Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2

[Rick Plant]

Jack Smith wants to go after Trump's 'good news boy' to crush his January 6 defense: legal expert



Longtime Donald Trump adviser and right-wing media commentator Boris Epshteyn is scheduled to give testimony to a grand jury empaneled by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith to investigate the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

That could have huge implications for how Smith — if he decides to charge the former president — is trying to undercut any potential defense he might have, argued former Manhattan-based federal prosecutor David Kelley on MSNBC's "The Beat" Friday.

"When you look at someone like Boris Epshteyn, who has so much involvement and so many different aspects, just at an investigative level, how would you and federal prosecutors try to get this information from him?" asked anchor Ari Melber.

"So a couple of thoughts here, Ari," said Kelley. "First off, Jack Smith has taken a methodical approach here, which is encouraging, and going through all the people around the president, the former president, to find out what he knew."

"Let me add this additional thought, which i think is a little unique with Epshteyn, which is, he's reportedly the good news guy for Trump," Kelly continued. "What one of the angles, just one of them, that I think Jack Smith may be taking is, let's find out what the good news boy said to the president so he can kind of preempt a defense by saying, I was told X by a lawyer."

"They took his phone reportedly in September, so here we are," added Kelley. "They have analyzed everything, and they are carefully walking through each text to find out what was going on, what was meant, and outside of the text, what that person said to him and what he heard others say to each other."

Watch:

Smartmatic attorney expects 'full retraction' from Fox News along with a sizable payout

The trial for Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News was avoided on Tuesday, April 18 when plaintiff Dominion and defendant Fox reached a settlement. Fox News agreed to pay Dominion $787.5 million, and the right-wing cable news channel has been spared the embarrassing testimony that Dominion's attorneys were getting ready to present during the trial.

But Fox News is still facing a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit from Dominion competitor Smartmatic, whose lawyer, Erik Connolly, discussed that case with CNN's Jake Tapper on Thursday, April 20.

Smartmatic's lawsuit against Fox News is similar to Dominion's. Like Dominion, Smartmatic alleges that it was defamed when Fox News, following the 2020 presidential election, promoted the bogus, thoroughly debunked conspiracy theory that its equipment was used to help President Joe Biden steal the election from former President Donald Trump. But Smartmatic has sued Fox News for a larger amount than Dominion.

The Smartmatic attorney told Tapper that Smartmatic is asking Fox News for a "full retraction," an "apology" and a settlement that is at least as large as the one Dominion is receiving — if not larger.

Connolly said of the Fox News/Dominion settlement, "That set down a marker, and it's a marker that we think we should be exceeding. The scope of the damage done to Smartmatic is a global scale, because we operate globally…. $787 million is a good start. But it's not the right finishing point."

The attorney told Tapper that Smartmatic is "looking to take this case through trial."

A Fox News spokesperson had a combative tone in an April 20 statement on Smartmatic's lawsuit, telling CNN, "We will be ready to defend this case surrounding extremely newsworthy events when it goes to trial, likely in 2025. As a report prepared by our financial expert shows, Smartmatic's damages claims are implausible, disconnected from reality, and on its face intended to chill First Amendment freedoms."

Read More Here:  https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/20/media/smartmatic-fox-news-retraction



Ex-Fox News producer can still drag the network through hell — even after Dominion settlement: attorney

Fox News managed to avert a protracted, embarrassing trial by forking over $787.5 million to Dominion Voting Systems in a settlement over their promotion of election conspiracy theories in 2020. But their legal problems are far from over, starting with a pair of lawsuits from former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg.

Speaking to MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace on Friday, Grossberg attorney Gerry Filippatos explained how solid he believes these cases are.

"You are the attorney representing Abby in her ongoing lawsuit against Fox News," said Wallace. "I think there's some mistake to think that these matters are closed, but they are not at all."

"Not at all closed," Filippatos agreed. "Abby has two lawsuits. One in Delaware, where she is essentially alleging there was a civil conspiracy to throw her under the bus, get her to testify falsely, to cover up Fox's misdoings in that case, and that case is ongoing in delaware."

The other, Filippatos continued, is "a case in the Southern District of New York, which is a very unique, even for me who has been doing this for 30 years, practicing employment discrimination law,"

That case, he added, is a "uniquely strong case alleging gender discrimination, glass ceiling discrimination, failure to promote, she didn't get an executive producer spot, although she was a one-woman show along with Maria Bartiromo and then ultimately was replaced by a man, and then even worse, jumped out of the frying pan into the fire and went to the Tucker Carlson show where she was subjected to one of the most vile, toxic work environments I have seen in my 30 years of practice."

Fox News continues to deny all allegations made by Grossberg against the company.

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

The Case Against Donald Trump: What Comes Next?

https://www.nytimes.com/article/trump-indictment-criminal-charges.html

[Rick Plant]

Bombshell revelation of Trump election texts is 'more damning' than his Georgia phone call: legal analyst



Reacting to a CNN report that Trump operatives were making plans to use breached voting data to not only undercut the 2020 presidential election results but also to give the GOP control of the Senate, one legal analyst stated the former president's legal woes have just grown exponentially worse.

Speaking with host Fredricka Whitfield, former prosecutor Michael Zeldin claimed multiple laws at the state and federal level may have been broken.

As CNN reported on Friday, "The plot to breach voting systems in Coffee County, coordinated by members of Trump’s legal team including Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, is part of a broader criminal investigation into 2020 election interference led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis," before adding, "Willis’ office is weighing a potential racketeering case against multiple defendants and is actively deciding who to bring charges against, sources tell CNN. Willis has subpoenaed a number of individuals involved in the Coffee County breach, including the two men who carried it out who were in touch with [Jim] Penrose and [Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug] Logan."

According to Zeldin, "What we have here is the unauthorized access to this privileged computer data. There is a conspiracy to acquire and improperly distribute that data. There is probably a crime of interfering with the rights of the people of Georgia to have a free and fair election."

"And this is a series of crimes, a pattern of criminal activity, then it could possibly violate the Georgia RICO statute, which criminalizes a series of criminal activities by the same person or group of persons, so there's a lot of stake here," he added.

He later stated that the new revelation is "more damning" than the phone call that Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger that is a central part of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' grand jury investigation.

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Former acting U.S. Solicitor General Neal Katyal about the Mar-a-Lago document case: “I think this is a very, very serious problem for Trump. And I expect he will be indicted for it.”

Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1647040699664138240

[Rick Plant]

A new legal maneuver signals Georgia case against Trump is accelerating
https://www.rawstory.com/fulton-county-trump-2659894772/

[Rick Plant]

Even as we wait for the Fulton County DA’s unknown date on the grand jury schedule so she can bring her indictments against Donald Trump and his allies, it looks the criminal case against Trump is even uglier than we knew.

It turns out the DA has possession of text messages showing that Trump and his allies plotted to steal voting machine data in an effort to overthrow the two U.S. Senate special election in Georgia on January 5th.

One legal expert says these text messages are even “more damning” than the already-established evidence in the case, such as Trump’s now famous phone calls to Georgia officials, asking them to find him more votes. Even as we wait for the hammer to drop in Georgia, it’s turning out to be a bigger hammer than we knew.

Former prosecutor Michael Zeldin says the election texts in the possession of Fani Willis are “more damning” than Trump’s Georgia phone call.

“What we have here is…a conspiracy to acquire and improperly distribute (unauthorized) data. There is probably a crime of interfering with the rights of the people of Georgia to have a free and fair election…

And this is a series of crimes, a pattern of criminal activity, then it could possibly violate the Georgia RICO statute.”

The plot Willis is investigated involved the breach of voting systems in Coffee County, coordinated by members of Trump’s legal team including Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell.

[Rick Plant]

A new clue in the Fani Willis investigation

Willis' latest motion appears ominous for a pair of defense lawyers — and signals accelerating accountability for fake elector ringleaders.

One of the many unusual features of Donald Trump’s endless head-on collisions with the rule of law is the collateral damage done to lawyers. The latest example is Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ motion to disqualify one of the attorneys representing 10 of the Georgia fake electors tied up in the investigation into efforts to subvert the will of voters. The motion’s claims appear ominous for the defense lawyers involved — and signal accelerating accountability for fake elector ringleaders.

Willis’ motion is based upon new interviews with some of the fake electors in the presence of their lawyer Kimberly Debrow. Several of these electors apparently alleged that another fake elector represented by Debrow had committed further (unspecified) violations of Georgia law. The motion also alleges that Debrow failed to communicate an immunity offer to the group, despite her former co-counsel Holly Pierson’s representation to the court that it had been communicated.

The motion suggests Willis is willing to offer immunity to some or even most of the fake electors. That is consistent with what we already know; the conclusion that a small subset was principally responsible for the election fraud scheming was also the view of the Jan. 6 House committee. Its report highlights, for example, testimony from Georgia Trump campaign official Robert Sinners claiming that most of the fake electors were treated as “useful idiots or rubes.”

All of this is good news for innocent electors. The revelations in the motion seem to be positive for Willis as well, because they suggest electors are already working with her to build her case. And the more blameless they are, the better. (This situation may also help explain the delay in bringing charges, despite Willis saying months ago a decision was "imminent.")

The motion is not such good news for the fake elector who allegedly committed an as-yet-unrevealed “further crime.” It’s not clear whether that possible offense relates to the fake electoral slates or something else. In either event, the development could serve as an important breakthrough for the district attorney. When a prosecutor has that kind of proof with a culpable party, they are better able to negotiate cooperation. Instead of offering immunity and hoping for assent, for example, Willis can push for a plea deal with the credible threat of prosecution. 

Nor is the motion encouraging for Trump. Willis appears to be gathering momentum. Trump already faces prosecution in New York and, once Willis secures her cooperators, a Georgia indictment may not be far behind.

But perhaps the biggest loser is Debrow. Failing to communicate an offer of immunity to a client is a serious violation of professional ethics. And if she played a part in her co-counsel Pierson’s alleged misrepresentations to the court, that would be a serious matter as well. (Of course, none of this makes Pierson look good either. She may well be facing her own ethics investigation, especially if she knowingly made a false statement to the court. Judges look askance at this kind of thing, as we just saw from the reprimand doled out in Delaware to the lawyers for Fox.

Debrow has strongly denied the allegations and has issued a statement calling the claims “baseless, false and offensive,” and further describing the investigation as “politically motivated.” She also said she has recordings that will support her position. Like Debrow, Pierson has also categorically denied the allegations and has said she can prove she is right.

If Willis prevails on the motion, Debrow will likely have to stop representing some of her elector clients. All state attorney’s codes of ethics, including Georgia’s, prohibit lawyers from representing a client “if there is a significant risk that the lawyer’s own interests or the lawyer’s duties to another client, a former client, or a third person will materially and adversely affect the representation of the client.”

It seems clear that, in the criminal context especially, a lawyer would face an impossible task of serving each of their clients’ interests if one or more of those clients is a cooperating witness against another. In fact, Georgia’s rules state that the potential for conflicts of interest in this type of scenario “is so grave that ordinarily a lawyer should decline to represent” more than one party.

Indeed, if Willis proves her claims, Debrow may be compelled by ethical considerations to step down from representing any of the electors, given “there is a serious possibility of future ethical problems concerning confidentiality of information obtained in the course of her representation thus far.”

This is just the latest example of lawyers tied to the Trump probes being accused of potential wrongdoing. Thankfully, prosecutors and the courts are well equipped to handle these problems as they arise. Willis has done just that here and — given Judge Robert McBurney’s careful consideration of the case thus far — we are confident that he will get to the bottom of the matter. Justice demands nothing less.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/lawyers-tied-trump-investigation-georgia-land-hot-water-rcna80868