February 20

Whoa, hold the presses…oops too late! This line from my February 8-14 Musings in BrattonOnline  submission had a glaring typo that simply can’t stand: ‘Former Trump personal attorney, Michael Cohen, recently appeared for testimony in the Manhattan DA’s probe into the $13,000 hush money paid by Trump to Stormy Daniels for her silence in their affair during the 2016 presidential campaign.’ Dropping that critical ‘0’ from $130,000 made it sound like chump change for DJT, though chump change it is…in many ways!

Manhattan District Attorney Bragg leaked to the media several weeks back that he was presenting a criminal case against The Former Guy, after dragging his heels for about a year. According to Trump’s former attorney, Cohen, he has given testimony on at least sixteen different occasions in this case, and in several interviews with Nicolle Wallace on MSNBC he has made clear he believes things have finally gotten serious, having given very specific details to the DA of his activities under Trump’s employment.

Cohen wholeheartedly endorses the legitimacy of the investigation, and in his best-selling book, ‘Revenge’, he was overtly critical of various prosecutors for not doing their jobs properly, and with zeal. He expects Trump and others, who he declines to name, will be held accountable not only in this $130,000 campaign fraud case, but in a more extensive range of charges. He says this with a radiant and gleeful demeanor, not wishing to blemish the progress…’revenge’, indeed!

Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith has marked successes in persuading three of DJT’s attorneys to testify for several hours before the grand jury – Evan Corcoran, Christina Bobb, and Alina Habba. The whole story needs some clarification evidently, as Smith is going through a court process to force them to come back for additional questioning. The DOJ has done some heavy persuading to the courts to let such a thing happen, indicating that Smith and Justice are succeeding at removing attorney-client privilege roadblocks, and molding The Don’s legal phalanx into star witnesses toward his indictment. As expected, Trump exploded on his Truth Social network, that Smith is using intimidation on his team with “never seen antics.” He is assuming that the attorneys sold him down the river, and now victimhood is in order. Light, medium or dark toast, Donnie?

Several weeks after requesting the transcripts from the January 6th Committee’s closed door transcripts, the DOJ is putting its foot down with a demand that they be turned over. The committee was waiting until the public hearings were completed to prevent any leaks, but now the time is ripe as Justice appears to be determined to prosecute those criminal targets who previously refused to give testimony to the DOJ.

Another story which is getting increased coverage (and should be shouted from the proverbial rooftops), thanks to the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit against FoxNews, is the discovery that the big names at the network are nothing but a pack of liars, all the while knowing that their reporting about failures of Dominion’s machines in the 2020 election was false. Yet, they chose to interview the likes of Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell who made outrageous claims that the election had been stolen from Trump and the Republicans. The $1.6 billion suit has been strengthened by obtaining FoxNews internal documentation that reveal executives and news personalities knew what they were doing, with page after page of quotes by Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, Rupert Murdoch himself, and FoxNews Media CEO Suzanne Scott.

The case is so strong, that a motion for summary judgment has been filed, where a judge could rule that based on evidence and material facts that a trial is unnecessary. By going this route, the question of damages would not be settled, and in fact, a summary judgment is usually desired by a defendant; but, in this case it is Dominion that is asking for this ruling, since defamation suits are difficult. RonNell Andersen Jones, at S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah says, “It gives a powerful preview of one of the best-supported claims of actual malice we have seen in any major-media case.”

Fox knew its reporting and interviews were total poppycock, but they had their base viewers who expected their messaging, and they had Newsmax and OAN to fear as alternative sources for the crazies. Tucker Carlson is quoted saying to his producer, “Sidney Powell is lying by the way. I caught her. It’s insane. It’s unbelievably offensive to me. Our viewers are good people and they believe it.” Laura Ingraham tells Carlson and Sean Hannity, “Sidney Powell is a bit nuts. No one will work with her…ditto with Rudy.” And, Rupert Murdoch calls it, “Really crazy stuff.” Trump supporters were already incensed that Fox called Arizona for Joe Biden on election night, so the network had to offer them a bit of what they wanted in the form of fake news. On January 5, 2021, Murdoch suggested that the Big Three should announce that the election is over with a Biden win, trying to stop the Trump myth of the Big Steal. CEO Scott privately warned him about making viewers angry, so the lies went forward about Dominion machines stealing the votes with appearances by Powell and Giuliani for weeks. Lou Dobbs had Powell on his show with her fraud and algorithm lies, after she had filed her infamous ‘kraken’ lawsuits, with Dobbs calling them “complete b.s.” Carlson, however, was not ready to capitulate to the truth, saying, “It’s measurably hurting the company. The stock price is down. Not a joke.”

Carlson’s worries about the stock prices may have been influenced by Pillow Man Mike Lindell who came on his show to further denigrate Dominion, as a top advertiser for his pillow empire. How did Fox let this suit reach such a point, with all the damaging evidence being publicly aired and presented to the court? And, still the main messenger about a stolen election is Mr. Carlson! Even billionaire Murdoch was doing all in his power to assist Trump in his Georgia election escapade, all the while keeping an eye on the competition’s ratings in order to hold their business model together…more concerned about ratings than the truth. Anchor Bret Baier punctuated the behind-the-scenes messaging, writing, “There is NO evidence of fraud,” to one of his bosses. During a November 9 broadcast, Neil Cavuto cut away from a live briefing by White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, saying, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Unless she has more detail to back that up, I can’t in good countenance continue to show this,” as he warned viewers that she was making unsubstantiated claims of fraud.

As they plodded forward, later that month Fox showed the complete news conference of Powell and Giuliani as they outlined their case for election fraud, a performance that Murdoch called “really crazy stuff and damaging.” By now, as Fox host Dana Perino warned of a lawsuit from Dominion, CEO Scott directed that the crazies shouldn’t be given an inch. She acknowledged a breach of trust with their viewers which could be fixed, “but we cannot smirk our viewers any longer.” For the first time in twenty years, the network saw its ratings fall below those of CNN and MSNBC. One thorn in the side of Fox viewers was the belief that anchor Chris Wallace had pitched unfair questions at Trump during one of the debates with Biden, along with the later prediction that Joe would take Arizona in the election. Sean Hannity wrote to Carlson and Ingraham that these two incidents had “destroyed a brand that took 25 years to build and the damage is incalculable.” “It’s vandalism,” Carlson responded.

Truth and democracy? Meh! Respecting an audience who has an appetite for lies, and executives who care about ratings and their stock portfolios, while keeping the audience tuned in and outraged over falsehoods and conspiracy theories…that’s the ticket! Achieving expanded ballot access to include mail-in voting, and ensuring that every voice is heard and that every vote counts make up the elements we must defend as we move forward to the next voting cycle to retain our democracy.

DOJ Special Counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed former VP Pence to testify about the events leading up to the J6 Insurrection, but Pence intends to fight having to do so with a claim of executive privilege, or by using the Constitution’s ‘Speech and debate clause.’ This clause was used Senator Lindsey Graham to avoid testifying before the Fulton County Georgia grand jury, to no avail, because it covers only questioning regarding legislative acts. The reality is that Indiana Mike will only be delaying the inevitable as he puts up a fight to appear strong to Trump’s base, a base he will need if he expects to get any traction in his feeble attempt to gain support in a run at the presidential nomination… to be announced. Pence can only hope that Trump is deeply mired in the morass of court cases, or better yet, tucked away in an orange jumpsuit at the proper time.

Laurence Tribe and Dennis Aftergut wrote in Slate, “Pence is trying to have it both ways legally. He invoked the separation of powers to wrap himself in executive branch garb so as to avoid testifying before Congress’ Jan. 6 committee, and now he is invoking a privilege designed to protect lawmakers to wrap himself in legislative branch garb so as to avoid testifying in a grand jury. Heads, he wins; tails, the law’s search for truth loses. His purpose is transparent. It’s not to protect our legal institutions but to protect himself and his ambition to run for the White House.” They go on to say that Pence should know he is making a novel, but legally frivolous claim, and that we can count on him to produce high-minded public statements about how his goal is to preserve and protect the Constitution…a pick up line from George Santos without the grandiloquence? All the while, ‘Mother’ is holding the cue cards.

And speaking of Mr. Santos, is it possible that the Flaxen Klaxon, Marjorie Taylor Greene, was outfitted in her Pomeranian outfit at Biden’s State of the Union speech, by Santos and his Friends of Pets United organization? Perhaps Rupert Murdoch and his staff can throw some light onto this rumor.

The Fulton County Georgia grand jury report has been released in part, without naming names on possible indictments which will come later. Significantly, the report did say that some witnesses likely committed perjury, leaving no doubt that the process left no escape for any of The Don’s cohorts to slide on by. There was an extensive list of Trump people called to testify, despite court battles to fight doing so – if called, you appear, if you refuse you are held in contempt. False testimony results in indictment by the prosecutor…slam dunk! As one Twitter user said, “Lindsey Graham has either perjured himself or threw Trump under the bus. Can’t have it both ways.”

Now the waiting game, with the judge in the case assisting DA Fani Willis in keeping the relevant parts of her report under tight control as she exercises the necessary legal procedures for bringing the indictments. So, legal peril or dump on Trump? That’s how this works for the those under subpoena, and it’s doubtful we will see any magic tricks to shield Trump and his co-conspirators.

Unless…unless…the scandal-rocked Supreme Court manages to stay together long enough to muddy the waters. We all know the ethics violations perpetrated by Justice Thomas and his wife, Ginny. Now we learn that Chief Justice Roberts‘ wife, Jane, has been paid millions of dollars in commissions by law firms who have had cases before the high court – one alone having argued 125 times in those hallowed halls of justice! We only know this from a former coworker of Roberts, and not because there is legally binding code of ethics by which the court can govern itself. Who can doubt that the funds flowing into their coffers is an effort to influence rulings? We won’t mention Ginni Thomas and her income from the Heritage Foundation, Liberty Central and other tea party-type organizations. The Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act was introduced by the House and Senate Judiciary Committees which would create a means of investigating misconduct in the Court, to strengthen recusal standards and disclosure rules, and mandate a binding code of ethics. All other federal judges are expected to follow a code of conduct, but the Supremes exempt themselves…because they can! To see this to a satisfactory conclusion, it will take public support to overcome the right-wing Federalist Society’s influence in our governmental bodies. No more pillow-talk for the Thomases!

Let’s close with the old favorite descriptions of Ayn Rand’s novel, ‘Atlas Shrugged.’ The first says, “This is a novel not to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.” The other reads, “There are two novels that can change a fourteen-year old’s life: ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Atlas Shrugged.’ One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.” And, surprise of surprises, George Santos was revealed to be a ghost writer for Ms. Rand! Who’da thought?