Paul Manafort’s third day on trial over charges of bank fraud and tax evasion was cut a bit short on Thursday after government attorneys made the same mistake twice in a row. Are these the best that Muller could get? Or are they fully loyal to the party and competence isn't a priority?
The last witness called to the stand was J. Philip Ayliff, a certified public accountant (CPA) at Paul Manafort’s long-serving tax-preparation agency, Kositzka, Wicks and Co. (KWC), of Richmond, Virginia. As time inched along during the last witness's testimony, nothing of particular interest seemed to be occurring at all.
Ayliff was mostly providing foundational testimony regarding the basic functions of a tax-preparation company. Prosecutors then moved on to specifics and attempted to "publish" one of Manafort's e-file forms. Judge T.S. Ellis III's weariness all but amazed the courtroom as he denied the request‐complete with an actual and pronounced finger-wag;before shouting:
No! You move it along!
(It probably hadn't helped matters that court had just minutes ago returned from a lengthy recess due to the prosecution calling Ayliff out of the witness order provided to both the court and the defense. But as Judge Ellis noted yesterday, he has "a long memory.")
Composing themselves again, the prosecution moved slowly forward before asking Ayliff to define the term "financial interest." Ayliff began to answer the question but was immediately cut off by Ellis who noted that Ayliff was not a noticed expert. The defense then belatedly objected, prompting a quick and sarcastic dressing-down from the judge-;but it was again the prosecution's turn for scorn.
Static filled the courtroom as the longest bench conference of the day ensued. Upon returning to Ayliff's testimony, the jury learned that the issue had been deferred until Friday‐if ever. Then, Assistant U.S. Attorney Uzo Asonye asked about another term of art contained on federal tax forms.
Judge Ellis, who was already standing by this point, advised Ayliff to wait and announced the court would recess early.
After the jury left, Ellis took a few minutes to tell the press and public all about the bench conference. As it turns out, not only was Ayliff a non-noticed witness being asked to give the equivalent of expert testimony, but the prosecution and defense had already agreed on what the term "financial interest" meant. Moreover, this agreement was provided on a proposed-;and approved-;jury instruction.
That is, not only was Ayliff not an expert and not a noticed expert as necessitated by the Federal Rules of Evidence-but his testimony had the potential to derail an already-agreed-upon definition of the term(s) in question. This, Ellis said, could have "confused or clouded" things for the jury. At this rate, one more day of screw ups and the judge is gonna punt this into the garabage where it belongs.
#4
Did the competent, and higher ranked, lawyers decide that this case was so political that they punted it to the Junior Varsity Squad? "Look, Private, charge that machinegun nest! Take one for the Team!"
#5
This isn't the first investigation that Mueller has royally fucked up.
The Anthrax investigation after 9-11 is a story of stupidity and incompetence that rivals any government investigation to date and it was led by Mueller.
#7
As I said yesterday Mueller wants nothing to do with this turd of a case. He's not the one going to take the flack for the botching. He's hoping to come out of this with his skin intact.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/03/2018 19:49 Comments ||
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Before proceeding further, the Court notes that this case involves two extremely likable lawyers, who have together delivered some of the most amateurish pleadings ever to cross the hallowed causeway into Galveston, an effort which leads the Court to surmise but one plausible explanation. Both attorneys have obviously entered into a secret pactcomplete with hats, handshakes and cryptic wordsto draft their pleadings entirely in crayon on the back sides of gravy-stained paper place mats, in the hope that the Court would be so charmed by their child-like efforts that their utter dearth of legal authorities in their briefing would go unnoticed. Whatever actually occurred, the Court is now faced with the daunting task of deciphering their submissions. With Big Chief tablet readied, thick black pencil in hand, and a devil-may-care laugh in the face of death, life on the razor's edge sense of exhilaration, the Court begins.
[Daily Caller] The Department of Justice has refused to take any steps to preserve work-related emails former FBI Director James Comey had on a personal account that The Daily Caller News Foundation and Judicial Watch requested under the Freedom of Information Act, the conservative watchdog will file in court Friday.
"There is nothing but complete silence about why the FBI has failed to take steps to preserve records responsive to DCNF’s request," Judicial Watch attorney Michael Bekesha will write in the filing before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Judicial Watch and TheDCNF filed a joint lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act on April 25 seeking records, including emails, Comey produced regarding meetings and conversations he had with then-President Barack Obama, then-Vice President Joe Biden and a variety of other political figures.
Following the Justice Department Inspector General’s June 2018 report, which disclosed that Comey used a personal Gmail account for official FBI business, both groups sought a preservation order to assure no records related to their FOIA requests were lost or destroyed.
#2
I was under the impression that everything was backed up in case of catastrophic emergencies.
I also know you have wipe a hard drive with a pattern of 0 and 1 to guarantee the info on it is unrecoverable (I worked with high end Servers and Intelligence community demanded this functionality). If that is not done info can be recovered even if 'erased' or overwritten a number of times.
Something has never seemed right about all these missing emails.
you'll need to use the SSD manufacturers secure erase tool.
------------
WRT a personal email they'll be multiple copies of the sender and receiver and also the server on them should have backups or if the mail server is hosted that will have tape backups and probably kept for 7 years
[IsraelTimes] Leader Jeremy Corbyn is widely accused of tolerating or ignoring anti-Semitism disguised as anti-Israel speech, among other forms of Jew hatred.
While trying to woo back the Jews his actions have been driving out of the party, Mr. Corbyn and his cronies decided to endorse a definition of antisemitism other than the official one. Oddly enough, this really angered the Jewish community in Britain. The latest Labour gyrations laid out at the link.
Surprise, surprise!
[Zero Hedge] - A top New Hampshire Democrat was arrested Thursday for a variety of assault and domestic violence allegations, after a woman reported that he bit her at least two times, struck her in the stomach, and threw a cup of water and the cup at her after breaking into her residence, according to New Hampshire Attorney General Gordon MacDonald.
Jeff Woodburn, 53, is the Democratic leader of the New Hampshire state Senate. In total, he was charged with four counts of simple assault, two counts of domestic violence, two counts of criminal mischief and one count of criminal trespassing. From the AG's office:
Two counts of simple assault (RSA 631:2-a) charging Mr. Woodburn with causing unprivileged physical contact to the adult female victim by: (1) throwing a cup of water in her face and then throwing the empty cup at her as well, striking her in the face on August 10, 2017; and (2) striking the victim in the stomach with his hand on December 24 , 2017.
One count of criminal trespass (RSA 635:2) charging Mr. Woodburn with entering or remaining in the residence of the adult female victim, after forcing open the locked door to the residence, an occupied structure as defined in RSA 635:1, III, knowing that he was not licensed or privileged to do so on December 24, 2017.
Two counts of domestic violence (RSA 631:2-b) charging Mr. Woodburn with causing bodily injury to the adult female victim, an intimate partner as defined in RSA 631:2-b, III(b), by use of physical force, by: (1) biting the victim on her left hand, resulting in bruising on December 15, 2017; and (2) biting the victim on her right forearm, resulting in bruising, on or between June 9, 2018 and June 10, 2018.
One of my high school classmates is a NH state rep - I'll see if I can get him to give me the skinny on this guy.
[Wash Times] Rep. Jim Jordan said the struggle between the House of Representatives and the Department of Justice is part of a larger show of disrespect from several parts of the executive branch.
During an interview with The Washington Times’ Tim Constantine for "The Capitol Hill Show" on Thursday, Mr. Jordan explained the reasoning behind the decision to file articles of impeachment against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
"This is the executive branch, people in high levels of the bureaucracy basically telling a separate and equal branch to go take a hike," Mr. Jordan said, "And it’s not supposed to work that way. That’s not how the Constitution is set up. That not how the system is supposed to operate, so yes, it’s a big problem."
Mr. Jordan cited several other examples of what he saw as executive agencies resisting orders from Congress. He said this FBI issue is similar to withholding and deleting evidence during the 2014 IRS controversy and Benghazi hearings.
The Ohio congressman filed impeachment articles against Mr. Rosenstein alongside fellow Freedom Caucus member Rep. Mark Meadows and other Republicans on July 25.
#2
Even if Jordan can't get 60 percent of the Senate to go along with this, if all he can get is a simple majority, wouldn't that be all the excuse Trump needs to fire Rosenstein?
Maybe Trump will have a little more flexibility in this matter after the election.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
08/03/2018 10:31 Comments ||
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#3
At this point it seems Rosenstein is obstructing justice and covering-up criminality. The House has a Constitutional duty of oversight and they are entitled to the requested documents. If the documents are not forthcoming, push the impeachment and see what breaks loose. Even if impeachment fails in the Senate, Rosenstein becomes damaged goods. Rosenstein signed the phony FISA application based on a phony dossier bought and paid for by the Hillary campaign.
Obama unleashed the power of State on Trump before Trump took office to try to take him down. These people deserve harsh treatment; they are traitors. Go for it Rep. Jordan--the people of this country deserve a good airing of all of this.
#4
Trump is waiting until after the mid-terms to settle all family business.
Posted by: Regular joe ||
08/03/2018 14:10 Comments ||
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#5
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.
They may be compiling the long train of abuses before exercising their duty to alter Deep State.
#6
"And if we don't pretend to push, the rubes and normies might finally figure that it's all bullshit! And then we'll lose our phony baloney jobs! Hey! I didn't get a 'harumph' out of that guy!"
[Gateway Pundit] Stacey Abrams was the guest of honor at the Democrat "Way to Win: 2022 Victory Party" at the party’s annual spring conference.
Abrams and fellow Democrats want reparations for blacks and free college for all kids. It’s a socialist’s dream.
Stacey wants to run the Georgia economy.
But she is deeply in debt. Stacey owes $96,512 in student loan debt and $77,522 in credit card debt.
Bizpac Review reported:
The former state representative has acknowledged that she owes more than $200,000 in student loans, credit card debt and IRS back taxes.
"I did not understand that those magical slivers of plastic that I was getting in in college, a $100 purchase was going to cost me like $3,000 over the next seven years," Abrams statedin an interview with Yahoo Finance. "And that if I didn’t pay the bill every month it was going on some report that was going to follow me even after I had a great job."
Abrams owes back taxes amounting to $40,201 for 2015 and $13,851 for 2016. She owes $96,512 in student loan debt and another $77,522 in credit card debt spread over nine different accounts. In total, she is about $228,000 in the red. This number is actually higher if you count her $178,500 in real estate debt and her $4,434 car loan.
#2
Abrams owes back taxes amounting to $40,201 for 2015 and $13,851 for 2016. She owes $96,512 in student loan debt and another $77,522 in credit card debt spread over nine different accounts. In total, she is about $228,000 in the red. This number is actually higher if you count her $178,500 in real estate debt and her $4,434 car loan.
Well, at least she has good reasons for running for office.
#5
Spending more than you take in is a fundamental dem qualification.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/03/2018 9:50 Comments ||
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#6
"I did not understand that those magical slivers of plastic that I was getting in in college, a $100 purchase was going to cost me like $3,000 over the next seven years," Abrams statedin an interview with Yahoo Finance. "And that if I didn’t pay the bill every month it was going on some report that was going to follow me even after I had a great job."
So at least she learned something in college.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
08/03/2018 10:34 Comments ||
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#7
So at least she learned something in college.
Too bad she had to learn it the hard way.
And it looks like she's still learning it, either way.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Paul Manafort’s third day on trial over charges of bank fraud and tax evasion was cut a bit short on Thursday after government attorneys made the same mistake twice in a row.
[IsraelTimes] Leader Jeremy Corbyn is widely accused of tolerating or ignoring anti-Semitism disguised as anti-Israel speech, among other forms of Jew hatred.
