Today’s miscellaneous political stuff - Part 10

Those who wish to make the republican ticket could well be worse....

David Pecker, former owner of National Enquirer, appeared before NY grand jury...(know for covering stories on TFG)

David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, is expected to meet with Manhattan prosecutors to discuss Donald Trump.

A grand jury was recently empaneled to start hearing evidence against the former president in the Stormy Daniels case, and CNN reported that Pecker will meet this week to discuss his involvement with preventing the pre-election publication of Trump's alleged affair with the porn actress.
***
Pecker allegedly coordinated with Cohen and at least one of member of Trump's 2016 campaign prevent negative stories from being published in a so-called "catch and kill" scheme to pay off mistresses and others.

www.rawstory.com/ami-david-pecker-donald-trump/

Meet Christina Bobb, one of TFG's outstanding lawyers.. she also said all documents from MAL were turned over last spring..

Trump attorney goes on wild 'fake president' rant: 'They' are trying to 'enslave everybody'
David Edwards
January 30, 2023

Christina Bobb, an attorney for former President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign, worried that malevolent forces are trying to "enslave everybody."

"We will get Donald Trump back in office," she added. "At that point, I think we need an investigation into who actually overthrew the United States government to install a fake president?"

Bobb has also represented Trump in his document dispute with the federal government, and she has been a surrogate for failed Arizona candidate Kari Lake.

She was accused of misleading prosecutors after the FBI search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.

www.rawstory.com/christina-bobb-enslave-everybody/

Um, no!!

Not the first time or the millionth time she got it wrong!!!

So did Santos jump or did Kev push him?

She might have been referring to Santos stepping down from committees?  McCarthy needs his vote but not the bad publicity?  Maybe McCarthy thinks Santos will be less visible if he's not on the committees?  Or, it's a first step before resigning?

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/31/santos-fabrications-committee-assignments-republicans/

Embattled Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) is stepping down temporarily from his committee assignments amid multiple investigations into his campaign finances after he lied about key aspects of his biography.
Santos, who has admitted to fabricating details about his education, work, religion and heritage since his election in November, told House Republicans in a closed meeting Tuesday that he would remove himself from his assignments on the House Small Business Committee and the Science, Space and Technology Committee.
The temporary retreat from committees marks Santos’s first major concession after weeks of maintaining a steadfast resistance to any consequences over his fabrications.
Santos told colleagues he will step down because “he’s a distraction,” according to a Republican lawmaker who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting. The conversation comes one day after Santos met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

Now Roberts may have a big problem.

Another SCOTUS scandal: Chief justice’s spouse makes millions placing attorneys at top law firms that argue before the court
David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement
January 31, 2023

The highly controversial and highly unpopular U.S. Supreme Court isn’t just facing a historic loss of confidence, it’s now facing yet another ethics scandal that is likely to lower even further public opinion of the far-right institution that in under two decades has seen its approval rating slashed.

Although it will not hear arguments, the issue before the Supreme Court and the American people’s view of it, is, should a Justice’s spouse – in this case the spouse of Chief Justice John Roberts – be able to make millions of dollars recruiting attorneys who are placed into top law firms that argue cases before it?

That’s the latest allegation, and already a spokesperson for the Court has issued a statement denying any ethical violations.

The New York Times reports that “a former colleague of Mrs. Roberts has raised concerns that her recruiting work poses potential ethics issues for the chief justice. Seeking an inquiry, the ex-colleague has provided records to the Justice Department and Congress indicating Mrs. Roberts has been paid millions of dollars in commissions for placing lawyers at firms — some of which have business before the Supreme Court, according to a letter obtained by The New York Times.”

Jane Sullivan Roberts left a law firm where she was a partner after her spouse was confirmed as Chief Justice.

“Mrs. Roberts, according to a 2015 deposition,” The Times reports, “said that a significant portion of her practice was devoted to helping senior government lawyers land jobs at law firms and that the candidates’ names were almost never disclosed.”

Documents in that case “list six-figure fees credited to Mrs. Roberts for placing partners at law firms — including $690,000 in 2012 for one such match. The documents do not name clients, but Mr. Price recalled her recruitment of one prominent candidate, Ken Salazar, then interior secretary under President Barack Obama, to WilmerHale, a global firm that boasts of arguing more than 125 times before the Supreme Court.”
***

Doug Lindner, Advocacy Director for Judiciary & Democracy for the League of Conservation Voters, pointing to the Times’ report, remarked: “Another day, another ethics concern about another life-tenured conservative justice on the most powerful court in the world, which has no binding ethics rules.”

Indeed, the lack of a Supreme Court code of ethics has been repeatedly condemned for years, including by some of the nation’s top critics.

www.rawstory.com/another-scotus-scandal-chief-justices-spouse-makes-millions-placing-attorneys-at-top-law-firms-that-argue-before-the-court/