Let’s get the real news out of the way up front. Trump attorney John Eastman, who is suing to keep over 600 emails out of the clutches of the January 6 Committee, made a court filing in the case late on Thursday in which he admitted regularly communicating with Trump in the months following Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in November of 2020. Eastman told the court his communications with Trump were either in person, on the phone, or through what he called “six conduits” between himself and the then president. Eastman’s court filing also reveals Trump’s personal involvement with those filing lawsuits on his behalf, including “two hand-written notes from former President Trump about information that he thought might be useful for the anticipated litigation.” The Trump notes, or copies of them, are among the papers in Eastman’s possession he's trying to keep the January 6 Committee from seeing.
The House committee hearings promise to be entertainment and political education on a grand scale, as the wheels of justice grind slowly along ---until the odious Donald J. Trump is unable to avoid the reckoning his inane, blundering, bullying, bragging, blustering, lying and downright subversive chicanery has brought into being: hubris, meet nemesis!
There is another reason Eastman may be identifying conduits to Trmp. He doesn’t intend to go down the perp walk trail alone. He may feel betrayed by one or more of them, and unwilling to be their patsy. The snake handlers have dropped the cage and released all the vipers. Make some popcorn, sit back, and turn off the phone.
Also, there is news that Ginni Thomas had twice urged Arizona lawmakers to reverse the votes for Joe Biden.
"Ms. Thomas, known as Ginni, a right-wing political activist who became a close ally of Mr. Trump during his presidency, made the entreaties in emails to Russell Bowers, the Republican speaker, and Shawnna Bolick, a Republican state representative. Ms. Bolick’s husband, Clint, once worked with Justice Thomas and now sits on the Arizona Supreme Court."
I'd like to have an investigation into her activities as well. Just because she's a Supreme Court justice's wife does not mean she is above the law, either.
The whole bunch of them should be locked up and the key thrown away, starting with Trump and all his GOP allies. Every one of them is guilty of potentially subverting the vote. I thought that was a federal crime.
But the whole kit and caboodle is loony tune city-and we wonder why we have so many people having died from Covid? They're the ones who listened to Trump when he said, "The virus will disappear like magic."
Sad to say the supporters disappeared, which is why he can't run again. he's lost a huge contingent of his base.
The Wikipedia article on John Eastman discusses his claim of attorney client privilege to prevent disclosure of some 19,000 emails regarding Trump's attempts to overturn Congress' certification of the 2020 electoral college vote. Those emails are on the Chapman University email server. The server itself is unsecured and open to inspection by third parties. Chapman University is willing to release those emails. Client secrets must be kept secret. The privilege belongs to the client, not the lawyer and cannot be shared with anyone else. These are not state secrets. Ergo, the claimed privilege is waived.
It’s striking to see that Eastman has submitted this chaotic carnival tilt-a-whirl of poorly written documents, in light of the fact that he clerked for Clarence Thomas.
Neither striking nor surprising. Predictable. The rats are now gathered together on the ship and waiting to see how many life vests are left. First come, first serve.
On behalf of the rest of us, I apologize to Lucian for a fellow commenter's comment that went overboard. And I urge that commenter to apologize too and ask Lucian to allow him or her back.
It is an unfortunate byproduct of the internet that an online conversation tends to become more extreme as the conversation continues. Almost thirty years ago Michael Godwin codified that phenomenon with what is now known as Godwin's Law: "As an online discussion grows longer (regardless of topic or scope), the probability of someone mentioning Adolph Hitler or the Third Reich approaches 1".
I have never written anything that could not be improved by re-reading and editing the next morning. But internet conversations do not afford me that luxury, so I try to take a deep breath and re-read before I hit Send. We all need to think about that.
Thanks , Lucien. Please allow me to give you my take. As I understand it, the primary reason he wrote this letter was to summarize in one place his ongoing attempt to assert and get some bat crap crazy judge , likely appointed by Bush or Trump in recent years, to rule he has privilege and, thus, any of his correspondence and communications with Trump and his evil minions is privilege and cannot be used in a court against him or them. Secondarily, it is to put in one place all the lies in one place as if doing so , and then getting a right wing leaning Federal Judge, most likely in the 11th circuit (OKA Trumpistan) to bless them as "truth" thus having some legal mind bless once and for all The Big Lie as Truth.
But, here is my fear. We now have on benches in Federal Courts all over the land enough judges who might, yes, do exactly what he intends. Turn a compilation of Big Lies into if not truth then a form of legal precedent to allow the Trump movement to evace responsibility for January 6, the plot to pull off January 6 and the now seeming never ending campaign to cover up the truth of January 6. And, with the current state of our judiciary (thanks MItch McConnell) it might just work.
Let none of us assume John Eastman, Rudy Guiliani, and the many other right wing lawyers representing the not so legal firm of Trump, Meadows, Jordan , Brooks, Gohmert , McCarthy and Partners are the only ones in on the fix. A couple weeks ago no one other than Clarence Thomas participated in a discussion at a DC think tank where he proudly admitted to have been a staunch voice for "conservatism" during his time on the Court. He is not alone.
Please tell me I am a Nervous Nelly, Lucien. Please!
Thank you for reading Eastman’s filing “so that I don’t have to,” because even reading his name now triggers avoidance of the burning load of BS headed my way.
In every scandal there are characters that are remembered. Mr. Eastman fits that profile in the Trump scandals. On election day November 2022 millions will recall Mr. Eastman or perhaps Sydny Powell and recoil and vote Democrat.
A question I have - for someone- is about the possibility that Eastman is "showing some leg" enough leg to scare the living fertilizer out of DJT since Eastman has and is very likely been looking for MONEY from Trump??
completely pathetic, yes. but I don't think the actual quality of the legal arguments is remotely the point. the point is to delay, delay, delay until AFTER the election. they anticipate a Republican house (which the usual mainstream media is as if it's already here), at which point, the committee will cease to exist and they'll be free to do their thing and fuck up the system, beyond return to any legitimate status quo; beyond redemption is what I would add. I wouldn't actually call this a "strategy," and I'm also feeling like, very possibly, they're in the sort of flop sweat that was apparent in those last months of Watergate. the problem is that we're in a very different place now (I'm tempted to say "different country). and a much worse place it is.
and then today, TFF is re-posting insane tweets suggesting that a civil war is not merely inevitable, but would be a wonderful thing. and, on top of that, he's promising a whole fucking BOOK about the election that was stolen from him. I wonder who'll be its ghost...it's sure not a gig I'd take, for any money. I do actually have a faint little hope that he'll have made himself too crazy to run in '24. another depressing phenomenon of the day that just ended were those "interviews" with ten Republicans on the back of today's Sunday Review in the NY Times which gives proof positive that those people actually have NO IDEA what's actually going on....they take TFF at his word when he boasted maybe a month into his term that "his" economy was the greatest one of all time. as if economies change radically in a month and as if the current inflation exists because Biden is drawing breath.
Does anyone else think that John Eastman looks like a player in _Dr. Strangelove_? Or maybe a character out of Tom Lehrer's classic about the ol' AEC (Atomic Energy Commission), "The Wild West Is Where I Want to Be"?
I love your column, it's hard to find this kind of down and dirty digging anymore.
Some of the flat earthers are finally starting to fall off the edge.
The House committee hearings promise to be entertainment and political education on a grand scale, as the wheels of justice grind slowly along ---until the odious Donald J. Trump is unable to avoid the reckoning his inane, blundering, bullying, bragging, blustering, lying and downright subversive chicanery has brought into being: hubris, meet nemesis!
There is another reason Eastman may be identifying conduits to Trmp. He doesn’t intend to go down the perp walk trail alone. He may feel betrayed by one or more of them, and unwilling to be their patsy. The snake handlers have dropped the cage and released all the vipers. Make some popcorn, sit back, and turn off the phone.
Loathsome creatures, all of them.
The maga "attorneys" are laughing stocks. Eastman, Giuliani, Ellis, Powell, Wood, and so on. How did any of them pass the bar exam?
I can't wait for the televised hearings.
Also, there is news that Ginni Thomas had twice urged Arizona lawmakers to reverse the votes for Joe Biden.
"Ms. Thomas, known as Ginni, a right-wing political activist who became a close ally of Mr. Trump during his presidency, made the entreaties in emails to Russell Bowers, the Republican speaker, and Shawnna Bolick, a Republican state representative. Ms. Bolick’s husband, Clint, once worked with Justice Thomas and now sits on the Arizona Supreme Court."
I'd like to have an investigation into her activities as well. Just because she's a Supreme Court justice's wife does not mean she is above the law, either.
The whole bunch of them should be locked up and the key thrown away, starting with Trump and all his GOP allies. Every one of them is guilty of potentially subverting the vote. I thought that was a federal crime.
But the whole kit and caboodle is loony tune city-and we wonder why we have so many people having died from Covid? They're the ones who listened to Trump when he said, "The virus will disappear like magic."
Sad to say the supporters disappeared, which is why he can't run again. he's lost a huge contingent of his base.
I wish I could believe that....
The Wikipedia article on John Eastman discusses his claim of attorney client privilege to prevent disclosure of some 19,000 emails regarding Trump's attempts to overturn Congress' certification of the 2020 electoral college vote. Those emails are on the Chapman University email server. The server itself is unsecured and open to inspection by third parties. Chapman University is willing to release those emails. Client secrets must be kept secret. The privilege belongs to the client, not the lawyer and cannot be shared with anyone else. These are not state secrets. Ergo, the claimed privilege is waived.
HA! Good to know. Let the games begin!
It’s striking to see that Eastman has submitted this chaotic carnival tilt-a-whirl of poorly written documents, in light of the fact that he clerked for Clarence Thomas.
Neither striking nor surprising. Predictable. The rats are now gathered together on the ship and waiting to see how many life vests are left. First come, first serve.
On behalf of the rest of us, I apologize to Lucian for a fellow commenter's comment that went overboard. And I urge that commenter to apologize too and ask Lucian to allow him or her back.
It is an unfortunate byproduct of the internet that an online conversation tends to become more extreme as the conversation continues. Almost thirty years ago Michael Godwin codified that phenomenon with what is now known as Godwin's Law: "As an online discussion grows longer (regardless of topic or scope), the probability of someone mentioning Adolph Hitler or the Third Reich approaches 1".
I have never written anything that could not be improved by re-reading and editing the next morning. But internet conversations do not afford me that luxury, so I try to take a deep breath and re-read before I hit Send. We all need to think about that.
Thanks , Lucien. Please allow me to give you my take. As I understand it, the primary reason he wrote this letter was to summarize in one place his ongoing attempt to assert and get some bat crap crazy judge , likely appointed by Bush or Trump in recent years, to rule he has privilege and, thus, any of his correspondence and communications with Trump and his evil minions is privilege and cannot be used in a court against him or them. Secondarily, it is to put in one place all the lies in one place as if doing so , and then getting a right wing leaning Federal Judge, most likely in the 11th circuit (OKA Trumpistan) to bless them as "truth" thus having some legal mind bless once and for all The Big Lie as Truth.
But, here is my fear. We now have on benches in Federal Courts all over the land enough judges who might, yes, do exactly what he intends. Turn a compilation of Big Lies into if not truth then a form of legal precedent to allow the Trump movement to evace responsibility for January 6, the plot to pull off January 6 and the now seeming never ending campaign to cover up the truth of January 6. And, with the current state of our judiciary (thanks MItch McConnell) it might just work.
Let none of us assume John Eastman, Rudy Guiliani, and the many other right wing lawyers representing the not so legal firm of Trump, Meadows, Jordan , Brooks, Gohmert , McCarthy and Partners are the only ones in on the fix. A couple weeks ago no one other than Clarence Thomas participated in a discussion at a DC think tank where he proudly admitted to have been a staunch voice for "conservatism" during his time on the Court. He is not alone.
Please tell me I am a Nervous Nelly, Lucien. Please!
Thank you for reading Eastman’s filing “so that I don’t have to,” because even reading his name now triggers avoidance of the burning load of BS headed my way.
Thanks for reading that. Since these clowns obviously don’t even know how elections work it’s hard to put a lot of faith in the geospatial blah blah.
In every scandal there are characters that are remembered. Mr. Eastman fits that profile in the Trump scandals. On election day November 2022 millions will recall Mr. Eastman or perhaps Sydny Powell and recoil and vote Democrat.
Isn’t that the “perfect world” thing? And our world is so imperfect that hope is just another 4-letter word.
A question I have - for someone- is about the possibility that Eastman is "showing some leg" enough leg to scare the living fertilizer out of DJT since Eastman has and is very likely been looking for MONEY from Trump??
completely pathetic, yes. but I don't think the actual quality of the legal arguments is remotely the point. the point is to delay, delay, delay until AFTER the election. they anticipate a Republican house (which the usual mainstream media is as if it's already here), at which point, the committee will cease to exist and they'll be free to do their thing and fuck up the system, beyond return to any legitimate status quo; beyond redemption is what I would add. I wouldn't actually call this a "strategy," and I'm also feeling like, very possibly, they're in the sort of flop sweat that was apparent in those last months of Watergate. the problem is that we're in a very different place now (I'm tempted to say "different country). and a much worse place it is.
and then today, TFF is re-posting insane tweets suggesting that a civil war is not merely inevitable, but would be a wonderful thing. and, on top of that, he's promising a whole fucking BOOK about the election that was stolen from him. I wonder who'll be its ghost...it's sure not a gig I'd take, for any money. I do actually have a faint little hope that he'll have made himself too crazy to run in '24. another depressing phenomenon of the day that just ended were those "interviews" with ten Republicans on the back of today's Sunday Review in the NY Times which gives proof positive that those people actually have NO IDEA what's actually going on....they take TFF at his word when he boasted maybe a month into his term that "his" economy was the greatest one of all time. as if economies change radically in a month and as if the current inflation exists because Biden is drawing breath.
Does anyone else think that John Eastman looks like a player in _Dr. Strangelove_? Or maybe a character out of Tom Lehrer's classic about the ol' AEC (Atomic Energy Commission), "The Wild West Is Where I Want to Be"?