuses Trump of faking business records in order to hide his hush money payment to the porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, a scheme that saved his first successful presidential campaign from potentially dire embarrassment.

 

But while Merchan avoided lecturing the former president, he did caution that ignoring the judicial order could still land Trump in serious legal jeopardy.

“Violation of a court order or a court mandate could result in sanctions. There are a wide range of sanctions, but it could include up to a finding of contempt. and that is punishable,” Merchan said, choosing painfully oblique phrasing to warn Trump he could face fines or jail.

It was a clear shot at the real estate tycoon, who has used his cult-like status in the Republican Party and MAGA megaphone to broadcast veiled threats against Bragg, prosecutors on his team, and even Merchan himself.

 

The awkward power dynamic on display in the New York City courtroom Wednesday is a microcosm of what Americans face in the months to come as several criminal investigations finally zero in on Trump: an unencumbered politician who relentlessly taunts the country’s justice system while judges use tempered language to tactfully exercise the legal authority they claim to have.

Adding a tinge of dramatic flare—and tension highlighting the competing powers—Trump was seen sitting behind a desk, flanked by two American flags and perched next to his lawyer. Trump wore a frown, a dark blue suit, and a striped red tie. He stared into the camera while keeping his hands clasped together over a document.

Tuesday’s court hearing itself was an oddity, as it was a normally unnecessary affair that merely served to formally read Trump a judicial order he could have seen himself—or had his many lawyers describe to him. But Merchan, cognizant that the former president has recently shown he couldn’t care less about supposed restrictions, took the added precaution of speaking directly to Trump himself—while adopting a light touch approach to avoid making it something of a spectacle with a public lecture.

Trump appeared on a computer screen, joined by his lead defense lawyer Todd Blanche from the mogul’s mansion in Palm Beach. His other defense lawyer, Susan Necheles, sat at a table in court opposite Bragg’s team of prosecutors.

During the brief court hearing, Blanche lightly pushed back against the judge's decision, noting that "because President Trump is running for president of the United States and is the current leading contender... he's very much concerned that his First Amendment rights are being violated by this order."

But the order doesn't say anything that would stop Trump from merely complaining about the case—or continuing to call it a political farce.

In his May 8 order, Merchan wrote that any evidence turned over by the DA “shall be used solely for the purposes of preparing a defense,” forbidding Trump or anyone else who gets them from posting them online—even singling out Truth Social, Trump’s own platform. And the judge went so far as to limit Trump’s ability to see the evidence himself, ordering that he is “permitted to review the limited dissemination materials only in the presence of defense counsel.” The restrictions are aimed at stopping Trump from ramping up the norm-shattering tactics he’s adopted in recent weeks.

In late March, when Trump began to feel the legal pressure as Bragg’s team neared the end of their presentation before the Manhattan grand jury, Trump actually warned of “potential death & destruction” if he was indicted. He posted a photo mashup that appeared to show him wielding a bat over Bragg’s head. The image inspired his Make America Great Again followers to flood the DA’s office with threatening messages, according to a source in that office.

Then, after being indicted March 30, Trump focused his rage on a lead prosecutor on that team, Matt Colangelo, whom he labeled “a top Democrat DOJ official.” That served as a greenlight to his loyal adherents in Congress, where House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) quickly fired off a letter demanding that the prosecutor interrupt his ongoing investigation to testify about how he got hired—a thinly veiled ploy to further the conspiracy theory that President Joe Biden is somehow behind Trump’s New York indictment.

Then, in a jaw-dropping show of contemptuousness mere hours after his arraignment in court in New York, Trump ignored Merchan’s calmly delivered warnings about avoiding incendiary personal attacks and delivered a caustic speech at his Mar-a-Lago estate in South Florida.

“This is where we are right now. I have a Trump-hating judge, with a Trump-hating wife and family, whose daughter worked for Kamala Harris and now receives money from the Biden-Harris campaign,” Trump said that evening.

Trump already has a history of targeting judges he doesn’t like, with the most memorable being his infamously racist tirade in 2016 against U.S. District Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel, who he deemed incapable of ruling fairly simply because the California federal judge was of Mexican heritage.

But Trump has been on an all-out campaign of insolence as of late, most recently with the way he ignored a New York federal judge’s repeat warnings during his civil rape trial against the journalist E. Jean Carroll. Trump and his eldest son, Don Jr., posted rants on social media about the case and the jury—even to the point of potentially causing a mistrial—despite U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan’s stern admonitions in court.

He’s even kept it up after losing the trial and being ordered to pay $5 million for defaming the woman he was found to have sexually abused. During a CNN town hall earlier this month, he continued to bash Carroll—sparking yet another slew of defamation claims from Carroll and her lawyers—and on Tuesday morning he twice posted on Truth Social about what he called a “scam” of a case.

On Tuesday, the judge overseeing the Manhattan DA's case officially set the first ever criminal trial of a former president to start on March 25, 2024—at the very height of Republican presidential primaries. That means Trump could find himself preparing for trial the same week he faces key scheduled elections in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, and Ohio.

[DBP66]

Reality sucks for Trump.....👍

Fearing indictment is imminent in classified docs probe, Trump team requests meeting with DOJ

3.9k

KATHERINE FAULDERS and ALEXANDER MALLIN

Tue, May 23, 2023 at 10:07 PM EDT

 

 

Former President Donald Trump's legal team has formally requested a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland, amid fears from his attorneys that the coming weeks could bring a possible indictment of Trump regarding his alleged efforts to retain materials after leaving office and to obstruct the government's attempts to retrieve them.

The letter, though thin on details, presents arguments that Trump should not be charged in the investigation related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.

The letter asks Garland for a meeting at his earliest convenience to discuss what the attorneys describe as the "ongoing injustice that is being perpetrated" by special counsel Jack Smith and says that no president has been "baselessly investigated" in such an "unlawful fashion."

 

The one-page letter was signed by Trump lawyers John Rowley and James Trusty, and does not outline any specific allegations of wrongdoing by Smith and his team.

The request does not specifically detail what Trump's legal team wants to discuss with the attorney general. Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing associated with his handling of materials bearing classification markings.

It's not clear whether Trump's attorneys are acting on any specific knowledge of Smith's investigation.

Trump posted the letter on his Truth Social account Tuesday night.

[Warrior]

1 hour ago, DBP66 said:

Reality sucks for Trump.....👍

Fearing indictment is imminent in classified docs probe, Trump team requests meeting with DOJ

3.9k

KATHERINE FAULDERS and ALEXANDER MALLIN

Tue, May 23, 2023 at 10:07 PM EDT

 

 

Former President Donald Trump's legal team has formally requested a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland, amid fears from his attorneys that the coming weeks could bring a possible indictment of Trump regarding his alleged efforts to retain materials after leaving office and to obstruct the government's attempts to retrieve them.

The letter, though thin on details, presents arguments that Trump should not be charged in the investigation related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.

The letter asks Garland for a meeting at his earliest convenience to discuss what the attorneys describe as the "ongoing injustice that is being perpetrated" by special counsel Jack Smith and says that no president has been "baselessly investigated" in such an "unlawful fashion."

 

The one-page letter was signed by Trump lawyers John Rowley and James Trusty, and does not outline any specific allegations of wrongdoing by Smith and his team.

The request does not specifically detail what Trump's legal team wants to discuss with the attorney general. Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing associated with his handling of materials bearing classification markings.

It's not clear whether Trump's attorneys are acting on any specific knowledge of Smith's investigation.

Trump posted the letter on his Truth Social account Tuesday night.

How many years? And 130 pages deep and still nothing. Well done DP! 

[DBP66]

7 hours ago, Warrior said:

How many years? And 130 pages deep and still nothing. Well done DP! 

nothing?!?....LOL..I see you haven't been paying attention once again....he's a sexual predator (she's suing him again for slander!)...,found guilty with Stormy....NYS tax fraud found guilty...the stolen top secret files case is wrapping up...and don't forget about the 1-6 investigation....but other than that he got nothing to worry about!....🤡

[DBP66]

Information Is Sought on Trump’s Foreign Deals

 

2.3k

Alan Feuer, Maggie Haberman and Ben Protess

Tue, May 23, 2023 at 7:57 AM EDT

 

 

 

Former President and GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in Manchester, New Hampshire on April 27, 2023. (Sophie Park/The New York Times)

Federal prosecutors overseeing the investigation into former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents have issued a subpoena for information about Trump’s business dealings in foreign countries since he took office, according to two people familiar with the matter.

It remains unclear precisely what the prosecutors were hoping to find by sending the subpoena to Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, or when it was issued. But the subpoena suggests that investigators have cast a wider net than previously understood as they scrutinize whether he broke the law in taking sensitive government materials with him upon leaving the White House and then not fully complying with demands for their return.

The subpoena — drafted by the office of the special counsel, Jack Smith — sought details on the Trump Organization’s real estate licensing and development dealings in seven countries: China, France, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, according to the people familiar with the matter. The subpoena sought the records for deals reached since 2017, when Trump was sworn in as president.

The Trump Organization swore off any foreign deals while he was in the White House, and the only such deal Trump is known to have made since then was with a Saudi-based real estate company to license its name to a housing, hotel and golf complex that will be built in Oman. He struck that deal last fall just before announcing his third presidential campaign.

The push by Smith’s prosecutors to gain insight into the former president’s foreign business was part of a subpoena — previously reported by The New York Times — that was sent to the Trump Organization and sought records related to Trump’s dealings with a Saudi-backed golf venture known as LIV Golf, which is holding tournaments at some of his golf clubs. (Trump’s arrangement with LIV Golf was reached well after he removed documents from the White House.)

Collectively, the subpoena’s demand for records related to the golf venture and other foreign ventures since 2017 suggests that Smith is exploring whether there is any connection between Trump’s deal-making abroad and the classified documents he took with him when he left office.

It is unclear what material the Trump Organization has turned over in response to the subpoena or whether Smith has obtained any separate evidence supporting that theory. But since the start of their investigation, prosecutors have sought to understand not only what sorts of materials Trump removed from the White House, but also why he might have taken them with him.

Among the government documents discovered in Trump’s possession were some related to Middle Eastern countries, according to a person familiar with Smith’s work. And when the FBI executed a search warrant in August 2022 at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club and residence in Florida, among the items recovered was material related to President Emmanuel Macron of France, according to court records.

A spokesperson for Trump did not respond to emails seeking comment. A Trump Organization spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump has long argued that the documents belonged to him and that he need not return them to the government. When the Justice Department subpoenaed him last year to turn over any classified documents, he initially asked his lawyers whether he had to comply with the demand, according to a person with knowledge of the discussion. They said he was obligated to do so.

Since it became public that Trump had hundreds of classified documents at his private properties, including Mar-a-Lago, in early 2022, people close to him have said that he often referred to the boxes of material that federal officials wanted back as “mine.”

This month, Trump said something similar during a televised town hall event on CNN, declaring that he knowingly took government records from the White House when he left. He further claimed that he was allowed to do so because he considered the documents to be his personal property.

“I took the documents; I’m allowed to,” Trump said during the town hall, asserting at one point that he had “the absolute right” to take control of government records under the Presidential Records Act. That law, enacted in 1978 after the Watergate scandal, gave control of presidential records to the government itself — not to individual presidents.

Trump’s comments about the records being his personal property were in line with advice he was said to have received from Tom Fitton, the head of the conservative group Judicial Watch, who has given testimony to prosecutors investigating the case, according to people familiar with their conversations.

Although establishing a motive for why Trump kept hold of certain documents could be helpful to Smith, it would not necessarily be required in proving that Trump willfully maintained possession of national defense secrets or that he obstructed the government’s repeated efforts to get the materials back. Those two potential crimes have long been at the heart of the government’s documents investigation.

Smith is also examining Trump’s efforts to cling to power after he lost the November 2020 election to President Joe Biden, an inquiry that includes what role he may have played in unleashing the violence that erupted at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

A third track of Smith’s investigation is focused on Trump’s efforts to leverage claims of investigating election fraud to raise money. Trump raised tens of millions of dollars in small increments from donors as he aired allegations about election fraud that were eventually debunked.

Smith’s team is still bringing witnesses to the grand jury in connection with that matter. One witness this week is William Russell, an aide to Trump who worked for him in the White House and who was paid by Trump’s political action committee, Save America, where much of the money raised went.

Trump was recently indicted in Manhattan, where prosecutors accused him of covering up a sex scandal during the 2016 election, and is under investigation by a prosecutor in Georgia over his effort to overturn the election results there.

[Warrior]

22 hours ago, DBP66 said:

nothing?!?....LOL..I see you haven't been paying attention once again....he's a sexual predator (she's suing him again for slander!)...,found guilty with Stormy....NYS tax fraud found guilty...the stolen top secret files case is wrapping up...and don't forget about the 1-6 investigation....but other than that he got nothing to worry about!....🤡

You’re lost in the sauce again. Keep me posted big guy.

[golfaddict1]

… who will be Trump’s VP choice?  

Aging doesn’t stop on one side of the aisle.  

Give me a 40 yard dash between Pres Biden and Trump for the White House 2024.  
Name the day, location and time.   

No golf carts Donald.  

[concha]

10 minutes ago, golfaddict1 said:

… who will be Trump’s VP choice?  

Aging doesn’t stop on one side of the aisle.  

Give me a 40 yard dash between Pres Biden and Trump for the White House 2024.  
Name the day, location and time.   

No golf carts Donald.  

 

Trump could walk it in.

 

Here's Joe:

[DBP66]

Prosecutors Scrutinize Handling of Security Footage by Trump Aides in Documents Case

 

617

Alan Feuer, Maggie Haberman and Ben Protess

Thu, June 1, 2023 at 7:24 AM EDT

 

 

 

Mar-a-Lago, the residence of former President Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Fla., on April 4, 2023. (Hilary Swift/The New York Times)

For the past six months, prosecutors working for special counsel Jack Smith have sought to determine whether former President Donald Trump obstructed the government’s efforts to retrieve a trove of classified documents he took from the White House.

More recently, investigators also appear to be pursuing a related question: whether Trump and some of his aides sought to interfere with the government’s attempt to obtain security camera footage from Mar-a-Lago that could shed light on how those documents were stored and who had access to them.

The search for answers on this second issue has taken investigators deep into the bowels of Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club and residence in Florida, as they pose questions to an expanding cast of low-level workers at the compound, according to people familiar with the matter. Some of the workers played a role in either securing boxes of material in a storage room at Mar-a-Lago or maintaining video footage from a security camera that was mounted outside the room.

 

Two weeks ago, the latest of these employees, an information technology worker named Yuscil Taveras, appeared before a grand jury in Washington, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Taveras was asked questions about his dealings with two other Trump employees: Walt Nauta, a longtime aide to Trump who served as one of his valets in the White House, and Carlos Deoliveira, described by one person familiar with the events as the head of maintenance at Mar-a-Lago.

Phone records show that Deoliveira called Taveras last summer, and prosecutors wanted to know why. The call caught the government’s attention because it was placed shortly after prosecutors issued a subpoena to Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, demanding the footage from the surveillance camera near the storage room.

The call also occurred just weeks after Deoliveira helped Nauta move boxes of documents into the storage room — the same room that Deoliveira at one point fitted with a lock. The movement of the boxes into the room took place at another key moment: on the day before prosecutors descended on Mar-a-Lago for a meeting with Trump’s lawyers intended to get him to comply with a demand to return all classified documents.

The Trump Organization ultimately turned over the surveillance tapes, but Smith’s prosecutors appear to be scrutinizing whether someone in Trump’s orbit tried to limit the amount of footage produced to the government.

They asked Taveras an open-ended question about if anyone had queried him about whether footage from the surveillance system could be deleted.

It remains unclear what investigators learned from questioning Taveras in front of the grand jury and whether they were able to make any headway in their efforts to determine if steps had been taken to interfere with the handing over of the surveillance tapes.

But the focus on the tapes is the latest effort by Smith to determine whether Trump or his aides engaged in any sort of obstructive behavior. Prosecutors are examining whether the former president has in effect been playing games with government officials in different agencies for more than a year — including the Justice Department, which issued a subpoena for all classified documents in Trump’s possession last May, and the National Archives, which sought to retrieve reams of presidential records from Trump that he held onto after leaving office, some of which included classified material.

There is no indication that Taveras is a subject of Smith’s investigation. His lawyer, Stanley Woodward Jr., declined to comment.

Deoliveira’s lawyer, John Irving, did not respond to a message seeking comment.

All three men — Taveras, Deoliveira and Nauta — have been questioned extensively by prosecutors over their roles in handling the boxes and the tapes. Trump’s aides maintain that nothing nefarious took place, and that activities that prosecutors are treating with suspicion were simply part of efforts to comply with the subpoenas or were routine conversations that happened without the participants knowing in some cases about the existence of the subpoenas issued by the Justice Department for the security footage and for the classified documents in Trump’s possession.

Nonetheless, one person briefed on the events said the interactions concerning the security tapes were enough to arouse suspicion among Smith’s investigators. Moreover, people briefed on witness interviews say, it has become clear that Smith views a number of people connected to Trump with skepticism.

Both Irving and the lawyer representing Nauta and Taveras, Woodward, are being paid by Trump’s political action committee, Save America, which itself has been under scrutiny by Smith’s team. Prosecutors are looking into whether the group raised money from donors by claiming that it would be earmarked for legal challenges to the 2020 election, but that Trump’s aides knew he had lost.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday about a conversation between an unnamed IT worker and an unnamed maintenance worker at Mar-a-Lago.

Taveras’ grand jury appearance was not the first time that Smith’s team has focused on the question of how the security tapes at Mar-a-Lago were handled. Prosecutors have also issued subpoenas to Matthew Calamari Sr. and his son, Matthew Calamari Jr., who have long overseen security issues for the Trump Organization.

The prosecutors have sent separate subpoenas to the company seeking surveillance footage from Mar-a-Lago, people with knowledge of the matter said. The first such subpoena was issued last June, and since then, prosecutors have sent several more subpoenas for a wider array of footage, one person with knowledge of the matter said.

The prosecutors appear to have sought the footage in order to get a clearer picture of the movement of the boxes of documents at Mar-a-Lago. But there were gaps in the footage, the person said, and the prosecutors have also been examining whether someone intentionally stopped the tape or if technological issues caused the gap.

The prosecutors have also subpoenaed a software company that handles all of the surveillance footage for the Trump Organization, including at Mar-a-Lago, The New York Times previously reported.

The attempts by Smith’s team to get to the bottom of what was happening with the boxes and the tapes reflect a fundamental challenge that prosecutors have faced since the start of the documents investigation: Trump’s post-presidential world at Mar-a-Lago is as much of a mishmash of loyalists and other officials as his chaotic White House was, and those who surround him most at his private club are employees with whom he has developed direct personal relationships over years.

Nauta was a military aide serving as a valet in the Trump White House, requiring a level of intimate proximity to the president that few staff members develop. After the Trump administration ended, Nauta retired from the military and went to work for Trump directly. And Deoliveira once parked cars at the club, a Trump aide said.

Before working on the information systems at Mar-a-Lago, Taveras managed them at the Trump International Hotel and Tower and at the Trump SoHo Hotel, according to his LinkedIn page.

[DBP66]

Trump Lawyer’s Notes Could Be a Key in the Classified Documents Inquiry

 

2.3k

Alan Feuer, Ben Protess and Maggie Haberman

Sat, June 3, 2023 at 11:27 AM EDT

 

 

 

Attorneys M. Evan Corcoran, left, and David Schoen arrive to represent Steve Bannon on contempt of Congress charges, in Washington on July 20, 2022. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times)

Turning on his iPhone one day last year, lawyer M. Evan Corcoran recorded his reflections about a high-profile new job: representing former President Donald Trump in an investigation into his handling of classified documents.

In complete sentences and a narrative tone that sounded as if it had been ripped from a novel, Corcoran recounted in detail a nearly monthlong period of the documents investigation, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Corcoran’s narration of his recollections covered his initial meeting with Trump in May 2022 to discuss a subpoena from the Justice Department seeking the return of all classified materials in the former president’s possession, the people said.

It also encompassed a search that Corcoran undertook last June in response to the subpoena for any relevant records being kept at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club and residence in Florida. He carried out the search in preparation for a visit by prosecutors, who were on their way to enforce the subpoena and collect any sensitive material found remaining there.

Government investigators almost never obtain a clear lens into a lawyer’s private dealings with their clients, let alone with such a prominent one as Trump. A recording like the voice memo Corcoran made last year — during a long drive to a family event, according to two people briefed on the recording — is typically shielded by attorney-client or work-product privilege.

But in March, a federal judge ordered Corcoran’s recorded recollections — now transcribed onto dozens of pages — to be given to the office of special counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the documents investigation.

The decision by the judge, Beryl Howell, pierced the privilege that would have normally protected Corcoran’s musings about his interactions with Trump. Those protections were set aside under what is known as the crime-fraud exception, a provision that allows prosecutors to work around attorney-client privilege if they have reason to believe that legal advice or legal services were used in furthering a crime.

Howell, in a sealed memorandum that accompanied her decision, made clear that prosecutors believe Trump knowingly misled Corcoran about the location of documents that would be responsive to the subpoena, according to a person familiar with the memo’s contents.

Corcoran’s notes, which have not been previously described in such detail, will likely play a central role as Smith and his team move toward concluding their investigation and turn to the question of whether to bring charges against Trump. They could also show up as evidence in a courtroom if a criminal case is ultimately filed and goes to trial.

The level of detail in the recording is said to have angered and unnerved close aides to Trump who are worried that they contain direct quotes from sensitive conversations.

Corcoran, who was brought into Trump’s orbit by a political and legal adviser to the former president, Boris Epshteyn, did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump, said in a statement that “the attorney-client privilege is one of the oldest and most fundamental principles in our legal system,” and he accused the Justice Department of trying to deny Trump “this basic right.”

Cheung added that “whether attorneys’ notes are detailed or not makes no difference — these notes reflect the legal opinions and thoughts of the lawyer, not the client.” And he maintained that Trump had tried to cooperate when Justice Department officials came to the property in last June.

In an early scene in his account, Corcoran describes meeting Trump at Mar-a-Lago last spring to help him handle a subpoena that had just been issued by a federal grand jury in Washington seeking the return of all classified material in the possession of his presidential office, the people familiar with the matter said.

After pleasantries, according to a description of the recorded notes, Trump asked Corcoran if he had to comply with the subpoena. Corcoran told him that he did.

That exchange could be useful to prosecutors as they collect evidence on whether Trump sought to obstruct the subpoena process and interfere with the government’s broader efforts to retrieve all of the sensitive records that he took with him from the White House.

But people close to Trump have said the conversation could be read in a more favorable light as a client merely asking his lawyer about how he should proceed.

The recording also describes how Corcoran conducted a search of a Mar-a-Lago storage room in an effort to comply with the subpoena’s request for documents, the people familiar with the account said. Corcoran told a grand jury in May that several employees at the compound had told him everything he needed was being kept in the storage room, located in the basement of the property, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Corcoran subsequently handed over to Justice Department officials more than three dozen documents he turned up in his search and drafted a letter to the department stating that a diligent search had not found any more.

The notes in the recording do not suggest that Corcoran was waved away from searching anywhere other than the storage room, the people familiar with them said. But they also indicate that no one at Mar-a-Lago — including Trump — spoke up to tell him that he should look elsewhere.

In the end, it turned out the employees who directed Corcoran to the storage room were wrong. In August, when FBI agents descended on Mar-a-Lago with a court-approved search warrant, they found classified documents not only in the basement of Mar-a-Lago but also in Trump’s office.

The issue of who moved boxes into and out of the storage room — and why — has become one of the central parts of Smith’s investigation. Prosecutors have focused much of their attention on Walt Nauta, an aide to Trump who took part in moving boxes, and on another Mar-a-Lago employee, Carlos Deoliveira, a maintenance worker who helped Nauta.

Smith’s team has also focused on a related question: whether there were any efforts to interfere with the government’s attempts to obtain security camera footage from Mar-a-Lago that could shed light on how the documents were kept in the storage room and who had access to them. Corcoran’s notes provide some details about Nauta’s involvement in the search.

They say, for instance, that Nauta unlocked the storage room door for Corcoran, according to the people familiar with them. They also say that Nauta brought Corcoran some tape so that he could seal in a folder the classified documents he found, in preparation for giving them to prosecutors.

There is also a reference to Corcoran’s meeting with the prosecutors, which took place at Mar-a-Lago on June 3, 2022. He and another lawyer for Trump, Christina Bobb, met Jay Bratt, the chief of the counterespionage section of the national security division of the Justice Department, to turn over the documents he found and convey the letter asserting that to the best of their knowledge, no more remained at Mar-a-Lago.

The notes refer to Trump’s appearance related to Bratt’s visit, according to one person briefed on the contents of the notes.

Howell’s memorandum compelling Corcoran to answer questions in front of a grand jury and to produce his notes described the lawyer as essentially a casualty of Trump’s months of gamesmanship with investigators and National Archives officials about returning the documents, according to a person familiar with the memo’s contents.

As The New York Times reported in April, Howell wrote in the memorandum, according to the person familiar with its contents, that Trump’s earlier actions and “misdirection” of archives officials’ efforts to retrieve what turned out to be more than a dozen boxes of records were a “dress rehearsal” for the May subpoena.