Back to Trump's Keystone Lawyers
Nov 22, 2020 22:55:53 #
Zach Montague and Alan Feuer
Sun, November 22, 2020, 9:25 AM MST·6 min read
Maybe it's not so much they are like Trump and blind i***ts, it is probably because the whole effort is a farce from top to bottom.
Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump's adviser and personal lawyer, at a news conference in Washington where he made many false claims about the e******n, Nov. 19, 2020. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times)
In a chaotic effort to overturn the e******n results, President Donald Trump and lawyers representing his campaign have spent weeks claiming without convincing proof that rampant v***r f***d corrupted v**e tallies in many battleground states.
But their lawsuits challenging the outcome have repeatedly broken down because of defective filings, sloppy paperwork, dubious claims by witnesses and lawyers who have admitted in court that they were not alleging fraud.
Here are some of the more embarrassing moments.
Arizona
Days after the e******n, lawyers for the Trump campaign brought a lawsuit in Maricopa County claiming, in part, that some number of Republican v**ers used Sharpies to mark their b****ts, rendering them unreadable by v****g machines and leading to uncounted v**es.
The complaint also included affidavits from several v**ers and poll watchers who said that poll workers had capitalized on the confusion to nullify v**es for Trump.
But in a hearing on Nov. 12, Kory Langhofer, a lawyer for the Trump campaign, conceded that the complaint was not based on evidence of v***r f***d but rather on a “limited number of cases” of “good-faith errors” in the count.
“This is not a fraud case,” Langhofer said. “We are not alleging fraud. We are not saying anyone is trying to steal the e******n.”
Under questioning, witnesses repeatedly stated that they did not have any reason to believe that their b****ts or those of other v**ers were not counted.
Later in the hearing, Daniel Arellano, the Arizona Democratic Party’s counsel, directed questions to Zack Alcyone, one of the witnesses, who admitted that he was a business partner of Langhofer’s.
Asked if he was being paid to testify in the case, Alcyone said he was uncertain.
“Um, not that I know of, I haven’t discussed it,” he said.
“But you may be?” Arellano asked.
“It’s possible, I guess, I’m not sure,” Alcyone said.
Georgia
A federal lawsuit brought by conservative lawyer L. Lin Wood Jr. sought to halt the statewide certification of the v**e in Georgia, claiming that systemic issues with the e******n process had marred the state’s results.
Russell J. Ramsland Jr., a cybersecurity worker and an expert witness in the case, filed an affidavit Wednesday claiming that his company had uncovered evidence of inconsistencies in electronic v****g machines. But the inconsistencies he claimed to identify were in districts in Michigan, not Georgia.
The affidavit also listed a number of towns and counties in which Ramsland’s analysis ostensibly showed that the number of v**es cast exceeded the number of eligible v**ers. But most, if not all, of the places Ramsland listed appeared to be townships and counties in Minnesota, not Michigan.
In a hearing Thursday, the Trump-appointed judge, Steven D. Grimberg, pushed back against claims of v***r f***d.
“I understand that’s your argument, but what’s your evidence?” he asked after listening to Ray S. Smith III, a lawyer for Wood.
“To halt the certification at literally the eleventh hour would breed confusion and disenfranchisement that I find have no basis in fact and law,” Grimberg said.
He rejected the challenge.
Michigan
In an opinion issued on Nov. 13, a state court judge in Michigan methodically dismantled testimony from six witnesses who claimed to have observed irregularities in the v**e-counting process in Detroit.
Casting doubt on their credibility and knowledge of the e*******l process, Judge Timothy M. Kenny noted that the witnesses had skipped an information session that may have answered many of the questions they raised.
“Perhaps if plaintiffs’ e******n challenger affiants had attended the Oct. 29, 2020, walk-through of the TCF Center b****t-counting location, questions and concerns could have been answered in advance of E******n Day,” he wrote. “Regrettably, they did not and, therefore, plaintiffs’ affiants did not have a full understanding” of the absentee b****t tabulation process.
In a separate case targeting absentee b****ts in Michigan, a lawyer for the Trump campaign appeared to have initially filed the lawsuit in error in a federal claims court in Washington, D.C., that lacked the authority to hear it.
“The complaint is captioned as though it were filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan,” Judge Elaine D. Kaplan wrote in an order t***sferring the case to the proper court. “Instead, however, it was filed with this court, presumably by accident.”
Pennsylvania
Anticipating that Pennsylvania would be the tipping point in the e******n, lawyers for the Trump campaign prepared for legal challenges contesting v**es in several parts of the state.
In recent weeks, however, the lawyers have repeatedly acknowledged when pressed by judges that no evidence of e******n f***d materialized.
In U.S. District Court in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, the president’s lead lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, broke with his comments outside the courtroom backing the president’s claims of widespread fraud.
“This is not a fraud case,” he told Judge Matthew W. Brann.
In oral arguments in a case in Montgomery County on Nov. 10, Jonathan Goldstein, a lawyer for the Trump campaign, stated repeatedly that he also had not seen evidence of v***r f***d in the v**e that was contested there:
THE COURT: In your petition, which is right before me — and I read it several times — you don’t claim that any e*****rs or the Board of the County were guilty of fraud, correct? That’s correct?
GOLDSTEIN: Your honor, accusing people of fraud is a pretty big step. And it is rare that I call somebody a liar, and I am not calling the board of the DNC or anybody else involved in this a liar. Everybody is coming to this with good faith. The DNC is coming with good faith. We’re all just trying to get an e******n done. We think these were a mistake, but we think they are a fatal mistake, and these b****ts ought not be counted.
THE COURT: I understand. I am asking you a specific question, and I am looking for a specific answer. Are you claiming that there is any fraud in connection with these 592 disputed b****ts?
GOLDSTEIN: To my knowledge at present, no.
THE COURT: Are you claiming that there is any undue or improper influence upon the e*****r with respect to these 592 b****ts?
GOLDSTEIN: To my knowledge at present, no.
Lawyers representing the Trump campaign in Bucks County signed court documents Wednesday informing a judge that there was no evidence of fraud in relation to b****ts they were contesting there.
The campaign had filed suit in the county’s Court of Common Pleas challenging more than 2,200 b****ts as invalid. But in a joint stipulation of facts with lawyers for the Democratic Party, the Trump campaign’s lawyers admitted, “Petitioners do not allege, and there is no evidence of, fraud in connection with the challenged b****ts.”
The lawyers also stated there was no evidence of any “misconduct” or “impropriety” in the e******n.
https://news.yahoo.com/trump-campaign-lawyers-step-swiftly-162503769.html
Sun, November 22, 2020, 9:25 AM MST·6 min read
Maybe it's not so much they are like Trump and blind i***ts, it is probably because the whole effort is a farce from top to bottom.
Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump's adviser and personal lawyer, at a news conference in Washington where he made many false claims about the e******n, Nov. 19, 2020. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times)
In a chaotic effort to overturn the e******n results, President Donald Trump and lawyers representing his campaign have spent weeks claiming without convincing proof that rampant v***r f***d corrupted v**e tallies in many battleground states.
But their lawsuits challenging the outcome have repeatedly broken down because of defective filings, sloppy paperwork, dubious claims by witnesses and lawyers who have admitted in court that they were not alleging fraud.
Here are some of the more embarrassing moments.
Arizona
Days after the e******n, lawyers for the Trump campaign brought a lawsuit in Maricopa County claiming, in part, that some number of Republican v**ers used Sharpies to mark their b****ts, rendering them unreadable by v****g machines and leading to uncounted v**es.
The complaint also included affidavits from several v**ers and poll watchers who said that poll workers had capitalized on the confusion to nullify v**es for Trump.
But in a hearing on Nov. 12, Kory Langhofer, a lawyer for the Trump campaign, conceded that the complaint was not based on evidence of v***r f***d but rather on a “limited number of cases” of “good-faith errors” in the count.
“This is not a fraud case,” Langhofer said. “We are not alleging fraud. We are not saying anyone is trying to steal the e******n.”
Under questioning, witnesses repeatedly stated that they did not have any reason to believe that their b****ts or those of other v**ers were not counted.
Later in the hearing, Daniel Arellano, the Arizona Democratic Party’s counsel, directed questions to Zack Alcyone, one of the witnesses, who admitted that he was a business partner of Langhofer’s.
Asked if he was being paid to testify in the case, Alcyone said he was uncertain.
“Um, not that I know of, I haven’t discussed it,” he said.
“But you may be?” Arellano asked.
“It’s possible, I guess, I’m not sure,” Alcyone said.
Georgia
A federal lawsuit brought by conservative lawyer L. Lin Wood Jr. sought to halt the statewide certification of the v**e in Georgia, claiming that systemic issues with the e******n process had marred the state’s results.
Russell J. Ramsland Jr., a cybersecurity worker and an expert witness in the case, filed an affidavit Wednesday claiming that his company had uncovered evidence of inconsistencies in electronic v****g machines. But the inconsistencies he claimed to identify were in districts in Michigan, not Georgia.
The affidavit also listed a number of towns and counties in which Ramsland’s analysis ostensibly showed that the number of v**es cast exceeded the number of eligible v**ers. But most, if not all, of the places Ramsland listed appeared to be townships and counties in Minnesota, not Michigan.
In a hearing Thursday, the Trump-appointed judge, Steven D. Grimberg, pushed back against claims of v***r f***d.
“I understand that’s your argument, but what’s your evidence?” he asked after listening to Ray S. Smith III, a lawyer for Wood.
“To halt the certification at literally the eleventh hour would breed confusion and disenfranchisement that I find have no basis in fact and law,” Grimberg said.
He rejected the challenge.
Michigan
In an opinion issued on Nov. 13, a state court judge in Michigan methodically dismantled testimony from six witnesses who claimed to have observed irregularities in the v**e-counting process in Detroit.
Casting doubt on their credibility and knowledge of the e*******l process, Judge Timothy M. Kenny noted that the witnesses had skipped an information session that may have answered many of the questions they raised.
“Perhaps if plaintiffs’ e******n challenger affiants had attended the Oct. 29, 2020, walk-through of the TCF Center b****t-counting location, questions and concerns could have been answered in advance of E******n Day,” he wrote. “Regrettably, they did not and, therefore, plaintiffs’ affiants did not have a full understanding” of the absentee b****t tabulation process.
In a separate case targeting absentee b****ts in Michigan, a lawyer for the Trump campaign appeared to have initially filed the lawsuit in error in a federal claims court in Washington, D.C., that lacked the authority to hear it.
“The complaint is captioned as though it were filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan,” Judge Elaine D. Kaplan wrote in an order t***sferring the case to the proper court. “Instead, however, it was filed with this court, presumably by accident.”
Pennsylvania
Anticipating that Pennsylvania would be the tipping point in the e******n, lawyers for the Trump campaign prepared for legal challenges contesting v**es in several parts of the state.
In recent weeks, however, the lawyers have repeatedly acknowledged when pressed by judges that no evidence of e******n f***d materialized.
In U.S. District Court in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, the president’s lead lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, broke with his comments outside the courtroom backing the president’s claims of widespread fraud.
“This is not a fraud case,” he told Judge Matthew W. Brann.
In oral arguments in a case in Montgomery County on Nov. 10, Jonathan Goldstein, a lawyer for the Trump campaign, stated repeatedly that he also had not seen evidence of v***r f***d in the v**e that was contested there:
THE COURT: In your petition, which is right before me — and I read it several times — you don’t claim that any e*****rs or the Board of the County were guilty of fraud, correct? That’s correct?
GOLDSTEIN: Your honor, accusing people of fraud is a pretty big step. And it is rare that I call somebody a liar, and I am not calling the board of the DNC or anybody else involved in this a liar. Everybody is coming to this with good faith. The DNC is coming with good faith. We’re all just trying to get an e******n done. We think these were a mistake, but we think they are a fatal mistake, and these b****ts ought not be counted.
THE COURT: I understand. I am asking you a specific question, and I am looking for a specific answer. Are you claiming that there is any fraud in connection with these 592 disputed b****ts?
GOLDSTEIN: To my knowledge at present, no.
THE COURT: Are you claiming that there is any undue or improper influence upon the e*****r with respect to these 592 b****ts?
GOLDSTEIN: To my knowledge at present, no.
Lawyers representing the Trump campaign in Bucks County signed court documents Wednesday informing a judge that there was no evidence of fraud in relation to b****ts they were contesting there.
The campaign had filed suit in the county’s Court of Common Pleas challenging more than 2,200 b****ts as invalid. But in a joint stipulation of facts with lawyers for the Democratic Party, the Trump campaign’s lawyers admitted, “Petitioners do not allege, and there is no evidence of, fraud in connection with the challenged b****ts.”
The lawyers also stated there was no evidence of any “misconduct” or “impropriety” in the e******n.
https://news.yahoo.com/trump-campaign-lawyers-step-swiftly-162503769.html
Nov 22, 2020 23:14:39 #
Nov 23, 2020 00:48:10 #
rumitoid wrote:
Zach Montague and Alan Feuer br Sun, November 22, ... (show quote)
It's hard when your client is a habitual liar and it's your task to try to make his claims sound credible--all while not directly lying to the court which would cause them to throw your ass in jail. I don't know if we have a case of "Keystone Lawyers" or simply lawyers who are made to look like buffoons due to their client. That said, Rudy G is indeed a Keystone lawyer and a disgrace to his profession...
Nov 23, 2020 01:39:00 #
dtucker300
Loc: Vista, CA
rumitoid wrote:
Zach Montague and Alan Feuer br Sun, November 22, ... (show quote)
Then the Democrats and Biden should have nothing to worry about. So why is the party and the media in such a gosh darn hurry to c****ate Biden as President-Elect before the e*******l college decides?
Nov 23, 2020 02:37:19 #
dtucker300 wrote:
Then the Democrats and Biden should have nothing to worry about. So why is the party and the media in such a gosh darn hurry to c****ate Biden as President-Elect before the e*******l college decides?
Nov 23, 2020 03:57:28 #
dtucker300 wrote:
Then the Democrats and Biden should have nothing to worry about. So why is the party and the media in such a gosh darn hurry to c****ate Biden as President-Elect before the e*******l college decides?
Because just like Trump before him, he won the e******n...
Nov 23, 2020 11:56:15 #
dtucker300 wrote:
Then the Democrats and Biden should have nothing to worry about. So why is the party and the media in such a gosh darn hurry to c****ate Biden as President-Elect before the e*******l college decides?
Umm... Because Biden IS President-elect?
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