All posts tagged "norm eisen"

Trump nemesis flags 'overlooked' Supreme Court findings that will hurt president

A former White House ethics lawyer who has been a persistent thorn in the side of Donald Trump is actually celebrating parts of the Supreme Court's recent rulings widely seen as favorable to the president.

Legal expert Norm Eisen, who worked in the White House as special counsel and special assistant to the president for ethics and government reform, is also known for responding to Trump's direct attacks against him. In one instance, Trump said of the attorney, "He’s been after me for nine years."

On Saturday, he published a piece called, "Contrarians to SCOTUS: we got your class action right here," in which he argues that there are still mechanisms to challenge Trump even after the Supreme Court decisions.

"Friday’s landmark Roberts Court decision limiting nationwide injunctions in the context of the birthright citizenship cases was yet another of the compromises that it has carved out over the first five months of Trump’s second term. The Supreme Court curtailed the scope of the existing injunctions of President Donald Trump's grossly unconstitutional executive order purporting to choose which babies born here are citizens," he wrote. "Though I vehemently disagree with much in the opinion, we must not overlook that it left in place the injunctions as to the plaintiffs in the cases, and when the findings of unconstitutionality in these cases reach the Supreme Court, they will be upheld."

Eisen continued:

"Moreover, the court opened the road to class actions as an alternative vehicle to achieve the same nationwide coverage. We at Democracy Defenders Fund, together with other wonderful colleagues, had one on file within hours."

He further added, "And we will deal with the Court’s opinion by fighting twice as hard in the courts."

Read the full post here.

'He's losing!' Lawyer at center of Trump legal fight scoffs as security clearance stripped

Attorney Norm Eisen, who served as White House ethics czar under former President Barack Obama and is at the center of multiple lawsuits challenging Donald Trump, scoffed at the president pulling his security clearance for "the third time" — and chalked it up to retaliation for Trump losing a string of lawsuits since he took office.

CNN's Kate Bolduan introduced Eisen Monday, saying, "The president moved to revoke security clearances of another round of high profile people, including the Biden family, Kamala Harris, the former secretary of state Tony Blinken — and you, Norm. What was your reaction when you heard about this?"

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"Kate, this is the third time that Trump and his people have revoked my security clearance," Eisen said with a laugh. "They announced it several weeks ago, then they announced it again, then they did it on Thursday. You have to wonder, are they — is Trump, like, taking my security clearance away and then turning it back on so he can take it away again?"

Eisen then offered an explanation for Trump's actions.

"The reason he's doing it is because he's losing!" Eisen said. "We filed or helped on more than two dozen lawsuits against Donald Trump at my organization, State Democracy Defenders Fund. We've had a series of big wins protecting 6,000 FBI agents from being targeted by him. Getting 20,000 federal employees who were wrongly fired, rehired. We just got DOGE and Musk declared unconstitutional for the work that they did tearing down USAID. Many, many more things.

"It's petty retaliation. He'll probably take it away a fourth time this week. I couldn't care less. I'm just going to sue him even more."

Watch the clip below via CNN.

'Admissions': Judges reportedly using Trump's own words to smash lawyer's arguments

Donald Trump's brashness may have helped win him the presidency, but his words are being used against him as his administration fights a growing number of lawsuits against efforts to enact his agenda, according to reporting by The Associated Press.

"Nowhere has this been clearer than in cases involving his adviser Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency," wrote reporters Chris Megerian and Lindsay Whitehurst.

They cited a recent case revolving around whether Musk overstepped his authority when tearing down USAID, the agency that provides financial assistance "to countries recovering from disaster, trying to escape poverty, and engaging in democratic reforms."

Justice Department attorneys argued that Musk was "merely a presidential adviser, not the actual leader of DOGE."

ALSO READ: 'The Hard Reset': Here's how the U.S. is exporting terrorism around the world

"But Trump has said otherwise — in speeches, interviews and public remarks — and [U.S. District Judge Theodore] Chuang quoted him extensively in his decision," the article read. Chuang ultimately ruled that as head of DOGE, Musk likely violated the Constitution.

Attorney Norm Eisen, who represented USAID employees in the lawsuit, told the AP, “Trump’s words were essential, central and indispensable. His admissions took what would have been a tough case and made it into a straightforward one.”

"The looseness with words is a shift from predecessors like Democratic President Barack Obama, who used to say that he was careful because anything he said could send troops marching or markets tumbling," Megerian and Whitehurst wrote, adding, "Trump has no such feeling of restraint, and neither do other members of his Republican administration such as Musk."

They also cited Anthony Coley, head of public affairs at the Justice Department during the Biden administration, who told them, "Statements involving civil litigation were always coordinated between his office and the West Wing."

Coley described Trump's penchant for saying exactly what's on his mind whenever he likes as a "ready-fire-aim approach of doing business,” that's not expected to change anytime soon.

Read The Associated Press article here.

'Barred access': Gabbard revokes security clearance for prominent officials and lawyers

Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's director of national intelligence, announced Monday that she barred prominent government officials and attorneys from access to classified government information.

Gabbard posted to X that she did so at the directive of President Donald Trump, who announced his intention to revoke access to his "antagonists" last month, according to the New York Post.

"Per @POTUS directive, I have revoked security clearances and barred access to classified information for Antony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, Lisa Monaco, Mark Zaid, Norman Eisen, Letitia James, Alvin Bragg, and Andrew Weissman, along with the 51 signers of the Hunter Biden 'disinformation' letter. The President's Daily Brief is no longer being provided to former President Biden," Gabbard wrote.

Zaid, an attorney who represented the CIA analyst "identified as the whistleblower in Trump’s impeachment in 2019 over a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky" posted to social media after Gabbard's announcement, "Hmmm, so where are my due process protections? You are familiar with Executive Order 12,968, are you not? Still in effect!"

ALSO READ: 'Absolutely unconscionable': Ex-Republican demands Trump removed from office after fight

In an exclusive interview with the Post in February, Trump said, “This is to take away every right they have [revoking security clearances] including they can’t go into [federal] buildings," Trump told The Post.

Reporter Miranda Devine wrote, "The president said they all will be given 'exactly the same' punishment as Biden and the Dirty 51 as part of his administration’s vow to hold government officials accountable for actions he regards as election interference or the mishandling of classified information."

Under Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Trump became the first former president to be convicted of felony crimes — 34 in total — for trying to illegally influence the 2016 election by paying off adult film actor Stormy Daniels.

New York Attorney General Letitia James won convictions on civil fraud charges, and Trump was ordered to pay a staggering $355 million in penalties. Trump called both cases "election interference."

Lisa Monaco was Biden’s deputy attorney general who coordinated the Department of Justice response to the Jan. 6 riot, and Jake Sullivan was Biden’s former national security advisor and chief foreign policy adviser to Hillary Clinton during her 2016 presidential campaign.

Devine listed the other "antagonists" as "Andrew Weissman, the lead prosecutor in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russiagate investigation of Trump, who frequently maligns the former president in his role as an MNBC (sic) contributor...and Norm Eisen, special counsel to the Democrat-led House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment."

'Smith nails him': ex-prosecutor says Trump's delay tactics are in trouble

Special Counsel Jack Smith has the upper hand in his race to the courtroom against former President Donald Trump, a legal expert said Monday.

CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen argues that Smith's powerful filing Saturday was a strong move against Trump's leading delay tactic, his argument that presidential immunity bars him from being prosecuted on federal election interference charges.

"Jack Smith hammers him with all the weaknesses of this claim in this new filing," Eisen told "The Situation Room" viewers. "There's no precedent, no case law for this kind of absolute immunity."

Eisen believes Smith's 82-page filing will serve not only to quash the the presidential immunity claim, but to speed up the debate so his federal election interference case, stayed until this question is resolved, can resume.

"[Trump's] playing for delay, trying to push this out as long as possible," Eisen explains. "Trump knows he's going to lose."

Should Trump delay the trial past November, and reclaim the White House, he could theoretically order the Justice department to kill the case, but Eisen believes Smith "has the upper hand."

"Smith is telling the D.C. Circuit, hurry up, decide fast," Eisen said.

Commentator Shan Wu chimed in to agree, saying, "I think the D.C. Circuit will move quickly with this," but added he's worried about the calendar.

For Eisen, it's still possible the case could begin early this year if the Supreme Court does what it often does, and refuses to consider the case.

"They've very often refused to consider...Trump's request for relief on Democracy-related issues," Eisen said. "If that happens, and it's wrapped up, this trial, I don't think it can go March 5, but it can go in March."

Watch the video below or click here.