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‘Disingenuous Grandstanding’: McCarthy Mocked for Trying to Bully Merrick Garland With Powers He Does Not Have

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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), in an apparent effort to protect Donald Trump, is now attempting to bully Attorney General Merrick Garland and Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Wray into undermining the U.S. Dept. of Justice’s criminal investigation into the former president’s ‘s unlawful retention and refusal to return stolen White House records including secret defense and national security documents classified at the highest levels.

In a letter to both law enforcement leaders dated Friday Congressman McCarthy threatens them with powers he does not have, and legal and government experts are mocking him as a result.

“Just put AG Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray on notice for their appearance in public hearings before @JudiciaryGOP concerning the unprecedented raid on President Trump’s home,” McCarthy tweeted Friday. “They must provide all communications and documents relating to the raid.”

READ MORE: ‘Jerked Around’: Bill Barr Destroys Trump, Says It’s ‘Unprecedented for a President to Take All This Classified Info’

They in fact are under no obligation to provide the House Minority Leader with any documents, nor are they required to appear before him to testify.

“The unprecedented nature of the FBI’s search of President Trump’s home and the broad public interest surrounding the raid require more than just a private briefing with the congressional and intelligence committee leadership. The Biden Administration cannot ignore its obligation to submit to public hearings in the House Judiciary Committee, which is charged with broad oversight of the operations and functions of the DOJ and the FBI,” McCarthy claims.

“Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee have called on you to testify in public; the Administration’s failure to appear before the Judiciary Committee only willfully illustrates a desire by the DOJ and the FBI to avoid oversight by their committee of primary jurisdiction,” he writes.

“We will not accept any unlawful attempts to limit congressional access to documents,” the California Republican adds.

“In summation, we request the following,” says McCarthy, who has no legislative authority to formally demand anything from Garland. “Your appearance, along with FBI Director Christopher Wray, in public hearings before the House Judiciary Committee concerning the raid on President Trump’s home,” and “The provision of all communications and documents requested by Republicans relating to the raid on President Trump’s home.”

Ironically, for the better part of the year Minority Leader McCarthy has ignored a lawful subpoena from the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, making his “request” all the more inadequate.

READ MORE: ‘Unfathomably Dangerous’: Former Federal Prosecutor on Trump’s Empty Folders Warns ‘Things Just Went From Bad to Worse’

Steve Vladeck, a University of Texas School of Law law professor with a focus on national security writes: “As separation-of-powers debates go, I’m usually pretty pro-Congress. And even *I* don’t think that Congress has the constitutional authority to demand ‘all communications and documents’ from the Executive Branch relating to an ongoing criminal investigation.”

Former CEO and Editor of the publisher of Foreign Policy Magazine, journalist, podcast host, former Deputy Undersecretary of Commerce, and foreign policy, national security and political affairs analyst and commentator David Rothkopf mocks McCarthy, saying, “Er, nope. That’s just not something you have the power to do.”

Former Assistant United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey Mitchell Epner rhetorically asks, “Does Kevin McCarthy believe that AG Merritt Garland is unaware that the House GOP does not have subpoena power? McCarthy’s statement that “they must provide all communications and documents relating to the raid” confuses his wishcasting with enforceable demands.”

READ MORE: ‘Are You Kidding Me Jeff?’: Reporters Pummeled for Panning Biden’s Anti-Fascism Speech as ‘Political’

Former former DOJ Inspector General and Asst. U.S. Attorney at SDNY Michael Bromwich writes, “Oversight over ongoing criminal investigations simply doesn’t happen, unless you want to kill the investigation. This is dishonest and disingenuous grandstanding for an audience of one.”

“Kevin McCarthy wants the FBI to stop investigating where 80 classified/military aide documents disappeared,” notes national security journalist Marcy Wheeler.

Read the letter below or at this link.

 

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CRIME

‘Officially on Georgia-Watch’: Legal Expert Says Possible Trump Probe Indictments Could Come at Any Time

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Professor of Law Joyce Vance says, “We’re officially on Georgia-watch,” now that a new grand jury has been constituted and could hand down indictments at any time in that state’s investigation into Donald Trump and his allies and their alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

Vance, the well-known MSNBC legal contributor, podcaster, and former U.S. Attorney says in her Substack newsletter, “it’s entirely possible that this could be the week to expect the world to turn upside down.”

“The first signal we’ll probably get—you’ll be in a crowded restaurant, or at work, or on a train, or in the gym, and suddenly everyone’s phone will start blowing up all at once,” Vance explains. “Reporters tend to stalk the clerk of court’s office in person and online when they know a big case is close. We’re in that sweet spot, although it’s important to keep in mind that we could remain there for awhile.”

Vance does warn that “it’s not certain that anyone, let alone Donald Trump, will be indicted. But Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, certainly seems to be giving off all the signals that she means business here.”

READ MORE: Tulsi Gabbard: Biden Cabinet Picks ‘Based on Genetics, Race, Blood, Genes’ – Same ‘Geneticist Principles Embodied by Hitler’

Assuming Trump does get indicted, what are the possible charges he might be facing?

“First up, election-related crimes: solicitation to commit election fraud, intentional interference with performance of election duties, interference with primaries and elections, and conspiracy to commit election fraud,” she explains. There could also be more “general crimes,” like “making false statements, improperly influencing witnesses, forgery, and general criminal solicitation.”

It might also get even more serious for Trump.

“Georgia’s state RICO statute could also be charged: RICO stands for the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and originally referred to a federal law passed in 1970 to strengthen the tools and charges available to federal prosecutors for dealing with the unlawful activities of those engaged in organized crime—Mafia or other entities devoted to organized, ongoing, serious criminal conduct.”

As Vance points out, while it’s unknown if Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis will choose to indict Trump or anyone, the special grand jury foreperson who made headlines earlier this month made clear they had recommended multiple indictments.

Image: Official White House photo

 

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‘Next Chapter?’ Manhattan DA Signals Trump Himself Might Finally Land Under Indictment

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Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg may finally have changed his mind about indicting former president Donald Trump.

The recent conviction of the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg gave a glimpse of evidence that could tie the ex-president directly to the tax fraud scheme, such as a memo he signed approving chief operating officer Matthew Calamari’s illegal request to reduce his taxed salary to cover the cost of his untaxed corporate apartment, reported The Daily Beast.

“We now move on to the next chapter,” Bragg said last week after the company was ordered to pay $1.6 million in penalties for tax fraud.

Trump already asserted under oath in another case in 2021 that he personally oversaw Calimari’s compensation, and prosecutors have checks he signed to cover tuition at a private school for Weisselberg’s grandchildren, whose mother Jennifer Weisselberg has repeatedly told investigators she personally heard Trump discuss the scheme to artificially lower taxed salaries for his executives.

“This case has tentacles,” said Duncan Levin, a former prosecutor who now represents Jennifer Weisselberg and has been communicating with investigators.

The district attorney’s office declined to comment on what Bragg meant about another chapter, but former prosecutors from that office say their experience leads them to believe prosecutors will go after Trump.

“For people who want a certain outcome — to go after Trump — it gives hope,” said Catherine A. Christian, a former assistant district attorney who investigated financial fraud. “They’re going to be thorough. I’m doubtful he would have said ‘next chapter’ if they weren’t looking.”

RELATED: ‘I’ll grab you’: How Alex Jones and Ali Alexander were tapped to lead a march from the Ellipse to the Capitol

“It happens all the time with large, complex investigations,” she added.

Prosecutors had hoped to flip Weisselberg or company controller Jeffrey McConney, who was nearly labeled a hostile witness during the Trump Organization trial, but ultimately were unable to get their full cooperation.

“They didn’t flip, and they failed,” said former Manhattan prosecutor Jeff Chabrowe. “They tried to do everything they could, and in the end, they got a truncated thing here where they went after the organization and Weisselberg, and there’s this fine that’s pretty weak.”

 

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‘Final Nail in His Coffin’: Trump’s Taxes Contain ‘Powerful Evidence of Criminal Tax Evasion’

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In a column for the Daily Beast, longtime investigative journalist and Donald Trump biographer David Cay Johnston made the case that there is enough evidence of financial fraud in the former president’s tax returns from 2015 to 2020 to indict and prosecute him.

At issue, he noted, are deductions taken for Trump companies — some of which may never have existed.

According to Johnston, the author of “The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family,” he found “powerful evidence of criminal tax evasion,” after reviewing the documents after they were released on Friday morning to the public after years of obstruction from Trump.

“Consider a rich business owner who fabricates deductions but who would still owe zero tax in the audited year even if those deductions were denied. That means an audit that will not generate any tax revenue. That’s also what Trump apparently did in 26 sole proprietor, or Schedule C, filings in the six years of released tax returns,” he wrote before adding, “Trump also turned a profit off a portion of the tax system, making $2.8 million profit off the Alternative Minimum Tax, or AMT.”

As for those 26 Trump businesses that may or may not exist, Johnston suggested that investigators dig deeper into how the former president used them to get out of paying taxes in the years involved.

RELATED: Tax expert highlights a mysterious red flag in Trump tax returns

“Most glaring in the tax returns is that they include 26 Trump businesses—or imaginary businesses—with zero revenue and hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax deductions for expenses,” he pointed out while noting they should be of interest to New York State Attorney General Letitia James, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Attorney General Merrick Garland.

“Unless Trump can produce records showing the expenses are real and meet other standards to be deductible, that’s fraud. That Trump did it 26 times as a candidate and as president is powerful evidence that he qualifies for prosecution by the federal government and New York State for criminal tax fraud,” he wrote before adding the results could lead to a “slam dunk” prosecution.

You can read more here.

Image: Evan El Amin/Shutterstock

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