Here's why Donald Trump likely never heard about Matt Gaetz's pardon request: FBI deputy director
April 07, 2021
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Donald Trump's attorney general, Bill Barr, appointed special counsel John Durham to "investigate the investigators." It was all part of Trump's demand to probe Robert Mueller's investigation into the Russia scandal that resulted in the indictment of 34 people.
Durham never found any wrongdoing in Mueller's investigation, and even his indictments were dismissed. One former FBI agent pleaded guilty to giving a false statement. He never went to prison.
Documents on the Justice Department website detail the accounting of how the $2,076,068 Durham budget was spent. According to one excerpt, Durham spent over $200,000 on travel expenditures during the six months that he should have been preparing for trial, remarked former Mueller prosecutor on Twitter.
"Why is Durham investigation spending over $200,000 on travel in a 6-month period in 2022, especially since they were supposed to be in DC (preparing to lose their second of two federal cases)?" Andrew Weissmann asked.
From April 1, 2022, to Sept. 30, 2022, Durham columnists were already writing that he was being humiliated.
In the middle of Sept. 2022, CNN reported that Durham's own prosecutors were already jumping ship.
"Top Durham prosecutor Andrew DeFilippis – who led the team’s case against a Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer earlier this year, which ended in a swift acquittal – was supposed to handle another trial next month, but instead is leaving the Justice Department for a job at a private law firm," CNN said citing its sources. "DeFilippis in recent months was at one point working on writing a report on Durham’s findings, which will be submitted to Attorney General Merrick Garland."
While there isn't a final report from Durham's team that has become public, the way that there was in Mueller's case, Durham has resigned from the position, having failed in his task.
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GOP pundit smacked down for suggesting Alvin Bragg is ignoring NYC crime to go after Trump
March 20, 2023
Former Donald Trump adviser David Urban tried to claim on CNN Monday that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was ignoring skyrocketing crime in New York City to go after the former president's hush payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels instead — even though major violent crime has declined on Bragg's watch.
Anchor Pamela Brown was quick to point this out to Urban.
"So what does it say DeSantis went out of his way to go after the district attorney and chose not to defend Trump's acts and poke fun?" asked Brown.
"It tells me he's running for president is what it tells me," said Urban. "Look, I think his message probably resonates with lots of Americans who are tuning in and watching. Looking at shoplifting, crime, hearing about people being assaulted in the city and being let free in New York City, and yet they see the district attorney going and drudging up these seven-year-old charges. That's the point that Governor DeSantis is trying to make. That resonates with the Republican voters, not the Trump part, but the pure nature of the entire prosecution. I think Republicans view it as persecution, not prosecution."
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"What Bragg's office said — they just released a statement tonight saying 'Under Alvin Bragg, homicides are down 32%, Manhattan shootings are down 14%, and New York remains one of the safest big cities in the U.S.' Pointing out that is what Bragg's office is saying tonight amid that criticism."
Despite a lot of media coverage focusing on crimes in New York City, it remains one of the safest parts of the country — far safer than much of rural America, not just in terms of crime but all deaths, including accidents.
In fact, DeSantis especially has little grounds to criticize Bragg on crime, as New York City's property and violent crime rates are significantly lower than that of Jacksonville or Tampa, and about half the rates of Orlando or Miami.
Watch the segment below or at this link.
Pamela Brown points out to David Urban crime is down in NYC www.youtube.com
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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.
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"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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