{"id":126553,"date":"2024-11-16T15:37:59","date_gmt":"2024-11-16T08:37:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=126553"},"modified":"2024-11-16T15:37:59","modified_gmt":"2024-11-16T08:37:59","slug":"trump-transition-updates-house-speaker-doesnt-want-gaetz-ethics-report-released","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=126553","title":{"rendered":"Trump Transition Updates: House Speaker Doesn\u2019t Want Gaetz Ethics Report Released"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p>For more than two years, President-elect Donald J. Trump\u2019s lawyers did the job they were hired to do, defending him against a barrage of criminal charges with an aggressive strategy of confrontation and delay.<\/p>\n<p>But in working for Mr. Trump, they also used the tools of their trade \u2014 their legal briefs and courtroom hearings \u2014 to advance a political message that ultimately helped their client get back into the White House.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">Now, after fighting for Mr. Trump in case after case that they helped turn into a form of political theater, some of those lawyers are being rewarded again for their work. Mr. Trump has said he intends to nominate them to high-ranking posts in the Justice Department, which he has made clear he wants to operate as a legal arm of the White House rather than with the quasi-independence that has been the post-Watergate norm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">After the president-elect\u2019s announcement this week that he wants Matt Gaetz, the controversial former Florida congressman and a longtime ally, to be his attorney general, he named Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, two experienced former federal prosecutors who took the lead in defending Mr. Trump at his state trial in Manhattan and against two federal indictments, to fill the No. 2 and No. 3 positions in the department.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">A third lawyer, D. John Sauer, who was the Missouri solicitor general and oversaw Mr. Trump\u2019s appellate battles, was chosen to represent the department in front of the Supreme Court as the U.S. solicitor general.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">Another lawyer, Stanley Woodward Jr., who defended several people in Mr. Trump\u2019s orbit and helped in the process of vetting his vice-presidential pick, has also been mentioned for a top legal job, though it remains unclear if he will actually receive a role.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">Throughout American history, presidents have made a habit of installing lawyers close to them in powerful positions. George Washington picked his personal lawyer, Edmund Randolph, as his first attorney general, and John F. Kennedy put his brother Robert in the post.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">But until now, no president had ever nominated his own criminal defense team to top jobs in the Justice Department. And Mr. Trump\u2019s choice of Mr. Blanche, Mr. Bove and Mr. Sauer runs the risk of turning the agency into something it was never meant to be: the president\u2019s private law firm.<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"imageblock-wrapper\">\n<figure class=\"img-sz-medium css-d754w4 e1g7ppur0\" aria-label=\"media\" role=\"group\"><figcaption data-testid=\"photoviewer-children-caption\" class=\"css-gbc9ki ewdxa0s0\"><span class=\"css-jevhma e13ogyst0\">Mr. Trump chose Emil Bove to be the\u00a0principal associate deputy attorney general.<\/span><span class=\"css-1u46b97 e1z0qqy90\"><span class=\"css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0\">Credit&#8230;<\/span><span><span aria-hidden=\"false\">Dave Sanders for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s a strange move, for sure, although that\u2019s not to say that you can\u2019t be Trump\u2019s defense lawyer and still be a good lawyer,\u201d said Alan Rozenshtein, a former Justice Department official who teaches at the University of Minnesota Law School. \u201cStill, it raises all sorts of complex conflicts of interest and raises questions about whether the Justice Department should exist to protect the president of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">At the same time, there has never been a president who entered office having experienced a criminal trial, and three other indictments in different places.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump\u2019s transition office did not respond to an email seeking comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">When Mr. Trump first came under investigation after he left office, he had a hard time finding \u2014 and keeping \u2014 lawyers to defend him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">Two of his original lawyers, James Trusty and John Rowley, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/06\/09\/us\/politics\/trump-indictment-lawyers-trusty-rowley.html\" title=\"\">stepped down from the job<\/a> shortly after he was indicted in Florida in June 2023 on charges of mishandling classified documents. The month before the indictment was issued, another lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/05\/20\/us\/politics\/parlatore-trump-lawyer-conflict.html\" title=\"\">also quit the team<\/a>, citing problems with Mr. Trump\u2019s adviser <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/11\/15\/us\/politics\/boris-epshteyn-trump.html\" title=\"\">Boris Epshteyn<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">After Mr. Trump was charged again in Washington, accused of plotting to overturn the 2020 election, he settled on a legal team that included Mr. Blanche, who was already representing him in the Manhattan case where he faced charges of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">As each of the proceedings ground toward trial, Mr. Bove and Mr. Sauer joined the team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">Unlike Mr. Gaetz, all of the other Justice Department picks are courtroom veterans and, should they be confirmed, would bring to their jobs a wealth of experience in handling legal matters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">After attending Brooklyn Law School at night, Mr. Blanche spent several years as a prosecutor in the U.S. attorney\u2019s office in Manhattan, one of the country\u2019s premier federal law enforcement agencies, eventually becoming a supervisor overseeing violent criminal cases. He then entered private practice and has represented people close to Mr. Trump, including Paul Manafort, the chairman of his 2016 presidential campaign, as well as Mr. Epshteyn.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">Mr. Bove overlapped with Mr. Blanche in the prosecutor\u2019s office, where he developed an expertise in classified information law and a reputation for handling complex international investigations. Among his most prominent cases was the prosecution of a South African crime lord, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/04\/05\/nyregion\/crime-lord-le-roux-details-mayhem-and-murders.html\" title=\"\">Paul Le Roux<\/a>, and several mercenaries who worked for him, including a former U.S. soldier nicknamed Rambo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">Mr. Sauer, who once clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia, argued several appellate matters on Mr. Trump\u2019s behalf. He challenged <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/10\/29\/us\/politics\/trump-gag-order-chutkan.html\" title=\"\">a gag order placed on Mr. Trump<\/a> in his federal election case in Washington and appeared before the Supreme Court, ultimately <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/07\/01\/us\/politics\/supreme-court-trump-immunity.html\" title=\"\">winning a historic case<\/a> that granted former presidents a broad form of immunity from criminal prosecution.<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"imageblock-wrapper\">\n<figure class=\"img-sz-medium css-d754w4 e1g7ppur0\" aria-label=\"media\" role=\"group\"><figcaption data-testid=\"photoviewer-children-caption\" class=\"css-gbc9ki ewdxa0s0\"><span class=\"css-jevhma e13ogyst0\">Mr. Trump selected D. John Sauer as the U.S. solicitor general.<\/span><span class=\"css-1u46b97 e1z0qqy90\"><span class=\"css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0\">Credit&#8230;<\/span><span><span aria-hidden=\"false\">Kenny Holston\/The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">In private conversations, some of Mr. Trump\u2019s lawyers have appeared not to be engaging in spin so much as displaying a sincere sense of outrage over the indictments against Mr. Trump, which they genuinely view as flawed at best and tainted by politics against their client at worst.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">Still, in the course of defending Mr. Trump, each of the men has strayed at times beyond the strict boundaries of their roles as legal advocates, often advancing in court (or court filings) what amounted to their client\u2019s political talking points.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">Over and over, they amplified Mr. Trump\u2019s claims that the cases brought against him by the special counsel Jack Smith, or by local prosecutors, were partisan witch hunts intended to destroy his chances of regaining power.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">Just last month, for instance, Mr. Blanche and Mr. Bove put their names to a motion complaining that <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/10\/02\/us\/politics\/trump-jan-6-case-jack-smith-evidence.html\" title=\"\">a sprawling government document<\/a> detailing Mr. Trump\u2019s attempts to reverse the last election was \u201ca politically motivated manifesto\u201d that prosecutors were seeking to release to the public \u201cin the final weeks of the 2024 presidential election.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">In reality, the document was produced by Mr. Smith\u2019s deputies on the Supreme Court\u2019s orders as part of its immunity decision. And the judge overseeing the election case, Tanya S. Chutkan, scolded Mr. Blanche, Mr. Bove and other members of the team for \u201cfocusing on political rhetoric rather than addressing the legal issues at hand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">\u201cNot only is that focus unresponsive and unhelpful to the court,\u201d Judge Chutkan wrote, \u201cbut it is also unbefitting of experienced defense counsel and undermining of the judicial proceedings in this case.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">In April, Mr. Sauer stepped out onto his own legal limb for Mr. Trump when he appeared in front of the Supreme Court to make his immunity claims for Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">In a now-famous exchange, Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked Mr. Sauer whether a president\u2019s decision to use the military to assassinate a rival should be considered an official act \u201cfor which he could get immunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt would depend on the hypothetical,\u201d Mr. Sauer said, shocking many legal experts. \u201cWe can see that could well be an official act.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">Beyond such acts of legal loyalty, Mr. Trump\u2019s lawyers have also seemed to recognize the importance of proximity to this particular client.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">Even before the trial in Manhattan, where Mr. Trump was convicted of 34 felonies, Mr. Blanche, who was based in New York City, bought a home in Palm Beach County, Fla., near Mar-a-Lago, his client\u2019s private club and residence. At the trial, he displayed a close relationship with Mr. Trump, sitting inches from him during long days of testimony and standing, mute, by his side each time he addressed reporters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">This summer, some of Mr. Trump\u2019s lawyers were seen in suites at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">Daniel C. Richman, a former federal prosecutor and law professor at Columbia University, said that Mr. Blanche, Mr. Bove and Mr. Sauer could face significant conflicts of interest once they enter office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">As Mr. Trump\u2019s personal lawyers, he said, they still have a duty to protect his interests in the cases they worked on, and that could present a problem if their responsibilities to the public pull them in a different direction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe can\u2019t be sure how this will play out,\u201d Mr. Richman said, \u201cbut it\u2019s certainly an issue to spot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">Questions like these already seemed to have concerned top Democrats, including Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, who will lead the party\u2019s interrogation of the nominees at upcoming confirmation hearings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">\u201cDonald Trump viewed the Justice Department as his personal law firm during his first term,\u201d Mr. Durbin said on Friday, \u201cand these selections \u2014 his personal attorneys \u2014 are poised to do his bidding.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/live\/2024\/11\/15\/us\/trump-cabinet-live-updates\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For more than two years, President-elect Donald J. Trump\u2019s lawyers did the job they were hired to do, defending him against a barrage of criminal charges with an aggressive strategy &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=126553\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8629],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-s","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=126553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126553\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=126553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=126553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=126553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}