The question has been floating around for a long time now. So has the answer. During his first term Trump’s AG Bilirubin Barr pretty much made himself and a chunk of the Department of Justice into Trump’s personal defense team. From the start of Trump’s second term it was clear anyone at DOJ who didn’t do all they could to defend him would be out of a job. Bad as that was, a new element was added in that DOJ was tasked with being Trump’s legal attack dog. So, as I said the question and answer are clear. What’s new is that a federal judge has posed it in a legal proceeding.
This is a long overdue development. In this article from Alternet a NYT reporter spells out what’s taken place. U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Williams has formally pressed the DOJ to answer the question legal analysts have been talking about for the past year – who exactly is the DOJ’s client? After all, as Bloomberg reported in January when all 93 U.S. Attorneys had their weekly call in January Aakash Singh told them Trump is their “chief client.” Huh? BT (Before Trump) it was a given that the Attorney General and the DOJ’s “client” was the American people at-large. In fact, in the wake of abuses during Watergate some pretty clear boundaries were established to ensure the DOJ remained immune from the day-to-day whims of whomever was President.
Trump began using the DOJ as his personal defense law firm during his first term. We expected he’d do so in his second and sure enough he’s done so right out of the gate. However he’s also turned it into a legal attack dog. Like so many rich a-holes he tries to get his way by threatening others with legal action. However as President he can and is doing something some rich asshat in the private sector only has a limited ability to do – get government lawyers to file criminal charges even when there’s no basis for them.
Yesterday’s ridiculous indictment of James Comey is just the latest example. However at issue here is more along Trump’s lifelong practice of trying to use the courts to get money he doesn’t deserve. Even though private lawyers are involved on Trump’s behalf it’s a safe bet they’ve been coordinating with DOJ. That means Trump doesn’t have to pay them as much. I’m sure he’d rather do away with them entirely. Hell, why pay out money to private lawyers to file for a civil judgement when you can use the DOJ lawyers to do it for you? Even Trump knows he can’t get away with that – YET. That it’s even being talked about is something that BT (Before Trump) we’d have assumed no President would do. It’s a sad measure on how far things have fallen that we have to consider it.
Anyway, whether things stand is that Trump is suing the IRS for $10 Billion over some of his tax returns being released. I don’t want to bog you down with too much detail but it was NOT the IRS who leaked them. It was someone at a third-party Contractor (Booze, Allen and Hamilton) and precedent on this is clear from prior court cases – as in the IRS isn’t legally liable. This is a big-time govt. contractor and Trump could get tens of millions, perhaps even a hundred million or so out of them. However he wants BILLIONS.
So, Trump is suing not the contractor (despite their resources) but the IRS. No doubt he’s looking for them to just hand over the money – it not the full $10 billion then however many billions he thinks he can get away with. But for now he’s doing things like he always has and suing. The thing is, he’s suing the IRS which is part of the the very Executive Branch he’s head of! As you might expect the IRS gets sued a lot, and normally the DOJ’s job would be to defend it. However Trump has the DOJ doing the suing in this case, hence the judges question: ‘Who’s side will the DOJ be on?’ Even if we don’t see the spectacle of a team of DOJ lawyers at one table doing the suing and another team at the other table doing the defending Trump can still control the outcome by effectively ordering the team defending the IRS to ‘stand down.’ In effect tank the case.
Anyone who doesn’t think a strategy wasn’t already drafted while Bondi was still AG is kidding themselves. Trumpty’s problem is that the case isn’t being heard by his favorite judicial lapdog, Judge Aileen “Loose” Cannon. Or one of his other zealot appointees like the prick Kaczmaryk in Texas. No, to his (and Todd Blanche’s) dismay he’s got a real, impartial judge hearing the case who’s fealty is to the Constitution and the Law:
Generally, the IRS would be defended in court by the Justice Department. But in the era of Trump, when a top DOJ appointee claims Trump is the “chief client,” the presiding judge is wondering whether the IRS has legitimate representation.
“Although President Trump avers that he is bringing this lawsuit in his personal capacity, he is the sitting president and his named adversaries are entities whose decisions are subject to his direction,” the judge wrote in an order released last week. “Accordingly, it is unclear to this court whether the parties are sufficiently adverse to each other.”
Judge Williams has cut to the heart of the matter. The process is designed to be adversarial. However if, as I noted earlier even if private lawyers plead Trump’s (as the Plaintiff’s) case having the DOJ ‘stand down’ and not put up a fight means big money in Trump’s pocket. Of course, they have to be careful not to be so obvious as to get themselves hauled up before their state Bar for disciplinary action. Lawyers hate sanctioning other lawyers but Trump lawyers are starting to learn they don’t enjoy the protection they once assumed they had.
Sadly, the DOJ will lose more experienced career prosecutors who will refuse to take part in a sham defense of the IRS. Of course, substituting hacks will mean they could stumble and bumble their way into losing the case. Or wind up disbarred. Or both. For now the DOJ and Blanche himself who hopes to get nominated by Trump to be AG are facing a deadline. The judge is making DOJ go on the record and if they don’t that’s the end of the case:
Judge Williams then ordered the government and Trump’s personal lawyers to submit a brief to answer that question. It forces the DOJ to go on the record about where it stands. That puts them in the awkward position of either telling Trump the DOJ is not his personal law firm or they risk the judge ruling that the IRS doesn’t have adequate representation. If the judge finds that the two sides aren’t opposed, “lawsuit is void and the judge must dismiss it,” the Times said.
Don’t think for one second that Trump’s private lawyers haven’t been working hand-in-hand with DOJ to get Trump his money. As in OUR (taxpayer) money. At one time Blanche seemed to be a pretty good lawyer but those years are well past. Like Naval Aviators who need to maintain the ability to land on carriers at sea the skills are perishable. Use it or lose it. It can be the same for lawyers in big cases. Think back to Robert Mueller who was brought out of retirement. He effectively led the investigation that bears his name but the real work was done by subordinates. When HE had to “get public” he flopped. The Mueller we saw defending his report in Congress simply wasn’t the same guy. I can’t help but wonder if Blanche, who turned into a Trumpkin quite a while back has lost that needed edge for a legal filing of this magnitude.
Well, the linked article is an interesting read and covers more ground but I at least wanted to call your attention to the fact a judge has finally and formally challenged DOJ on whether they serve the Constitution and the American people or Donald effing Trump. Let’s hope more judges follow suit.
Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
If anyone tries to tell you that they are one and the same we KNOW that is incorrect. When they say that they mean that they are for the orange buffoon.
Not Americans anymore. VOTE!!
I’m a bit surprised the judge didn’t just dismiss the case outright, given the whole absurdity of the lawsuit.
officially per a trump executive order all executive branch employees must accept and adhere to trump’s interpretation of the law.