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Joe Tacopina, the lawyer for former President Donald Trump now embroiled in conflict of interest allegations for his prior connections to adult film star Stormy Daniels, was roasted on CNN Wednesday by legal analyst Jennifer Rodgers.
"I want to get to this Joe Tacopina thing that we have been talking about, because it could be a game changer when it comes to representation and so forth," said anchor Don Lemon. "I'm going to play what he said back in 2018 and what he's saying."
He then proceeded to show contrasting clips of the Trump attorney's past and recent statements.
"I mean, you know once that net is out, once the microscope is on, everything is fair game and it's hard to argue, oh, you can't look at this or you can't look at that," said Tacopina in a 2018 clip, from around the time Daniels sought to hire him for her case against Trump. "So yes, if there's an issue with that payment, the Stormy Daniels, being that it was made on behalf of the candidate, okay, and it was not declared, that's fair game, that a lawyer took out a home equity loan with his own money, paid somebody that he didn't even know on behalf of a client who, by the way, had the wherewithal the money to afford $130,000, and, by the way, didn't tell the client about the settlement agreement. It's an illegal agreement, as to fraud, if that's in fact, the case. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't pass the straight face test. And quite frankly, if that is what happened, we have a potential campaign finance issue."
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This was contrasted with a clip of Tacopina from this month, defending Trump as his client as he faces indictment over the Daniels payment: "Does anyone actually believe — anyone, left, right, middle, whatever — that if someone else were accused of paying hush money to avoid a public sex scandal in the manner that Donald Trump is alleged to have, um, avoided the public sex scandal, they would be prosecuted? The answer is 100 percent no."
"Okay so you have the Stormy Daniels — the current possibility of piercing attorney-client privilege. Let's set that to the side," said Lemon. "He is now representing Donald Trump. Back then he was making, it appears — correct me if I'm wrong — the complete opposite argument of what he's making today."
"So this is why people make jokes about lawyers, right?" said Rodgers. "Lawyers are advocates. They're not fact witnesses, so he's representing one client. Now he's going to put forward that position back in the day. He was maybe not representing Stormy Daniels, but was kind of talking about what her side of things would be. So you know, he's not a fact witness, like, it's okay to take a different position or put a different position out in the press. The real question is, did he represent her? What did he learn from her? And does that mean that he now cannot represent Donald Trump? And, you know, the judge will will sort all that out."
"Usually in these cases, they don't actually disqualify the person," Rodgers added. "Courts do like to honor a criminal defendant's choice of council. So probably they will say, you can't use anything you learned, you can't cross examine her. If this goes to trial, but they'll probably let him stay on the case."
Watch the video below or at this link.
Jennifer Rodgers on Joe Tacopina www.youtube.com
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Donald Trump has been huddling with advisers to game out his options if he's indicted in Manhattan.
The former president can choose to show up in court in New York City or force authorities to haul him out of Mar-a-Lago, and the reality TV veteran is weighing which option would generate the most drama.
However, a source close to Trump told The Daily Beast he'll most likely present himself voluntarily to avoid being handcuffed.
“Being in handcuffs isn’t something Trump would want to do,” the Trump source said.
Legal experts say the ex-president probably doesn't need to worry about a perp walk.
READ MORE: Mike Pence's 'fundamental miscalculation' about Trump is blowing up in his face: reporter
“I don’t think you handcuff him, and I don’t think you have two burly guys on either side of him -- you’ll have Secret Service agents,” said Andrew Bernstein, a former public defender who now represents corporations and wealthy clients accused of crimes.
“It’s a logistical nightmare and there can be violence," Bernstein added. "It would be inequitable to put a lot of strain on the clerks and court officers trying to get out on time to deal with this dog and pony show. These guys have families. They just want to get from 8:00 to 4:00 unharmed. It would be foolish to handcuff him like the potential nutjobs. It’s unfair to court officers to make this a gasoline-on-the-fire situation.”
Some of Trump's supporters have called for protests or other actions against his indictment, sometimes using inflammatory language.
“Any cop who betrays the people for politicians is a traitor and will be dealt with at a later date accordingly,” said "Stop the Steal" organizer Ali Alexander on Twitter. “Do not add your name to the fake news who are enemies of the people.”
Other right-wing allies hope Trump forces law enforcement to take him into custody at Mar-a-Lago to inflame his base.
"[That] helps from a political standpoint, absolutely,” said Jackson Lahmeyer, founder of Pastors for Trump. “That image, if they come and they do basic Third World-country tactics, if they do that — and that video footage becomes something that circulates — it totally backfires.”
“It’s one thing to talk about it, but if you see it," Lahmeyer added, "it will stir a different passion inside of you that will prompt you to action."
However, legal experts caution that Trump's interests would be best served by showing up in court when he's summoned.
“I can understand why he might think forcing New York to have him extradited from Florida might be in his political interest, because it makes it even more of a circus and enable him to spin things as even more of a witch hunt. I get that,” said Case Western Reserve University law professor Jonathan H. Adler.
“But anything he does to attenuate this makes it harder for the legal process to work through the case the way it should… let’s say the DA overcharges, let’s say Bragg is really stretching to make a felony charge and is doing so for political reasons," Adler added. "The outcome you want is for the legal process to reach that conclusion in the ordinary course. What you don’t want is for things to become such a circus that people lose confidence in the legal system’s ability to reach a fair outcome.”
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Mike Pence's 'fundamental miscalculation' about Trump is blowing up in his face: reporter
March 22, 2023
Atlantic reporter McKay Coppins appeared on CNN Wednesday to discuss his recent reporting on Republican voters' views of Mike Pence, and he said it was becoming clear that the former vice president has no constituency within the GOP.
Coppins said that Trump supporters loathed Pence for not throwing out certified presidential election results, while more Trump-skeptical Republicans resent Pence for being so slavishly loyal to Trump for so long.
"I think this was the fundamental miscalculation that Mike Pence made," he said. "He thought that by being incredibly loyal, incredibly willing to cover for Trump to defend Trump to offer fawning praise of Trump throughout his presidency, he would win goodwill with the Trump base."
In reality, argued Coppins, Pence came off to Republican voters of all stripes as an opportunist rather than as someone who could be counted on to do the right thing.
IN OTHER NEWS: Trump reeling after Murdoch media makes 'coordinated effort' to ridicule him: Morning Joe panel
"Voters just don't like that," he said. "They want a candidate who they think is following his gut and doing what he thinks is right and they don't see that when they look at Mike Pence."
Pence has not officially announced a run for the 2024 GOP nomination but he has repeatedly teased an intention to do so.
Watch the video below or at this link.
Mike Pence's 'fundamental miscalculation' about Trump is blowing up in his face www.youtube.com
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