NEW Justice Dept. Seizes Phones of Top Trump Aides in Jan. 6 Inquiry – The New York Times https://t.co/88sXKpt99y
— Trip Gabriel (@tripgabriel) September 12, 2022
The Justice Department has issued about 40 subpoenas over the past week seeking information about the actions of former President Donald J. Trump and his associates related to the 2020 election and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, according to people familiar with the situation.
Two top Trump advisers, Boris Epshteyn and Mike Roman, had their phones seized as evidence, those people said.
The department’s actions represent a substantial escalation of a slow-simmer investigation two months before the midterm elections, coinciding with a separate inquiry into Mr. Trump’s hoarding of sensitive documents at his residence in Florida, Mar-a-Lago.
Among those the department has contacted since Wednesday are people who are close to the former president and have played significant roles in his post-White House life.
Those receiving the subpoenas included Dan Scavino, Mr. Trump’s former social media director who rose from working at a Trump-owned golf course to one of his most loyal aides and has remained an adviser since Mr. Trump left office. Stanley Woodward, one of Mr. Scavino’s lawyers, declined to comment…
Bernard Kerik, a former New York City police commissioner who promoted baseless claims of voter fraud alongside his friend Rudolph W. Giuliani, was issued a subpoena by prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, his lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, said on Monday. Mr. Parlatore said his client had initially offered to grant an interview voluntarily.
The subpoenas seek information in connection with the plan to submit slates of electors pledged to Mr. Trump from swing states that were won by Joseph R. Biden Jr. in the 2020 election. Mr. Trump and his allies promoted the idea that competing slates of electors would justify blocking or delaying certification of Mr. Biden’s Electoral College victory during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.
In a new line of inquiry, some of the subpoenas also seek information into the activities of the Save America political action committee, the main political fund-raising conduit for Mr. Trump since he left office.
For months, associates of Mr. Trump have received subpoenas related to other aspects of the investigations into his efforts to cling to power. But the fact that the Justice Department is now seeking information related to fund-raising comes as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack has raised questions about money Mr. Trump solicited under the premise of fighting election fraud…
Elsewhere, Tiger Beat on the Potomac is *very* disappointed that there haven’t been more THEATRICS!!! recently…
NEW: The Jan. 6 committee enters its final stretch with a mountain of unfinished business and a narrowing window to make key decisions — calling Trump, negotiating a Pence interview, dealing w House Rs who defied subpoenas.
w/ @nicholaswu12 https://t.co/sJQ4KxwDlp
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) September 12, 2022
Should they seek Donald Trump’s testimony? What should they do with Republican lawmakers who defied subpoenas? Will they be able to negotiate an interview with Mike Pence?
Members of the Jan. 6 select committee are confronting a momentous to-do list, including some of their most precedent-setting decisions, as they prepare to present closing arguments about the former president’s bid to overturn his loss in 2020. With barely 16 weeks until the panel dissolves, its nine lawmakers are still deciding when to release a comprehensive final report, as well as hundreds of witness transcripts that could provide extensive new details about Trump’s behavior surrounding the Capitol attack.
And that’s not all. The panel is expected to soon announce additional public hearings, finalize efforts to obtain the testimony of two crucial Secret Service witnesses and issue legislative recommendations designed to prevent future attempted disruptions to the transfer of power. The Justice Department’s investigation into Trump’s possession of highly classified material at his Mar-a-Lago estate is vacuuming up some of the national headlines that they made earlier in the summer, but select panel members are determined not to let their inquiry peter out and believe they’ve moved the needle…
As the Jan. 6 committee hits a slew of last-lap decisions that could shape its legacy, it’s likely to contend with internal pressures that often befall time-limited congressional investigations: staffers eyeing the exits, the distracting pull of the midterm elections and the likelihood that the House will change hands, giving Republicans the speaker’s gavel as they promise retribution.
But before that happens, the panel must deal with a Trump facing significant new legal jeopardy as other investigations into his actions, in regards to the election and otherwise, have picked up…
There’s lots of actual detail work spelled out in the rest of article, but it’s all process stuff, sercon (pejorative: serious, constructive) legal maneuvering. What Politico wants — what it assumes its (paid) readership wants — is DRAMA, dammit. Liz Cheney leaning over the podium, pointing & shouting J’accuse! Trump getting escorted into the dock by a band of ketchup-splattered SecServ agents, maybe trying to take himself hostage like that scene in Blazing Saddles. Rudy Giuliani literally melting down on camera…
In the MAGA Crosshairs: Arizona, Pt 1
lowtechcyclist
Second?
ETA: Aw rats, too fast
Baud
To be frank, I want those things too.
ETA
@lowtechcyclist:
Sucker.
patrick II
Bad news for trump. While his lawyers claimed today Trump has secretly mentally unclassified the documents found at Mar A Lago while he was president, what they didn’t know is that Biden has secretly mentally reclassified them since he has been president.
Elizabelle
And: there is news that the DOJ is OK with one special master — Judge Dearing — suggested by Team TFG. But TFG’s team is not OK with the DOJ’s two suggested masters. Naturally. Going with that item first:
WaPost:
In a second filing Monday afternoon, Trump’s lawyers said they oppose the Justice Department’s two special master candidates, retired judge Barbara S. Jones, who acted as a special master in an investigation of Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani; and Thomas B. Griffith, a retired appeals judge for the District of Columbia Circuit.
They did not explain their opposition in detail, only saying that “there are specific reasons” why they do not want those nominees. The lawyers said it would be “more respectful” to explain their objection to these candidates in a different venue, rather than in a public court filing.
The Justice Department countered that the special master should have federal judicial experience and that Jones, Griffith and Dearie would be acceptable choices. The only person not included on that list was one of Trump’s proposed candidates, Paul Huck Jr., a former deputy attorney general for the state of Florida.”Judge Jones, Griffith and Dearie each have substantial experience, during which they have presided over federal criminal and civil cases, including federal cases involving national security and privilege concerns,” the Justice Department’s filing said. “The government respectfully opposes the appoint of Paul Huck, Jr., who does not appear to have similar experience.” [WaPost’s bolding, since it’s from the filing]
Scout211
Re-posted from downstairs:
DOJ open to one of Trump’s picks for special master.
Elizabelle has more above
japa21
Is there a requirement that the committee close shop at the end of this term? Or is Politico just assuming the GOP will take control and shut it down.
Ajabu
The “likelihood“ the house will change hands in the midterms??? Not if my family‘s votes have anything to do with it! Who’s sky is falling Idea is that?
Elizabelle
WaPost breaking news, maybe an hour ago:
Justice Dept. says it will accept Trump nominee for special master
The appointment of Raymond Dearie, a former chief federal judge in New York, could potentially launch Mar-a-Lago document review
Geminid
I’ve seen people complaining that the Justice Department’s policy against indicting politicians close to elections was being applied more generally to criminal investigations that had political ramifications. I thought that was an exaggeration and the DOJ is showing that it was.
Baud
@japa21:
They have to be reconstitutes by the next Congress.
Soprano2
@japa21: The House changes after the mid-terms so all the committees end at the end of the year. They could re-appoint it if they wanted to.
HumboldtBlue
bbleh
So, which story would the Springfield Republican Party pay the MOST to be rid of?
— the House 1/6 investigation
— the DOJ 1/6 investigation
— Rick Scott’s NRSC Florida Beachfront Griftopia
— Trump himself
Submit your bids here! Winner will be chosen via a combination of popular vote and side-payments.
Baud
@HumboldtBlue:
The second half of that sentence doesn’t make sense.
bbleh
@japa21: @Baud: Right, thus there is a practical requirement, if not necessarily a legal one.
And more practically still, I expect they’ll be done in advance of the midterms. For the most pristine of legislative reasons, natch.
UncleEbeneezer
“What Politico wants — what it assumes its (paid) readership wants — is DRAMA, dammit. Liz Cheney leaning over the podium, pointing & shouting J’accuse! Trump getting escorted into the dock by a band of ketchup-splattered SecServ agents”
To be fair, this also applies to most of Do Something Twitter.
bbleh
@HumboldtBlue: @Baud: So if you click through, the story says, “The survey also found that a quarter of GOP women feel their party doesn’t care about them and that a partisan enthusiasm gap is closing.” The “that” is parallel construction going back to “the survey also found” and not to “GOP women feel.”
Definite demerits for the writer on several items.
UncleEbeneezer
@Soprano2: Ya don’t say…
Baud
@bbleh:
Is it closing in our favor?
Scout211
@Baud: Text version
Twitter posts often don’t make sense to me. I like to click through to the actual article for it to to make sense to me. I hope this is more clear.
HumboldtBlue
@Baud:
I can only deliver the message my liege, I beg of you, please let me keep my head.
Baud
@Scout211:
Eh, fuck it.
bbleh
@Baud: Yes, and the story also uses “shrunk” where it should use “shrank” and JAY-zus what are they TEACHING kids in school today? Why, in MY day …! [shakes fist]
Baud
@bbleh:
I thought it was “shranked”.
Scout211
That sentence doesn’t make sense.
Gin & Tonic
@Scout211:
A bold approach.
geg6
@UncleEbeneezer:
I have to admit, it sure sounds like fun.
dmsilev
@Soprano2: Of course, Liz Cheney will be gone from the House in January. Though, wouldn’t it be hilariously awesome if the Dems keep the House, keep the committee going, and just bring Cheney on as a senior staff whatever, solely to taunt her former GOP colleagues? She’d probably go along with that as well.
bbleh
@Baud: No, that’s what happens in crells in jrails. It’s super illregal.
HumboldtBlue
That’s from the Lincoln Project and I ain’t giving them clicks, still don’t trust those fuckers as far as I can spit.
Alison Rose 💙🌻💛
Was it Charles Pierce who coined Tiger Beat on the Potomac? Whoever it was, every single time I see the phrase, it cracks me up. Just a perfect little bon mot.
bbleh
@HumboldtBlue: I have seen many reports of this, and also reports of similar, though smaller, relative increases in registration among college-educated young men. I don’t doubt them for a minute, because they align closely with polling results and of course with the KS election results.
Wombat Probability Cloud
@Alison Rose 💙🌻💛: Not sure, but a quick google returns this:
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a29876/politico-tiger-beat-on-the-potomac
ETA: I’ll dig a bit deeper, as this likely isn’t the first coinage
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a16922/worst-politico-piece-on-corporate-tax-rates-121112/
Elizabelle
@dmsilev: That could absolutely happen. For Kinzinger, as well.
J R in WV
It is beneath me to squabble over common grammar errors made by the Hoi Polloi. ;~)
Tweetr is also beneath me, as I am taller than any local bird, excepting perhaps the Great Blue Heron that rarely travels this far up the waterways of the mountains. ;~)
Regarding the late great pianist Ramsey Lewis, I first saw him while I was in high school, and he appeared at a not too nearby small college. A very long drive over twisty WV state highways in the mid1960s. A great performer and talent! RIP dude! Keep playing, where ever you are!
HumboldtBlue
@bbleh:
I came across a thread a few days ago speaking about how young men are recognizing that the drastic changes to abortion access completely change hookup culture, and not in a good way.
Craig
@Alison Rose 💙🌻💛: yes
hilts
Rachel Maddow just killed it by reading a chilling passage from Geoffrey Berman’s book
Holding the Line: Inside The Nation’s Preeminent US Attorney’s Office and its Battle With The Trump Justice Department
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/690280/holding-the-line-by-geoffrey-berman/
to show how Trump tried to politicize DOJ. Garland needs to indict this scumbag asap.
WaterGirl
@Scout211: They still don’t say which side had the higher enthusiasm rating!
Omnes Omnibus
Garland need to indict him when he has everything nailed down.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@hilts: which scumbag on which charges?
Starfish
@hilts: It looks like there is going to be a Senate investigation into this.
Scout211
@WaterGirl: Okay. Yeah, the MSNBC article very vague and poorly written. Plus, my link didn’t work. Sorry.
Here is the poll
Villago Delenda Est
“Let me go, or the traitor gets it.”
“Please proceed!”
cintibud
@Starfish: I’m out of free NYT articles. A brief synopsis please?
Villago Delenda Est
@Elizabelle: One vowel change away from “Hack”.
NotMax
@HumboldtBlue
Not the thread for it but if you happen to be around during a more general interest open thread, have (to me, headshaking) short tale regarding a Home Depot visited when in NY.
Martin
@hilts: Yeah, people need to watch tonights episode online if they’re missing this. This is huge. Glad to hear Judiciary committees are on this.
HumboldtBlue
@NotMax:
Lay it on us, repub venality will be around forever, and we can always talk about along with other stuff.
Starfish
@cintibud: In Geoffrey Berman’s book “Holding the Line,” he accuses the Trump administration of trying to fire people in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, so he could put in some cronies. Berman worked there until he was fired by Trump.
raven
@Starfish: Aren’t we going to bitch that he didn’t cough this up sooner?
lefthanded compliment
“questions about money Mr. Trump solicited under the premise of fighting election fraud…”
You’d think even the lowliest reporter at the FTFNYT would know how to spell pretext.
RaflW
Some small town WI good political news: The Menomonee Falls WI school board was taken over by ‘Moms on a Mission’ (that’s not the good news). Their first order of dirty business was to try to change how the board would be elected in future, in a way that would likely benefit aggressive wingers.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel did a story about it recently. Tonight, after much mobilizing by people like my partner’s amazing 76 year old mother, the people of the town turned out in droves and defeated the shenanigans by about a 2:1 margin. Not at all what these right wingers expected!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@raven: for the record, and for those not watching TRMS: He says he says as much as he could when could, both when he was fired and in subsequent testimony before Congress, according to DoJ rules about discussing on-going cases. One of those on-going cases was the prosecution of Steve Bannon.
raven
RIP Ramsey Lewis
WaterGirl
@Scout211: Sorry if I wasn’t clear. I wasn’t picking at you, but I was certainly picking at the MSNBC article!
WaterGirl
@raven: I will almost always happily bitch that people didn’t cough this stuff up sooner – especially when they saved it for a book.
p.a.
Anyone yesterday note the Floriduh man (assuming male) performance art at Hardrock Stadium for the Patriot’s game?
Some tailgater stored his (assuming male) still-hot almost certainly charcoal-burning tailgating grill under his (assuming male) vehicle and went into the game. OF COURSE the vehicle caught fire, exploded, and cooked at least 6 other vehicles.
(To be fair the grill may have been stored further away and then been moved by someone else. That’s why I always used gas grills when tailgating; charcoal has no ‘off’ switch.)
Shalimar
@raven: Berman is a former law partner with Giuliani. It’s surprising he fought back against the politization at all. If he wants to wait to spill the details in a book I won’t read anyway, I don’t care so much. Best you can expect from a Republican, and he isn’t a journalist anyway. He has no job responsibility to tell us.
NotMax
@HumboldtBlue
Okey-dokey, then.
Several projects accomplished at Mom’s place. Needed to travel to Home Depot for stuff for some of them.
Now, my local HD store here I can practically navigate blindfolded; know where most everything is. The one in NY was laid out significantly differently (no surprise there).
What I was looking for were angle irons. Pretty standard stuff, eh? Could not find them on my own, so with some searching managed to collar a sales person wearing the iconic apron.
Me: “Do you know in which aisle I might find angle irons?”
She: “What? What are you looking for?”
Me: “Angle irons.”
She: “I don’t know what those are. Are they called something else?”
Me: “So far as I know, they have always been and still are called angle irons.”
.
She proceeded to type “angle irons” into whatever handheld device she uses to look things up. Results returned: none. Nada. Zip. Zero.
She:” Follow me. I’m going to ask a senior associate who works in the hardware department.'”
(trudge, trudge, trudge) Finally found the fellow all the way at the front of the store, leaning against a wall by the exit.
She: “This guy’s looking for – what did you call them again?”
Me: “Angle irons.”
He: “Never heard of them. Can you describe what they look like?”
Me: “Pieces of metal strapping bent into a right angle, with pre-drilled holes.”
He: “Hmm. Maybe aisle 40. Try looking there.”
.
Upshot: never did find them and by this time feet and legs were giving out signals to sit. Paid for my few other items* and skedaddled by car to another store where I was back in business lickety-split.
*One of which (6 inch × 20 inch textured paving stones) just happened to be on special. When I asked a worker in the tile department the price of a full box (only thing these old eyes could make out without magnifying eyewear was the cost per square foot) he peered closely at the shelf label and came back with “Twenty dollars. Wow, that’s a good price.” At the register the cashier scanned the box and it came up at $26. Explained I had talked to Chris in tile area (always get the name of who you are speaking with) who quoted me $20. Once I said the magic word “Chris” the cashier knocked six bucks off with no further fuss.
Brachiator
@raven:
Aww. Sad news. He was one of the first artists I listened to when I was learning about jazz. Loved the melodic eloquence of his piano playing. And he knew how to swing.
HumboldtBlue
@NotMax:
The angle iron mystery, that could be a Netflix movie.
And here’s an Obama-Queen anecdote in return.
Timill
@Baud: Clearly should be “shrunkenwhite”.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@HumboldtBlue: oh that’s gonna drive trump nuts, he really wanted to go for a ride in Betty’s golden buggy
HumboldtBlue
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I’ve been down a rabbit hole, about the relationship between the Queen and the Obamas, and it was a very real friendship bashed on mutual respect and a general liking of each other.
The Queen held both Barack and Michelle in the highest esteem, and the Obamas are the first politican/world leader invited back to visit once he left office.
NotMax
@HumboldtBlue
My experience with the Maui store is that they don’t just say, “Oh. aisle 51” and vaguely wave in that direction, they walk with you there and point out exactly where the queried item(s) are.
Not so in this particular NY outlet.
NotMax
@HumboldtBlue
Ripe for a revival of the Hildegarde Withers, amateur detective films.
;)
Martin
@raven: He explains why. It’s a valid explanation.
cintibud
@Starfish: Thank you!
Keith P.
@NotMax: They sound like L straps
UncleEbeneezer
rikyrah
@RaflW:
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
rikyrah
@raven:
RIP🙏🏾🙏🏾😪😪
AlaskaReader
@NotMax: Not that anyone should shop at Home Depot,
(for the obvious reasons),
but if you’d called it ‘slotted angle’ it would have been found to be catalogued.
AlaskaReader
@Martin: Validity of the ‘explanation’ is subjective.
I’m still going to complain, this stuff needs reporting in real time.
Holding info on critical and credible threats to the public’s welfare so you can profit off of a book should be grounds to revoke any journalist’s right to make a living as a ‘reporter’.
If so much of Trump’s criming wasn’t only revealed after some book came out, Trump’s criming wouldn’t have become so ho hum acceptable.
Borrow these kinds of books, don’t buy them and reward this behavior.
gene108
@NotMax:
Should’ve called it by its more common name: Those bent metal thingies with the holes in them.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: Aisle 23, Bay 22.
NotMax
@BillinGlendaleCA
I hope HD values your expertise.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: Heh, they don’t.
The days when HD had retired specialists in their departments is long gone, you might get lucky. We have very high turnover in staff due to low pay and pretty poor working conditions. Most of the newbies are kids on their first job, so they know jack shit and training on product information is just reading the information on the box to you. We are also short staffed, so folk can be very busy. I’m an order fulfillment associate(OFA), pulling on-line and in store orders for customer pick-up or delivery. On-line orders have a 2 hour pick window, so we can be pretty busy. Since we’re all over the store, we can pretty much tell you if where an item is, but we’re constantly on the run(I walk 15 miles a day in a small store).
WaterGirl
@UncleEbeneezer: I want to see Barr go down for this.
UncleEbeneezer
@WaterGirl: So say we all!
A Man for All Seaonings (formerly Geeno)
@p.a.: During the 20 years I was a season ticket holder, I saw this happen multiple times at Bills games. At least twice a season. They didn’t usually explode, but all the cars around them would be melted on one side.
We used charcoal at our tailgate, but we dumped and doused the coals before heading in. We’d start with fresh charcoal postgame.
A Man for All Seasonings (formerly Geeno)
WaterGirl, Help! I made a comment using a different browser – entered a different email, now it’s in moderation.
Paul in KY
@Baud: That would describe what happens when Shrek shanks you in prison.
J R in WV
@AlaskaReader:
This book was written by an attorney, not a reporter, who was at the time a federal prosecutor and couldn’t speak freely on that account at that time. Now he’s free to speak as all those legal maneuvers are over. Save your criticism for Maggie Haberman et al.
Paul in KY
@p.a.: Jeezus! You can’t just pour a Coors on it to put it out?! (about the only good use for a Coors, IMO)
GibberJack
@Scout211: @Elizabelle:
Some think he was trying to run out the clock, delay delay delay. But that’s *always* SOP for Trump.
Considering the situation he was in this appears an excellent outcome for him: He gets a (“his”) special master who owes him favors to take control of the evidence in a criminal investigation AND he gets the DoJ to tacitly agree he still has executive privilege.
And that lends legitimacy to his big lie that he’s still president.
This seems so stupid of the DOJ. Is our federal court system so compromised that they believe this is the best option for justice they have?
AlaskaReader
@J R in WV:
Yeah, no. Lawyers can find avenues to be whistleblowers too.