Attorney Scott Pilutik wrestles with the news of the day, from a lawyerly perspective…
[Regarding this story: Giuliani Associates Parnas And Fruman Plead Not Guilty, Raise Executive Privilege Concerns]
Recently indicted Parnas and Fruman are threatening to invoke privilege because they were (a) working for Giuliani on behalf of the president; and (b) had retained Giuliani as an attorney.
Ostensibly the charges against Parnas and Fruman have nothing to do with Trump or Giuliani, but you don’t need a conspiracy theory to imagine those worlds colliding, because one of their goals was to remove the then-US ambassador to Ukraine, Maria Yovanovitch, to clear the way for an ambassador who would look the other way while Trump corruptly extorted Ukraine into investigating the Bidens. Which removal occurred.
By threatening to invoke privilege, Parnas and Fruman are likewise threatening to bridge the gap between their criminal conduct and the impeachment inquiry. And by suggesting that the DOJ somehow get involved on their behalf, they’re putting Barr in a bad position too, because they’re being indicted by the SDNY, which is of course a part of the DOJ.
Also…
[Regarding this story: The Judges Republicans Are Doing It All For]
Long after Trump is gone we’ll be living with the wholly unqualified and activist judges that he, the Federalist Society, and Mitch McConnell shoved onto the federal bench.
The bipartisan standards that once governed lifetime judicial appointments have been tossed since Trump took office and we’ll be reaping the consequences forever, especially where reproductive rights are concerned.
This is why, in many ways winning back the Senate is even more important than gaining the presidency in 2020 for Democrats. Dislodging Mitch McConnell is at least as important as dislodging Trump, though it’d be nice to see to both.
