There are different levels of tragi/comedy in Trump world. It’s a lot like Dante’s Inferno. One of the levels in this populist Hell we live in is the legal one. Trump manages to hire the absolute worst lawyers. And when we say absolute worst, we’re not only talking about lack of character and ethics, but just plain lawyering skill. In this world, if you’re not competent at what you do, you’re basically a dud. And Trump finds all the legal duds. The revelation that broke from the district court in Florida early afternoon on Wednesday is that the request to unseal the transcripts from the Jeffrey Epstein grand jury trial has been denied. But what is now coming to light is that the party totally responsible for this result is the Trump lawyer who submitted paperwork conceding to the court that there is no legal basis for the court to do what the motion is asking it to do. This is a howler.
So Trump, Bondi & Fox all tell their sheep that they are going to release the Epstein grand jury transcripts while they are quietly conceding to the court that there’s no legal basis to unseal them. As usual, they count on their base to buy the bullshit from their propagandists. https://t.co/vYnk0ygDCk
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) July 23, 2025
This is a scream. The Trump lawyers are clearly going through the motions so that they can now blame the “woke” judge (down in ruby red Florida, no less) for tyranny against the good and honest Trump administration, when the plain truth is that this is a legal farce and the motion itself is a fiasco. But watch for the publicity to break that way, another evil woke judge that’s owned by the libs. Treason treason.
I wait now for Kakistocracy Karoline to mount the podium and proclaim that this has been judicial malfeasance rather than plain legal incompetence — which is what it is when a lawyer prepares a motion knowing that there are no grounds for the motion. But I don’t doubt that Trump insisted on it and the kinds of lawyers he has around him now do whatever he says, screwed up or not. Or, more likely, Trump could not be convinced that the motion would fail. Remember, his idea of the law is an “aha!” Perry Mason moment, where the entire case turns on its ear and there’s a big dramatic ending. That works well on Twilight Zone, but usually not in court.
Plus a few other things:
- Trump knows perfectly well that the transcripts “contain less than 1% of the evidence in the case,” quoting Ron Filipkowsky. So it truly is a ruse to fool the MAGA rubes. And this was said days ago when the Big Announcement from Pam Bondi came out, that the release of the transcripts were being sought.
- Trump also knows perfectly well that his name isn’t in the grand jury transcripts anyway. “There would have been no reason to present any testimony or evidence about Trump to the Epstein grand jury to secure his indictment,” again quoting Filipkowski.
- There is no good cause to unseal the transcripts. We knew that, and it says so in the pleading. But that doesn’t matter. It provides a way to lie to the base.
- But the base may not be swallowing it. Candace Owens said, “Is Trump playing games? Yes, I’m sorry. He’s flat out playing games thinking that we’re stupid. He’s always been a bit wishy-washy on Epstein.”
So either Trump knew this would flop but said “do it anyway” or he could not be convinced that it would flop. Personally, I think the latter. I base that opinion on how Trump tried to do “aha!” Perry Mason moments during the Stormy Daniels trial. I really believe Trump is so far gone as to believe that the law is all hocus pocus. And I think he’ll be mad at his lawyers, because now he’s stuck.
Now he can’t use the transcripts as a smokescreen, so he’s got to depend upon accusing Barack Obama of treason as the method to shift the news away from Epstein. That’s pretty flimsy but it’s all he’s got right now. Or, he can post more memes of women in bikinis throwing snakes around a backyard. There’s always that.
There’s going to be a lot of bellowing in the White House tonight.
“Trump manages to hire the absolute worst lawyers.”
You get what you pay for
No, lawyers are crucial to all his other scams, he knows he has to pay them even if he stiffs others. But for even top dollar, only the worst lawyers will work for him, because they are the only ones who don’t care that they are making asses themselvesin front of the entire legal profession and very likely to wind up getting disbarred.
A new definition has arisen.
“How bad is it?”
As bad as a Trump lawyer.
“… Trump is so far gone as to believe that the law is all hocus pocus. ”
Trump has ALWAYS believed the law is all hocus pocus. He learned that from his guru Roy Cohen. Trump has bad lawyers, sure. but even very good lawyers would have a tough time with this one, as secret grand jury transcripts are very rarely released, and the judge knows perfectly well that in this instance there is no legitimate purpose anyway.
You write “I don’t doubt that Trump insisted on it and the kinds of lawyers he has around him now do whatever he says, screwed up or not. Or, more likely, Trump could not be convinced that the motion would fail.” Yes, I think that is the heart of the matter. In this case I don’t even think they screwed up particularly. The judge already knows there’s no legal basis, so they started by conceding the point. It’s Trump that’s the real ignoramus here.