#evan corcoran

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Special counsel Jack Smith's team has obtained lawyer notes showing that former President Donald Trump was warned that he could not keep any classified documents in response to a subpoena he failed to comply with last year, according to The Guardian.

Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran, who was ordered to testify before a grand jury by a judge after prosecutors pierced his attorney-client privilege claims, conveyed the previously unreported warning to the former president last year, according to the report. The warning "could be significant" in Smith's probe because it shows that he was aware of his subpoena obligations, according to the report.

"Trump knew. He's always known," tweeted MSNBC legal analyst Katie Phang.

The warning was included in about 50 pages of contemporaneous notes written by Corcoran.

Corcoran in June found about 40 classified documents in a Mar-a-Lago storage room. He met with Justice Department investigators and later drafted a letter affirming that no other materials were at the property. But the FBI later found about 100 more classified documents while executing a court-authorized warrant in August.

Prosecutors are investigating whether Trump intentionally sought to obstruct the subpoena. They have particularly "fixated" on Trump valet Walt Nauta, who told prosecutors that Trump personally told him to move boxes out of the storage room before and after the subpoena was issued.

Corcoran's notes "revealed how Trump and Nauta had unusually detailed knowledge of the botched subpoena response, including where Corcoran intended to search and not search for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, as well as when Corcoran was actually doing his search," according to The Guardian's Hugo Lowell.

Though prosecutors are typically barred from reviewing attorney notes, Corcoran's attorney-client privilege claims were pierced after a judge agreed with prosecutors that Trump may have used Corcoran's legal services to further a crime.

The notes described how Corcoran told Nauta about the subpoena ahead of the search because he needed him to unlock the storage room, which prosecutors have taken a sign that the aide was closely involved in the search, according to the report. Corcoran also wrote that Nauta offered to help him go through the boxes, though the attorney declined.

Corcoran's notes also revealed that the search took several days and there were times when the storage room may have been left unattended during the search, according to the report.

Prosecutors would need to show that Trump instructed Nauta to remove boxes he expressly knew included classified documents covered by a subpoena with the intention of hiding them from his attorney's search, the report noted.

Trump's attorneys have argued that the subpoena response is incomplete because Corcoran was not as thorough as he should have been because he delayed the search and did not realize how many boxes were in the storage room.

The DOJ interviewed Nauta last year and believed that he was not forthcoming about his account of moving the boxes. Prosecutors threatened to charge Nauta with lying to the FBI after he gave contradictory answers but Nauta stopped cooperating with prosecutors after his lawyer demanded an immunity deal. Prosecutors have since asked other witnesses about what Nauta did with the boxes, according to the report.

"This is nothing more than a targeted, politically motivated witch-hunt against President Trump that is concocted to meddle in an election and prevent the American people from returning him to the White House," a Trump spokesperson told The Guardian.

MSNBC host Mike Brzezinski interviewed Lowell about his report, noting that "every time I read into this, I'm just shocked at the stupidity of those, honestly, of former President Trump, moving documents in and out of his office before and after the subpoena, and I guess having people do it for him."

Lowell explained that the previously unreported warning is a "problem for the former president."

"And it becomes a problem for his legal team and there's a whole bunch of other stuff in the notes about how the valet had unusually detailed knowledge about where the lawyer was conducting his searches for classified documents," he told MSNBC, "and I think the special counsel's office is looking at this as the core, the heart of the obstruction investigation."

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Robert Faturechi, Justin Elliott, and Alex Mierjeski at ProPublica:

Nine witnesses in the criminal cases against former President Donald Trump have received significant financial benefits, including large raises from his campaign, severance packages, new jobs, and a grant of shares and cash from Trump’s media company. The benefits have flowed from Trump’s businesses and campaign committees, according to a ProPublica analysis of public disclosures, court records and securities filings. One campaign aide had his average monthly pay double, from $26,000 to $53,500. Another employee got a $2 million severance package barring him from voluntarily cooperating with law enforcement. And one of the campaign’s top officials had her daughter hired onto the campaign staff, where she is now the fourth-highest-paid employee. These pay increases and other benefits often came at delicate moments in the legal proceedings against Trump. One aide who was given a plum position on the board of Trump’s social media company, for example, got the seat after he was subpoenaed but before he testified.

Significant changes to a staffer’s work situation, such as bonuses, pay raises, firings or promotions, can be evidence of a crime if they come outside the normal course of business. To prove witness tampering, prosecutors would need to show that perks or punishments were intended to influence testimony. White-collar defense lawyers say the situation Trump finds himself in — in the dual role of defendant and boss of many of the people who are the primary witnesses to his alleged crimes — is not uncommon. Their standard advice is not to provide any unusual benefits or penalties to such employees. Ideally, decisions about employees slated to give evidence should be made by an independent body such as a board, not the boss who is under investigation. In addition to the New York case in which Trump was convicted last week, stemming from hidden payments to a porn star, Trump is facing separate charges federally and in Georgia for election interference and in another federal case for mishandling classified documents.

Attempts to exert undue influence on witnesses have been a repeated theme of Trump-related investigations and criminal cases over the years. Trump’s former campaign manager and former campaign adviser were convicted on federal witness tampering charges in 2018 and 2019. The campaign adviser had told a witness to “do a ‘Frank Pentangeli,’” referencing a character in “The Godfather Part II” who lies to a Senate committee investigating organized crime. Trump later pardoned both men in the waning days of his presidency. (He did not pardon a co-defendant of the campaign manager who had cooperated with the government.) During the congressional investigation into the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a former White House staffer testified that she got a call from a colleague the night before an interview with investigators. The colleague told her Trump’s chief of staff “wants me to let you know that he knows you’re loyal and he knows you’ll do the right thing tomorrow and that you’re going to protect him and the boss.” (A spokesperson for the chief of staff denied that he tried to influence testimony.)

Last year, Trump himself publicly discouraged a witness from testifying in the Georgia case. Trump posted on social media that he had read about a Georgia politician who “will be testifying before the Fulton County Grand Jury. He shouldn’t.” One witness has said publicly that, when he quit working for Trump in the midst of the classified documents criminal investigation, he was offered golf tournament tickets, a lawyer paid for by Trump and a new job that would have come with a raise. The witness, a valet and manager at Mar-a-Lago, had direct knowledge of the handling of the government documents at the club, the focus of one of the criminal cases against the former president. “I’m sure the boss would love to see you,” the employee, Brian Butler, recalled Trump’s property manager telling him. (The episode was first reported by CNN.) In an interview with ProPublica, Butler, who declined the offers, said he looked at them “innocently for a while.” But when he added up the benefits plus the timing, he thought “it could be them trying to get me back in the circle.”

ProPublica with some hard-hitting journalism here, as 9 witnesses in Donald Trump’s multiple criminal cases have received significant financial benefits from both his campaign and his businesses.

See Also:

MMFA: National news media are glossing over Trump’s “shady” financial benefits to witnesses

[nodynasty4us]

Special Counsel Jack Smith is currently in pursuit of Trump attorney Evan Corcoran. Smith and his team believe that Corcoran is in possession of information that the feds need, and that has been withheld under the umbrella of attorney-client privilege. ... One circumstances in which privilege does not apply is if the attorney participated in furtherance of a crime. So, that is precisely what Smith argued in a court filing yesterday, that Corcoran is helping Trump to commit a crime.

Electoral-vote.com

[uboat53]

Okay, I'm sure most of you missed it in the news of Donald Trump's indictment, but can we take a second to talk about Evan Corcoran?

For those who don't know, "Attorney 1" in the Trump indictment is Evan Corcoran. We know even though they didn't give us his name because they describe him doing the search of Mar-a-Lago and, well, we know that Evan Corcoran did that.

Evan Corcoran, Attorney 1, is all over the indictment because the Department of Justice was able to access his notes, and the notes make fairly clear that the fact that all the classified documents were not found by his search on June 2nd, 2022, was not because he lied to the FBI, but because Trump lied to him.

In other words, Mr. Corcoran has done what no other lawyer before him has. He's managed to set things up so that, instead of taking the fall for Trump, he's stitched Trump up instead. Kudos good sir.

[ivovynckier]

The Donald's lawyers will do this and that... Will they get paid is what I want to know. Rudy G.'s still waiting for his dough.

[adankrivervalleynearyou]

glee textposts pt. 7

texts w me and my friends edition

(credit to quest for the batman one)

[1mlostnow]

BIRD LORE

Stevie ‘Bird’ Corcoran was born to Lillian and David on November 2nd, 1978. He grew up in a three bedroom apartment with his two brothers and two sisters in Seattle, Washington.

Physical description-> stevie is blonde with wavy hair that he wears in a mullet. He’s got hazel eyes, he’s 5’10, he’s got snakebite piercings, and a scar covering the left side of his face.

Backstory -> TW SH/SA/Neglect/Abuse -> Stevie’s mother, Lillian, left after the twin girls, Emma and Lilly (1985), were born. Their financial situation was already bad, but David completely denied their struggles and continued to spend like it was nothing. This forced the two eldest, Mikey (1976) and Stevie, to have to steal food for their other siblings. Danny (1979) was usually in charge of watching the twins. When they were old enough to stay home on their own, because there was no way David would be trusted to watch them (he acted like a teenager, he’d have his loud friends over until late hours watching football and playing poker). When they could stay on their own, Mikey and Stevie brought Danny on one of their ‘shopping trips’ but he tripped and fell, getting the three of them caught. Stevie stayed behind and took the fall while his brothers ran, and he was taken in by police (he was 17). David picked him up and kicked him out of the apartment. He moved in with Gabi and her parents for the remainder of his senior year of high school. During this stage of his life he was incredibly depressed and used sh to cope. This would go on for a while, even as he worked at PPTH. He had earned enough in scholarships and outside work that he was able to entirely afford to earn his bachelors and PhD at University of Washington, where he got…fruity…with his roomate, who dropped out after two months. -> During his time there, he met Lauren at a bar one night. He was drunk, feeling a hell of a lot of internalized homophobia, and decided to go home with her to “fix himself”. He changed his mind when they got there but she wouldn’t listen and he could hardly stand on his own. So he let her do whatever. She became pregnant with Anna, and they got married, because that’s how he was raised. -> Lauren and 4 year old Anna attended Stevie’s final graduation where he earned his PhD, and he informed her that he wanted a divorce. As soon as that went through, he moved to New Jersey. He got a job at PPTH in the forensics department, and he was informed on his first day that the department head had quit, moving him up to the position. -> Gabi moved up there soon after and they moved into a duplex together. He wasn’t in much contact with any of his siblings besides Mikey, but he occasionally gets Christmas cards from the others.

Workplace relationships and dynamics (still editing) ->

Emilie -> they have breakfast 😋😋

Cosmo -> acquaintances, they bring each other food

Syd -> Cousins :D

Hen -> like surrogate father type thing

Teagan -> yappers 😮‍💨

Reina -> she and Anna are besties

Ev -> boyfriends 😝

Flux -> they’re friends :) flux has been trying to tell him for years that he’s probably bi at the least.

I think he’s also close with Danny, Bruce, and Andy, and they’re what he’d consider his friend group. Also—zombiebusters!

This will be edited!! Also lmk if there’s typos 😝 or if sm doesn’t make sense

[gleetournaments]

The Ultimate Glee Ship Tournament: Round 1 Match 1

[posttexasstressdisorder]

Gift link.

[gleesongtournament]

Glee Song Tournament Redemption Round

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Appearing on MSNBC's "The Katie Phang Show," Guardian reporter Hugo Lowell claimed Donald Trump might have avoided being hit with violations of the Espionage Act if it had not been reported that he shared highly sensitive government documents with friends at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

According to Lowell, who has been reporting that the documents may have been hidden from Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran, a new report that Trump left documents laying about and might have shown them to others makes it more likely he'll face more severe charges if that is true.

"The Washington Post reported this week about how prosecutors seem to have evidence that Trump was showing highly sensitive documents to other people," Lowell began. "That's really interesting because that's the kind of aggravating move that a prosecutor looks for when they're trying to prosecute Section 93e of Title 18 which is the Espionage Act."

"There's two parts," he continued. "The first part is willful retention. Willful retention alone is very rarely charged, and I think in the case with the former president, with prosecutors, that was the only thing they might consider not charging."

"But if they have evidence that Trump was showing people and they have the second part of that clause, which is willful transmission and dissemination, that changes the game entirely," he added. "That is the sort of thing that they would charge. That is really concrete evidence that Trump has a lot of problems."

Watch below or at the link:

[theladwhoisweird]

41 years ago, at the night of October 31, 1981.

[nobleflowerr]

The Death Eaters as the Secret History characters.

Obviously Professor Julien is Voldemort. The teacher leading an elite group of students, handpicked and solely under his guiding influence. He’s judged by those outside of his group but wholly worshipped by those in his inner circle. He has a reputation for being unusual and somewhat of a nuisance but no one is willing to stand up to him.

Regulus Black might seem like the obvious choice for Henry Winter but it’s actually Barty Crouch Jr. Barty, who’s always had something to prove. Barty, who was always too smart for his own good. Barty, who, for better or worse, was always going to be someone. Barty came from power and money and this life was the one he chose for himself. He finds in Lord Riddle the father figure he lacked in his own life, and in return he was the dark lord’s golden child, his prodigy. He’s calculated, every action has a reason.

Francis Abernathy is Evan Rosier, a born follower. Never the the brightest of the bunch and yet never the dullest either. While he’s definitely a part of the group, he is exceptionally average. There were more before his time, and there will be more to replace him when he is gone.

The McCauley twins are the Black sisters, Camilla being Narcissa and Charles being Bellatrix. Bella, who’s known for a twisted sense of cruelness and generations worth of anger boiling in her veins. She is undeniably smart and more than willing to participate. Narcissa is her opposite, her balance. Where Bella is unreliable chaos, Cissy is quiet coolness. She’s seen as the innocent, helpless maiden and this underestimation is her greatest weapon. While she may often seem a victim caught up in everything, it’s clear how tightly her strings are woven into the fate of the others.

Bunny Corcoran belongs to Peter Pettigrew. Peter, who’s kept in the dark. Peter, who’s not a player but a pawn. Peter, who’s only around until his usefulness runs out. Peter, who is, at heart, a coward.

And finally, Richard Papen is Severus Snape. Severus, whose jealousy runs deeper than his hatred. Severus, who knows what it is to want. He’s accepted into a group of the wealthy elite, and it’s shockingly clear how much he doesn’t belong. Richard Papen is an unreliable narrator, prone to weaving a web of lies and Severus, too, is willing to say whatever it takes to get him what he wants. He’s so wrapped up in deceit that not even he can tell his own place in the group.

[ridenwithbiden]

On Friday, Kenneth Chesebro pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to file false documents in the Fulton County 2020 election conspiracy case, becoming the second high-level Donald Trump co-defendant to become a state’s witness in two days. Chesebro received an especially lenient sentence of five years’ probation, a small financial penalty, and 100 hours of community service.

With the guilty plea and cooperation deal Georgia prosecutors struck on Thursday with Team Trump attorney Sidney Powell, Chesebro’s plea deal should be viewed as an earthquake in the case against Trump. Given Powell’s close proximity to the former president and his legal advisers at crucial times in his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, her testimony will be particularly devastating not only as to defendant Trump, but to co-defendants Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman.

Chesebro’s testimony, meanwhile, implicates one of the key portions of the conspiracy both in Georgia and in the federal Jan. 6 case against Trump, specifically the efforts to create a slate of “false electors” to use during the Jan. 6 electoral count to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Now that both Chesebro and Powell are cooperating witnesses, the pressure on Giuliani and Eastman to plead and cooperate is exponentially higher.

That the significant cooperation under discussion involves four of Trump’s attorneys underscores the reality that the former president’s regularly touted defense that he was relying on the good-faith guidance of his attorneys during the attempted coup was, and is, nothing more than self-serving fantasy. In the courtroom—as compared with on television or in social media—he has never had the ability to offer that defense.

In court, the advice of counsel “affirmative defense” requires a defendant to prove two things: First, that he relied in good faith on his lawyer’s advice that the conduct in question at trial was legal, and second, that he made a full disclosure of all relevant facts to the attorney before receiving that advice.

Based on my four decades in the courtroom as both federal prosecutor and defense attorney, I can report that the assertion of the attorney-client privilege by a criminal defendant at trial is a black swan event—effective only with the consistent, overlapping trial testimony of both the attorney and the defendant, and the admission into evidence of any documents reflecting the communications or advice they testified about.

Putting aside the substantial evidence that Trump was warned by numerous White House lawyers that his efforts to overturn the 2020 election were in violation of the law, how does Trump establish the advice of counsel defense at trial?

As I have observed in prior articles, he is certainly not able to testify on his own behalf. There are surely no memos to the file, emails, or letters to the client evidencing such advice in writing. Finally in this regard, what lawyer is willing to testify he or she advised Trump it was, for example, lawful for him to ask the Georgia secretary of state to “find” enough votes for him to win that state?

Long before the Powell and Chesebro deals were announced, the absurdity of expecting any Trump attorney’s testimony to be anything but harmful to his cause was made crystal clear by Michael Cohen. More recently, when Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran was forced to testify against the former president based on the “crime fraud” exception to the attorney-client privilege, the testimony he gave and the internal memos he was compelled to produce, proved not to be shields for the former president, but swords to be wielded against him—as it is with Powell and Chesebro, and so it will be with others.

After all, what can you expect when your standard for choosing at least some of your lawyers is their willingness to turn a blind eye to whatever your weak ego and malicious intentions require?

In sum, while Georgia and DOJ attorneys have each received great potential benefits from the Powell and Chesebro deals, it was in no way structured to protect against a defense they know Trump cannot employ.

Finally, speaking of structure, the great deals Powell and Chesebro struck, getting probation while facing up to 20 years in jail on a RICO conviction, are certainly a blessing for them—they even get to finally tell the truth.

But District Attorney Fani Willis’ seeming generosity is a sign of shrewd judgment, not weakness.

Prosecutors have both the carrot and the stick to get what they want, and the two deals Willis just made were large carrots, signaling to the other defendants that she is someone they can deal with, and that there are potentially acceptable pathways out of the mess they are in. At the same time, she has just made her case against other, more significant defendants meaningfully stronger and her stick that much larger.

Of course, Willis is a long way from where she needs to be, but those who had originally feared she had overindicted the 19-defendant RICO case might now be a little less concerned and a little more impressed.