To paraphrase the first sentence of the intro to the TV show The Outer Limits “There is nothing wrong with your computer screen.” Yes, the headline above is accurate. I know. It’s three kinds of weird but hey, that’s life when trapped IN the proverbial Lookin Glass between reality and Trump/MAGA World. Trump has a lawyer representing him in one case who will be a witness against him in another!
When I saw the first article on this in my news feed I wasn’t sure it was real. So I checked out the actual ABC News story it was based on and damn if this isn’t actually (for now at least) the case. Attorney Jennifer Little has been representing Trump in his Georgia RICO case. However as you know that’s not the only case where Trump is under indictment. In addition to Georgia he’s facing state charges up in New York, and federal charges in DC and FL. The National Security case in Florida mostly gets attention for Judge “Loose” Cannon’s being a quasi member of Trump’s legal team. He’s sure as hell going to need a crooked judge!
As you know, different rules apply when rich and/or powerful people are charges with crimes – even very serious ones. They get treated better by the system than most people, and get other benefits too. I routinely get jacked up when I hear legal pundits including some I know are accomplished and dead serious about enforcing the law pontificate on “intent” – as in how it’s oh so crucial a legal issue on proving Trump intended to commit a crime. Even when they acknowledge that ignorance of the law doesn’t excuse criminal actions they fuss over how tough it will be to PROVE Trump knew something was illegal but went ahead and did it anyway. You don’t have to as I once did hold a security clearance to know, to KNOW that it’s illegal to grab up highly classified documents and take them home. And refuse to return them even when asked nicely and given multiple chances to do so. Common sense tells most of us some things aren’t just wrong but illegal.
For all that, sure as hell “Intent” is going to be a key issue when Trump’s Florida trial on National Security matters finally takes place. (It SHOULD be the first trial and it SHOULD be starting next month) Trump got cut every break in the book, and while he could have filed a sprawling case Jack Smith limited the scope and only charged Trump with withholding a relatively small amount of highly classified National Security documents. Only those found AFTER the affidavit attesting everything had been turned back in are being used in the case and not even all of the 130 or so that were found when the FBI searched Mar A Lago. Thirty one are what the trial will be about.
Still, despite all the back and forth with NARA before the FBI got involved and Trump got warned that game time was over and he kept getting the benefit of the doubt. Even after he grudgingly appeared to finally give in but was found to be (naturally) lying he’s still being given the benefit of the doubt by pundits. Sort of “Well, proving he REALLY knew it would be a crime not to hand back whatever he still had will be really tough. He might not have REALLY known there’s be serious legal consequences if he didn’t.” I called bullshit on this from the start. And I won’t bore you again with personal experience on taking part in late night searches of office spaces in the Pentagon seeking whether classified information was left unsecured.
What we now know is that Ms. Little, like another Trump attorney (Evan Corcoran) met with and provided testimony/evidence to Jack Smith’s team. And what Little had to say BURIES Trump and the whole “he might not have understood and therefore lacked intent) bullshit:
As Little recounted to investigators, she told Trump that if — after a diligent search of Mar-a-Lago — they found more classified documents and returned all of them, he wouldn’t face legal jeopardy, as it would be complying with the subpoena, the sources said.
The ABC article goes on to say she says she explained to Trump that failing to return everything would be a “problem” because the subpoena required a signed certification swearing the subpoena had been fully complied with. Here’s the kicker:
“Once this is signed — if anything else is located — it’s going to be a crime,” sources quoted Little as recalling she told Trump.
The sources said that when investigators asked Little if those messages to Trump “landed,” she responded: “Absolutely.”
The former president said something to the effect of, “OK, I get it,'” the sources said she recalled to investigators.
I’d like to make a couple more points. Little began working for Trump months after he gave up on his coup and left the WH for Florida. So performed various legal tasks but she had awareness of various goings on including the NARA stuff. Still, when asked to head up dealing with the problem when DOJ started turning up the heat she recommended someone with relevant experience in such matters and that’s how Evan Corcoran came aboard. The Corcoran story is an article (or two or three) in and of itself but he too would become one of the Trump lawyers needing to hire their own lawyers. And he too wound up providing evidence to Jack Smith.
If you’ve forgotten (or didn’t know) Corcoran, being a real and competent attorney took and kept notes (which we know Trump HATES) and part of what he provided to Smith’s team involved discussions Trump had about not complying with that subpoena. To LIE:
According to the indictment against Trump, notes that Corcoran made after the meeting say Trump asked his lawyers what would happen if they didn’t “play ball” with the Justice Department, and that he asked them, “Wouldn’t it be better if we just told them we don’t have anything here?”
To me at least that new should have long ago shup up any punditry regarding whether “intent” on Trump’s part existed. Now however we have at least semi-corroboration. While Little doesn’t seem to say the same thing if in slightly different words than Corcoran’s evidence shows from where I sit what she’s told them dovetails nicely with it:
Speaking with investigators, Little allegedly said she couldn’t recall Trump suggesting they not “play ball,” and she allegedly said she remembered Trump’s other question as simply wondering, in light of the subpoena, whether it would be better for them to find documents or not.
She allegedly reiterated that whatever the facts were would not be a problem; what mattered was complying with the subpoena, especially if he was going to swear he was in compliance, she allegedly said.
Someday, in the much too distant future the crooked judge won’t be able to put off Trump’s National Security trial any longer. When that time comes Jennifer Little will be on the witness stand and taking a wrecking ball to his defense. For the life of me I can’t figure out how in the hell she’s still working for Trump, at least on his Georgia case. Granted, since she didn’t go to work for Trump until months after the coup had failed and he was down in FL so she wasn’t part of any of it. Also, according to the linked article she didn’t even meet Trump until things had really heated up and DOJ was demanding proof, or at least certification that Trump had given all the National Security documents back. It’s highly unlikely she had anything to offer Fani Willis so there was no need for Willis to try and pierce attorney/client privilege. Willis doesn’t need Jennifer Little, who is out of her league anyway.
Still, I wonder. The only explanation I can come up with is that Trump needs halfway decent attorneys so much other lawyers working for him including those involved in the federal cases haven’t told him about Little’s meetings with Jack Smith’s team! THAT is the only thing that makes sense to me. Or maybe Trump has recently learned about it somehow and it’s contributed to the uptick in intensity of his meltdowns.
Imagine having a huge legal fund (wanting to hoard it, but at least having it) and needing competent (not great, but competent at least) lawyers so bad that you’re stuck relying on one who’s a witness against you in one case being your lawyer in another! Yet that’s the situation for Trump at the moment.
Keep an eye out for the name Jennifer Little in Trump related news. I’d never heard of her before but I’ll bet her name is going to wind up being pretty well known. Just not in a way that she’d like, especially since she has so much life and career ahead of her. But her decision to work for Trump will I predict wind up adding her, or at least her career to the ever growing pile of examples of “Everything Trump touches dies.”
Tick. Tick. Tick. Melania! Ivanka! Eric! Don Junior! Who else is there?! I can hear a tick. Tick. Tick. Can anyone of you others hear that teh-teh-tickitty-tickkk-tickkkking? I know, it’s a bloody plot-a-tock-tick-tock, that’s what it is, for sure. Arrrrrrr, it’s driving me ugely klazy!
Captain Hook and Peter Pan hear it,,,
tick, tick, tick…
Not sure how Melanie has to.do.with his mess. Ivanka,Don Jr. and Eric are all.involved in the company, but it isn’t as if any of them.actually influenced him.or partook in high level.policy discussions. Well, except Javanka. But I doubt he discusses policy with her. She is strictly arm candy, proof of his virility.
“Orange Jesus” trained most of his children to become grifters/scammers. Gave them big titles that they probably would not have earned elsewhere. Just take daddy’s pied piper lead!
Just how hard is it going to be to prove “intent” when so many people are lining up to state, in court, that they told him he could not do what he did? When so many people told him he lost the election? When he told people who will now testify he knew he lost? Seems like the “intent” proof is out there shining like a spotlight.
Isn’t she, Little, the one who signed the subpoena stating all documents have been returned when submitting the dozen or so documents that they returned? If I remember correctly the other lawyers involved got her to sign since they probably knew better. I still can’t believe so many people are so ignorant to believe that lying scumbag. I always thought people had intelligence then that.
Unless I’m mistaken it was Christina Bobb. I can’t help but wonder if she got manipulated into being the first one to sign it and the others who’s names were typed in but didn’t actually sign hung her out to dry. It’s easy enough to imagine one of the other lawyer’s aides saying it was all ready to go and needed to go out “right away” and “you’re the only one I can find right now. Can you please sign this, and if you know where are the others?” and so she signed it. Figures they’d pin it on the woman in the group. But Little is the one who got Even Corcoran to head things up once the criminal inquiry (and grand jury) was started up in April. It was out of her wheelhouse and that’s why se recommened Corcoran – as someone who had the right experience. He picked his team but she wasn’t really involved much at all once Corcoran came on board. From what I gather, the entire time she worked for Trump she was more of a legal/lawyer “floater” going from task/project to task/project as needed.