Trump Talks Stormy And Throws “His Lawyer” Michael Cohen Under A Bus
President Donald Trump may have complicated his own legal situation with his recent comments about the $130,000 payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels, who claims she had an affair with him. Speaking with reporters about whether he knew that his lawyer, Michael Cohen, had made a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels (real name: Stephanie Clifford), Trump answered resoundingly in the negative, according to The … Read More
Dowd Quits
John Dowd has quit as the lead of Trump’s legal team. Dowd’s departure comes days after Trump called for an end to Robert Mueller’s inquiry and days after Dowd said the investigation should end, initially claiming he was speaking for Trump before saying he was only speaking for himself. Trump’s attorneys are in negotiations with the special counsel’s team over … Read More
Self-Driving Uber Hits And Kills Pedestrian In First-Of-Its-Kind Accident
I had my doubts about the technology. I didn’t think it is there yet, and this proves it. Uber has halted testing of its autonomous vehicles across North America, the company announced, after a woman was struck and killed by one of its self-driving cars in Tempe, Ariz. early Monday. The moratorium on testing includes San Francisco, Phoenix, Pittsburgh and Toronto, Uber … Read More
Revealed: Stormy Daniels Wasn’t The Only One Who Signed A Non-Disclosure Agreement With Trump
This weekend we learned that in the early months of the administration, at the behest of now-President Trump, who was furious over leaks from within the White House, senior White House staff members were asked to, and did, sign nondisclosure agreements vowing not to reveal confidential information and exposing them to damages for any violation. Some balked at first but, … Read More
The Porn Star Sues The President
Wow. The first thing that jumps out at me is this: if you’re going to contest a nondisclosure agreement in court, you should be filing with the court under seal so the NDA isn’t breached unless/until the plaintiff—the person subject to the NDA—prevails in court. Avenatti (Stormy Daniel’s lawyer) didn’t do this and I am sure it was intentional. Because … Read More
PA State Legislature Gets Ballsy
Think Progress: In an audacious move by a political leader who could potentially be held in contempt of court, Pennsylvania Senate President pro tempore Joseph Scarnati (R) informed the state supreme court on Wednesday that he will openly defy one of the court’s recent orders in a gerrymandering case. On January 22, the state supreme court struck down the state’s gerrymandered congressional maps — … Read More
Three-Judge Panel Strikes Down NC Districts As Political Gerrymandering
This is a huge decision not only locally, but nationally. A federal court yesterday ruled that Republicans in North Carolina unconstitutionally gerrymandered congressional districts in 2016 to ensure Republican “domination of the state’s congressional delegation.” The three-judge panel struck down the map and ordered the state’s General Assembly to come up with a substitute by Jan. 24. The decision was … Read More
Manafort Sues Mueller
This day continues to be bizarre. Manafort is suing the Department of Justice, and names Rosenstein and Mueller as defendants, claiming that Mueller acted outside his authority by indicting him. This is an extremely unusual move. If an indictment can be challenged legally, typically the defendant files a motion to dismiss the indictment as part of the criminal case. It’s … Read More
The Scandal That Is Not
Benjamin Witte writes about the story that is the subject of Fox almost every day — that an FBI agent was removed from the Mueller team because he had exchanged private emails with another FBI agent — his girlfriend, that were gloriously anti-Trump. The right wing news and establishment think this is a scandal, but of course, this means nothing. … Read More
Justice Served
It has been two and a half years since Walter Scott’s death. I wrote about it here… but basically, he was running from a cop and was shot IN THE BACK AS HE WAS RUNNING AWAY. The video makes this crystal clear: Well, good news: Michael Slager, the former South Carolina police officer who shot and killed Walter Scott, was … Read More
The Republican Machine and Fox’s pro-Trump Hosts Are Working Hard To Discredit Robert Mueller
Yesterday left no doubt: Fox News and Trump Republicans are willing to destroy America’s institutions as long as it keeps them in power. It starts with Fox News. It starts with Sean Hannity, who’s hearing that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is “illegitimate and corrupt.” That it’s led by a “band of merry Trump-haters” who are trying to reverse the … Read More
Pretty Sure You Need To Have An Attorney To Claim Attorney-Client Privilege
Testifying before Congress on Wednesday, Donald Trump Jr. cited attorney-client privilege and refused to discuss a phone call he had with his father about how to handle the fallout from his June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer. He told the House Intelligence Committee that a lawyer was in the room during the call. Adam Schiff, the top … Read More
Watch This Space
It’s probably nothing but….. #BREAKING: FBI confirms there is currently court authorized law enforcement activity in the DC region involving state and federal agencies. No further information is being released at this time. The #FBI plans to release more information later this afternoon. — WUSA9 (@wusa9) December 6, 2017 UPDATE: It’s gang-related.