The Tiny Scandals and Trials

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Trump changes defense team just over a week before impeachment trial is set to begin

By
Tom Hamburger and Josh Dawsey
Jan. 30, 2021 at 11:20 p.m. EST

Former president Donald Trump is changing his legal defense team about a week before his second impeachment trial is scheduled to open in the Senate.

A Trump spokesman, Jason Miller, confirmed Saturday evening that the previously designated lead attorney for Trump, Karl S. “Butch” Bowers, a well-regarded South Carolina ethics lawyer, will no longer be part of the team representing the former president when the Senate trial begins Feb. 9.

One of the deputies Bowers had tapped, Deborah Barbier, a former South Carolina prosecutor, will also no longer be part of the team, Miller said.

The House impeachment article charges Trump with “incitement of insurrection” in the invasion of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 by a pro-Trump mob. Since the House voted to impeach Trump, he has struggled to put together a team to mount his defense, in part because prominent lawyers seemed unwilling to associate themselves with Trump’s continued false claims that he won the election. That claim inspired his supporters to attack the Capitol.

The fate of two additional team members from South Carolina, Greg Harris and Johnny Gasser, was not immediately clear. They had not officially been named as part of the team, Miller said.

A person familiar with the change described it as a “mutual decision” for the lead South Carolina lawyers to leave the team. The shift comes amid tight deadlines to prepare for the trial. The House impeachment managers must file their briefs in the case on Tuesday. Trump’s defense team lawyers must file their briefs on Feb. 8.

New defense team members could be announced shortly, Miller said in a text message late Saturday. The collapse of Trump’s legal team was first reported Saturday night by CNN.

“The Democrats’ efforts to impeach a president who has already left office is totally unconstitutional,” Miller said in a statement sent to reporters Saturday night. “We have done much work, but have not made a final decision on our legal team, which will be made shortly.”

Neither Bowers nor the other South Carolina lawyers responded to requests for comment Saturday. It was not clear why the previously announced South Carolina lawyers were departing.

Late last week, people familiar with Trump’s developing defense strategy said that four South Carolina lawyers would be the nucleus of the Trump team.

Their selection marked a dramatic shift from Trump’s previous impeachment. During that Senate trial last year, Trump was defended by lawyers experienced on the national stage. They included Kenneth Starr, the former special prosecutor whose work led to President Bill Clinton’s impeachment; Jay Sekulow, who had defended Trump previously; and Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard University law professor known for his work in high-profile, controversial cases.

The departure of the South Carolina lawyers from the team will probably disappoint Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who had recommended Bowers.

Neither Bowers nor the other South Carolina lawyers responded to requests for comment Saturday. It was not clear why the previously announced South Carolina lawyers were departing.

Late last week, people familiar with Trump’s developing defense strategy said that four South Carolina lawyers would be the nucleus of the Trump team.

Their selection marked a dramatic shift from Trump’s previous impeachment. During that Senate trial last year, Trump was defended by lawyers experienced on the national stage. They included Kenneth Starr, the former special prosecutor whose work led to President Bill Clinton’s impeachment; Jay Sekulow, who had defended Trump previously; and Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard University law professor known for his work in high-profile, controversial cases.

The departure of the South Carolina lawyers from the team will probably disappoint Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who had recommended Bowers.

The state Supreme Court decision does not name Harris, but he was the assistant solicitor in the 5th Judicial District solicitor’s office at the time. And his opposing counsel in the case, Philip J. Mace, said he had vivid recollections of Harris’s role prosecuting his client, a Black woman, and seeking to strike Black jurors.

Harris did not respond to repeated requests for comment. His role in the case was first reported by HuffPost on Friday.

In an interview Thursday, Mace said the case became known in South Carolina legal circles as the “shuck and jive” case, and sent a signal from the state’s high court that it was on alert for a “Batson challenge,” referring to a 1986 Supreme Court ruling making it unconstitutional to exclude jurors on the basis of race or sex.

In addition to the “shuck and jive” reference, the court noted that the prosecutor successfully sought to dismiss a 43-year-old Black female juror because she appeared “extremely sluggish,” and he doubted whether she would be able to withstand the trial and be aware of what was going on, the court decision said.

Mace moved for a mistrial but the lower-court judge denied his request, saying that no pattern of racial discrimination was established and that the prosecutor’s justifications “were racially neutral.”

The state Supreme Court disagreed. It found that racial discrimination had occurred and it reversed the trial court’s conviction, citing the prosecutor’s comments — particularly his “shucked and jived” remark.

The judges wrote that the prosecutor’s “use of this racial stereotype is evidence of the prosecutor’s intent to discriminate and clearly violates the mandates” of the Batson challenge rules.

Mace said he thought Harris’s comment was “a good old boy South Carolina way of talking and not being very racially sensitive.” He added, though, that Harris had a strong reputation as a defense lawyer.

“If I was in trouble, he might be one of the lawyers I’d consider hiring,” Mace said.

Alice Crites contributed to this report.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... story.html

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CNN's reporting said that Tiny wouldn't pay them or sign a binding letter of some kind.

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It has got to be that. Otherwise, who would not take this case? You know you can't lose, so why not take an easy $100K (for example) and let it be?

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Trump names two new lawyers for impeachment trial a day after his defense team collapsed
By Jim Acosta, Kaitlan Collins and Pamela Brown, CNN

Updated 7:49 PM ET, Sun January 31, 202

(CNN)Former President Donald Trump's office announced that David Schoen and Bruce L. Castor, Jr. will now head the legal team for his second impeachment trial, a day after CNN first reported that five members of his defense left and his team effectively collapsed.

One point of friction with his previous team was Trump wanted the attorneys to focus on his election fraud claims rather than the constitutionality of convicting a former president.

Trump has struggled to find lawyers willing to take his case as he refuses to budge from his false claims. Trump's advisers have been talking to him about his legal strategy and he keeps bringing up election fraud for his defense, while they have repeatedly tried to steer him away from that, according to a source familiar with those discussions.

It's unclear if Schoen and Castor will go along with what Trump wants.

"Schoen has already been working with the 45th President and other advisors to prepare for the upcoming trial, and both Schoen and Castor agree that this impeachment is unconstitutional - a fact 45 Senators voted in agreement with last week," the release said.

"It is an honor to represent the 45th President, Donald J. Trump, and the United States Constitution," Schoen said in a statement.

Castor added, "I consider it a privilege to represent the 45th President. The strength of our Constitution is about to be tested like never before in our history. It is strong and resilient. A document written for the ages, and it will triumph over partisanship yet again, and always."

Schoen "focuses primarily on the litigation of complex civil and criminal cases before trial and appellate courts," according to his website. He serves as chair of the American Bar Association's Criminal Justice Subcommittee of the Civil Rights Litigation Committee.

Castor, meanwhile, is a well-known attorney in Pennsylvania who previously served as Montgomery County district attorney.

In order to convict Trump, at least 17 Republicans will need to vote with all Democrats when the trial begins.

CNN previously reported that Senate Republicans who criticized Trump without doing anything about his actions are hoping to put distance between themselves and the former President without casting any votes that could cause a backlash from Trump and his fervent supporters.

Many say something should be done about what Trump did -- but just not by them.

The rhetoric showcases the split between House and Senate Republicans as the party struggles to find its voice after the tumultuous Trump era. Many House Republicans remain staunch Trump defenders, saying he did nothing wrong and shouldn't be blamed for the violence that occurred at the Capitol on January 6.

This story has been updated with additional information.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/31/politics ... index.html

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US press isn't focused on this guy. They're focused on the same lawyer's connections to the late Jeffrey Epstein.

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The Ayanna Pressley incident hasn't been given a lot of air and it should. Who would've had access to her offices to do such a thing? The implications are frightening.

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That he's still on the court and she hasn't been brought in for questioning are both scandals in their own right.

From the WaPo article:

“I owe you all an apology. I have likely imposed on you my lifetime passions,” Thomas, who goes by Ginni, recently wrote to a private Thomas Clerk World email list of her husband’s staff over his three decades on the bench.

“My passions and beliefs are likely shared with the bulk of you, but certainly not all. And sometimes the smallest matters can divide loved ones for too long. Let’s pledge to not let politics divide THIS family, and learn to speak more gently and knowingly across the divide.”

A sampling of posts made to the group were shared with The Washington Post by a member upset with some of the pro-Trump messages written by Ginni Thomas and others in the lead-up and aftermath of the election. Thomas did not respond to requests for comment. Several former clerks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the listserv is private, verified the dispute in what is normally an affable setting meant to celebrate achievements of the clerk “family.”

Besides the friction there, Thomas has drawn outrage among liberals for public political commentary on her “Ginni Thomas” Facebook page. Her comments there celebrated Trump’s supporters who assembled in D.C. on Jan. 6, hundreds of whom stormed the Capitol, resulting in the deaths of five people.

In the early morning post, Thomas encouraged her Facebook followers to watch the day’s events unfold on conservative news media, writing, “LOVE MAGA people!!!!”

She added in another: “GOD BLESS EACH OF YOU STANDING UP or PRAYING.”

Thomas later appended an apparent disclaimer that said, “[Note: written before violence in US Capitol],” according to Mark Joseph Stern of Slate.com, who first wrote about the posts. The Facebook account is no longer visible.

Additionally, there have been unfounded charges on social media that Ginni Thomas played a role in helping to pay for bus transportation for some of those attending the rally. Reporters at The Washington Post, the New York Times and elsewhere, including Stern, found those claims were false.

(...)

Thomas has made clear her opposition to the Affordable Care Act, for instance, and other initiatives of the Obama administration. This summer, she tried to get the small Virginia town of Clifton to take down a Black Lives Matter banner. “Let’s not be tricked into joining cause with radical extremists seeking to foment a cultural revolution because they hate America,” she wrote to town leaders.

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Meanwhile I think Lindsey is cracking under the pressure...

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Maddow Blogb@MaddowBlog

"The 346-page Government Accountability Office document, much longer than most, outlines broad Trump administration failures so alarming that the normally circumspect auditors pronounced themselves “deeply troubled.”

GAO report slams Trump administration response to the coronavirus pandemic
By
Joe Davidson
Columnist
Feb. 3, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. EST

A government watchdog study from a generally staid audit agency amounts to a wide-reaching condemnation of President Donald Trump’s botched response to the covid-19 pandemic.

The 346-page Government Accountability Office document, much longer than most, outlines broad Trump administration failures so alarming that the normally circumspect auditors pronounced themselves “deeply troubled.” That constitutes an anguished cry from an office that prides itself on just-the-facts, albeit dull, reports.

Almost 90 percent — 27 of 31 — of the GAO’s recommendations from June, September and November “remained unimplemented” as of Jan. 15, less than a week before Trump left office. The document was released last week.

“GAO remains deeply troubled that agencies have not acted on recommendations to more fully address critical gaps in the medical supply chain,” it said.

The medical supply chain covers a large range of actions and materials related to the pandemic, including coronavirus testing, vaccines, therapeutics and personal protective equipment. Even dollars have supply chain issues.

The report focused largely on the Department of Health and Human Services, which leads the government’s response. But the GAO’s comprehensive review included covid program integrity issues involving overpayments worth $1.1 billion in the Department of Labor’s Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program and 3,000 Small Business Administration loans to potentially ineligible companies.

The supply chain of money also has knots. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act provided $300 million to the Commerce Department in March for assistance to the fishery industry, which has taken a financial hit because the pandemic closed restaurants. As of Dec. 4, only $53.9 million, about 18 percent, according to the GAO, “had been disbursed, which is inconsistent with Office of Management and Budget guidance on the importance of agencies distributing CARES Act funds in an expedient manner.”

After the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed success in promoting rapid development of coronavirus vaccines — the one bright spot in its covid response — it failed to fully follow the GAO’s implementation recommendations. Now we suffer a rocky inoculation rollout, with its jammed websites, clogged phone lines and canceled appointments.

“In September 2020, GAO stressed the importance of having a plan that focused on coordination and communication and recommended that HHS, with the support of the Department of Defense, establish a time frame for documenting and sharing a national plan for distributing and administering COVID-19 vaccine, and among other things, outline an approach for how efforts would be coordinated across federal agencies and nonfederal entities,” the GAO said. “To date, this recommendation has not been fully implemented. GAO reiterates the importance of doing so.”

Trump’s HHS did not agree or disagree with the GAO’s recommendation.

The report details a bungled Trump administration response to a virus that has killed over 445,000 Americans, far more than in any other nation. Former HHS Secretary Alex Azar and a spokesperson for Trump did not respond to requests for comment. Neither did current HHS officials.

Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.) did. The House Oversight and Reform Committee, where he chairs the government operations subcommittee, was one of the congressional panels that received the GAO report. “This independent report is a stunning indictment of the Trump administration’s total failure to respond to the coronavirus pandemic,” Connolly said. “Their inaction resulted in lives lost.”

When asked about the GAO report, the White House pointed to the national covid-19 strategy that President Biden released on his second day in office. Among other things, it outlines plans for national testing, supply chain strengthening and vaccine distribution and inoculation.

Regarding troubles with the government’s response to covid under Trump, the GAO said:

●HHS “has not issued a comprehensive and publicly available national testing strategy.”

●HHS has not developed a supply chain strategy with states and the private sector for providing supplies during a pandemic.

●The federal government cannot “systematically define and ensure the collection of standardized data across the relevant federal agencies . . . to help respond to COVID-19, communicate the status of the pandemic with citizens, or prepare for future pandemics. As a result, COVID-19 information that is collected and reported by states and other entities to the federal government is often incomplete and inconsistent.”

HHS did agree to take steps toward a national coronavirus testing strategy, the GAO reported, but department officials “expressed concern that producing such a strategy . . . could be overly burdensome” on federal, state and local officials “and that a plan would be outdated by the time it was finalized.” The GAO rejected those excuses.

The GAO’s conclusions are not faultfinding after the fact. In February 2020, before things got bad, “we emphasized the need for federal agencies to coordinate, establish, and define roles and responsibilities among those responding to the crisis, and provide clear, consistent communication,” the report said.

The bottom line of the report is, “urgent action is needed and required” to fight covid-19, A. Nicole Clowers, the GAO’s managing director for health care, said by phone. “We’ve been examining these issues for almost nine months now, and we’ve seen the lack of progress that’s been made.”

She acknowledged the report contains “strong language for GAO,” adding: “We’re trying to spur that action that we believe is needed.”

That’s up to Biden, whose serious approach to covid-19 is a sharp contrast to Trump’s.

“The Biden administration is now forced to simultaneously clean up Trump’s mess it inherited,” Connolly said, “while also responding to the greatest public health pandemic in a hundred years.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... story.html