I recall a quip I saw growing up (a long, long time ago) that Monday is an awful way to spend one-seventh of your week. Well, it’s Monday and clearly as bad as last week was for Team Trump if today’s any indication this one is looking like more of the same. Or worse. Trump is melting down over Marjorie Taylor Green’s 60 Minutes interview last night. AG Pam Bondi is melting down over judges who insist on following the law and not what she tells them saying appointees Lindsey Halligan and Alina Habba shouldn’t have their names on cases because they were illegally appointed.
Let’s start with the rotting head of the slimy fish that’s the Trump administration. He’s more than a little upset that his pal Larry Ellison who ‘owns’ CBS hasn’t turned it into another Fox News. As this article from The Independent tells us Trumpty is in fact livid over CBS’ iconic 60 Minutes having done an interview (conducted by iconic reporter Lesley Stahl) in which MTG continued to him. HIM!!! How dare she keep telling him he’s wrong on multiple fronts? And how dare 60 Minutes air such a segment in which I gather MTG came across quite a bit better than Trump himself did when he was on recently.
The article stars off noting that Trump lit into his pal Larry Ellison who he’s called a great guy. I rather doubt Ellison feels the same about Trump, but rather is concerned only with increasing his vast fortune. Playing nice with Trump has always been a means of doing so. Anyway, Trumpty feels betrayed by his ‘fried’ and in demanding an apology from CBS and that it’s new owner is “NO BETTER THAN THE OLD OWNERSHIP!”
It this all wasn’t so serious it would be sort of funny given Trump’s own recent interview. Remember the OUTRAGE Trump generated over them ‘editing’ Kamala Harris last year? Well, 60 Minutes had to do a LOT more editing of Trump to keep him from being seen as the clueless buffon his is. Getting back to the actual meltdown it was pretty Trumpian ranging from raging on social media about CBS/Lesley Stahl and Hunter Biden’s laptop to of course MTG (‘turns brown!”) and I doubt he’s done. But he’s off to quite a start:
Reacting to Greene’s sitdown with the preeminent newsmagazine, the president unleashed a multi-pronged tirade on Truth Social that featured him raging about CBS News’ past coverage of Hunter Biden’s laptop while fuming about Greene, whom he now deems a “very dumb person” who does not represent his political movement.
At the same time, Trump also referenced the $16 million that Paramount’s previous leadership paid him to settle a “meritless” lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris while raging about the new owners. In the president’s view, Ellison and CBS News management should have never allowed Greene’s interview to air, adding that the Sunday night news show has “gotten worse” since the Paramount-Skydance merger that Trump has incessantly celebrated.
There’s more that you can check out via the link to The Independent. As usual with their articles it’s worth a couple of minutes of your time to read. Let’s move on to Bondi who it seems is also seeing her week off to a bad start. The title of this article from The Daily Beast flat out says Bondi threw a “Hissy Fit.” I wonder if someone will show the article, or at least the headline to her – her reaction could provide more fun! You likely already know what has Bondi in a foul mood. Alina Habba has it seems finally given up on trying to be the U.S. Attorney in New Jersey. So Bondi has had to find (create out of thin air) a new job for her at main Justice out of DC.
Even this SCOTUS was unlikely to give Trump what he wanted so Habba (and Bondi) chose not to appeal the recent appellate loss (trying to overturn the decision of the judges to replace her with their own choice until Trump nominates someone and they’re confirmed by the Senate) and there’s the business with Halligan in the Eastern District of Virginia. Her appointment too has been ruled unlawful under the Vacancies Act. The judges in those New Jersey and Virginia circuits followed the freaking law. Bondi tried to bully them and/or bullshit them with ‘workarounds’ and they weren’t having any of it.
The law is the law and you don’t have to be a lawyer to understand (after reading the statute) that THEY were the ones on solid legal footing. Bondi huffed and puffed and threatened to blow their houses down and they just smiled and kept on doing their jobs. What seems to have REALLY set her of was them (properly) suggesting that neither Habba’s or Halligan’s (or other bogus appointees) be on filings with the courts in their jurisdictions. Having a top official signing off on a filing who wasn’t legally authorized to do so opens everything in the case up to appeal. A defendant’s (and their lawyer’s) dream!
While today’s outburst from DOJ focuses on Halligan similar things have been posted regarding Habba in New Jersey. Sticking to today statements from Bondi and Blanche I’m not sure Bondi still wouldn’t have flown off the handle if there weren’t rulings (public) noting this. If instead a quiet communication was made she could keep Habba and Halligan’s name off of things had been made. That would have been highly inappropriate but we all know lawyers have ways of communicating. No matter.
AG Bondi whiningly accuses (federal) judges of waging an “unconscionable campaign of bias and hostility” against the former beauty queen Donald Trump handpicked to prosecute his enemies. All this comes weeks AFTER courts ruled Lindsey Halligan was unlawfully serving as interim U.S. attorney. Because she was unlawfully appointed courts dismissed her indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Being Trump’s gal at DOJ and no doubt with his full backing and blessing Bondi lashed out at “rogue judges” who as the linked article notes have had the audacity to question her continued involvement in court matters.
According to Bondi’s second in charge Todd Blanche poor little Lindsey and others are simply doing their jobs and those meanie judges are trashing them:
“They do not deserve to have their reputations questioned in court for ethically advocating on behalf of their client. This Department of Justice has no tolerance for undemocratic judicial activism.”
Did you catch that part about ‘ethically advocating?” It sure made me laugh. TOTALLY unqualified to present a criminal case in court (she’d never once argued a motion in court even when she was an insurance lawyer!) she was UNLAWFULLY appointed. Maybe she knew her appointment was unlawful when she accepted it and maybe not but within 24 hours I’ll guarantee you she did. And the reaction of career folks at the office drove home the point. Along the way while presenting the Comey case herself she may well have done things that will get her sanctioned and even disbarred. Ethical? Really. REALLY?
Halligan personally pushed two cases career prosecutors and even her own predecessor (he wrote a ‘declination t prosecute memo’, probably hoping explaining there was no “there” there would save his job) and botched them both. And as I’ve noted the law set forth in the Vacancies Act is clear. Her appointment (like Habbas) was illegal. Therefore any actions she signed off on were invalid from the start. The judges were right both on principle and the law and Bondi (and Trump too) was wrong. So when trying to do an end-round the judges flagged her for bullshit Bondi (and Blanche) lashed out although apparently with enough self-preservation streaks not to name names. However, we are learning who their targets are anyway:
The angry rebuke, posted on Monday by the DOJ, did not name the “certain judges” Bondi had complained about.
However, in the last few days, a number of judges in the region have told prosecutors in open court that they did not believe Halligan’s name should be on new criminal case filings, such as guilty plea documents and indictments.
Among them was Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick and U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff, both of whom have objected to Halligan’s ongoing work after federal judge Cameron McGowan Currie found last month that she was appointed illegally.
Therefore, according to Currie’s ruling, all actions taken after her appointment were unlawful.
Oh well. We have Trump and Bondi melting down on social media and it’s only late afternoon on the east coast. I saw a bit on the news earlier where ICE Barbie Kristi “Gnome” was directly asked about reports talk of Trump replacing her. She seemed to handle it okay in the moment but who knows what she and boyfriend on the side Corey Lewendowsky will cook up to post this evening? And then there’s Hegseth who despite his hopes still has his ordering a war crime still being a major news topic.
I always have agreed with the sentiment of no matter how bad things are they can always get worse. As bad as last week was for Trumpty Dumpty and several top minions they’re about to get a real life lesson n that saying. If today is any indication THIS week could well be worse.
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
I wonder how Bondi and Halligan could have thought that Trump would not destroy them? ETTD! Trump may be running out of blondes. Lawyers with a full set of critical thinking skills may not step up when Trump beckons.