Trump’s Attorneys and the Crimes They Enabled
Plus: Five Reasons for DeSantis’s Phony ‘I Won’t Extradite Trump’ Stunt
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PAUL ROSENZWEIG: Trump’s Attorneys and the Crimes They Enabled.
It’s rare that a court breaks attorney-client privilege, even rarer that the reason is that the lawyer was wittingly or unwittingly contributing to a crime or fraud, and rarer still that it happens twice to the same guy. Yet, for the second time, a federal judge has invoked a doctrine known as the “crime-fraud exception” to force one of Donald Trump’s attorneys to give evidence against him. The first was when Judge David Carter ordered John Eastman to turn over evidence of his conversations with Trump about the attempted coup on January 6, 2021. The second was on March 17, when Judge Beryl Howell told attorney Evan Corcoran that he had to provide evidence about Trump’s obstruction of justice in refusing to return classified national security documents stored at Mar-a-Lago. Though these latter proceedings remain sealed, public reports suggest that Trump deliberately misled his lawyer. He is said to have lied to Corcoran about the completeness of his search for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago—a lie that Corcoran then dutifully passed along to the government as the truth.
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DENNIS AFTERGUT: Five Reasons for DeSantis’s Phony ‘I Won’t Extradite Trump’ Stunt.
Article IV, Section 2, of the Constitution says, “A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.” The United States Code imposes the same duty, as does Florida law.
In 1987, the Supreme Court specifically found “no justification for distinguishing the duty to deliver fugitives from the many other species of constitutional duty enforceable in the federal courts.” The Court held that judges may enforce a governor’s duty to return fugitives to the state where they’ve been indicted.
Clear enough?
In case you’re looking to understand why DeSantis would brush off the law like dandruff on his blue suit jacket shoulder, here are five reasons…
KIMBERLY WEHLE: Trump Indicted: Three Things to Keep in Mind.
On Thursday, the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg secured a grand jury indictment of former President Donald J. Trump. Its contents remain sealed. That hasn’t stopped commentators from feverishly debating the pros and cons of this historic step. Is Bragg, an elected Democrat, being fair to Trump? Are the (so far unknown) charges sufficiently serious to justify prosecuting a former president? Who benefits more politically, Democrats or Republicans? And what does this stunning turn of events mean for the office of the president itself?
All of these questions are understandable and serious. But they miss three critical points.
🚨OVERTIME 🚨
Happy Friday! (Even to readers who wrongly love the new pitch clock.) While the Trump news from yesterday is still dominating, there are a few things you may have missed. Finland is about to join NATO, and that is huge. And notorious Twitter shitposter “Ricky Vaughn” was found guilty of election interference. Which sort of brings full circle to his old Twitter persona: California Penal League here we come!
Dominion gets a big W… Bad news for Fox! A Dominion spox emails “We are gratified by the Court's thorough ruling soundly rejecting all of Fox's arguments and defenses, and finding as a matter of law that their statements about Dominion are false. We look forward to going to trial.”
“His soul is totally bonded with our core values and emotions…” The alt-right New York Republican Club is taking the Trump indictment very well. (Exit clip / track.)
When it was John Edwards… Kimberly Guilfoyle, Donald Trump Jr.’s girlfriend, thought the allegations against Edwards were very serious! Here’s a compilation.
“This doesn’t need to be dealt with again…” Glenn Youngkin (famous for cowardice) sticks his thumb in the Trump / Stormy hush money issue.
The rule of law… Now depends on Republicans, David French writes.
“This is where it’s like Handmaid’s Tale meets queer bank…” Attempts to disrupt finance usually fail.
Meanwhile on the bird site… Musk is going to change the algorithm every day or two based on user feedback. What could go right? And in his piss poor attempts to monetize it, the National Weather Service won’t be able to send out automated tweets.
Watch of the week: The God Tier MQ-24, AKA the Pope Watch. (I enjoy this variation, which I got as a birthday present.)
Your moment of Zen… I often speed read books when it’s getting late for the kids, but this takes talent.
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