Law & Crime – Page 9 – The Tarbabys Blog

Former Trump DOJ official Jeffrey Clark fights to save law license as disciplinary trial begins

Politico

Former Trump DOJ official Jeffrey Clark fights to save law license as disciplinary trial begins

Kyle Cheney – March 26, 2024

Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official who worked closely with former President Donald Trump in a bid to subvert the 2020 election, should face professional consequences — including the potential loss of his license to practice law — for his effort to throw the nation into chaos, D.C. bar disciplinary authorities argued Tuesday.

But a lawyer for Clark said it would be unreasonable to punish him for his work during the tumultuous days ahead of Jan. 6, 2021, when he spearheaded a proposal to encourage state legislatures to consider overturning the results. That plan was never adopted and Trump ultimately turned it down. Punishing Clark for being on the losing side of a policy dispute would set a dangerous precedent, Clark’s team argued.

The alternate realities were on display Tuesday as bar investigators began laying out their case to penalize Clark for his role in Trump’s scheme to remain in power. Investigators charged Clark with violating professional rules of conduct in late 2020 by attempting to coerce his bosses to send a letter to Georgia lawmakers encouraging them to reconsider the outcome of the election there based on “significant concerns” about the integrity of the vote.

For Clark, the opening arguments in the case — heard by a three-member panel of the D.C. Bar’s Board of Professional Responsibility — were never supposed to happen. Clark has spent two years fighting legal battles intended to scrap the case altogether, contending that the D.C. Bar has no jurisdiction over the conduct of federal government lawyers. But a federal court rejected Clark’s position, and an appeals court declined to step in to block the case from moving ahead.

Hamilton Fox, the lead investigator for the D.C. Bar’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel, said Clark’s efforts amounted to a “coup” attempt within the Department of Justice, aimed at taking out the sitting leadership in order to effectuate a plan that would have thrown the 2020 election into even further disarray. Clark held unauthorized talks with Trump, violating DOJ policies against White House contacts, and then sought to outflank then-Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen and his deputy Richard Donoghue, by telling them he planned to accept an offer from Trump to take over the department unless they agreed to send his proposed letter to Georgia.

The showdown, which has been well documented by the Jan. 6 select committee and prosecutors in Georgia, led to an Oval Office confrontation on Jan. 3, 2021, in which Trump ultimately backed down from his plans to elevate Clark amid a mass resignation threat by top DOJ and White House officials. Clark has been criminally charged by Georgia prosecutors for his role in Trump’s effort to reverse the outcome of the election, and he was identified as a co-conspirator in special counsel Jack Smith’s Washington, D.C. case against Trump.

Donoghue was Fox’s first witness on Tuesday, describing his work to review claims of election fraud in 2020 and finding many of the fraud claims lodged by Trump and his allies to be meritless. He also described his conversations with Trump, recalling that Trump urged Rosen to simply declare the election “corrupt” and let him and his Republican allies in Congress do the rest. Donoghue recalled trying to educate Trump about DOJ’s limited role in elections and its work debunking many of the false allegations of fraud that had been circulating.

Disciplinary proceedings against the lawyers who formed the backbone of Trump’s effort have aired significant new details about the two months that threatened the peaceful transfer of power in 2020 and 2021.

John Eastman, one of the architects of Trump’s bid to subvert the 2020 election, is expected to face a disbarment ruling by Wednesday, when a California judge issues her proposed punishment for alleged violations of professional conduct.

Rudy Giuliani has similarly had his law license suspended in New York and Washington, D.C.

And other attorneys involved in failed legal efforts to overturn election results in 2020 have also faced disciplinary charges, some of which are still pending.

Clark’s case is unique, however, because he was employed by DOJ at the time as acting head of the department’s Civil Division and Environment and Natural Resources Division. He first reached Trump’s radar as a result of efforts by Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who helped connect the little-known DOJ official to the president. Trump, who had publicly expressed frustration that the Justice Department hadn’t done enough to back up his claims of election fraud, soon began floating the notion of elevating Clark to replace Rosen.

Clarks’ lawyers, though, say punishing him for taking cues from the president — the chief law enforcement officer of the United States — and advocating for a position that he genuinely believed would send a chilling effect across government. Clark’s efforts were intended to remain confidential — and the letter he drafted, which was never sent to Georgia, was supposed to remain secret, protected by various forms of executive and law enforcement privilege, until a leak to the press exposed the fraught discussions.

Clark’s attorneys said he intends to argue, using witnesses from Georgia and statistical experts that Trump has relied on in the past, that his concerns about the election were well-founded, that DOJ officials rebuffed them and the entire dispute amounts to an internal disagreement about what DOJ’s official position should have been.

“There is nothing dishonest and nothing in violation of the rules of professional conduct about proposing a change in position,” Clark’s lawyer, Harry MacDougald, argued. “Mr. Clark did nothing wrong.”

Clark is unlikely to testify in the proceeding. His lawyers have indicated he is likely to assert his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination if called to the stand.

Fox intends to rely on testimony from White House and DOJ officials — including Donoghue, Rosen and former deputy White House counsel Pat Philbin. Clark’s lawyer said he intends to call former Attorney General Edwin Meese, as well as a member of the Atlanta-area election board who opposed certifying the results.

Trump and J.D. Vance embrace populist economics. That’s bad for Americans.

USA Today – Opinion

Trump and J.D. Vance embrace populist economics. That’s bad for Americans.

James Davis – March 26, 2024

Republicans are excited to run against Bidenomics in the 2024 election. So why are some of the loudest GOP members bear-hugging the lie at the heart of Bidenomics?

The populist wing of the Republican Party is increasingly enamored with the idea that Washington, D.C., should control the economy − that politicians and bureaucrats are smart enough to govern the everyday decisions of more than 330 million Americans and job creators.

That view is clear in rising GOP support for everything from tariffs, which former President Donald Trump has proposed, to bailouts to the federal rejection of business decisions. These Republicans are embracing the very government control that has caused millions of Americans to fall behind under President Joe Biden.

Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, a leading Republican populist, is a case in point. The senator recently declared that Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan – one of the key architects of Bidenomics − is “one of the few people in the Biden administration that I think is doing a pretty good job.”

Under Khan’s leadership, the FTC has blocked numerous business mergers. Vance apparently likes that, saying it helps build “a competitive marketplace” that “allows consumers to have the right choices” and doesn’t ignore “all the other things that really matter.”

Former President Donald Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio.

FTC’s aggressiveness is hurting American consumers

Yet, far from empowering consumers and increasing competition, the FTC’s actions have done considerable damage to Americans, with worse on the way.

The FTC’s move in February to block the merger between Kroger and Albertsons is the latest proof. The grocery store chains proposed the partnership not to limit competition, but to stay competitive against the likes of Amazon and Walmart. Without a merger, Kroger and Albertsons are more likely to lay off workers, increase automation and raise prices, none of which benefits consumers or workers.

Back off, FTC. Suing to stop Kroger-Albertsons merger exemplifies bumbling bureaucracy.

Nor would it help consumers if grocery chains go out of business and other companies gain market share − the real road to fewer options and higher prices. The true threat to competition isn’t two grocery chains becoming one, but rather two becoming zero, which is more likely after the FTC’s intervention.

Does the prospect of shuttered stores and lost jobs really deserve populist praise? How about the FTC’s attempt to prevent victory in America’s war on cancer? That’s what happened when the commission sued to block the merger of Illumina and Grail in 2021.

The biotech companies saw a chance to transform cancer testing, empowering far more Americans to learn whether they have cancer far earlier. The key to stopping cancer is early detection, which saves lives as well as money on costly end-stage cancer treatments.

The merger posed no threat to consumers or competition because Illumina and Grail don’t compete. They operate in different parts of the health care supply chain, and by joining, they could achieve greater efficiency, which leads to lower prices and faster development.

No matter: After two years of fighting the FTC, Illumina and Grail separated. The FTC put populist demands ahead of people’s health.

The same story has played out over and over under Khan’s leadership of the FTC. It sued Amazon for promoting its own products and pressuring its competitors − the nature of competition − yet the commission is threatening popular features like two-day shipping and rock-bottom prices that customers love.

It’s investigating a financial firm’s acquisition of Subway, threatening a deal that could help the low-margin business grow its store footprint and serve more customers.

FTC lost lawsuits against Meta and Microsoft

And the FTC has lost lawsuits against mergers by Microsoft and Meta after failing to show how competition or customers would be hurt. The agency is trying to micromanage the most dynamic economy on earth, forcing companies to defend commonsense business decisions in court instead of serving customers and strengthening society.

That’s the real problem − the belief that government has the genius to direct the economy. That misguided view is at the heart of both Bidenomics and Republican populism, as Vance’s comments make clear.

When Vance says that people should have “the right choices” and that markets should focus on what “really matters,” he isn’t just second-guessing private decisions by companies and customers. He’s saying bureaucrats like Khan and politicians like him should substitute their will for the combined wisdom of the American people.

US wants to ban TikTok, but First Amendment demands stronger case on national security

Republicans have already gone too far down that road, and not just Vance. The party of opportunity is substituting economic freedom for government control, economic fairness for taxpayer subsidies and belief in Americans’ individual choices for central planning.

Bidenomics shows where that road leads − fading optimism, and rising fear that our best days are behind us. If more and more Republicans think that approach is correct, then Americans are right to fear for our country’s future.

James Davis is founder and president of Touchdown Strategies, a Virginia-based communications firm.

Column: Trump wants to round up over a million undocumented migrants from California. Here’s how he might do it

Los Angeles Times

Column: Trump wants to round up over a million undocumented migrants from California. Here’s how he might do it

Doyle McManus – March 25, 2024

Former President Donald Trump speaks during a visit to an unfinished section of border wall with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, in Pharr, Texas, Wednesday, June 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) — Former President Trump speaks near a section of border wall in Texas in 2021. His plans for a prospective second term include using National Guard troops in mass deportation operations to seize undocumented migrants, transport them to camps in Texas and expel them. (Associated Press )

Former President Trump has focused relentlessly on illegal immigration as a centerpiece of his campaign for the White House, just as when he first ran in 2016.

“They’re poisoning the blood of our country,” he has said of undocumented migrants, using language redolent of the racist doctrines of Adolf Hitler.

He promises to launch “the biggest domestic deportation campaign in American history” on Day One of his new presidency.

His chief immigration advisor, Santa Monica-born Stephen Miller, has spelled out what that would mean: Trump would assemble “a giant force” including National Guard troops to seize undocumented migrants, transport them to camps in Texas and expel them.

“A very conservative estimate would say about 10 million,” Miller told pro-Trump talk show host Charlie Kirk.

If “unfriendly states” — like California — don’t want to cooperate, Miller said, Trump could order Guard units from red states like Texas to cross their borders to enforce the law.

The operation would be “as daring and ambitious … as building the Panama Canal,” Miller promised.

That’s a pretty bloodless way to describe a process that would uproot thousands of families, separate children from their parents and disrupt communities. But before we get to that, a preliminary question:

If he wins in November, could Trump really do that?

From a legal standpoint, the answer is yes.

If Trump invokes the Insurrection Act and declares that the National Guard is needed to enforce federal immigration law, he could send Texas troops into California whether Gov. Gavin Newsom agrees or not, legal scholars said.

“We normally don’t want the military enforcing the law inside the country; law enforcement is supposed to be provided by police forces that are local — and locally accountable,” said William Banks, an emeritus professor of law at Syracuse University. “But the Insurrection Act gives the president sweeping authority. You could drive a lot of trucks through that law.”

Newsom would presumably file a lawsuit against Trump to try to block the move, but it would almost certainly fail.

“No state has ever sued successfully to stop a deployment of the Guard under the Insurrection Act,” warned Joseph Nunn of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University.

There are also practical concerns. Most National Guard units are neither trained nor equipped for law enforcement missions.

“Tracking down undocumented migrants is complicated and time-consuming,” Nunn noted. “You need people who know how to do it, like ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents.

“The Guard would resist that kind of mission mightily,” added Banks. “They hate this kind of stuff. They would be better suited to patrol the border — to stand next to the wall, the fence or the river and discourage people from coming across.”

So if Trump listens to his generals — not a sure thing — he’d be more likely to use Guard units to bolster weak spots on the border and manage those newly built transit camps for deportees.

That would free up ICE agents for raids on Central Valley farms and Los Angeles sweatshops — which is what immigration agents did in earlier crackdowns, including the offensively named Operation Wetback, which expelled more than a million Mexican migrants (and some U.S. citizens) in 1954.

So legally, there may not be that much California can do. But the fallout in a state home to an estimated 1.9 million undocumented people — roughly 5% of the population — would be difficult to imagine.

The human impact of uprooting most or all of these California residents would be gigantic. Many undocumented migrants are members of families that include legal residents and U.S. citizens, including children.

Many are deeply rooted in their communities; more than two-thirds have lived in the state longer than 10 years, according to one estimate.

“When you harm the undocumented, you harm U.S. citizens too,” said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles.

“I’ve seen families devastated by the deportation of their loved ones. I’ve seen families, when the father is deported, go right into economic ruin,” Salas said. “The trauma for children, especially small children, is enormous.”

The economic impact of mass deportations would be huge, too. An estimated 1.5 million California workers, more than 7% of the state’s workforce, are undocumented. About half work in agriculture, construction, hospitality and retail, industries that already suffer from severe labor shortages.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell said this month that the growth of immigrants in the workforce had strengthened economic growth. “It’s just arithmetic,” said Powell, a Trump appointee. “If you add a couple of million people to an economy … there will be more output.” Abruptly subtracting a million or more would have the opposite effect.

Trump advisors aren’t planning to stop at removing undocumented people from the country.

Miller wants to go after some people in the country legally too.

He has proposed expanding the criteria for deportation to include people with valid visas “whose views, attitudes and beliefs make them ineligible to stay” in the eyes of the new Trump administration.

“The obvious example here would be all of the Hamas supporters who are rallying across the country,” he said.

An immigration task force organized by the conservative Heritage Foundation and led by a former Trump administration official proposed blocking Federal Emergency Management Agency grants to state and local agencies that refuse to cooperate with ICE enforcement operations, a standard that would presumably disqualify most or all California agencies.

The task force also proposed denying federal loans and grants to students at universities that allow undocumented migrants to pay in-state tuition, a rule that would affect UC and the Cal State systems.

It adds up to a recipe for a major collision with California, the state most out of step with Trump’s determination to rid the country of undocumented migrants.

None of this constitutes a defense of the Biden administration’s policies, which have failed to deter thousands of migrants from crossing the border and applying for asylum on often-dubious grounds.

But it’s worth remembering that only a few weeks ago, Trump ordered Republicans in Congress to kill a bipartisan bill that would have increased funding for immigration enforcement and raised the bar for asylum claims — because, as he admitted, he didn’t want to allow President Biden to appear as if he was fixing the problem.

When Trump was first elected in 2016, I wrote that on immigration policy, “His bark may prove worse than his bite.”

I was wrong. He turned out to be dead serious.

Trump’s promises of mass deportations and detention camps should be taken seriously — and literally, too.

“If he says he’s going to do it, believe him,” Salas said.

Taliban leader says women will be stoned to death in public

The Telegraph

Taliban leader says women will be stoned to death in public

Akhtar Makoii – March 25, 2024

A Taliban fighter stands guard as women wait to receive food rations in Kabul, Afghanistan — The Taliban has quickly returned to harsh public punishments in Afghanistan – Ebrahim Noroozi/AP

The Taliban’s Supreme Leader has vowed to start stoning women to death in public as he declared the fight against Western democracy will continue.

“You say it’s a violation of women’s rights when we stone them to death,” said Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada in a voice message, aired on state television over the weekend, addressing Western officials.

“But we will soon implement the punishment for adultery. We will flog women in public. We will stone them to death in public,” he declared in his harshest comments since taking over Kabul in August 2021.

“These are all against your democracy but we will continue doing it. We both say we defend human rights – we do it as God’s representative and you as the devil’s.”

Afghanistan’s state TV, now under Taliban control, broadcasts voice messages purporting to be from Akhundzada, who has never been seen in public aside from a few old portraits.

He is believed to be based in southern Kandahar, the stronghold of the Taliban.

Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada — Akhundzada has never been seen in public – Xinhua/Shutterstock

Despite promising a more moderate government, the Taliban quickly returned to harsh public punishments like public executions and floggings, similar to those from their previous rule in the late 1990s.

The United Nations has strongly criticised the Taliban and has called on the country’s rulers to halt such practices.

In his voice message, Akhundzada said that the women’s rights that the international community had been advocating for were against the Taliban’s harsh interpretation of Islamic Sharia.

“Do women want the rights that Westerners are talking about? They are against Sharia and clerics’ opinions, the clerics who toppled Western democracy,” he said.

“I told the Mujahedin that we tell the Westerners that we fought against you for 20 years and we will fight 20 and even more years against you,” he said, emphasising the need for resilience in opposing women’s rights among Taliban foot soldiers.

“It did not finish [when you left]. It does not mean we would now just sit and drink tea. We will bring Sharia to this land,” he added. “It did finish after we took over Kabul. No, we will now bring Sharia into action.”

Women ‘living in prison’

His remarks have incited outrage among Afghans, with some calling on the international community to increase pressure on the Taliban.

“The money that they receive from the international community as humanitarian aid is just feeding them against women,” Tala, a former civil servant, told The Telegraph from the capital Kabul.

“As a woman, I don’t feel safe and secure in Afghanistan. Each morning starts with a barrage of notices and orders imposing restrictions and stringent rules on women, stripping away even the smallest joys and extinguishing hope for a brighter future,” she added.

“We, the women, are living in prison,” Tala said, “And the Taliban are making it smaller for us every passing day.”

Brazilian police launch investigation into Bolsonaro’s 2-night sleepover at Hungarian embassy

Associated Press

Brazilian police launch investigation into Bolsonaro’s 2-night sleepover at Hungarian embassy

Mauricio Savarese – March 25, 2024

FILE – Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro prepares to speak to the press in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, June 30, 2023, the day that judges ruled him ineligible to run for any political office again until 2030 after concluding that he abused his power and cast unfounded doubts on the country’s electronic voting system. According to a Federal Police indictment unveiled Tuesday, March 19, 2024, Bolsonaro turned to an aide-de-camp and asked him to insert false data into the public health system to make it appear as though he and his daughter had received the COVID-19 vaccine, in order to have the necessary vaccination certificate required by U.S. authorities for their 2023 trip to Florida. (AP Photo/Thomas Santos, File)

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s Federal Police on Monday launched an investigation into former President Jair Bolsonaro‘s two-night stay last month at the Hungarian embassy in Brasilia, amid widespread speculation from his opponents that he may have been attempting to evade arrest.

A Federal Police source with knowledge of the investigation confirmed to The Associated Press that it was undertaken in response to a report from The New York Times, which featured security camera video of the Hungarian ambassador welcoming Bolsonaro on Feb. 12 and footage of Bolsonaro from the rest of his stay. Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, one of the leaders of a global far-right movement, is a key international ally of his.

The visit took place just days after Federal Police seized Bolsonaro’s Brazilian and Italian passports and raided the homes of his top aides as part of a probe into whether they plotted to ignore 2022 election results and stage an uprising to keep the defeated leader in power.

Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing regarding this investigation, and multiple others targeting him.

Were the Federal Police to obtain an arrest warrant for the former president, officers would not have jurisdiction to enter the Hungarian embassy due to diplomatic conventions restricting access.

Bolsonaro’s lawyers said in a statement on Monday that there was nothing amiss about his embassy stay.

“In the days he was at the Hungarian embassy, by invitation, the former Brazilian president spoke to countless authorities from the friendly country for updates on the political scenarios of both nations,” his lawyers said in the statement. “Any other interpretations … constitute an evidently fictional work, with no connection to the reality of the facts.”

Speaking at his party’s headquarters in Sao Paulo, Bolsonaro told supporters he gets many calls from Orbán to discuss politics.

“To this day I have a relationship with some heads of state around the world,” Bolsonaro said. “If I had my passport, I would have traveled to Israel.”

Brazil’s foreign ministry said in a short statement that it had summoned Hungary’s ambassador Miklos Halmai to explain why Bolsonaro was his guest at the embassy.

Bolsonaro flew to the U.S. in the final days of his term, in December 2022, just days before his supporters stormed the capital in a failed bid to oust President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from power. He remained in South Florida for three months.

Some of Bolsonaro’s political rivals seized on the news Monday to call for his arrest, alleging that he once again is signaling plans to escape.

“These images just reinforce that Bolsonaro is a confessed fugitive,” Alexandre Padilha, Lula’s minister of institutional relations, told reporters in Brasilia, citing Bolsonaro’s stint in the U.S. last year. “But what the courts and the Federal Police will do with these images (published by The New York Times) isn’t for me to say.”

Augusto de Arruda Botelho, a criminal lawyer who has been an outspoken critic of the former president, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that “Bolsonaro’s act of hiding in the embassy is a classic motive for decreeing preventive detention.”

“It is one of those situations used as an example in books and classrooms,” he added.

Former Hungarian insider releases audio he says is proof of corruption in embattled Orbán government

Associated Press

Former Hungarian insider releases audio he says is proof of corruption in embattled Orbán government

Justin Spike – March 26, 2024

Former Hungarian government insider Peter Magyar arrives at Public Prosecutor’s office in Budapest, Hungary on Tuesday March 26, 2024. Magyar published an audio recording on Tuesday that he says is proof of official misconduct within high levels of the government of populist Minister Viktor Orbán. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)ASSOCIATED PRESSMore

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A former Hungarian government insider turned oppositionist released an audio recording on Tuesday that he says is proof that top officials conspired to cover up corruption, the latest twist in a scandal that’s shaken Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s domination of the country’s politics.

The country’s largest protests in years erupted in early February, when it was revealed that the president had issued a pardon to a man imprisoned for covering up a string of child sexual abuse by the director of a state-run orphanage.

Close Orbán allies, including the president and Justice Minister Judit Varga, were forced to resign in the face of public outrage.

The latest allegations come from Varga’s ex-husband, Peter Magyar, a former political insider who says he has turned whistleblower to reveal the extent of the scandal.

He published a recording on Facebook and YouTube on Tuesday morning featuring Varga’s voice describing how other government officials caused evidence to be removed from court records to cover up their roles in corrupt business dealings.

“They suggested to the prosecutors what should be removed,” Varga says in the recording, which Magyar says he made during a conversation in the former couple’s apartment.

He gave the tape to the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Budapest Tuesday morning to be used as evidence.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Varga accused Magyar of domestic violence during their marriage and claimed she had made the statements under duress.

“I said what he wanted to hear so I could get away as soon as possible. In a situation like this, any person can say things they don’t mean in a state of intimidation,” Varga wrote. Magyar later denied the claims in a separate post on Facebook.

Once a senior but little-known member of Orbán’s political circle, Magyar shot to prominence when he gave an interview in February to popular YouTube channel Partizan, where he accused Orbán’s government of widespread corruption and using smear campaigns to discredit its opponents.

On March 15, he addressed a crowd of tens of thousands in Budapest, where he announced plans to form a new political party to challenge Fidesz’s 14-year grip on power as an alternative to Hungary’s fragmented opposition.

The scandal caused an unprecedented political crisis within Orbán’s government, which has led Hungary since 2010. Magyar’s followers hope his position as a former insider can help to disrupt Hungary’s political system, which many see as a deeply entrenched autocracy.

The government has dismissed him as an opportunist seeking to forge a new career after his divorce with Varga and his loss of positions in several state companies. But Magyar’s rise has compounded political headaches for Orbán that have included the resignation of members of his government and a painful economic crisis.

Magyar has railed against official corruption in Hungary, accusing Orbán of overseeing a nepotistic system of oligarchs that enrich themselves through unfairly awarded government contracts.

He has particularly targeted Antal Rogan, a close Orbán ally who is responsible for the government’s communications as well as the country’s secret services. The recording released Tuesday purports to show that Rogan led the effort to alter evidence.

Varga served as Hungary’s Justice Minister until February when she resigned amid political scandal after it was revealed that the then-president, Katalin Novák, issued a pardon to a convicted accomplice in a case of child sexual abuse.

Trump just got a huge 62% discount on his bond. That’s extremely rare, legal experts say.

Business Insider

Trump just got a huge 62% discount on his bond. That’s extremely rare, legal experts say.

Laura Italiano,Jacob Shamsian,Geoff Weiss – March 26, 2024

An appeals court on Monday massively reduced Trump’s bond in his civil fraud trial.
It was a rare turn of events, legal experts told Business Insider.
But Trump is continuing to rack up interest, and he’ll end up owing far more if he loses his appeal.

An appellate-court decision reducing former President Donald Trump’s bond to $175 million was a win for the former president — and certainly a rare one, according to legal experts.

After being ordered to pony up his $454 million judgment following his New York civil fraud trial last month, Trump had told the court he couldn’t secure a bond for that amount.

But the former president was tossed a last-minute lifeline Monday when an appeals court ordered a whopping 62% reduction in the size of the bond. He has 10 days to pay up.

Neil Pedersen, the owner of the surety-bond agency Pedersen & Sons, told Business Insider that in his company’s 30-year history, he and his employees had handled thousands of bonds.

In that time, he’s heard of only about a couple dozen instances when a New York appeals court reduced an appeal bond — and those involved far lower judgments.

“It’s extremely rare,” Pedersen said.

Appellate judges are reluctant to let the losers of lawsuits essentially offer IOUs — instead of a collateral-backed bond — while an appeal progresses, legal experts have explained.

Should Trump lose his appeal down the road, he’ll owe the full amount almost immediately. And New York Attorney General Letitia James will be left chasing him for the remainder.

Eric Snyder, the bankruptcy chair of Wilk Auslander LLP, who routinely enforces judgments in New York, told BI he’d never seen a bond get reduced like this.

Snyder said the court might feel comfortable that Trump could pay the judgment if he were to lose his appeals.

He added that Trump wouldn’t easily be able to sell shares in his properties, given that a prospective buyer would see a record of the judgment. Plus, Trump Tower is in New York — making it within reach of the attorney general’s power if payment comes due.

Snyder also said the court’s decision to reduce Trump’s bond could suggest it might later lower Trump’s total penalty.

“It might be an indication it’ll get reduced on appeal,” he said.

While the lowered bond buys Trump time, he’ll still owe the entire sum if he loses on appeal. As part of Monday’s decision, Trump is required to file a full appeal argument in time for the court’s September 2024 session.

And for every day that passes, the amount owed is accruing interest — to the tune of roughly $112,000 a day.

Pedersen said that meant Trump could end up owing New York well over a half-billion dollars when all is said and done.

“Once his appeals are exhausted, he’ll only have five to 10 days to satisfy the judgment, or whatever amount of the judgment is affirmed,” Pedersen said.

Following a three-month trial, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron found Trump and other Trump Organization executives liable for the nearly half-a-billion-dollar penalty last month. Engoron found they had conspired to inflate the value of their real-estate assets to dupe lenders.

Speaking to reporters Monday, Trump applauded the appellate court’s decision to lower his bond.

“It will be my honor to post,” he said, adding that it would be in “cash.”

‘Feeble, Confused And Tired’: Donald Trump Torched After Bizarre Gaffe-Filled Appearance

HuffPost

‘Feeble, Confused And Tired’: Donald Trump Torched After Bizarre Gaffe-Filled Appearance

Ed Mazza – March 26, 2024

President Joe Biden’s campaign on Monday released an unusually blunt statement tearing into Donald Trump as “feeble, confused, and tired” after an appearance marked by verbal stumbles as well as a bizarre social media post in which he likened himself to Christ.

“He spent the weekend golfing, the morning comparing himself to Jesus, and the afternoon lying about having money he definitely doesn’t have,” the statement said.

Trump on Monday faced two court decisions.

In one, a judge reduced the $464 million bond in his fraud case to $175 million and gave him 10 days to come up with the money. In another, a judge ruled that Trump’s criminal trial in the Stormy Daniels hush money case will start on April 15.

That led to a rambling appearance by Trump, which included several gaffes, including an odd moment when the former president insisted that “you can’t have an election in the middle of a political season.”

The former president added: “We just had Super Tuesday, and we had a Tuesday after Tuesday already.”

Trump also vowed to “bring crime back to law and order.”

Biden’s campaign torched the former president as “weak and desperate ― both as a man and a candidate for president” and mocked his fundraising struggles and lack of recent appearances.

“His campaign can’t raise money, he is uninterested in campaigning outside his country club, and every time he opens his mouth, he pushes moderate and suburban voters away with his dangerous agenda,” the campaign said in a statement. “America deserves better than a feeble, confused, and tired Donald Trump.”

Trump’s critics agreed:

Biden-Harris Campaign Statement on Trump's Press Conference

"Donald Trump is weak and desperate - both as a man and a candidate for President.
He spent the weekend golfing, the morning comparing himself to Jesus, and the afternoon lying about having money he definitely doesn't have.

His campaign can't raise money, he is uninterested in campaigning outside his country club, and every time he opens his mouth, he pushes moderate and suburban voters away with his dangerous agenda.

America deserves better than a feeble, confused, and tired Donald Trump."

Letters to the Editor: Trump is the grade-school bully running for class president

Los Angeles Tines – Opinion

Letters to the Editor: Trump is the grade-school bully running for class president

Los Angeles Times Opinion – March 26, 2024

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump gestures to the crowd at a campaign rally Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Vandalia, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean) — Former President Trump during a campaign rally in Ohio on March 16. (Jeff Dean / Associated Press)

To the editor: The false claims and empty promises made by President Biden’s predecessor remind me of when I was in the fourth grade. (“Trump has big plans for California if he wins a second term. Fasten your seatbelts,” column, March 18)

It was time to elect a student body president. Two candidates were running. The first was a hard-working, successful student who promised to do their best to serve our school and students. The second was a boisterous bully running on promises that water fountains would dispense soda and there would be mandatory class parties every Friday.

We voted for the first candidate. I have faith America will have the same sense as Palm View Elementary’s fourth-grade class of 1967.

Kevin Ferguson, Capistrano Beach

To the editor: For the first time in forever, I’m happy to hear the former president babble nonsense such as his ”plans” for California and about “bloodbaths.”

With every word, he reveals his increasing mania and should show the ”tipping point” to any voters uncertain of his qualifications for the presidency.

Remember that old cliche that if someone tells you who they are, believe them? Trump is a malignant narcissist, a liar, a grifter and, most importantly, someone who openly admires dictators.

He’s telling us who he is. Please pay attention.

Pam Wright, Pasadena

Judge in Trump hush money case sets trial date, rejecting delay bid

Good Morning America

Judge in Trump hush money case sets trial date, rejecting delay bid

Aaron Katersky, Peter Charalambous, Olivia Rubin and Emily Shapiro – March 25, 2024

Former President Donald Trump will stand trial over alleged hush payments to porn star Stormy Daniels beginning with jury selection on April 15, Judge Juan Merchan ruled Monday, rejecting Trump’s request for an additional delay.

The case, which was initially scheduled to begin jury selection on Monday, was adjourned for 30 days by Merchan earlier this month, after defense attorneys raised issues with the late production of over 100,000 pages of potential evidence by federal prosecutors.

The judge decided Monday that the District Attorney of New York County is not at fault for the late production of documents from the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York.

“The Manhattan District Attorney’s office made diligent, good faith efforts” to retrieve appropriate material, the judge said, adding that Trump will not suffer any prejudice as a result of the late disclosure.

During the hearing, the judge appeared skeptical that the case needed to be delayed or dismissed because of a dispute over potential evidence, and called the defense’s claims of prosecutorial misconduct “very disconcerting.”

“You are literally accusing the Manhattan DA’s office and the people assigned to this case of prosecutorial misconduct and to make me complicit in it, and you don’t have a single cite to support that position,” Merchan told defense attorney Todd Blanche.

“This court is of the opinion that there really are not significant questions of fact to be resolved,” Merchan said earlier about the defense’s arguments to delay or dismiss the case.

The defense accused the Manhattan district attorney’s office of “widespread misconduct” and “serious discovery violations” and argued they warranted a dismissal of the indictment, an adjournment of the trial and the prohibition on former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and Daniels from testifying.

“This is a witch hunt. This is a hoax. Thank you,” Trump told the media before entering the courtroom this morning.

PHOTO: Former President Donald Trump arrives for his hearing to determine the date of his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments linked to extramarital affairs, at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on March 25, 2024. (Justin Lane/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo aggressively pushed back on the allegation that the District Attorney’s Office actively suppressed potential evidence from defense attorneys.

“No, we are not actively suppressing … discovery or impeachment materials,” Colangelo said, reiterating the claim that most of the documents in question are irrelevant to the case against Trump.

Blanche argued that reviewing each document takes time and merits a delay. “Every document is important,” he said. “Every single one.”

Merchan set Monday’s hearing to resolve a recent defense motion related to the potential evidence and set a final trial date for the case.

MORE: Prosecutors blast Trump’s effort to further delay his criminal hush money trial

“[T]here are significant questions of fact which this Court must resolve before it may rule on Defendant’s motion,” Merchan wrote in a ruling earlier this month.

Defense attorneys have demanded a lengthier delay of the trial and limits on key testimony or the dismissal of the case based on the new materials, which they said damage the credibility of star witness and former Trump attorney Michael Cohen and contain “exculpatory information that undercuts the People’s theory of the case.”

Last week, prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office pushed back on the defense’s request, arguing that the recently disclosed potential evidence is “a red herring” and part of a “strategic delay.” While the 30-day adjournment provided defense attorneys with a “reasonable amount of time for defendant to review the information,” no further delay was necessary, according to the prosecutors’ filing.

“Defendant has taken every possible step to evade accountability in this case for more than a year,” prosecutors wrote in a filing last week. “Enough is enough. These tactics by defendant and defense counsel should be stopped.”‘

Trump last April pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels just days before the 2016 presidential election.

Here are three things to know about the hearing.

How did defense lawyers find the new materials?

Two months after Trump was indicted last year, prosecutors turned over 3 million pages of documents, beginning the discovery process in which prosecutors share with the defense evidence obtained during their investigation.

“In the Manhattan DA’s office, they do what’s called open file discovery, which means their practice is to basically turn over every piece of paper that they get in the course of their investigation,” former federal prosecutor Josh Naftalis told ABC News.

While the DA’s office said that, in June 2023, they turned over all the materials they received from U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York — which in 2018 secured a guilty plea from Cohen on campaign finance charges related to the Stormy Daniels payment — Trump’s lawyers sent a subpoena to the federal prosecutors on Jan. 18, 2024, seeking additional materials.

In their subpoena, defense lawyers requested Cohen’s tax filings, bank records, files from his iPhone and email accounts, records memorializing statements made by Cohen, and communications with other law enforcement offices.

MORE: Judge rules evidence related to ‘Access Hollywood’ tape admissible in Trump hush money trial

By Feb. 23, federal prosecutors with the SDNY agreed to disclose some of the records requested, including 10,778 pages of bank records and files from two iPhones and three email accounts, according to a defense filing. In total, federal prosecutors turned over 119,000 pages of records to Trump’s defense team, according to a filing earlier this month.

“That’s a lot of information for the defense to go through very quickly, so that kind of explains why the DA’s office agreed to at least a 30-day extension of the time,” former federal prosecutor Jarrod Schaeffer told ABC News.

What was included in SDNY’s production?

The exact breakdown of the 119,000 pages of documents remains unclear, but the DA’s office argues that most of the files are irrelevant to the case or have already been produced. In total, prosecutors said the materials contained fewer than 270 new documents, including 172 pages of new witness statements.

“[T]he People now have good reason to believe that this production contains only limited materials relevant to the subject matter of this case and that have not previously been disclosed to defendant: fewer than an estimated 270 documents, most of which are inculpatory and corroborative of existing evidence,” prosecutors with the DA’s office said.

MORE: Stormy Daniels says she is ‘absolutely ready’ to testify at Trump’s hush money trial

Defense lawyers have argued that the documents are highly relevant and include materials that could be used to discredit Cohen or absolve Trump of wrongdoing.

While defense lawyers have highlighted the sheer number of pages produced by federal prosecutors, Naftalis cautioned that the documents’ contents will ultimately determine Judge Merchan’s next move.

“My guess is that 30 days is all that Trump’s going to get because the volume of documents at issue really isn’t that large in the grand scheme of things,” Naftalis said. “That doesn’t mean that these are all new documents, and there could be substantial overlap.”

Why are Trump’s lawyers arguing for dismissal?

Defense lawyers have accused the DA’s office of misconduct in their push for a dismissal of the case, the limiting of key testimony, and a lengthier delay of the trial.

“The People have engaged in widespread misconduct as part of a desperate effort to improve their position at the potential trial on the false and unsupported charges in the Indictment,” defense attorney Todd Blanche wrote in a recent filing.

Attorneys with the Manhattan DA’s office pushed back on that motion, describing it as a inaccurate “grab-bag of meritless discovery arguments in the latest of a long series of attempts to evade responsibility for the conduct charged in the indictment.”

MORE: Trump, in hush money trial, won’t use ‘advice of counsel’ defense — but will still argue lawyers were involved

“Defendant’s accusations are wholly unfounded, and the circumstances here do not come close to warranting the extreme sanctions he has sought,” assistant district attorney Matthew Colangelo said in a filing last week.

If Judge Merchan does not dismiss the case, defense lawyers asked for a longer adjournment and preclusion of the testimony of Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels, and an expert witness.

Merchan will ultimately have to consider who, if anyone, should be culpable for the late production of evidence.

“It’s really going to come down to have the prosecutors done what they’re supposed to do — meaning, have they been diligent and made a good-faith effort to get material that they believe exists and should be turned over,” Schaeffer said.