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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Joint Filing Has Been Submitted, No Response Yet to DOJ Filing on Thursday from Corrupt Judge

Joint Filing Has Been Submitted, No Response Yet to DOJ Filing on Thursday from Corrupt Judge

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No big surprises, as far as I can tell.

The only surprise for me is that neither side appears to have directly responded to the request made by the judge after the DOJ filed on Thursday.

Question for the attorneys:  Don’t both sides have to respond TODAY to the Thursday request from the judge?

From the New York Times

The Justice Department and lawyers for former President Donald J. Trump failed to agree on Friday on who could serve as an independent arbiter to sift through documents the F.B.I. seized from Mr. Trump’s Florida club and residence last month.

In a eight-page joint filing that listed far more points of disagreement than of consensus, the two sides exhibited sharply divergent visions for what the arbiter, known as a special master, would do.

The Justice Department proposed two former Federal District Court judges for the position: Barbara S. Jones, a retired jurist from New York who was tapped to perform a similar role in evaluating documents seized from two personal lawyers of Mr. Trump, Michael S. Cohen in 2017 and Rudolph W. Giuliani in 2021; and Thomas B. Griffith, who retired from the bench in the District of Columbia in 2020.

Mr. Trump’s legal team countered with two alternatives, retired Federal District Court judge, Raymond J. Dearie, who sat in the Eastern District of New York and once served as the top federal prosecutor there. They also suggested Paul Huck Jr., a former deputy attorney general in Florida who also served as general counsel to Gov. Charlie Crist, who was a Republican at the time.

Judge Aileen M. Cannon, who ordered the parties to produce a list of qualified candidates by midnight Friday, will decide who will be tapped for the job. She will also set the parameters of the review.

The two sides also clashed substantially over the duties of the special master. Mr. Trump’s lawyers argued that the arbiter should look at all the documents seized in the search and filter out anything potentially subject to attorney-client or executive privilege.

By contrast, the government argued that the master should look only at unclassified documents and should not adjudicate whether anything was subject to executive privilege.

The dispute over the special master’s purview was reflected in an appeal the Justice Department filed on Thursday asking that the judge lift part of her order temporarily barring it from using the documents in its investigation until the arbiter’s work was done.

The department asked an appeals court to overturn that part of that order that applied to about 100 documents marked as classified, and asked Judge Cannon to hold off on enforcing that same part while the appeal unfolded. The upshot would be that the investigation could resume using only the documents with classification markings.

Judge Cannon has not yet decided whether to comply with the government’s request, which the Justice Department argued was necessary in part because separate national-security assessments were inextricably bound to that effort.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

122Comments

  1. 1.

    gwangung

    I simply do not see why would the judge allow the master to see classified documents, particularly those not authored by the President’s office. Control lies elsewhere and any “executive privilege” doesn’t apply/ And any such privilege NOW lies with the current executive.

  2. 2.

    bbleh

    From what I’ve seen from the News Reports, both sides have responded and nominated candidates for the TOTALLY NOT KINKY OKAY? Special Master.  And they’re all nominally respectable, and nobody nominated Constitutional Law Professor and Totally Cleared Former Official Barack Obama but I will get over it.

  4. 4.

    bbleh

    @gwangung: yes well those would be roughly parallel to DOJ’s positions as I understand them but IANAL etc.  In any case, clearance would have to be arranged, UNLESS she accepts DOJ’s proposal that the documents with classification markings be excluded, which some commentators have suggested comments by her yesterday may indicate she would do.

    How many degrees of speculation is that?  Lost count; too many beers.

  5. 5.

    WaterGirl

    @bbleh: I have no idea whether the ones suggested by Trump’s team are respectable or not.

    I will say that we heard from a lot of people that Bill Barr was respectable – from people who should have known better but apparently didn’t.

    So I am not reassured by reassurances.

  6. 6.

    NotMax

    Dolt 45 side engaged in furious master baiting.

    (P.S.: I’m ba-a-a-ack, finally arriving this afternoon after yet another few rounds of airline roulette to get home.)

  7. 7.

    Another Scott

    a corollary of Trump's position here is that his NARA designees have the right to access any classified doc that's a presidential record of his administration—so if the courts uphold his view, John Solomon and Kash Patel can read about secret programs they're not cleared for https://t.co/qOyvP5c6d1

    — southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) September 10, 2022

    Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

    TFG’s lawyers also want the US to pay half the cost of the Special Master and staff. US says, you want SM, you pay for it.

    (via nycsouthpaw)

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  8. 8.

    bbleh

    @WaterGirl: Lol BillBarr BagEyes? At least they didn’t nominate him.  Or Lindsey Graham, or I dunno, fkin Jeanine Pirro.

    More important IMO will be whatever they propose, and what she decides, re the SM’s remit, including but definitely not limited to whether she accepts DOJ’s proposal to exclude the documents with classification markings, to which proposal she specifically directed the parties to respond.  (Which may be your original point, but see above re beers.)

  11. 11.

    Gin & Tonic

    @WaterGirl: From what I read on Twitter, one of Trump’s “suggested” candidates (Huck) is the husband of a judge Trump appointed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

  12. 12.

    Steeplejack

    Off topic: Stephanie Ruhle gets the dope! The Queen left behind two corgis, a spaniel and a “dorgi,” a dachshund-corgi mix. No further details yet.

  14. 14.

    WaterGirl

    @Gin & Tonic: oh, gee, that doesn’t look / smell bad at all.  I presume we just don’t know the connection Trump has to the other one yet.

    *And by “doesn’t” I mean… could their corruption be any more transparent?????

    edit: oh my god, I just read your comment again. Appointed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.  That makes me want to bang my head against a wall.

  18. 18.

    bbleh

    @WaterGirl: It is that, but arguably it’s a measure of their desperation and … simplicity of thinking.  IOW, they got nothin’ except will to power, which means nothin’ but political followers, and as yet (we hope fervently) not much traction when it comes to the requirement in courts of law that one present evidence and coherent argument grounded in law and precedent.

    I guess we’ll see whether the will to power and enough people in enough offices is enough for them to win the day.

  19. 19.

    WaterGirl

    @bbleh: I am trying to stay calm, but speaking of desperation, this is leaving me feeling super stressed.

    On the up side, I guess we will get to see how deep the corruption runs in the 11th circuit.  We already know how deep it is on the SC, which is another reason I feel kind of sick to my stomach.

  25. 25.

    bbleh

    @WaterGirl: Lol me too — was posting on emptywheel more than a week ago about how this was a setup for delay and obstruction all the way up to SCOTUS — but FWIW, by all accounts Cannon’s legal position is weak to very weak and DOJ are playing their side masterfully.

    Put another way, if the Fascist fix is in, there was nothing anybody ever could have done about it, but there’s no reason to assume that’s definitely the case.  Courage!  And a good evening.

  26. 26.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus: Super stressed is not the same as panic.

    Are you fairly confident that the 11th circuit will do the right thing?

    Also curious whether you think this judge will do the right think in reposes to the DOJ filing yesterday.

    On Larry O’Donnell last night, they seemed to think that the judge was trying to punt by asking both sides if they could agree to what the DOJ asked for.  Doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.

    So it comes down to this judge.  Curious as to whether you think she will do the right thing now that her back is up against a wall?

  30. 30.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @WaterGirl: I’ve been saying that individual judges do stupid shit all the time.  This one seems to not be grabbing the exit opportunities that the DOJ keeps offering.  OTOH, I do not think that her actions will survive appellate review.

    @Felanius Kootea:  Yes and no.  I am never really surprised when an individual trial judge goes off the rails.  I was surprised at how badly she went off the rails.

  32. 32.

    Another Scott

    @Omnes Omnibus: +1

    The federal courts have not seemed to be willing to burn down the whole system of classification of national secrets to satisfy a President.  It is inconceivable* that they will do so for a FPOTUS.

    *-hanging curveball

    We’ll see!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  33. 33.

    Traveller

    I would like to take a  contrary position re Judge Cannon…I don’t think she is corrupt in the sense being used here…Here rulings are wrong and full of mistakes at ever turn she makes…but she is on the bench for life (!),  she is young, she is powerful and this power is relatively new to her…She is making rulings in what she believes is appropriate for the case and even for existing case law…Now I disagree with her Orders issued so far, as does most everyone else, lawyers and lay people who are experts in the law, everyone far smarter than me in all  these topics…but this is litigation, this is sometimes just the way it goes…you get a judge that just seems to be off the balance beam….but she is the Judge, kind of end of story.There is no reason to sit in a corner and cry and complain…She is the Judge and you have to comply…but smartly. 

    You are like a sailor at sea and you have to keep your sea legs, you take a roll and you lean left,  another roll and lean right…but you keep yourself up on your feet, you take what is given to you and you chart the best possible course to a…(winning? Not exactly that), successful position for you and your client.In this regards I think the DOJ has been brilliant in their responses, their court filings, they have educated the public as what this case is about…and have performed a public service. We all, each and everyone of us, know so much more that we did when all we had was the Naked Search Warrant and Execution thereof.

    I think we owe the Department of Justice a vote of confidence in their execution of their duties. They have been battered around pretty bad but they have stayed on their feet and responded excellently and with measured class. They have been good and good for the nation. To me this is just litigation, nothing to be surprised over…you can be unhappy but you have to step back, look at it clear eyed, and be smart in your responses. This is all you can do and the DOJ, so far, to my mind, have been very very good.

    I will lastly note that people much smarter than I completely disagree with this analysis, lawyers and commentators think my position is foolish and wrong…I will just repeat again, She is the judge and the DOJ is handling this difficulty very well. So far…we and the general public are much more knowledgeable now….(one caveat, the leak re Nuclear Assessment Document was wrong…it seems to me to have been a strategic play by DOJ; I hope not, but if it was a leak from DOJ is was wrong….and hopefully will not happen again!).Best Wishes, Traveller​​​​
    ​
    ​

  36. 36.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus: She really seems to be digging her heels in when she should be grabbling a lifeline.  That’s what makes me wonder if she is determined to stick to this until the end.

    Do you think it’s likely that we won’t know anything for a week or more?  I believe they gave her until the 15th, but if it goes to the 11th, then I’m guessing that we will be unlikely to know anything there right away?

    It feels like this should be a sprint but it is starting to feel more marathon-like.

  37. 37.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @WaterGirl: Let’s see what happens with the stay.  I won’t make any guesses on timing until at least then.

    ETA:  Laypeople always expect legal processes to work faster than they do.  I blame TV and movies.

  41. 41.

    prostratedragon

    @cain:  Be funny if they already have and we haven’t heard about it yet because there are no judges for sale to whine to.

    No idea if this is so, but I keep coming back to the fact that we only know about this one because of TFG’s own blabbing.

  42. 42.

    Traveller

    @Traveller:  I apologize a bit for post #33…I went to edit a misspelling…and for unknown reasons could not get back my paragraph structures YIKES!!!…these things happen. Sorry, I will be more careful in the future.

  43. 43.

    WaterGirl

    @Traveller: Interesting comment!

    it’s late and my eyes are bleary, so it definitely would have been easer to read your comment if there had been a fine paragraph breaks in there.  just a thought for next time. :-)

    oops, I posted at #43 before seeing #42.

  57. 57.

    randy khan

    I suspect that DoJ’s position in talks with Team Trump was that the judge’s order asking the parties to consider the motion filed earlier this week was a big, fat hint that Team Trump should take (which it pretty obviously was), while Team Trump figured that the worst that would happen to them would be that the judge would grant the request, not accounting for the likelihood that not taking the hint would make her very unhappy.  (There’s a big chance that Trump himself made that call.)

    I actually kind of get that, though – the classified documents are the case, more or less, so even the slightest possibility of getting them out is worth pursuing.  The Trump opposition to the partial stay request should be something to behold, though.

  58. 58.

    Mai Naem mobile

    I don’t know what the judge is going to decide but my guess is that she will release it on Sunday PM after the morning sunday shows are over. I honestly can’t get beyond the issue of the judge agreeing to have two executives making decisions at the same time. On national security issues no less. Wtf? It can’t work like that.

  59. 59.

    Traveller

    Thank you WaterGirl…you take the time to hopefully write something interesting, maybe a little different take from others, to add to the  conversation…and then it all goes horribly wrong in the posting.  There is that sinking feeling of disaster…sigh…so again,  thanks for coming to my rescue.

    My error seems to be to having used Firefox as my browser of choice…which will not let me edit. Switching to Chrome, the editing functioning works perfectly…so again, thanks for help…we are all always leaning…:>}}

  62. 62.

    piratedan

    Is just going to follow the premise that if the FedSoc promoted her, then she’s a hack.  As we’ve seen with most folks in this mindset, she’s going to double down on her idiocy because that’s what they fucking do over there….

    guns….

    abortion…

    ACA… Social Security… Medicare…

    lying/hypocrisy…

    doesn’t matter, Sleepy Joe throws them a lifeline… they ignore it and insult him for even tossing it, DOJ does the same thing, they asked nicely, via mail and in person and got ignored, same MO to every damn thing… YOU CAN’T MAKE US! WE MAKE THE RULES AND THE RULES ARE WHATEVER WE SAY THEY ARE SO THAT WE WIN>>> ETERNALLY

  63. 63.

    Jackie

    OT, but concerning: “Sept. 9 (UPI) — A new report says that a looming rail strike involving tens of thousands of workers next week would cost the U.S. economy about $2 billion per day and idle thousands of trains nationwide.

    A deadline to come up with an agreement between U.S. railroads and the unions that make up the Coordinated Bargaining Coalition will arrive in a week. The coalition represents more than 100,000 rail workers and rail freight in the United States would cease if they strike.“

    https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2022/09/09/rail-strike-freight-trains-unions/6571662730674/

    This isn’t good news for our  economy or Biden. Crap.

  67. 67.

    BellyCat

    If doctors bury their mistakes and architects grow ivy on them, what of judges? Mistakes are simply DENIED.

  70. 70.

    Ksmiami

    @Omnes Omnibus: See that’s where we Dems fail in our imagination- every Trump appointee should be recognized as horrible, lying, traitorous trash that will do the wrong thing every time in service of the Republican power grab. There is no bottom and they are a cancer infecting and rotting out our edifice of government.

  71. 71.

    prostratedragon

    Adding this for Sonny Rollins. Back in another geological age, before Carnegie Hall was refurbished as I recall, I saw him in concert. He walked out on the stage alone and played about a 5 minute cadenza on this song before being joined by the other members of the band.

    “To a Wild Rose,” MacDowell

  73. 73.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    Mitt Romney asked Joe Biden to run against Trump — back in 2018: report

    The Guardian obtained a copy of The Long Alliance: The Imperfect Union of Joe Biden and Barack Obama by Gabriel Debenedetti, a national correspondent for New York magazine.

    The book reports Biden called Romney on election night 2018 to congratulate the former Massachuttes governor on his election to the U.S. Senate. Biden was Barack Obama’s 2012 ticket that beat Romney and Paul Ryan.

    Romney, who would go on to vote to impeach Donald Trump twice, brought up the 2020 presidential election.

    The book reportedly said Romney told Biden something to the effect of, “you have to run.”

  74. 74.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    Importantly, Trump doesn’t argue that he declassified material. Closest is this: “DOJ stance wrongly assumes that if a document has a classification marking, it remains classified in perpetuity.”— Harry Litman (@harrylitman) September 10, 2022

    DOJ wants classified material excluded from Special Master review. In legal filing, Dump doesn’t dispute material was classified, which (shocker!) contradicts his prior public statements that he declassified all documents.​​

  76. 76.

    Betty Cracker

    Former Trump White House lawyer Ty Cobb, he of the handlebar mustache, accurately describes what kind of fool the Justice Department is dealing with in his former boss:

    “I believe former President Trump to be a deeply wounded narcissist, and he is often incapable of acting other than in his perceived self-interest or for revenge,” Cobb said. “I think those are the two compelling instincts that guide his actions.”

    Source: CBS News. On less solid ground, Cobb speculates the raid on Trump’s Florida dump wasn’t solely about stolen government documents but also had something to do with January 6th. Anything’s possible, but we haven’t seen any evidence indicating that.

    A simpler answer is that there are several investigations because state, federal and congressional officials are responding to multiple crimes.

  77. 77.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Jackie: If you want a more powerful labor movement– which I think we do– you have to expect strikes. The end result will be better deals for workers. There are hits to the economy but this is how it works. We’ve been trained to expect a world where the workers who keep our society going have to take whatever crap is dumped on them for too long.

  78. 78.

    Baud

    I’m enjoying the new Hillary/Chelsea show.  Chelsea in particular is an equal partner in it.  They have a good mother/daughter relationship.

     

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I agree. There’s always a risk that the public will turn against workers because they prefer them oppressed than deal with the personal hassle. But that comes with the territory.

    A week is a long time for labor negotiations though.

  81. 81.

    Balconesfault

    @Baud: But from a strategic standpoint, the Union Leaders have to be aware that a strike now could guarantee a Congress for the next two controlled by anti-union sociopaths … in a time window when they have a President inclined to sign pro-union legislation.

  83. 83.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kurilesto St Petersburg

    @Traveller:

    You sound like a robe licker.

    After 30 some odd years, my attitude is one of minimization, disrespect and disdain for the judicial office. I call them all by first name off the bench, flippant when they’re on and call rulings absurd on the record.

    It makes them a cautious around me.

  85. 85.

    Geminid

    @Traveller: The DOJ might not have been the party leaking the item about the foreign nation’s defensive posture and nuclear forces. As Teri Kanefield pointed out, the Washington Post ‘s source could have been one of the informants whose information provided the basis for the recent search warrant.

    I would add that I found your comment thoughtful and interesting and I hope you keep commenting.

  86. 86.

    JPL

    @Betty Cracker: Cobb is right, and because of that, Biden should not invite trump to the funeral of the Queen.   Can you imagine, trump making the funeral all about him, and their special relationship.

  89. 89.

    Cameron

    @JPL: “The Queen said to me, ‘Sir,’ with tears in her eyes, “Sir, the United Kingdom is so lucky that you’ll always be President… ‘”

  90. 90.

    Geminid

    @JPL: I am not surprised that none of them did, but the other panelists should have burst into laughter at Tapper’s ridiculous suggestion.

  96. 96.

    Barbara

    @JPL: ​They’ll have a roundtable discussion of what the funeral would have been like if Trump had gone. I can’t remember any notable funerals attended by Trump while president so I’m not sure what evidence they would rely on but that never seems to matter.

  99. 99.

    prostratedragon

    @Barbara:  There weren’t many high-level funerals during that term, were there? It’s as if everyone was waiting it out. I only recall McCain, and he was expressly not invited to that one.

  100. 100.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Barbara: My thoughts exactly. Some of the nuttier Fed Soc types might see this as a backdoor opportunity to, once again, try to overturn the election and declare Trump the true President. Given their past behavior I kind of doubt the Supreme Court actually wants to go there, but we shall see.

  101. 101.

    DrDaveChemist

    @prostratedragon: Trump did attend the funeral for GHWB while in office. News stories from the time (unsurprisingly) described his behavior like the petulant child he is inside: didn’t sing hymns or recite prayers, sat with his arms folded across his chest, didn’t shake hands with his predecessors, generally acted like he was being forced to go. In other words, exactly what you would expect from a narcissist at an event where he was not the center of attention.

  103. 103.

    Betty Cracker

    @Yutsano: Trump did attend that funeral. IIRC, GHWB’s nephew Billy (of “grab ’em by the pussy” fame) said GHWB himself made that decision because he didn’t want a snub to be the story of the day. (ETA, Emily Latila voice: never mind!)

  104. 104.

    Geminid

    The post upstairs is about Nice Things, so I will note here that according to Forbes the Orange Churl will return to Ohio for a rally next Saturday. It will be in support of JD Vance and “the entire Ohio ticket.” The venue is in the Youngstown area.

    Former Republican Congressman Charlie Dent said he thought that trump’s rally in Pennsylvania last weekend was “a gift” to Democrats.

  105. 105.

    Traveller

    @Deputinize Eurasia from the Kurilesto St Petersburg:

     

    lol…Robe licker…I love it; though the accusation in this instance is probably true…I am never disrespectful, I will disagree with a ruling but seldom call it wrong in open court.

    We all have our different styles and more than one client has commented upon leaving court…”you hardly said anything! The other lawyer was shouting and making all these great arguments and you really were not saying much at all…To which I reply”

    “You won, you got what you wanted, what you had to have…be happy.

    But I confess that clients are often perplexed…they want the emotional satisfaction as much as and maybe more than the win…

    I just don’t agree with that…Judges have very little to fear from me!…;>}}

  106. 106.

    Matt McIrvin

    @DrDaveChemist: I was just watching some YouTube videos on dealing with narcissists that mostly make me happy that in my daily life I don’t have to. One of them was all about birthdays, how even when they ARE the center of attention it’s impossible to please them because something will always be wrong and will set them off, and this is something you just have to grin and bear.

  107. 107.

    trnc

    I think I’m missing something here. The tweet listed as Pfarrer’s latest “which is not much more than an hour old” looks like it was posted Sept 8. Still great news, though.

    ETA: I see that he put Sept 9 in the tweet, but the timestamp of the tweet is Sept 8, so I guess that’s just the time zone difference between us and him. Thanks.

  108. 108.

    WaterGirl

    @Jackie: Then maybe we should treat the rail workers right, and give them a good bit of what they are asking for.

    I agree with you, though, that the timing sucks.

    They must feel that the timing is key or they wouldn’t be doing it right now. The disruption that would be caused gives them more leverage.

  109. 109.

    Amir Khalid

    @Geminid:

    Former Republican Congressman Charlie Dent said he thought that trump’s rally in Pennsylvania last weekend was “a gift” to Democrats.

    May TFG give the Democratic party more such gifts in the next two months.

  111. 111.

    Another Scott

    @Jackie: Deadlines concentrate the mind.  It’s all part of the process.

    Biden is very strongly pro-labor, but he’ll (or Pete B. will) step in if they can’t find a way to get an agreement if it goes on too long.

    Don’t worry.  This is part of the way the negotiation process should work.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  115. 115.

    topclimber

    I am of two minds about inviting TFG to the Queen’s funeral.

    On the one hand, protocol demands that the Royals invite the current and all former Presidents. Just as long as they make it clear they invite him as a former one, he won’t go. He will turn them down, because he still holds the title don’t-ya-know, so problem solved!

    On the other hand, if he should go, pity the poor Corgies (like they need any more of that from this blog). They are deep in grief and along comes a guy who HATES dogs stomping over their turf during the post funeral reception. UNACCEPTABLE!

  117. 117.

    Geminid

    @BC in Illinois: That’s sounds like trump would say.

    I wonder if Steve Chabot will attend. His OH 1st congressional district was drawn more Democratic for this year and it is a prime pickup target for Democrats.

  120. 120.

    bbleh

    Per emptywheel this morning:  “Judge Cannon has ordered Trump to weigh in on the government’s motion for a partial stay of her order, asking her to permit the investigative team access to any documents marked as classified, by 10AM on Monday.”

  121. 121.

    Chris Johnson

    @Matt McIrvin: I don’t think the Supreme Court could go there even if they wanted to. If enough of the military know that Trump was in fact a traitor giving nuclear secrets to the Russians… let’s just say they don’t like that. A whole bunch of powerful Congresspeople don’t like that either.

    Shit like that only works when society lets it, and I define society as ‘the people who actually have power in DC and elsewhere’. There comes a point when a whole bunch of people are aware of how things really stand, so you don’t get to go rules-lawyering or tables get flipped.

    You simply do not get to install a Putin puppet as leader of the free world twice. Even the first time was a lucky break for Russia and entirely conditional on it not being obvious enough what was happening.

    Now it’s obvious, and now it is simply impossible for Trump to prevail. Let’s say the deep state won’t let him, nor should they because he is absolutely a traitor and America’s enemy. He is enemy both foreign AND domestic at the same time. Nothing like this has ever happened before. And he was never intended to actually rule, and these are the consequences of him doing that as a straight up smash-and-grab, not being clever or trustworthy enough to be up to anything more nefarious or sophisticated.

    If Trump wasn’t such an asshole we would still be stuck with him. He was always going to flame out.

  122. 122.

    Geminid

    @Chris Johnson: If trump hadn’t been so lazy we might still be stuck with him. Joe Biden won a clear and convincing victory, but that election was still too close for my comfort

    But I don’t think the the Republicans on the Supreme Court will go put of their way to save trump’s fat ass. Republican elites know that trump is a drag on their party and would just as soon get rid of him.

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