Tag: grand jury

For Trump’s lawyers, legal exposure comes with the job

Posted on by Judith E. Ashton

A dark joke has begun circulating among lawyers following the many legal travails of former President Donald Trump: MAGA actually stands for “making attorneys get attorneys.”

Over six years and nine major investigations by Congress, the Justice Department and local prosecutors, as Trump has managed to avoid removal from the presidency and indictment, it has become clear that serving as one of his lawyers is a remarkably risky job — and one that can involve considerable legal exposure. Time after time, his attorneys have been asked to testify as witnesses to potential crimes — or come under scrutiny as possible criminal conspirators themselves.

While the consequences his lawyers faced were extraordinary when Trump was in the White House, the dangers have only intensified since he left office and have become increasing acute in recent weeks, as the former president has come under scrutiny in two different Justice Department investigations and has been forced yet again to find lawyers willing to represent him.

Last week, a Justice Department filing revealed that Trump’s lawyers had misled federal investigators about whether he had handed over to the Justice Department all the classified documents he took from the White House when he left office. That raised questions about whether the lawyers, M. Evan Corcoran and Christina Bobb, could be prosecuted themselves and might ultimately be forced to become witnesses against their client. (Bobb recently retained a lawyer, according to a person familiar with the situation.)

The revelation capped a summer in which a team of lawyers that had been advising Trump as he tried to overturn the 2020 election faced a range of repercussions across the country from federal investigators, local prosecutors, state bar associations and government accountability groups.

One of Trump’s highest-profile lawyers, Rudy Giuliani, was named as a target in a state

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Judge to consider unsealing Trump search affidavit as legal worries mount | Donald Trump

Posted on by Judith E. Ashton

A federal judge in Florida will hear arguments on Thursday over whether to make public an affidavit used to justify a search of Donald Trump’s Florida estate, as broadening legal disputes on multiple fronts intensify against the former president and his allies.

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In a 13-page filing on Monday, the justice department objected to efforts to unseal the document, arguing that doing so would “jeopardize the integrity of this national security investigation” into Trump’s handling of some of the government’s most closely held records after leaving the White House. The prosecutors said that the affidavit that gave the FBI probable cause to search Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort contained sensitive information about witnesses who are key and acknowledged that its investigation involved “highly classified material”.

Bruce Reinhart, the federal magistrate judge who signed off on the search warrant, will decide whether to publish the affidavit, which would provide more details about the investigation and the FBI’s search of Trump’s private residence. Trump and his allies, including some members of Congress, have also pushed for the release of the affidavit.

But the prosecutors said the affidavit should not be unsealed because that could reveal the scope of the investigation into Trump’s unauthorized retention of classified White House records.

“The affidavit would serve as a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course,” prosecutors wrote. They also argued that releasing the document could compromise the continuing investigation.

“Disclosure of the government’s affidavit at this stage would also likely chill future cooperation by witnesses whose assistance may be sought as this investigation progresses, as well as in other high-profile investigations,” prosecutors added.

Last week, Reinhart agreed to unseal the search warrant and a list of items

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Giuliani is the target of election probe, his lawyers are told

Posted on by Judith E. Ashton

In seeking Giuliani’s testimony, Willis identified him as both a personal attorney for Trump and a lead attorney for his campaign. She wrote that he and others appeared at a state Senate committee meeting and presented a video that Giuliani said showed election workers producing “suitcases” of unlawful ballots from unknown sources, outside the view of election poll watchers.

Within 24 hours of that Dec. 3, 2020, hearing, Raffensperger’s office had debunked the video. But Giuliani continued to make statements to the public and in subsequent legislative hearings claiming widespread voter fraud using the debunked video, Willis wrote.

Evidence shows that Giuliani’s hearing appearance and testimony were “part of a multi-state, coordinated plan by the Trump Campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere,” her petition says.

Two of the election workers seen in the video, Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, said they faced relentless harassment online and in person after it was shown at a Dec. 3 Georgia legislative hearing where Giuliani appeared. At another hearing a week later, Giuliani said the footage showed the women “surreptitiously passing around USB ports as if they are vials of heroin or cocaine.” They actually were passing a piece of candy.

Willis also wrote in a petition seeking the testimony of attorney Kenneth Chesebro that he worked with Giuliani to coordinate and carry out a plan to have Georgia Republicans serve as fake electors. Those 16 people signed a certificate declaring falsely that Trump had won the 2020 presidential election and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors even though Joe Biden had won the state and a slate of Democratic electors was certified.

All 16 of those fake electors have received letters saying they are targets of the investigation, Willis said

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Giuliani won’t testify Tuesday in Ga. election probe

Posted on by Judith E. Ashton

ATLANTA (AP) — Rudy Giuliani will not appear as scheduled Tuesday before a special grand jury in Atlanta that’s investigating whether former President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to interfere in the 2020 general election in Georgia, his lawyer said.

A judge last month had ordered Giuliani, a Trump lawyer and former New York City major, to appear before the special grand jury Tuesday.

But Giuliani’s attorney, Robert Costello, told The Associated Press on Monday that Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who’s overseeing the special grand jury, had excused Giuliani for the day.

Nothing in publicly available court documents indicates that Giuliani is excused from appearing, but McBurney has scheduled a hearing for 12:30 pm Tuesday to hear arguments on a court filing from Giuliani seeking to delay his appearance. In a court filing Monday, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis asked the judge to deny Giuliani’s request for a delay and to instruct him to appear before the special grand jury as ordered.

Willis opened an investigation early last year, and a special grand jury with subpoena power was seated in May at her request.

Last month she filed petitions seeking to complete testimony from seven Trump advisers and associates, including Giuliani. Because they don’t live in Georgia, she had to use a process that involves getting a judge in the state where they live to order them to appear.

New York Supreme Court Justice Thomas Farber on July 13 issued an order directing Giuliani to appear before the special grand jury on Aug. 9 and on any other dates ordered by the court in Atlanta.

Giuliani’s legal team last week asked Willis’ office to delay his appearance, saying he was unable to travel because of a medical procedure. That request was rejected after Willis’ team

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South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh expected to be indicted on murder charges in slayings of his wife, son

Posted on by Judith E. Ashton

A grand jury is expected to indict embattled South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh on murder charges in last year’s slayings of his wife and son, sources said Tuesday, the latest twist in the sprawling scandal engulfing a local legal dynasty.

According to three sources close to the investigation, the grand jury is expected to indict later this week on double murder charges and will announce the findings of the indictment shortly thereafter. The family has been notified about the indictment, and so has Murdaugh. Part of the indictment is based on new evidence.

Lawyers for Murdaugh could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh, 52, and the couple’s youngest son, Paul Murdaugh, 22, were found shot to death on the night of June 7, 2021, at their rural estate and hunting lodge in Colleton County, near Charleston. Murdaugh, 54, called 911 saying he had discovered the bodies of his wife and son.

Murdaugh has also been indicted on dozens of finance-related charges.

Paul, Margaret and Alex Murdaugh.
Paul, Margaret and Alex Murdaugh.via Facebook

In the wake of the deaths, state law enforcement officials said they uncovered a financial scheme involving Murdaugh that began to untangle when, in September, he told authorities that he had been randomly attacked in a roadside shooting near the family’s estate.

He survived, but the claim came under scrutiny, and days later authorities said Murdaugh had arranged for a man to kill him so another son, Buster Murdaugh, the older brother of Paul Murdaugh, could collect on a $10 million life insurance policy.

Maggie Murdaugh left her property to her husband before she and their son were mysteriously killed, according to a copy of her last will and testament.

The state’s highest court indefinitely suspended Alex Murdaugh’s law license last fall.

A state grand jury indicted

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