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Donald Trump ally Robert Costello spoke to the grand jury on Monday as a defense witness for the former president to discredit lawyer Michael Cohen, who has been giving information to the district attorney.
Costello said that he began by handing D.A. Alvin Bragg five bundles of papers that he said should be given to the grand jury.
"In 2018, I gave essentially the same information to the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. Only after they notified me that Michael Cohen had executed a waiver of the attorney-client privilege," said Costello.
He went on to call it a "stupid" move because it allows him to be able to hand over incriminating information, he said.
Costello also claimed that the SDNY clearly didn't coordinate or with Cohen on anything after that fact, implying that it was due to his "evidence" that he provided and Cohen's lack of reliability that Trump wasn't ever charged federally. The Justice Department never acted on the information that Cohen gave them because there is a policy of not indicting the sitting president.
IN OTHER NEWS: GOP's Hawley flattened in brutal profanity-laced column for berating St. Louis reporter
"Today after giving all those materials to the Manhattan district attorney's office, out of 321 emails they cherry-picked six e-mails to ask me about," Costello continued. "And of course, they took them out of context. When they took them out of context, I told the grand jurors, I don't know whether this will ultimately come to fruition or not. I told them to ask for the entire packet. And I held it up. I said there's 321 emails. You need to see each and every email, which follows in chronological fashion and gives you the life history of Michael Cohen dealing with our firm. I understand that earlier, there were some comments made by the folks out here that you were waiting for Trump's lawyers. We are not Trump's lawyers. We do not represent Trump. We have never represented Trump."
Instead, Costello has represented Rudy Giuliani in matters around Trump issues and his election and Steve Bannon in other unrelated matters.
Costello went on to say that Cohen was panicking after the FBI executed a search warrant to his office and home.
"He was imagining the worst for himself," said Costello. "Although at that moment in time, he still hadn't been charged with any crimes. So Michael Cohen in that state of high anxiety, when he said to us numerous times I'm looking for a way out, I need an escape hatch, how do I do this, I need to know what my options are. And his options were as he mentioned, he said do I have a chance for a pardon? Do I have a chance for a commutation? I'm not sure he understood what that term actually meant. Do I have a chance for a cooperation agreement? He said I don't understand why they did this to me because I was already cooperating with the House and with the FBI. Of course, he forgot to mention that he lied to the House, for which he was later convicted. So, I of course following my obligations as an attorney explained each of his rights and what he could do."
One of those things, according to special counsel Robert Mueller's report was to reassure Cohen that he'd be taken care of because he had friends in high places.
Cohen will deliver a rebuttal on Monday evening with MSNBC.
See that full video below or the link here.
Robert Costello www.youtube.com
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‘Flagrant abuse of power’: Former GOP aide slams House Republicans over plans to probe Manhattan DA
March 20, 2023
A former Republican political operative on Monday slammed three House GOP leaders over plans to investigate Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in connection with the prosecution of former President Donald Trump.
Appearing on "The ReidOut with Joy Reid" on MSNBC Monday evening, Kurt Bardella said the case noq before a Manhattan grand jury is not within the congressional oversight committee’s purview. He described the apparent efforts to interfere with the probe as a “flagrant abuse of power.”
Bardella’s comments followed a letter jointly sent by House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, House Oversight Chairman James Comer and House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil requesting testimony from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and calling his prosecution of the former president an “unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority.”
“I know how investigations are supposed to work. I know what congressional oversight is supposed to look like. This is not that,” Bardella said.
Bardella alleged nefarious intent behind GOP effort to compel the Manhattan prosecutor to testify before congress.
“This is a deliberate effort, a partisan effort to try and interfere and obstruct an ongoing investigation so that they can acquire information, which they will certainly just turn over to Donald Trump and give him a leg up as he tries to mount a defense against what we expect will be a pending indictment,” Bardella said.
RELATED: 'This man is a criminal': George Conway busts GOP's 'completely ridiculous' Trump defense
He noted that in defending the former president, Republicans haven’t even claimed Trump didn’t violate the law.
“They don't have anything to say about the alleged criminal activity that Trump and his campaign engaged in," Bardella said.
"They want to just blow right past that and go back to their greatest hits of rhetoric to make this something that isn't, so they can gaslight all of us, and I just don't think it's going to work.”
Bardella said Republicans who are now “brainstorming ways that they can now act as the legal defense entity for Donald Trump to act as the opposition research department for the Trump legal defense team is an egregious waste of taxpayer dollars and in my opinion, a violation of the oath of office they are supposed to take.”
Watch the video below or at this link.
MSNBC 03 20 2023 19 36 12 www.youtube.com
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'Some kids do need Jesus first': Kansas lawmaker explains school voucher-like program
March 20, 2023
TOPEKA — Kansas children don’t generally find a “spiritual perspective” in public schools, Rep. Kristey Williams said, defending a voucher-like program that would funnel state tax dollars to unregulated private schools.
“There are some kids that do need Jesus first, before they care about science and math,” said Williams, speaking with unusual candor about motivation for the Legislature’s consideration of changes to funding public and private education in Kansas.
Williams, an Augusta Republican and the driving force behind Senate Bill 83, made a hometown appearance Sunday to talk with community members during a 90-minute forum moderated by teachers Brandi Kaus, Laci Ybarra, Jamie Klem and Rob Klem. Almost a hundred people showed up to the event, which was planned and put together by the four in about 24 hours.
Kaus, who taught all of Willams’ children at Augusta Middle School, said she was puzzled and hurt that someone who utilized the public education system for her own children would turn around and “just annihilate public schools.”
“I don’t see how she can’t see that what she’s doing will hurt all of us,” Kaus said.
Kaus said the event originated through a heated Facebook message exchange with Williams, in which Kaus asked Williams to explain why the proposal was a good idea. Williams agreed to come and talk to the public about the program.
SB83, also known as the Sunflower Education Equity Act, would use state money to fund private schools starting in the 2023-2024 school year. Each eligible private school student could draw a maximum of $5,000 annually from the state treasury. Any nonpublic preschool, elementary or high school that teaches reading, grammar, mathematics, social studies and science would be eligible to benefit financially from the proposed law.
The voucher-like bill passed the House 64-61 with arm twisting by GOP leaders. It contrasted with the approach embraced by the Kansas Senate calling for tax credits and student scholarships for the benefit of private schools. The bill specifies eligible schools wouldn’t be subject to government oversight.
During the Sunday meeting, several audience members expressed concern about the impact of the voucher-program proposal on the future K-12 public education, while others suggested regulation of the program could be insufficient. Jamie Klem said the audience was frustrated by William’s answers.
“Just about every single question that we posed to her, she skirted around or danced around the issue rather than directly answering the question,” Klem said. “So after a few of those, the crowd grew more and more frustrated with her and started to vocalize that. I wouldn’t say it was angry but more so impassioned.”
During the event, Williams said teacher licenses and credentials didn’t necessarily define a good educator.
“I actually believe great teachers are not made through licensure,” said Williams, who chairs the House K-12 budget committee. “I think great schools are made not through accreditation. I think great schools and great teachers and great people come through great practices and hard work.”
Under the legislation, the context or religious nature of a product or service couldn’t be considered when determining expenditure of the $5,000 allotment from the state, meaning the money could be used to buy Bibles and religious objects.
Williams said the proposal would give more options to Kansas parents looking to provide their children religious education.
“I’ll tell you one thing that’s missing in our society, and you won’t find it, generally, openly in public schools, and that’s the spiritual perspective,” Williams said. “If a parent believes having Jesus with their education is important, they can do that. There’s a God-sized hole in a lot of people’s hearts.”
The House also merged into the voucher-like bill appropriation of $592.7 million for special education programs in fiscal year 2024 and placed a mandate on school districts to increase teacher salaries.
Gov. Laura Kelly, who has repeatedly campaigned for increased special education funding, said she disapproved of bundling special education funding and teacher pay raises with the controversial voucher-like legislation.
“I believe that public monies ought to be spent on public schools,” Kelly said during a Monday news conference. “Public schools are very important here in the state of Kansas. We’re a rural state. Public schools are often the hub of the community and anything to undermine them would be undermining the entire fabric and structure of Kansas itself.”
There are thought to be 125 accredited and 28 unaccredited private schools operating in Kansas, and most of those would be characterized as religious based. Sixty-five Kansas counties don’t have private schools, with one-third of the total established in Johnson and Sedgwick counties.
Ybarra said Williams didn’t pay attention to her constituents’ concerns.
“What we wanted from her was for her to listen to us because she represents us, her constituents, and she should be taking what we want back to Topeka,” Ybarra said. “She was there to change our minds, but she wasn’t there to listen to us.”
“She’s not capable of listening,” Rob Klem added. “She made that very clear.”
Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.
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