Federal judge denies request by Stormy Daniels' attorney for right to depose Donald Trump. Attorney does not see it as a setback.

Courtesy of CNN: 

A federal judge in California put a temporary stop Thursday to efforts by Stormy Daniels' attorney to depose President Donald Trump and his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen over a $130,000 payout from Cohen to the porn star before the 2016 election. 

Judge S. James Otero of the US District Court for the Central District of California denied the motion for an expedited trial and discovery process, saying Daniels' attorney, Michael Avenatti, was "premature" in making the motion because Trump and Essential Consultants LLC, the company established by Cohen to pay Daniels the $130,000 to keep quiet about an alleged affair between her and Trump, have not yet filed a petition to compel arbitration, which they have stated they're going to do. 

In his decision, Otero admonished the parties, writing that "instant litigation is not the most important matter on the court's docket." He also vacated a hearing date previously set for April 30. 

Avenatti told CNN's Wolf Blitzer later Thursday that he does not view the ruling as a setback and is intent on waiting for Trump and Cohen "to file their motion to compel arbitration" before "immediately (refiling) our motion." 

"This does not bode well for the President or Mr. Cohen, and all indications are that when this motion is heard on the merits, we're going to get the discovery and we're going to get the trial we've asked for," Avenatti said.

Avenatti may be right is suggesting that this is not really a setback.

I saw two attorneys talking about this on MSNBC and they said that this deposition is really not something that will become available until Trump's attorneys request arbitration, which they will surely do.

Once it reaches that stage, according to these two attorneys, it is almost a given that Avenatti will get the chance to request discovery and depose Donald Trump.

And according to a recent tweet from Avenatti he agrees with that assessment:

These passages in the Court's order do not bode well for the defendants and suggest that there is a strong likelihood that the Court will ultimately agree with our requests for discovery and a trial. They also destroy David Schwartz's claims that the motion was without merit. pic.twitter.com/D1DmGkku1E

— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) March 29, 2018

Which kind of makes me think that a smart attorney like Avenatti probably already knew that this request would get turned down, and is now simply trolling Trump using the legal system.

Trump attorney's push to move Stormy Daniels case to federal court and threaten to sue her for 20 million dollars.

Courtesy of CNN: 

Attorneys defending President Donald Trump and the company of his personal legal counsel, Michael Cohen, have filed to move the lawsuit against their clients by porn star Stormy Daniels to federal court and are claiming she could owe as much as $20 million for violating a nondisclosure agreement. 

The move marks the first time attorneys for Trump himself have joined the legal action in the Daniels matter. 

Attorney Charles Harder -- best known for representing Hulk Hogan in his lawsuit against Gawker, which resulted in its bankruptcy -- is handling the case on the President's behalf. 

They allege that Daniels as many as 20 times violated the confidentiality provisions of a settlement agreement in which Cohen paid the adult film actress $130,000 through a private LLC. 

In the court filing Friday, attorneys for Trump as well as Cohen's company, Essential Consultants, LLC, stated that "EC is aware of at least twenty (20) violations by Clifford of the confidentiality provisions of the Settlement Agreement." 

Daniels' real name is Stephanie Clifford.

Daniels' attorney quickly identified what the Trump lawyers were attempting here.

The filing today is yet another bullying tactic from the president and Mr. Cohen. They are now attempting to remove this case to federal ct in order to increase their chances that the matter will be decided in private arbitration, thus hiding the truth from the public.

— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) March 17, 2018

I am telling you this case is about far more than a consensual affair. After all we already know about that.

No, Trump is worried about something else getting out to the public, that is why his name is finally associated with this case and why he is spending big money on a famous, take no prisoners, attorney.

To me it appears that Trump is more frightened of Stormy Daniels than he is of Robert Mueller.

Trump team prepares to throw former security adviser Michael Flynn under the bus to undermine any testimony that might hurt The Donald.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

President Trump’s legal team plans to cast former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn as a liar seeking to protect himself if he accuses the president or his senior aides of any wrongdoing, according to three people familiar with the strategy. 

The approach would mark a sharp break from Trump’s previously sympathetic posture toward Flynn, whom he called a “wonderful man” when Flynn was ousted from the White House in February. Earlier this month, the president did not rule out a possible pardon for Flynn, who is cooperating with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. 

Attorneys for Trump and his top advisers have privately expressed confidence that Flynn does not have any evidence that could implicate the president or his White House team. But since Flynn’s cooperation agreement with prosecutors was made public earlier this month, the administration has been strategizing how to neutralize him in case the former national security adviser does make any claims. 

Flynn is the most senior former Trump adviser known to be providing information to Mueller’s team. The lenient terms of his plea agreement suggest he has promised significant information to investigators, legal experts said.

Trump’s legal team has seized on Flynn’s agreement with prosecutors as fodder for a possible defense, if necessary. In court filings, the retired lieutenant general admitted that he lied to the FBI about conversations he had with the Russian ambassador to the United States during the December 2016 transition. 

“He’s said it himself: He’s a liar,” said one person helping craft the strategy who was granted anonymity to describe private conversations.

You may remember that Trump asked James Comey to back off of the Flynn investigation, and then fired him when he did not comply, which suggests that he has long feared what Flynn might reveal. 

This such an obvious and transparent attempt to discredit Michael Flynn that you would think Trump's attorneys would avoid it like the plague.

But the fact that this is where they feel they have the best hope of launching a defense speaks to their level of desperation.

What we gleaned from the voter recount. Michigan's voting system is FUBAR.

This is the first hand account from a man who participated in the recount.

See if you can pick out any nuance to suggest how afraid of this recount the Trump folks were.

Courtesy of Medium: 

On December 7, 2016, I volunteered as an observer with Recount Michigan 2016. I showed up at 9:00am sharp in the heart of Detroit, in heavily democratic Wayne County, Michigan. 

It was a bloodbath. 

I did not count a single vote during my entire first four-hour shift. 

Trump’s legal team was there in force, circling the room like sharks. They were challenging everything, gumming up the works and disqualifying whole precincts. I was only aware of a single Green Party attorney plus one law student in my (large) room. Many challenges had one or more Trump lawyers speaking with election officials, and no legal advocate present for the other side; they were simply outnumbered and outgunned. 

Every recount table had 1–2 Trump observers present, each one holding written scripts to challenge every single precinct, regardless of the facts.

At the end of his post Mr. Sharp wonders if this same scenario played out in other places in Michigan. I think that is a fairly safe assumption.

But if Trump won by the "landslide" that he claims to have won by why would they be so nervous?

Perhaps this is why?

Courtesy of News One:

According to officials, over 80 machines were deemed faulty on November 8 which may have caused electronic vote tallies to be off in over half of the precincts in Detroit as well as one-third of the precincts in Wayne County. The elections director for the city of Detroit, Daniel Baxter, says that the issue could have a problematic impact on a recount. “It’s not good,” he told the Detroit News. “It’s a challenge, but we’re confident the ballots will match. I don’t think it’s going to be 100 percent, but it never is with a recount.” He claims that many of the voting machines were over 10-years-old. 

In Detroit, where African-Americans make up 82 percent of the population, the number of ballots in the precinct poll books didn’t align with the voting machine reports in 59 percent of the city’s precincts. 

Since Clinton received the lion’s share of support from Black voters–88 percent compared to Trump’s 8 percent–questions arise about how he won the state.

So could it be that the Trump campaign KNOWS that there is some hinky shit happening with those voting machines in Michigan, and perhaps even took advantage of that, and are now seriously concerned  that too much scrutiny will bring that to the attention of the public?

Well that would explain all of those expensive lawyers. 

And sadly now thanks to a federal judge we will never know if the Michigan votes were accurately tallied or not.

But I know what I think.

Here is how one online publication responded to orders from Trump attorneys to redact a story about Melania Trump being a sex worker.

I cannot believe people says such terrible things. What about me makes people think I would have sex for money?

Courtesy of Liberal America: 

Just so we’re being completely transparent here, you should know this: 

This is being written under duress because I don’t have enough money to fight a legal battle against the Trump machine. Yesterday, I wrote a story based on Melania Trump allegedly having been an escort or paid sex worker when she arrived in New York. A few hours later, the owner of Liberal America received an email threatening us with legal action if we didn’t do as the Trump attorneys instructed — remove the “false statements.” So this is my apology. 

First of all, I’m very very sorry that I wrote an article about the past of Melania Trump. I got my information from reputable sources and reported on what was being reported there, but apparently that isn’t good enough to pass muster in the version of American freedom of the press envisioned by Mr. Trump and his team of legal vultures. 

Additionally, I’m also sorry that the personal image of the wannabe first lady is so insecure that she feels the need to send her legal hell-hounds chasing after small, independent journalists such as me. I had no idea I was such a threat to the Trump campaign or family. Imagine my surprise.

The author goes to report on a number of other things he is sorry about , most of the tongue in cheek, before getting to the actual "apology":  

Specifically, based on the email from the Beverly Hills law firm being used by the Trumps for this harassment, I was ordered to remove specific statements from the article I wrote, the exact information that is on the website of my source, The Daily Mail: 

1. “Melania Trump Was A Sex Worker After Moving To United States” 
2. “Melania Trump, the current wife of the GOP nominee for the White House, worked as an escort shortly after she first moved to the United States and was a favorite of rich men such as her current husband.” 
3. “On the one hand, they [the girls] pretended to be models, but they principally earned money as elite escorts. They even had two composite cards (presentation cards held by each model) — with two photos and basic information such as measurements, eye and hair color, and agency details.” 
4. “The second card…listed whether or not the woman liked older men and what her sexual skills in the bedroom were.” 
5. “The modeling agency Melania signed with after arriving in New York was owned by Paolo Zampolli, who allegedly used the agency as a front for an escort service.” 

According to the Trump attorneys, those statements are lies and this is the truth: 

The true facts are as follows: Mrs. Trump never worked as an escort or sex worker, nor did she ever have a composite or presentation card for the sex business. Mrs. Trump had a single composite card – for modeling. Paolo Zampolli, Mrs. Trump’s former modeling agent, has vehemently and publicly denied allegations that he operated a sex business.

Well there you go then, that's all straightened out. 

As you may have noticed I never jumped onto the whole "Melania Trump was a sex worker" bandwagon.

To be honest I felt it was a little poorly sourced, and was waiting for more confirmation.

However I DID write several posts about allegations that Trump raped a 12 year old girl. (You can one of them here, and another one here.)

Oddly enough neither I nor the publications I linked to received any order from Trump's attorneys to cease and desist or retract our posts.

So really the only thing that one can surmise by these events is that Melania Trump has NEVER been a sex worker, but Donald Trump did indeed rape a 12 year old girl and sexually harass several other women.

Well, I'm glad we have THAT cleared up.

Let's take a deeper look into this most recent SarahPAC disclosure shall we?

The big numbers as I mentioned yesterday is that SarahPAC started the reporting period with $565,830.22 cash on hand.

During the six months they brought in an additional $457,469.52.

Spent $642,326.57.

And ended up with $380,963.17.

Which of course means that Palin spent $180,859.05 MORE than they brought in.

And that means that the PAC is, for all intents and purposes, on its last legs.

Now let's take a deeper dive and see what we might see.

Bristol Palin is now pleading poverty. Yeah, who did not see this coming? Update!

Courtesy of Radar Online:  

Nearly six years after Bristol Palin gave birth to Tripp, her son withLevi Johnston, the perpetually warring Wasilla, AK, pair are still hashing out the details of their custody and child support agreements in court. And while their enmity is nothing new, RadarOnline.com has learned that Palin could need Johnston to pay up more than ever — because according to court documents, she hasn’t made a penny for nearly two years! 

Documents filed with the court on July 24 show Palin made $0 in both 2013 and the 2014 tax year so far. By contrast, Johnston made $62,400 in 2014 and $39,067.25 the year before, according to the documents. 

Palin recently filed what Johnston’s lawyers called “an extraordinarily large motion seeking entry of a judgment as to past due child support from Johnston” to help pay her bills. In particular, she has requested a judgment “from October 1, 2012, forward, at the monthly rate of $1,750.” 

Both sides are arguing about the validity of temporary child support agreements they’ve had in the past, what Johnston’s real income is, and just how much he’s in arrears, with some alleged totals as high as $66,000. In the meantime, the Child Support Services Department is garnishing 40% of his current wages towards the payments. 

Johnston, 24, said in an affidavit, “the amount is very taxing on my family, and if Bristol were to obtain a judgment, my wage garnishment is already at a cap of 40%.”

Dammit this is why you do not agree to a delay in the court date.

This kind of crap is going to keep right on happening right up until they go to court in September,. and I think it becoming crystal clear that Bristol has no plans to settle on a custody agreement.

And I think we can say with some certainly that Bristol is being paid under the table by SarahPAC in postage, for helping her mother battle her wig into submission, and of course for keeping her mouth shut.

And we already know her net worth.

They are just trying to bankrupt the Johnston's until they can no longer pay for representation and then the Palins get their way yet again.

Fuck this family.

Update: It looks like Radar Online did not get the facts exactly right.

This according to E Online: 

"Bristol makes a good living, albeit not as much as when she had a more public profile. Because she has greater than 70 percent physical custody, her income is not used in the calculation of child support. The motion for past due support was not filed because Bristol is broke, it was filed because the parties are moving toward resolution. Part of the resolution of any custody case requires that past child support obligations and arrearages must be appropriately calculated."

So as long as Bristol is able to keep Levi's time with Tripp below 30% of the time she does not have to volunteer her income.

Interesting, no?

Update 2:  By the way according to the documents there is no standing child support order with the courts right now as the 2009 case was dismissed. Which means that Levi does not have to pay Bristol anything until this case is resolved, and if he gets 50/50 there is a strong likelihood she will end up having to pay him.

That's what happened in my case at least. 

However Levi HAS been making payments, and has the cancelled checks to prove it, so all of this talk of him being a dead beat dad are crap.

Finally a tabloid reports the Levi Johnston/Bristol Palin custody situation accurately. Well almost.

Courtesy of Facebook

Courtesy of TMZ:

Levi Johnston is sick of Bristol Palin treating him like he doesn't exist -- claiming she's been traveling around the country with their son Tripp ... and he wants her held in contempt. 

Levi just filed legal docs -- obtained by TMZ -- asking the judge to order Bristol ... who's currently going to school in Arizona .. to return their son to Alaska STAT. 

Levi claims Bristol up and took Tripp to Arizona in January -- and all he got was a text. 

During their custody battle, Levi claims both parents were ordered to keep Tripp in Alaska unless they both agreed he could travel. 

Sources close to Bristol tell us, Levi's just trying to start drama because she called him out last year for not paying child support -- he's known all along Bristol goes to school in Arizona. And, she says Levi never sees the kid anyway ... so his whining is ridiculous. 

So now you know why Levi's attorney filed a motion holding Bristol in contempt. She was NOT allowed to take Tripp out of state without prior agreement, and she did anyway.

And she tells him with a text?

Of course as we all know the Palins don't believe the rules apply to them anyway. We have seen that time and time again.

And by the way those "sources close to Bristol," (Hi Sarah!) are dead wrong about the child support payments.

I have been told by a little bird that he has cancelled checks that demonstrate that he has paid a significant amount of that child support, including the amount in arrears, and that this information is now with CSSD.

And as for him not seeing Tripp very often, that is all about Bristol denying him visitation.  Once again Levi asks all the time and either she refuses to respond or he is given some bull shit excuse about Tripp not being available.

This is good that Levi's side is getting out there, especially after the National Enquirer claimed that the custody case was closed.

What Bristol and Sarah want is for there not to be any publicity so that they can screw Levi over, or quietly fight him in court until he is drained of resources, without anybody in the press getting wind of it.

And something that the press really needs to realize is that if they check Court View they will see that Bristol is being represented by her mother's lawyer, John J Tiemessen, whose retainer is paid by SarahPAC.

That means that while Levi scrapes together enough money to pay a lawyer up here in Alaska, while also struggling to feed his family on an electrician's paycheck, Bristol simply sits on her ass in her mother's big house in Arizona and lets the idiots that donate to her mother's PAC help her to keep Tripp away from his father.

Former Sarah Palin adviser hired by U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops as their spokesperson. WTF?

Courtesy of Patheos:  

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops welcomes Kim Daniels on board as spokesperson for the president of the USCCB, Cardinal Timothy Dolan. 

Daniels brings to the USCCB her experience as director of Catholic Voices USA, an organization of lay Catholics that works to bring the positive message of the Church across a broad range of issues to the public square. She is also an attorney whose practice has focused on religious liberty matters. Daniels and her husband have six children and are active members of their parish in the Archdiocese of Washington. She is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Chicago Law School. 

Who is Kim Daniels, you might ask? Well SHE is the person who once gave Sarah Palin daily briefings. You know, to make her seem less like...like..well like Sarah Palin. (We talked about Daniels on IM back in 2010 and that can be found here.)

Paid $21,000 by Palin’s PAC in the second half of 2009, Daniels is a Maryland attorney who, according to the Times, prepares a daily briefing for Palin. 

Daniels has been identified as an attorney with the Thomas More Law Center, a conservative legal group that aims to be “the sword and shield for people of faith.” The firm is “dedicated to the defense and promotion of the religious freedom of Christians, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life.” 

Politico describes Daniels as an expert in health care “rights of conscience” issues. She has testified around the country opposing efforts to make the morning-after pill available at drug stores and regulate pro-life pregnancy centers. Daniels is now Palin’s personal domestic policy czar.

Okay what in the hell did Palin need a "domestic policy czar" for? And this person gave Palin "daily briefings?" And even with that Palin said all of those completely ridiculous things in 2010?

Well THERE was money well spent! The Palin-bots might just as well have piled it all up in their front yards and put a torch to it.

Same result.

Which makes me also wonder just what in the hell this Conference of Catholic Bishops is thinking? I'm prejudice of course, but I would think that for almost ANYBODY reading that a potential spokesperson once worked for one of the most ignorant people on the planet, as her "domestic policy czar," that it would be the last thing they read before filing the resume under "Oh Hell No!"

However if the Palin-curse holds true this might signal the slow painful demise of the USCCB. Oh bummer, what will do with one less Catholic organization fighting against birth control and suppressing the fundamental rights of women in this country?

Cease and Desist order from the attorney representing Frank Bailey, Ken Morris, and Jeanne Devon.

Dear Sir:

I write on behalf of Ken Morris, Frank Bailey and Jeanne Devon (collectively, the “Copyright Owners”). The Copyright Owners are co-owners of the copyright in the unpublished manuscript entitled “Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of our Tumultuous Years” (the “Work”).

Between February 16, 2011 and February 19, 2011 you were the recipient of an unlawfully distributed version of the Work. The Copyright Owners kindly request that you do not violate US copyright law by distributing, coping, reproducing or displaying any portion of the Work. The Copyright Owners are currently assessing their legal position with regards to those parties that violated the copyright in the Work. In an effort to assist the Copyright Owners, we kindly request that you provide exact details as to how you obtained unlawfully distributed copies of the Work and which parties (including names and contact information) sent you the Work

This letter is not intended as, and may not be construed to be, a complete recitation of the facts or circumstances connected with this matter. Furthermore, any statement contained in this letter is not intended as, and may not be construed to be, a waiver or relinquishment of any of the Copyright Owners’ rights or remedies under law, all of which the Copyright Owners hereby expressly reserve.

Please feel free to contact me at (310) 776-0865 or via email at deansteinbeck@bsalawfirm.com to discuss this matter further.
Sincerely,
Dean M. Steinbeck
----
Dean M. Steinbeck
Bonfante Steinbeck
A Professional Law Corporation
http://www.bsalawfirm.com/


I knew this was on its way and personally I am glad that it has arrived.

This has been sent to ALL of us who, without authorization from the owners of the copyright, received this manuscript in our e-mail boxes on Friday.

I have already told you that I planned to comply with the wishes of the authors to NOT disseminate important facts from this manuscript, and except for letting you know that there is nothing relevant about babygate I have kept that word. (By the way I am not considered out of compliance with this Cease and Desist order.)

However as you know there are a number of news sites and blogs that have been putting out large portions of the manuscript without authorization, who WILL be facing some serious repercussions if they continue.

Look believe me when I say I completely understand the desire to read and discuss what is in this wonderful book-to-be, but ALL of us who want to get the truth about Sarah Palin out into the mainstream have to help protect this intellectual property. What is contained in these pages simply MUST make it into the bookstores.

So if you know of a blog, website, or forum that has post a portion or ALL of the manuscript please notify Mr. Steinbeck and let him know.

P.S. I will NOT be providing the name of the person who sent me the manuscript to this attorney.  In all other ways I will be compliant. But you know me, a source is always to be protected.