update - Trump closes DoJ section fighting government corruption, 90%+ layoffs of staff

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President Donald Trump announced the dismissal of his own appointee for U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia late Friday night, justifying the move in a social media post by alleging that his choice for the position had gained “unusually strong” backing from his political opponents.




“Today I withdrew the nomination of Erik Siebert as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, when I was informed that he received the UNUSUALLY STRONG support of the two absolutely terrible, sleazebag Democrat Senators, from the Great State of Virginia,” Trump wrote shortly before midnight Friday on his social media platform Truth Social.

“He didn’t quit, I fired him! Next time let him go in as a Democrat, not a Republican. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”



Siebert served the Eastern District of Virginia as an assistant U.S. attorney starting in 2010, and was among those tasked with investigating New York Attorney General Letitia James, who last year launched and won a $464 million fraud case against Trump. Trump’s Justice Department launched a probe into James’ office for alleged mortgage fraud, but Siebert recently declined to seek an indictment against her after finding insufficient evidence.




It was not long after Siebert’s decision not to pursue charges against James in the criminal probe launched by Trump’s Justice Department that the president signaled he wanted Siebert out, telling reporters earlier on Friday “I want him out.”

Trump didn’t name Siebert’s refusal to prosecute James as the reason for his ousting, however, and instead named the support he had received from Virginia’s Democratic senators, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner.

“When I saw that he got approved by those two men, I said, pull it, because he can't be any good," Trump said told reporters earlier Friday, ABC News reported. "When I learned that they voted for him, I said, I don't really want him."

'He didn’t quit, I fired him!’ Trump lashes out at outgoing appointee in overnight rant

 

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Although the U.S. Supreme Court's 6-3 Republican supermajority has delivered some decisions that were quite favorable to Donald Trump — including Trump v. the United States in 2024 — he is having his share of disappointments in the lower federal courts.

Two of them came on Friday, September 19.




According to Newsweek reporter James Bickerton, "A federal judge in Rhode Island (ruled) the president's executive order on 'gender ideology' can't be applied to National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grantees. Separately in California, a panel of 9th Circuit judges affirmed the (Trump) Administration must hand over documents related to the firing of federal workers."

Trump and his close allies — including Vice President JD Vance and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi — are claiming that the lower federal courts are failing to respect the powers of the government's executive branch. But legal experts like Lisa Rubin, Joyce White Vance and Barbara McQuade at MSNBC and Kimberly Wehle at the conservative website The Bulwark are countering that federal courts are supposed to play an aggressive role in the United States' system of checks and balances.




"With Republicans controlling both the Senate and House of Representatives," Bickerton observes, "the courts have emerged as one of the main impediments to Trump Administration policy in recent months. The administration has suffered legal defeats on subjects including the imposition of punitive measures against law firms involved in proceedings against Trump, a bid to strip Haitan migrants of legal protection and sanctions on International Criminal Court employees."

In the California decision, the 9th Circuit panel ruled, 2-1, to "affirm a lower court decision demanding the Trump Administration hand over documents related to the firing of thousands of federal workers."

"In April, a coalition of labor groups, non-profits, cities and a Texas county sued the federal government arguing job cuts imposed by Trump were outside his authority according to the Constitution, and also needed Congressional approval," Bickerton notes. "Sweeping layoffs took place across the federal government following Trump's second presidential inauguration in January, spearheaded by the newly created and Elon Musk led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)."


Trump just suffered 2 major overlooked legal defeats on the same day

 

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday that he would be nominating senior White House aide Lindsey Halligan to serve as the top federal prosecutor for the Virginia office that was thrown into turmoil when its U.S. attorney was pushed out Friday.

In a social media post just after he departed the White House for an event at Mount Vernon, Trump wrote he was nominating Halligan as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, writing that she “will be Fair, Smart, and will provide, desperately needed, JUSTICE FOR ALL!”




The announcement came as Trump pressed Attorney General Pam Bondi to move forward with pursuing cases against some of his political opponents, part of a vow for retribution that has been a theme of his return to the White House.

The nomination would place one of the president’s legal defenders in charge of an office in tumult over political pressure by administration officials to criminally charge New York Attorney General Letitia James, a longtime foe of Trump, in a mortgage fraud investigation.

Erik Siebert, who had been the office’s top prosecutor, resigned amid a push by Trump administration officials to bring charges in the investigation, which stems from allegations of paperwork discrepancies on James’ Brooklyn townhouse and a Virginia home.

The Justice Department has spent months investigating, and there’s been no indication that prosecutors have managed to uncover any degree of incriminating evidence necessary to secure an indictment. James’ lawyers have vigorously denied any allegations and characterized the investigation as an act of political revenge.



FILE - New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks, Feb. 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)© The Associated Press
Halligan has been part of Trump’s legal orbit for the last several years, including serving as one of his attorneys in the early days of the FBI’s investigation into Trump’s retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. She has more recently been enlisted in a White House effort to remove what the administration contends is “improper ideology” from Smithsonian properties.




Earlier Saturday, Trump posted to social media what appeared to be somewhat of an open letter to Bondi, saying he had “reviewed over 30 statements and posts” that he characterized as criticizing his administration for a lack of action on investigations, including the one into James' dealings. Trump's message mentioned former FBI Director James Comey, Trump's longtime foil whom he fired during his first term amid the Russia election interference investigation.

The FBI acknowledged this summer that it was investigating Comey, who was interviewed by the Secret Service after an Instagram post that Republicans insisted was a call for violence against Trump. Comey has said he did not mean the post as a threat and removed it once he realized how it was being interpreted.

Asked as he departed the White House if he was criticizing Bondi, Trump said he just wanted action.




“We have to act fast — one way or the other,” Trump said. "They’re guilty, they’re not guilty — we have to act fast. If they’re not guilty, that’s fine. If they are guilty or if they should be charged, they should be charged. And we have to do it now.”

In announcing Halligan's nomination soon after on social media, Trump said that Bondi was “doing a GREAT job.”

The selection of Halligan came just hours after another conservative lawyer, Mary “Maggie” Cleary, said in an email to staff that she had been named acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, according to a copy viewed by The Associated Press.

“While this appointment was unexpected, I am humbled to be joining your ranks,” Cleary, a conservative lawyer who has said she was falsely accused of being at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, told employees in the email.

While Siebert said in an email to colleagues Friday evening that he had submitted his resignation, Trump said in a social media post: "He didn’t quit, I fired him!" Trump noted he was backed by the state’s two Democratic senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, adding: “Next time let him go in as a Democrat, not a Republican.”

___

Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

Trump nominates White House aide to be top US prosecutor for office probing Letitia James

 

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[Frankfooter]

drain the swamp

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1969542680133701863

 

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Donald Trump's Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard is in hot water with the president's top advisers, according to new reporting.

Gabbard, a former Democrat who was accepted into the White House fold, left Trump's chief aides completely in the dark when it came to certain security clearances, according to the Guardian's weekend report.


In an exclusive called "Tulsi Gabbard did not alert White House before revoking 37 security clearances," the outlet reported, "Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, did not inform the White House that her office was revoking the security clearances of 37 people – including top deputies to the CIA director, John Ratcliffe – before it happened last month, according to three people familiar with matter."

Want more breaking political news? Click for the latest headlines at Raw Story.

The article continues, stating, "The move caused consternation because it resulted in the White House not having an opportunity to closely vet the list before it became public and there appeared to be no paper trail from the president directing the effort, the people said."

"As a result, officials only realized after the fact that Gabbard had managed to pull the security clearances of career CIA officials, at least one of whom was a top adviser to Ratcliffe and had worked on some of the US’s most sensitive military operations, the people said," according to the report. "The list also included two Democratic congressional staffers – Maher Bitar, the national security adviser to senator Adam Schiff, and Thomas West, an aide on the Senate foreign relations committee – prompting fears the administration would be thrust into a messy separation-of-powers issue."




But things reportedly didn't end there, as now some close to Trump are apparently holding a grudge.

"Weeks later, several of Trump’s top advisers remain deeply frustrated with Gabbard and view the episode as a blunder that comes as Trump is skeptical of the intelligence community and has suggested dismantling the office of the director of national intelligence (ODNI)," according to The Guardian's reporting.

Read the full report here.

Trump's top advisers are 'deeply frustrated' over Tulsi Gabbard's latest 'blunder': report

 

[kherg007]

At some point the ABA has to step in and have hearings to disbar those who bring null cases.

 

[mandrill]

At some point the ABA has to step in and have hearings to disbar those who bring null cases.

The state Bar associations disbarred a lot of the sketchy MAGA lawyers who disputed the 2020 elections. We'll see if they jump on any new bullshit cases.

 

[kherg007]

Donald Trump's Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard is in hot water with the president's top advisers, according to new reporting.

Gabbard, a former Democrat who was accepted into the White House fold, left Trump's chief aides completely in the dark when it came to certain security clearances, according to the Guardian's weekend report.


In an exclusive called "Tulsi Gabbard did not alert White House before revoking 37 security clearances," the outlet reported, "Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, did not inform the White House that her office was revoking the security clearances of 37 people – including top deputies to the CIA director, John Ratcliffe – before it happened last month, according to three people familiar with matter."

Want more breaking political news? Click for the latest headlines at Raw Story.

The article continues, stating, "The move caused consternation because it resulted in the White House not having an opportunity to closely vet the list before it became public and there appeared to be no paper trail from the president directing the effort, the people said."

"As a result, officials only realized after the fact that Gabbard had managed to pull the security clearances of career CIA officials, at least one of whom was a top adviser to Ratcliffe and had worked on some of the US’s most sensitive military operations, the people said," according to the report. "The list also included two Democratic congressional staffers – Maher Bitar, the national security adviser to senator Adam Schiff, and Thomas West, an aide on the Senate foreign relations committee – prompting fears the administration would be thrust into a messy separation-of-powers issue."




But things reportedly didn't end there, as now some close to Trump are apparently holding a grudge.

"Weeks later, several of Trump’s top advisers remain deeply frustrated with Gabbard and view the episode as a blunder that comes as Trump is skeptical of the intelligence community and has suggested dismantling the office of the director of national intelligence (ODNI)," according to The Guardian's reporting.

Read the full report here.

Trump's top advisers are 'deeply frustrated' over Tulsi Gabbard's latest 'blunder': report

They are clearing out everything and everyone who knows the Russians.
Its like they are removing all USA defenses v russian intel services. Unfuckingbelievable.

 

[bggolfingmaniac]

They are clearing out everything and everyone who knows the Russians.
Its like they are removing all USA defenses v russian intel services. Unfuckingbelievable.

75 million Americans are complete suckers. God I wish the Dems had their act together.

 

[mandrill]

In another judicial rebuke to President Donald Trump’s effort to harm funding for the nation’s arts, a federal judge on Friday evening ruled against the president’s insider attack on the National Endowment for the Arts by blocking grant applications from artists or organizations that don’t strictly adhere to the president’s right-wing ideology on gender.




Ruling in favor of several arts organizations that sued the NEA earlier this year over the policy change, US District Court Judge William E. Smith, appointed by President George W. Bush and serving in Rhode Island, said the grant restrictions ran afoul of federal statute and the US Constitution.

As theNew York Times reports:

The lawsuit was filed in March by several arts organizations, including Rhode Island Latino Arts, which promotes art made by Latinos, and National Queer Theater, a New York company. It challenged new agency regulations, initially introduced in February, stating that federal funds “shall not be used to promote gender ideology,” which Mr. Trump’s order said includes “the false claim that males can identify as and thus become women and vice versa.”In the lawsuit, the groups, which said they had all produced or supported work about transgender and nonbinary people, argued that they would effectively be barred from seeking grants “on artistic merit and excellence grounds,” which violated their rights under the First Amendment.

In his ruling, Williams called the policy that came out of Trump’s edict both “arbitrary and capricious,” one that violated not only free speech protections but also the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), which governs the EPA grant-making process.

Smith held that the NEA’s grant application review process “violates the First Amendment because it is a viewpoint-based restriction on private speech.”




Specifically, the judge said the government’s policy “offered zero explanation” to applicants “of what it means for a project to ‘promote gender ideology,’ let alone how that concept relates to artistic merit, artistic excellence, general standards of decency, or respect for the diverse beliefs and values of the American public.”

“The NEA intends to disfavor applications that promote gender ideology precisely because they promote gender ideology,” Smith stated in his judicial order. “The Final Notice therefore promises to penalize artists based on their speech.”

The lawsuit was brought four groups: Rhode Island Latino Arts (RILA), National Queer Theater (NQT), The Theater Offensive (TTO), and Theatre Communications Group (TCG).

Marta V. Martínez, RILA’s executive director, said the court’s ruling “affirms what we have always believed: the freedom to create, to express one’s truth, and to tell our stories is a right protected by the First Amendment.”




“As an organization deeply rooted in storytelling, theater, and the preservation of cultural history,” Martínez added, “we are relieved and grateful that the courts have recognized the importance of protecting artistic expression for all people, including those in LGBTQ+ communities.”

The ACLU, which had helped bring the suit on behalf of the plaintiffs, celebrated the ruling as “an important victory” for artists, free speech, and the rule of law.

“At a time when the government is using its full weight to try to impose ideological conformity, this order is an important reminder that the First Amendment protects us from exactly that,” Vera Eidelman, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy & Technology Project. “Even when the government funds private speech, it does not get to support only those messages that parrot its views.”


'Important victory' for free speech as judge rules against Trump

 

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