Tag: Judge Raymond Dearie

…meanwhile…

(FRI 9/30/22)

UPDATE: House Passes CR -- The House passed the continuing resolution extending the current fiscal year budget beyond its Friday midnight expiration, to December 16. President Biden will have signed it ASAP.

Here are the 10 House Republicans who joined all the Democrats in the House of Representatives to pass the bill, according to The Hill: Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, Garret Graves of Louisiana, Chris Jacobs of New York, John Katko of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, Hal Rogers of Kentucky, Fred Upton of Michigan and Steve Womack of Arkansas.

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New Sanctions on Russia as Putin Claims Four Territories – The White House announced a new round of sanctions on Russian government and military officials and their families, per The Hill, in response to President Vladimir Putin’s forced annexation through sham referenda of four regions of Ukraine. The sanctions by the Treasury, Commerce and State departments target the governor of Russia’s Central Bank and former Putin advisor Elvira Sakhipzadovna Nabiullina, more than 100 members of Russia’s Duma, members of the country’s National Security Council, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, among others. In addition, 57 entities will be restricted from obtaining key technologies and other materials. 

Meanwhile: Ukrainian military forces say they have surrounded enemy troops in Lyman, hub of the Russian military in Donetsk, one of four eastern and southeastern regions Putin claimed in a ceremony Friday, according to the Daily Beast, which calls it Putin’s most humiliating defeat by Ukraine yet. It “could be one of the most serious Russian military losses of the war so far,” according to the report.

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House’s Turn – The Senate Thursday passed a continuing resolution funding the federal government at current levels through December 16, and now it’s the House’s turn. Failure to do so before midnight Friday, the end of the fed’s fiscal year, would shut down key Social Service, IRS services and national parks, The Washington Post notes.

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Cannon v. Dearie – Federal Judge Aileen Cannon Thursday overruled Special Master Raymond Dearie’s order that Donald J. Trump’s attorneys clarify whether they believe the former president’s claims that the FBI lied in its seizure of government documents at Mar-a-Lago August 8 (WaPo again).

Upshot: Dearie’s ruling last week would have forced Trump’s lawyers to deny his claims that more than 100 documents in the seizure were not classified or face potential perjury. As the judge who appointed Dearie the special master in Mar-a-Lagogate, Cannon has the power to do that. Trump’s appointment of Dearie as lame duck after he lost the 2020 election is paying off for him, and is continuing to slow the case well past the midterms and toward a possible GOP takeover of House and Senate majority rule.

--Edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Where’s the Beef? 1/6 Hearing Curtain Raiser

By Ken Zino

With the republic facing another public hearing by the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol Wednesday, let’s take a look at the fast-breaking developments last week of Donald J. Trump versus the United States of America. Part of the committees’ remit is “to strengthen the security and resilience of the United States and American democratic institutions against violence, domestic terrorism, and domestic violent extremism.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta in a stinging rebuke of Judge Aileen Cannon’s contrary decision, agreed with the Justice Department to let the FBI reclaim access and use 100 classified documents (and “papers physically attached to them”) taken from Trump’s residence in Florida while conducting a legal search. The Trump-appointed (just after the 2020 election) Cannon had ruled that DOJ was not to present “the seized materials to a grand jury and (use) the content of the documents to conduct witness interviews as part of a criminal investigation.” 

Trump’s preposterous argument that he de-classified the documents, either verbally or non-verbally was not addressed by his attorneys (mindful of their own futures if they advised Trump otherwise since there are clear procedures for de-classification?) was rejected completely in the appellate court ruling that said the law should not give Trump special treatment no matter what he was or is. So damaging was the ruling apparently to Cannon’s future career that she cancelled her stay against the use of the documents on the very evening the Court of Appeals issued the reproach.

Then came the special master that the Cannon ruling specified … as part of her egregious opinion in favor of the legally imperiled Trump and his attorneys. Enter special master Raymond J. Dearie, semi-retired judge from the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of New York. He was proposed by Trump’s attorneys and DOJ agreed that he read and sort through 11,000 records or documents that left the White House and turned up in the long-delayed August 8 search of Mar-a-Lago, after more than a year of DOJ maneuvering to get the National Security documents returned.

Dearie, who clearly is tired of all the lies and false arguments floating about in Trump-land in effect said, “Where’s the beef?” Dearie issued an order after the appellate court ruling asking Trump’s lawyers to let him know if there were any discrepancies between the documents that were kept at Mar-a-Lago and those the FBI said it had hauled away. He was countering false allegations that the FBI planted documents. Where’s your evidence, Trump? 

This whole sordid affair would be farce if it solely existed on a Broadway stage: Mari Lago Magic Wand Madness Review and the Art of the Steal. The absurd jokes and steady laughter start as the curtain rises. A president can declassify simply by thinking about it, Trump told Sean Hannity. Guffaw. And the FBI in its legal search was really looking for the deleted e-mails of Hillary Clinton. Guffaw, guffaw. If they are deleted how would Trump have possession of them? Guffaw, guffaw, guffaw. If Trump had them, he certainly would have used them during the last 18 months when he illegally removed presidential records from the White House. Right? Guffaw. Guffaw, guffaw, guffaw. 

Enter stage left, the New York attorney general with fraud charges, looking to fine Trump $250 million and stop him from doing business ever again in the state. Another “witch hunt” claim is not enough. Trump counters by appearing at his own rallies as a QAnon true believer and booster. Wait, there’s a last-minute script change. It’s Trump and company who are the Satan-worshipping pedophiles in our midst sucking the blood of our children so they won’t live to defend our democracy. 

Curtain for the Mari Lago Magic Wand Madness Review and Art of the Steal?

As grim as Trump’s legal prospects look, there’s also the prospect of conspiracy charges over the 1/6 mob’s effort to have Mike Pence hanged, and ongoing election interference charges in Georgia. Perhaps now, finally, the GOP establishment has had enough. Nonetheless, all the investigations and potential charges haven’t significantly changed people’s views of him, a New York Times/Siena College poll found.

I’m not looking forward to a sequel. Let’s hope the backers -- the institutions and people who support American democracy -- turn off the money and shut Trump and the Art of the Steal down. The show’s over. 

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NY AG Sues Trump for “Massive Fraud”

(WED 9/21/22)

New York State Attorney General Letitia James (center, above) announced a $250-million-plus civil suit against ex-President Trump, his family and his company. The suit seeks to permanently bar Donald J. Trump, sons Don Jr. and Eric, and daughter Ivanka from doing business in the state, James announced in a press conference Wednesday. 

The former president also would be barred for five years from entering any commercial real estate acquisition in the state and from applying for any loans from New York-registered financial institutions.

The suit alleges Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars over the years. The investigation covered 2011-2021. Of her many examples of alleged over-value, one included the former president’s own apartment at Trump Tower Manhattan, which was listed at 30,000 square-feet, roughly three times its actual size. As a result, the likely value of $127 million was inflated to $317 million in 2012, still more than any apartment sold in Manhattan.

Mar-a-Lago revenue should have been valued at less than $25 million per year, and no higher than $75 million per year – Trump valued his Florida residence and private club at $739 million, she said. No word on the value of Trump’s golden escalator.

The suit also includes these remedies:

• An independent monitor to oversee compliance, financial reporting, valuations and disclosure to tax authorities for no less than five years. 

•Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP)-compliant audited statements, showing Trump’s net worth, for five years.

•Replacement of current trustees of Donald Trump’s revocable trust with independent trustees.

The suit also seeks to permanently bar former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg and controller Jeffrey McConney from serving in financial control of any New York corporation or similar entity in the state. James said former Trump fixer Michael Cohen’s testimony before Congress sparked her office’s investigation. Such alleged white-collar fraud is not “victimless” crime, she said.

“When the well-connected break the law it reduces resources to working people, to regular people, to small businesses and to taxpayers,” James remarked. 

“Claiming you have money that you do not have is not the Art of the Deal. It is the art of the steal.”

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Biden Speaks to UN – President Biden did not have to alter his speech much, before the 77th meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in light of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bellicose statement about extending his attack on Ukraine.

“This war is about extinguishing Ukraine’s right to exist as a state,” Biden said, “plain and simple. And Ukraine’s right to exist as a people. Whoever you are, wherever you live, whatever you believe, that should make your blood run cold.”

Biden equated the fight for Ukraine’s sovereignty as a democratic nation with the struggle to maintain democracy everywhere, including the U.S.

“The only country standing in the way of that is Russia,” he said. While Biden was expected to alter his remarks after Putin announced his “partial military call up” CNN reports the president’s speech written before that announcement held up.

Extending the UN Permanent Security Council: Biden noted that 141 nations share the United States’ condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He called on the UN to expand its permanent Security Council, which since its inception consists of China, France, the Russian Federation (previously Soviet Union), the United Kingdom and the U.S. Currently, any single country among these five may veto a UN resolution.

Global food security: Biden also announced $2.9 billion in federal funding to strengthen global food security. He disputed Putin’s statement that current global food insecurity is the result of Western sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. 

“Our sanctions explicitly allow Russia the ability to export food and fertilizer,” Biden said.

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Putin’s Not Bluffing? – Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “partial military call-up” mobilizing up to 300,000 reservists – falling just short of a draft -- to hold its border with Ukraine, the AP and NPR report. This has set Russians “scrambling” to buy airline tickets out of their country. In his seven-minute address Wednesday, Putin “also warned the West he isn’t bluffing about using all the means at his proposal to protect Russia’s territory,” a veiled reference to the country’s nuclear capability. 

But Russian nukes, as always, are held in-check by Western nations’ capabilities, Sergey Radchenko, professor of Russian history at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, told NPR’s Morning Edition, so Putin’s claim his sabre-rattling is not a bluff hints it is indeed a bluff. And U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink tweeted that Russia is showing “weakness” and “failure” after its escalation of the war. She vowed that the U.S. will never recognize Russia’s scheme to claim Ukrainian territory.

Radchenko said plans announced Tuesday by eastern and southern regions of Ukraine currently controlled by Russia to hold votes on becoming an integral part of Russia – which Ukrainian President Vlodomyr Zelenskyy has called a “sham” – is a ploy for Putin to claim that it is Ukraine doing the invading when the country tries to take back those territories.

Biden’s UN Speech: Coming up Wednesday morning, President Biden speaks before the United Nations General Assembly (which Putin will not attend, despite Russia’s membership). The White House is scrambling to rewrite Biden’s speech in light of Putin’s announcement from Moscow, MSNBC’s Morning Joe reports.

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No Cake in Mar-a-Lagogate – Special Master Raymond Dearie, the candidate of the two candidates named by Donald J. Trump’s attorneys who was agreed to by the Justice Department, “appeared skeptical” about the former president’s claim he “declassified” classified documents recovered in the FBI’s August 8 search of Mar-a-Lago, as Time put it Wednesday morning. On Tuesday, Judge Dearie told Trump’s attorneys “You can’t have your cake and eat it.” 

Upshot: Trump’s attorneys have avoided arguing that Trump had declassified the documents for fear of breaching ethics standards with an untruth.

--Edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news