First, let’s take a moment to remember David Crosby.
Sigh. Okay, on to the news …
Yesterday U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks slapped Trump and his lawyer with nearly $1 million in court-imposed sanctions for filing a frivolous lawsuit. Trump sued a bunch of people (see chart) claiming they all conspired to smear him with the false narrative that his 2016 presidential campaign was colluding with Russia. Which I still say wasn’t false.
Here’s the table of how much Trump and Alina Habba have to pay. I really think headline should be; BREAKING Trump to pay Fusion GPS $50 Grandhttps://t.co/Rei09w5Rh3 pic.twitter.com/aQJhc52ewF
— emptywheel (@emptywheel) January 20, 2023
Trump and and his lawyer are jointly and severally liable for the total amount of sanctions the judge imposed to cover the defendants’ legal fees and costs, which comes to $937,989.39. From the judge’s decision:
This case should never have been brought. Its inadequacy as a legal claim was evident from the start. No reasonable lawyer would have filed it. Intended for a political purpose, none of the counts of the amended complaint stated a cognizable legal claim. …
…Thirty-one individuals and entities were needlessly harmed in order to dishonestly advance a political narrative. A continuing pattern of misuse of the courts by Mr. Trump and his lawyers undermines the rule of law, portrays judges as partisans, and diverts resources from those who have suffered actual legal harm. …
… Mr. Trump is a prolific and sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries. He is the mastermind of strategic abuse of the judicial process, and he cannot be seen as a litigant blindly following the advice of a lawyer. He knew full well the impact of his actions. … As such, I find that sanctions should be imposed upon Mr. Trump and his lead counsel, Ms. Habba.
Regarding the alleged investigation of the “leak” of the Dobbs decision, late yesterday it was admitted that none of the justices were questioned. Chief Justice Roberts had the Marshal, a lady with an administrative position who has never investigated anything in her life, run the investigation. Could it be that the Chief Justice didn’t want us to know who the leaker is? Now the House Judiciary Committee (Gym Jordan, chair) is saying it will investigate the leak. Gym might get a friendly memo from the Chief Justice saying to cool it.
Other stuff to read: Paul Krugman on not negotiating with terrorists; Greg Sargent on how blue states can show the way out of red state culture war madness.
The world sounds less harmonic now that David Crosby is gone.
RIP David. We'll miss you and your beautiful voice.
Ok, now on to politics:
Great cartoon choice, maha! LOL!!!
WOW! That judge really let tRUMP have it with both barrels, huh?!?
And here's my favorite part of what the judge wrote: The word "inadequacy" and its Freudian implications! What better word than "inadequacy" to explain why the (thankfully) former presiDUNCE is as fecked in the noggin as he is, was, and evermore shall be?!?
Boy, that judge really knows how to hurt a guy, don't he?!?
Note to new lawyers who might be interested in helping tRUMP with more frivolous lawsuits: You're supposed to MAKE thousands of dollars per billing hour – NOT PAY!!! – thousands of dollars per billing hour for the privilege of lawyering and "liaring" for the (THANKFULLY!) former presidiDUNCE!
I think it's a pretty sure bet that tRUMP will stiff his lawyer, and tell her she's responsible for all of the fines.
After all, we all know that he's the cheapest MFer to ever sit in, what while he was there, I called, "The Awful Orifice."
Related to the decision that Trump is on the hook for a million in lawyers fees, he dropped a suit against the NY DA who's pursuing a civl case asking $250 in damages for criminal business practices.
Yesterday (or maybe two days ago) "my" judge in DC (Coleen Kollar-Kotally) handed down a decision on a bench (no jury) trial. Guilty – no surprise. But as findings of fact, she lined the actions of the J6 trespasser to following Trump's instructions.
On the civil rape trial, the judge requested ideas from the lawyers re how to tamp down on prejudicial social media. I'm paraphrasing but the judge wants requests and arguments about what the rules will be about Trump's big mouth during the trial. I doubt Trump will follow the rules but he sets himself up for contempt charges.
And we're not even into the criminal cases yet.
Trump used the judicial system skillfully in NYC to intimidate the people he cheated. He's fining out that money isn't the advantage that it was. Somebody can write a long article about the legal setbacks Trump has had in the last 12 months.
The rape/defamation civil case tees up fairly soon. Later this year, the civil case in NY. One will be devastating as to Trump's behavior as a sexual predator. The other will rip open his business practices. Sometime next week, we will see the opening hand of the GA prosecutor. Will she charge Trump?
Trump dropped his lawsuit against Letitia James a day after a judge fined him $1 million for a frivolous case against Hillary Clinton (msn.com)
I wonder what prompted that? Maybe his lawyer got cold feet?
Trump was establishing a history of threatening and trying to use the legal system to harass those he perceives as threats or enemies. It was certain to come back and bite him as established proof of his bad faith and malicious intimidation in later criminal trials.
That's what's so thrilling about this. Not the message to Trump but to the lawyers who think they can play games.
It's gonna be joy unspeakable when Powell, Guliani and Fox News get hit with their Dominion voting machine lawsuit penalities. I suspect that the jury is going to release the full Kracken on them. And Hugo Chavez spins in his grave.
For those who like to look ahead, the court will hear arguments, I think on Tuesday in GA regarding making the report of the Special Grand Jury public. The panel requested the findings SHOULD be made public. Naturally, Trump and his stooges will be opposed. The prosecutor may not want Trump to have all the information in the report – I'm not sure which side she will be on.
It's possible that after 6? months the Special Grand Jury decided no crimes were committed by anyone. I think it's unlikely. I think eighteen people have been told they are potential "targets" who could be charged, including the gang who, responding to pressure from Rudy, signed a fraudulent document that was delivered to the National Archives. I don't see how the fake electors' fraud can't be traced directly to the former guy.
A good article that describes the status is here:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/14/trump-georgia-grand-jury-political-fate
In news that got lost, the DOJ has (politely) told Gym Jordan to take a flying leap re his request for info on the status of ongoing investigations. I expect Republicans who refused to appear before the J6 committee will issue subpoenas I think DOJ officials should and will appear if asked, and I hope they tell Jordan that he's not entitled to know the status and inner workings of a criminal investigation where he or his friends might be the targets. This is the mice trying to bell the cat, but the cats not having it.