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Posted
11 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Contrary to popular belief, although SOX did impose some level of responsibility on CEOs or "signing officers" for the accuracy of financial statements and the processes that produce them, it didn't make the CEO automagically liable for every misdeed of the corporation.

It sure as shit said they were liable for false and misleading financial statements.  So the CEO's, CFO's, etc just started every conference call with a "forward looking statements" disclosure to let them lie out of their asses.  Apparently it works.  Great job lawyers that didn't see that loophole coming from a mile away.

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Posted
5 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

It sure as shit said they were liable for false and misleading financial statements.  So the CEO's, CFO's, etc just started every conference call with a "forward looking statements" disclosure to let them lie out of their asses.  Apparently it works.  Great job lawyers that didn't see that loophole coming from a mile away.

I didn't say that it didn't.

And forward looking statements and disclaimers have jackshit to do with SOX.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Securities_Litigation_Reform_Act

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Posted

So another great piece of legislation by the legal folk?  The PSLRA was enacted in 1995 and still the likes of Enron, Worldcom, etc were allowed to thrive.  Not exactly a great counterpoint there, hoss.

And before you get all butthurt again, I'm not blaming you personally at all.  You're a great dude and respected poster.  It's just that your profession is complete shit and you don't seem to think said shit stinks.

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Posted
53 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

My man 3 putt knows what's up.  If you work for an oil and gas service company you go work for the company with the best expense report policy over salary.  You can make up the difference in no time.

 

i used to work with a guy. his side gig was a legal $100k / year business, all cash. that whole side gig was at least 75% built up and maintained from his expenses. 

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Posted
3 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

So another great piece of legislation by the legal folk?  The PSLRA was enacted in 1995 and still the likes of Enron, Worldcom, etc were allowed to thrive.  Not exactly a great counterpoint there, hoss.

And before you get all butthurt again, I'm not blaming you personally at all.  You're a great dude and respected poster.  It's just that your profession is complete shit and you don't seem to think said shit stinks.

You realize, though, that lawyers don't write and enact the laws right?

Some legislators are lawyers, yes, but it's not a requirement and most aren't.

You'll get no argument from me that white collar criminal laws are lax, as are many corporate regulations.

That has nothing to do with the legal system, per se.

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Posted
1 minute ago, TwiceHorn said:

You realize, though, that lawyers don't write and enact the laws right?

Some legislators are lawyers, yes, but it's not a requirement and most aren't.

You'll get no argument from me that white collar criminal laws are lax, as are many corporate regulations.

That has nothing to do with the legal system, per se.

What profession did most lobbyists come from?

Posted
10 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

 

i used to work with a guy. his side gig was a legal $100k / year business, all cash. that whole side gig was at least 75% built up and maintained from his expenses. 

I never had a side gig like that, but for about 10 years straight I bet minimum 90% of my cash outlays were covered by an expense report.  I traveled a lot in those days and company policy was "Door to door, provide a receipt for anything over $100 and you're good."  We used form 99-99 a lot.  Go on a 10 day business trip, and I could easily pass along a $3,000 expense report that would get fully approved and I only spent $300 out of my own pocket.

Posted
29 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Some legislators are lawyers, yes, but it's not a requirement and most aren't.

Around 40% of Reps have some sort of law degree and around 60% of senators have a law degree.

Posted
21 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

I never had a side gig like that, but for about 10 years straight I bet minimum 90% of my cash outlays were covered by an expense report.  I traveled a lot in those days and company policy was "Door to door, provide a receipt for anything over $100 and you're good."  We used form 99-99 a lot.  Go on a 10 day business trip, and I could easily pass along a $3,000 expense report that would get fully approved and I only spent $300 out of my own pocket.

This is called stealing. Low end white collar crime. 

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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

What profession did most lobbyists come from?

Not sure about most, but it's still not the legal system.

 

32 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

Around 40% of Reps have some sort of law degree and around 60% of senators have a law degree.

According to the ABA, 175 out of 535 Reps and Senators have law degrees. https://www.americanbar.org/advocacy/governmental_legislative_work/publications/washingtonletter/january-2021-wl/attorneys-117thcongress/

Congressional Research Service says 230 list their occupation as "law." https://www.americanbar.org/advocacy/governmental_legislative_work/publications/washingtonletter/january-2021-wl/attorneys-117thcongress/

Still. Not. The. Legal. System.

No lawyer or even group of lawyers can enact a law.  Unless, that group of lawyers happen to be elected legislators that constitute a majority of the legislature.

Edited by TwiceHorn
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Posted
9 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

This is called stealing. Low end white collar crime. 

10 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Not sure about most, but it's still not the legal system.

 

According to the ABA, 175 out of 535 Reps and Senators have law degrees.

Still. Not. The. Legal. System.

No lawyer or even group of lawyers can enact a law.

So which profession do you think is at fault for this bullshit?  If one profession has 33% of the reps, what profession has a higher representation?

Posted (edited)
6 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

So which profession do you think is at fault for this bullshit?  If one profession has 33% of the reps, what profession has a higher representation?

Why does a single profession have to be responsible for it?  33% cant do jackshit in either house of congress without at least acquiescence of a good chunk of their colleagues.

Lawyers are not some monolith.

How about fucking politicians?  That's actually the largest "profession" reported by CRS.

One reason white collar crimes aren't robust is because politicians, lawyers or otherwise, are as ripe a targets for them as business types.

Edited by TwiceHorn
Posted
1 minute ago, TwiceHorn said:

Why does a single profession have to be responsible for it?

How about fucking politicians?  That's actually the largest "profession" reported by CRS.

I'm just asking which profession most of these politicians came from.  Looks like 33% or so are from the legal profession. Which profession is higher?

Posted

Table 2.

Most Frequently Listed Occupational Categories by Members, 117th Congress At the beginning of the 117th Congress

Occupation Representatives Senators

Public Service/Politics 297 64

Business 273 47

Law 173 57

Education 85 28

Posted (edited)
23 hours ago, safe sex said:

And I think we know how well trying to legislate tougher penalties for white collar crimes would go

Also, it's not tougher penalties.  White collar crimes are the same crimes, with the same penalties, as blue collar crimes.

I'm not a fan of tougher penalties.  Most are too tough already.

It's that a lot of "corporate misconduct" isn't expressly criminal, or can't be wedged into a criminal statute that easily.

Most recently, Elizabeth Holmes got tagged for about 12 years for pretty straight up wire fraud.  That's probably about "right" for that crime with that kind of "loss number."

On the other hand, DOJ sort of made up this "honest services" variation of wire fraud to be applied to corporate types and politicians. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honest_services_fraud

Jeff Skilling was convicted of it, but had his sentence overturned, on that part, at least.  Jack Smith had the same result with Bob McDonnell, the Virginia governor.

DOJ cooked up a theory on Varsity Blues (college admission case) on honest services fraud and the only two tried and convicted defendants just got their convictions overturned.  It appears that all of the defendants that pled would have obtained the same result.  DOJ got over their skis.

So, the laws don't match up very well with the crimes.

Then in some cases, the actual sentence rendered, as opposed to the statutory sentencing range, seems light.  I'm not sure that that is a real problem so much as those cases get more attention and any light sentences are decried.  Thankfully, actually, light sentences happen all the time for all manner of crimes, just no one is looking unless it's a high profile crime, or the defendant goes on to whack someone on parole.  You get the same hysterics either way.

I guarantee you, though, that 'tougher sentencing," which usually takes the form of mandatory minimums, is not the answer.  It's never the answer.

 

Edited by TwiceHorn
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Posted
2 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

You understand that the legislature, although containing a lot of lawyers, usually very bad ones, is responsible for drafting and enacting the laws right?

And the legislative branch is pretty firmly regarded as a separate branch from the judicial branch, yeah?

And most of the "legal system," especially the part people like to whinge about on here, is pretty much entirely contained within the judicial branch?

Someone Reaction GIF

That part of the legal system is responsible for crafting the laws in the way that protects the rich thieves. So it's all the legal system. Legislative creates the crooked laws, judiciary judges based on crooked laws.

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Posted (edited)
49 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

I guarantee you, though, that 'tougher sentencing," which usually takes the form of mandatory minimums, is not the answer.  It's never the answer.

 

You're right, and I know that. Tougher sentencing was not the right phrasing from what I'm trying to express. Better enforcement? Better written laws? Just something. Would it be some tragic miscarriage of justice if civil jury verdict requirements were used for white collar criminal cases? I don't even know if that makes sense or if it even works that way; I'm pretty baked.

But what needs to happen is never gonna happen, we've all just gotta sit with that L.

Edited by safe sex
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Posted
3 minutes ago, safe sex said:

You're right, and I know that. Tougher sentencing was not the right phrasing from what I'm trying to express. Better enforcement? Better written laws? Just something. Would it be some tragic miscarriage of justice if civil jury verdict requirements were used for white collar criminal cases? I don't even know if that makes sense or if it even works that way; I'm pretty baked.

But what needs to happen is never gonna happen, we've all just gotta sit with that L.

Lowering the burden of proof is a bad idea.  Get more baked, come back and reevaluate in the morning.  You don’t send someone to prison because you’re 51/49 in favor of guilty.  Beyond a reasonable doubt is a high bar, and it should be.

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Posted (edited)

Well, I don't think it should be 51/49. But I'm not sure it should be 100% either for these pieces of shit that ravage our democracy, economy, the middle class, the poor, all the constant victims of white collar crime, and get away with it on the reg.

Edited by safe sex
Posted

I think you'd be surprised how many people walk in general once they get to trial in a criminal case. Most of the slam dunk cases resolve with pleas. And that's not just white-collar criminals either.

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Posted
19 minutes ago, Foosters said:

I think you'd be surprised how many people walk in general once they get to trial in a criminal case. Most of the slam dunk cases resolve with pleas. And that's not just white-collar criminals either.

Winning a trial is a lot of hard work, and sometimes a crap shoot depending upon evidentiary rulings. That's why pleas/settlements happen something like 95% of the time.

Posted
8 hours ago, safe sex said:

You're right, and I know that. Tougher sentencing was not the right phrasing from what I'm trying to express. Better enforcement? Better written laws? Just something. Would it be some tragic miscarriage of justice if civil jury verdict requirements were used for white collar criminal cases? I don't even know if that makes sense or if it even works that way; I'm pretty baked.

But what needs to happen is never gonna happen, we've all just gotta sit with that L.

I knew that's more or less what you meant, but thought I'd expound on the issue a bit.  I'm overall pro-defendant in most cases and think the criminal justice system is over-harsh overall.

So I get some cognitive dissonance talking about "slamming" those "deserving" while being lenient on those "less deserving."  And, as we have seen, "adjusting" the law to hammer or slam those we deem deserving winds up having similar unintended effects on others.

There are a couple of factors that thoughtful analysts say account for lenient sentencing in white-collar cases, to the extent it exists.  One is that many of them do have substantial records of some sort of "good works" or contributions to society that your ordinary working stiff can't show.  The other is that as (white) degreed professional types, prosecutors and judges often "see themselves" and are more willing to accept or believe that misconduct is some one-off thing.

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Posted
I followed company policy to a T pre and post SOX.  Prove otherwise.

And you paid taxes on that income, too, right?
Posted

So is expense report grift much more than pocketing one's per diem?  How exactly is it a side hustle, other than eating and drinking one's way thru a business trip?

Posted (edited)
21 hours ago, Foosters said:

I think you'd be surprised how many people walk in general once they get to trial in a criminal case. Most of the slam dunk cases resolve with pleas. And that's not just white-collar criminals either.

Except the feds.  If they indict, they usually convict, although by plea bargain most of the time.  Only 2% of federal cases go to trial, but when they do, the conviction rate drops to about 50%.

The nature of a lot of federal crimes is different from that of the more common state-law crimes like assault, murder, etc. where they're willing to indict on a cop's affidavit, either as a witness or an interviewer of witnesses.  They tend to take more proof and more investigation and more documents, etc. 

And, I know their charging policy is mostly the most severe crime the evidence can support and that it is difficult to obtain a plea for less than the worst charge in the indictment absent a serious failure of proof that can be shown before trial.  About the only thing you can bargain with the feds over is the sentence or range for a given crime.

I imagine foosters will confirm, but outside the major felony units, so much state court criminal work on both sides of the docket is really done by the seat of the pants.   I've known ADAs that will have 25 jury trial settings in a week and only the vaguest notion which ones will go to trial that week, if any.  They DGAF, they'll just read the file, bring the cops and witnesses and try the motherfucker.  Can be lots of surprises at those trials, and pleas right in the middle of them when someone's case goes to shit.

The feds are more like big firm lawyers.  Anal as hell, dotting every I and crossing every T and trying to the absolute best of their ability to eliminate any surprises.  They probably have six trial settings a year, if that, and know damn well whether that setting will move or go to trial weeks in advance.

Edited by TwiceHorn
Posted
22 hours ago, conVINCEd said:

Lowering the burden of proof is a bad idea.  Get more baked, come back and reevaluate in the morning.  You don’t send someone to prison because you’re 51/49 in favor of guilty.  Beyond a reasonable doubt is a high bar, and it should be.

Yeah, the government never wields so much power against an individual citizen as in a criminal case.  That's an awesome and scary thing.  And we've seen recently how easily government can be corrupted in blatant and grotesque ways, let alone the subtle corruptions of prejudice.  So, lowering the burden of proof is bad idea jeans.

So, yeah, we've got this process and it's slow and cumbersome and has some built in biases in favor of the powerful, but it also tries mightily to keep the deck stacked in favor of the little guy.  Anything we do to alter that to get the big guys is going to hurt the little guys worse.

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Posted

The good news is that donald JAIL trump does not know how to keep his lying mouth shut and every time he opens it now it leads to a new charge.  I just hope he lives to be a hundred and spends every waking moment fighting and losing lawsuits.  And may all his remaining devotees keep wasting their money supporting his sorry ass.

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Posted

The best part is the stupids don't understand that he keeps talking because it brings new charges so he can claim he needs more legal aid funds so they keep sending more money.  He's literally fucking with them in real time straight to their faces and they keep liquidating assets to "assist his cause." 

The entire 2024 campaign season will be completely about calendars.  These beautiful calendars.  How Trump will juggle fundraising/rallies with debates and primaries up against any of 3-5 different trials and lawsuits.  Not even the Donald with his newly repaired jet can keep this up for over a year.  He will drop dead as a result of the stress and logistics.  And that's the whole idea behind all of this anyways.  Sometime between the convention and the general, he gets sick.  Sorry some of you are gonna get the sads during the 2024 holidays.  Bummer.  I'm gonna be on acid.  

Posted
51 minutes ago, WhatTheBuck said:

I hope he dies today. 

I hope he gets to a celly with an MS13 leader in ADX Florence due to overcrowding.

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Posted
I followed company policy to a T pre and post SOX.  Prove otherwise.
Well, you admitted to it, so there's that. Shit like that is why my employees get per diems when they are out of town.

And you paid taxes on that income, too, right?
Not on expense reimbursements you don't.
Posted
On 5/26/2023 at 10:06 PM, Fudge Nuggets said:

Go on a 10 day business trip, and I could easily pass along a $3,000 expense report that would get fully approved and I only spent $300 out of my own pocket.

I get it now.  I was confused by this statement.  It read like you paid out $300 over 10 days, but then reported $3000, netting $2700 income.  I now understand it to mean you lived off of $3300 those 10 days and had $3000 of it reimbursed.  

Posted
7 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

Well, you admitted to it, so there's that. Shit like that is why my employees get per diems when they are out of town. Not on expense reimbursements you don't.

As someone who worked with a per diem expense account vs a non per diem expense account, I can tell you I made a shit ton more money on the per diem. I’ll give you a for instance. With a per diem, I eat 2 meals a day, and I eat cheap. Let’s say the customer provides lunch during our workshop and then I go get subway or something for dinner. I spent $10 on food that day and I get to pocket $90 of the $100 per diem. Or, I have a much nicer meal on my non Per diem account for dinner. I don’t claim breakfast because I didn’t eat it and I don’t claim lunch because it was provided. So now I have $50 dinner and I walk home with $0 and the company saves $50. Of course I could throw in fake meals for less than $20 for breakfast and lunch and wind up with ~$40 cash, and the company still saves $10, but that, I agree, would be stealing. I picked $20 in this case because my current company requires receipts above $20. 

Anyway, usually it’s cheaper for the company not to offer a per diem. Though I loved those per diem trips when I was traveling with a sales person and they picked up all the food bills, then I got to pocket the whole per diem every day. Oh, and final note, the company’s I’ve worked for offered the per diem for daily expenses, airfare/mileage, ground transportation and hotels were all handled outside that. 

Posted
As someone who worked with a per diem expense account vs a non per diem expense account, I can tell you I made a shit ton more money on the per diem. I’ll give you a for instance. With a per diem, I eat 2 meals a day, and I eat cheap. Let’s say the customer provides lunch during our workshop and then I go get subway or something for dinner. I spent $10 on food that day and I get to pocket $90 of the $100 per diem. Or, I have a much nicer meal on my non Per diem account for dinner. I don’t claim breakfast because I didn’t eat it and I don’t claim lunch because it was provided. So now I have $50 dinner and I walk home with $0 and the company saves $50. Of course I could throw in fake meals for less than $20 for breakfast and lunch and wind up with ~$40 cash, and the company still saves $10, but that, I agree, would be stealing. I picked $20 in this case because my current company requires receipts above $20. 

Anyway, usually it’s cheaper for the company not to offer a per diem. Though I loved those per diem trips when I was traveling with a sales person and they picked up all the food bills, then I got to pocket the whole per diem every day. Oh, and final note, the company’s I’ve worked for offered the per diem for daily expenses, airfare/mileage, ground transportation and hotels were all handled outside that. 
My clients pay the per diems. No messing with receipts makes it much easier.
Posted
45 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:
20 hours ago, NameAlreadyInUse said:
As someone who worked with a per diem expense account vs a non per diem expense account, I can tell you I made a shit ton more money on the per diem. I’ll give you a for instance. With a per diem, I eat 2 meals a day, and I eat cheap. Let’s say the customer provides lunch during our workshop and then I go get subway or something for dinner. I spent $10 on food that day and I get to pocket $90 of the $100 per diem. Or, I have a much nicer meal on my non Per diem account for dinner. I don’t claim breakfast because I didn’t eat it and I don’t claim lunch because it was provided. So now I have $50 dinner and I walk home with $0 and the company saves $50. Of course I could throw in fake meals for less than $20 for breakfast and lunch and wind up with ~$40 cash, and the company still saves $10, but that, I agree, would be stealing. I picked $20 in this case because my current company requires receipts above $20. 

Anyway, usually it’s cheaper for the company not to offer a per diem. Though I loved those per diem trips when I was traveling with a sales person and they picked up all the food bills, then I got to pocket the whole per diem every day. Oh, and final note, the company’s I’ve worked for offered the per diem for daily expenses, airfare/mileage, ground transportation and hotels were all handled outside that. 

My clients pay the per diems. No messing with receipts makes it much easier.

 

 

 

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Posted

Gee, what a shame.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-lawyers-start-to-wonder-if-one-could-be-a-snitch

 

Quote

With three anticipated indictments, two ongoing court cases, and an ever-expanding cadre of lawyers, former President Donald Trump is at a critical juncture—and yet his legal advisers are starting to turn on each other.

According to five sources with direct knowledge of the situation, clashing personalities and the increasing outside threat of law enforcement has sown deep divisions that have only worsened in recent months. The internal bickering has already sparked one departure in recent weeks—and that could be just the beginning.

 

 

Quote

As Trump’s legal troubles keep growing—with criminal and civil investigations in New York City, Washington, and Atlanta—so too does the unwieldy band of attorneys who simply can’t get along.

The cast of characters includes an accused meddler who has Trump’s ear, a young attorney who lawyers on the team suggested is only there because the former president likes the way she looks, and a celebrity lawyer who’s increasingly viewed with disdain. Worst of all, now that federal investigators have turned the interrogation spotlight on some of Trump’s lawyers themselves, defense attorneys on the team seem to be questioning whether their colleagues may actually turn into snitches.

 

Quote

“There’s a lot of lawyers and a lot of jealousy,” said one person on Trump’s legal team, explaining that the sheer number of lawyers protecting a single man accused of so many crimes is without parallel.

Part of the concern over lawyers turning on each other is due to the fact that the Department of Justice already has one Trump attorney’s professional notes, which could position him as a future witness against his own client, and the DOJ has another lawyer who said too much in an unrelated case and has positioned herself as yet another potential witness against her client.

 

 

Spoiler

But much of the anger from Trump’s lawyers is directed at the former president’s right-hand man, Boris Epshteyn, who’s accused of running interference on certain legal advice from more experienced courtroom gladiators.

Epshteyn, who’s a lawyer himself, has risen through the ranks in Trumpworld over the years, first as an adviser for Trump’s 2016 campaign, then as a more senior adviser for 2020, and now part of Trump’s innermost circle for 2024.

Ephsteyn seems to have the former president’s supreme confidence, with what’s described as a final say on all matters related to public relations and legal issues. But there’s snickering in the shadows. Several sources ridiculed the way Ephsteyn refers to himself as “in-house counsel”—normally a term for a company’s corporate attorney—noting how it echoes the way John Gotti’s mafia lawyer used to describe his services for the infamous Gambino crime family.

Epshteyn’s meddling has particularly affected the lawyers working to defend Trump from Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith and his investigation into whether the former president broke the law when he took top secret documents on his way out of the White House in January 2021 and hoarded them at Mar-a-Lago.

“Boris pissed off all the Florida lawyers. People are dropping like flies. Everybody hates him. He’s a toxic loser. He’s a complete psycho,” said a second person, who could barely contain their anger while discussing the matter. “He’s got daddy issues, and Trump is his daddy.”

The infighting came to a head recently, sparking the departure earlier this month of Tim Parlatore, one of the lawyers in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case.

Parlatore’s sudden departure from Trump’s legal team came after a never-reported meeting last month at Mar-a-Lago, where several lawyers threatened to leave. According to two sources who described it as “an intervention,” the lawyers handling the case put forward an ultimatum: either Epshteyn goes or they do.

Four sources described how Epshteyn would at times stand guard between Trump and his own defense lawyers, demanding that all communication flow through him. One of these sources noted that Parlatore’s first ever one-on-one meeting with his own client was when the defense lawyer recently submitted his resignation.

A fifth person who regularly works on legal matters countered the description of Epshteyn as an obstructionist, noting that Trump’s lawyers still have a direct channel to the former president when necessary. But this person acknowledged that Epshteyn plays a pivotal role in screening major issues that fly Trump’s way, much like a public official’s highly defensive chief of staff.

“He does help arrange things. He tries to coordinate. But everybody has Trump’s phone number, and he picks up the phone. And he calls you directly when he feels like it,” this person said.

“Some people don’t like Boris, but most of us are used to having a client to ourselves,” this person continued. “We don’t have other people involved. When there’s all these lawyers, there’s going to be conflict. Different people, different ideas. People feel like Boris is the one who’s deciding things, but it’s not Boris making decisions. I guarantee you that’s Trump not wanting something.”

This source suggested that, at this stage—with three different criminal investigations closing in and multiple trials scheduled to interrupt the election season—it’s inevitable that high-powered lawyers fully capable of representing someone like a former American president would chide at being questioned by someone like Epshteyn. Another person described him as “a really super-smart guy” who still manages to be “obnoxious, vociferous, and bombastic” because “he has a law license.”

“It doesn’t mean he’s really a lawyer,” this person said.

The closest anyone on the team has come to publicly hinting at in-fighting was Parlatore in a CNN appearance last week, in which he blamed Epshteyn for doing “everything he could to try to block us, to prevent us from doing what we could to defend the president.”

But as another Trump lawyer, Alina Habba, said days later on that same TV news network: “You have type A personalities. We’re all lawyers, and not everybody’s always going to get along.”

Epshteyn declined to comment on the record, but a Trump 2024 campaign spokesman moved to create distance between the remaining lawyers and the departing counsel.

“Mr. Parlatore is no longer a member of the legal team. His statements regarding current members of the legal team are unfounded and categorically false,” Steven Cheung told The Daily Beast.

Then there’s the 33-year-old Lindsey Halligan, a relatively inexperienced lawyer who suddenly appeared in Trump’s orbit sometime last summer as a vocal advocate on the right-wing Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast. She was at Mar-a-Lago during the FBI’s search there in August, quickly became involved in Trump’s bumbling lawsuit in October against CNN for comparing Trump to Hitler, and has since been generally involved in his defense against the feds.

Fellow attorneys advising Trump have seriously questioned why she’s on the team, given that the most notable case she worked on since graduating from law school in 2013 appears to have been second-chair to a more senior lawyer defending an insurance company at a two-day trial against three Miami homeowners with damaged roofs. Even in that case, a judge wouldn’t award her attorney’s fees because he ruled that her team screwed up and didn’t act “in good faith.”

“It waters down the honor to represent a president. It really does, when you think about it,” one of her colleagues told The Daily Beast.

Two current members of Trump’s defense speculated that Trump only keeps Halligan around because he likes to be surrounded by attractive people.

Halligan did not respond to multiple requests for comment. But another colleague came to her defense.

“With a new person coming in, people are looking to undercut her. She's a young, attractive woman, and people can be pretty sexist,” this person said, noting that such speculation about her hiring was “an easy way to undercut a woman attorney.”

Trump’s mounting legal problems have only added to the general anxiety afflicting his attorneys.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which indicted Trump in March for faking business records, is about to dump thousands of documents of evidence on defense lawyers Todd Blanche, Susan Necheles, and Joe Tacopina—who aren’t allowed to freely share those documents with the former president. They may even have to fight Trump to prevent him from stupidly posting sensitive details on social media.

The DA’s prosecutors are already trying to fracture Trump’s legal team by attempting to disqualify Tacopina and make him seem like a weak link, because he has a tenuous connection to a key witness in the case, the porn star Stormy Daniels whose hush money payment Trump tried to hide while running for president back in 2016.

Meanwhile, defense attorneys Alina Habba and Christopher Kise are gearing up for a civil trial in October against the New York Attorney General, who seeks to bleed the Trump Organization dry and destroy Trump’s ability to do conduct business in the financial capital of the world by holding him personally liable for bank and insurance fraud.

In Georgia, the defense lawyers Drew Findling, Melissa Goldberg, and Jennifer L. Little are preparing for the Fulton County District Attorney to indict Trump in July or August over the way he intimidated the state’s top elections official in 2021 while trying to overturn his loss there—a recorded phone call where he was advised by yet other lawyers he trusted.

And an entirely different team of lawyers split up between the nation’s capital and his oceanside Florida estate—former federal prosecutors M. Evan Corcoran, John P. Rowley, and Jim Trusty up north and Halligan down south—are gearing up for two different fights with the Department of Justice.

Meanwhile, there’s growing resentment against Habba and Tacopina among the some lawyers over the way they handled Trump’s recent rape trial against the journalist E. Jean Carroll. The former president didn’t bother showing up to testify, his attorneys presented no case, and the jury swiftly concluded he committed sexual abuse. One source commended the duo for putting up a fight while dealing with a no-bullshit federal judge and a client who wouldn’t stop digging himself into a hole. But others ripped Habba for failing to get better rulings from the federal judge before the trial and tore into Tacopina over his brutish performance in court.

“She quickly demonstrated herself to have a total lack of understanding, and he totally screwed that case up. That was a winnable case if he presented a defense,” one source said.

While Trump’s sprawling legal battalion occasionally comes together for massive meetings about the overall pitiful state of affairs, each case team operates in its own lane—raising suspicions that some teams are completely under-equipped and could cause others to trip up. Trump has so many simultaneous criminal investigations that they have to coordinate to not double book potential appearances in court—or trials. And they all have to bear in mind that he’s actively campaigning for president of the United States.

But what’s really driving the deepest distrust is the way Smith’s investigators have started turning up the heat on Trump’s own lawyers, driving wedges between the counselors and their client.

It happened when a federal judge, citing the existence of a possible crime, unilaterally and speedily handed prosecutors Corcoran’s professional notes—an odd and highly questionable move involving what are normally highly guarded secrets.

And it happened when those prosecutors questioned Habba, who put herself in an impossible situation when she declared in the New York AG’s case that she thoroughly searched every nook and cranny at Mar-a-Lago for documents relevant in that business fraud case—only to have the FBI later find classified documents in those desk drawers and cabinets months later.

“It's either perjury or incompetence,” said one insider.

Several attorneys on Trump’s team consider these two events as potential liabilities, given that the feds could pressure them to become witnesses against their client.

The DOJ case is getting so hot, some lawyers have begun to see it as radioactive to their careers. One lawyer on Trump’s team emphatically told The Daily Beast, “I have nothing to do with that. I have a law license to protect.” Another stressed they might slam the eject button before it gets much worse.

“It’s crazy in there. It really is. I’ve heard there’s a mess coming,” this person said.

 

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Posted
1 hour ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Sounds great, but that’s a lot of anonymous sources that are willing to talk with the daily beast. 

 

While I understand your point, anyone associated with Trump pretty much has to remain anonymous out of fear of MAGA coming for themselves, their families, etc.  

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Posted

Yeah the last few months of very political violence.  For most of these mid-level folks speaking off the record or just now coming out with their stories...I can't fault them anymore.  Yeah, they should have come forward earlier.  But their own internal war is just beginning and there's already been clear examples of political retribution on individuals and quite credible threats made to their families.  

On the one hand, I am very protective of my daughters.  On the other hand, watching MAGA nation shoot up RINO's sounds kinda fun.

My madness aside, to be balanced and honest...the FBI has been telling these people for 3 fucking years about the internal terrorist threats coming from the Far Right that could even turn on the centre-right.  And what has GOP leadership told us, "The FBI is corrupt and politically motivated!"  Pardon them if they don't jump in front of a bullet meant for you or your kid's skull.  

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Posted

I know this piece of shit will never go to jail, the best I can hope for is that every fucking day is a goddamned nightmare of worry and rage for him.  Hopefully, that will equate to a massive, fatal heart attack...

Episode 4 Fainting GIF by One Chicago

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