David Edwards has spent over a decade reporting on social justice, human rights and politics for Raw Story. He also writes Crooks and Liars. He has a background in enterprise resource planning and previously managed the network infrastructure for the North Carolina Department of Correction.
President Donald Trump's White House has reportedly removed several photographs of French President Emmanuel Macron and replaced them with framed photos of North Korea dictator Kim Jong-un.
Wall Street Journal reporter Michael C. Bender confirmed on Monday that photos of the president of France, one of Americans longest standing allies, were removed from a wall in the White House's West Wing.
In place of the French president were at least three photos of Trump shaking hands, walking and talking with Kim.
Pictures of President Trump and Kim Jong Un in the West Wing of the White House. A few weeks ago, these frames surr… https://t.co/oIFw84rZBL
— Michael C. Bender (@Michael C. Bender)
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A key member of Donald Trump's legal defense team has reportedly dropped one of the former president's associates, Boris Epshteyn, as a client as it became clear that the two were considered adversarial to each other due to a recent Arizona criminal indictment.
Hugo Lowell, political investigations reporter for The Guardian, reported after Epshteyn was indicted in Arizona that "Trump lawyer Todd Blanche may soon have to choose whether loyalty is [with] Trump or Boris Epshteyn — clients who are now likely adversarial to each other."
Lowell noted that, while "Trump is charged [with] 2020 election subversion in DC and Georgia," Epshteyn has been "charged [with] 2020 election subversion in Arizona."
The reporter further noted that Blanche "was originally Epshteyn’s lawyer and represented him before the Special Counsel."
"Epshteyn then intro’d him to Trump, and Blanche became his lawyer, too," he said Wednesday. "Now Blanche almost certainly is legally conflicted, though Trump and Epshteyn could waive the conflict."
In an updated post, Lowell stated that "Trump lawyer Todd Blanche is no longer representing Boris Epshteyn, per person familiar."
"Unclear when the representation ended," he said. "Blanche told Epshteyn tonight that he needs to find an Arizona lawyer ASAP."
Former federal prosecutor Harry Litman called the development "fallout from Arizona case."
"Epshteyn indicted for first time and Blanche no longer represents him," he said.
MSNBC host and legal analyst Katie Phang also chimed in on Blanche leaving Epshteyn, saying, "So it looks like Todd Blanche went with the buttered side."
While numerous people were charged in the
Arizona fake elector effort to keep President Donald Trump in power back in 2020 — the former president, referred to as "Unindicted Co-Conspirator 1," so far gets to skate free.
Trump might not be indicted in the case yet, but it is another state indictment. And that means even if the 45th president wins the election come Nov. 5 and is able to serve out another term, he would be unable to pardon his cohorts like attorney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows among others should they get convicted.
Former federal prosecutor and university law professor Ryan Goodman appeared on CNN's "Out Front" to discuss the Arizona indictment that appeared to spare Trump another criminal case.
He said, "This is state prosecution of state crimes" and so "if Donald Trump is elected president, he can't do anything about it."
The reason the president is powerless to wash the slate for these accused is because they're not federal crimes.
Moreover, Goodman said Trump also "cannot quash the investigation because that's only about the Justice Department, not about state law enforcement authorities."
If the case moves ahead with a formal trial and ends in conviction, Trump will effectively be "just left out there as unindicted co-conspirator."
So what happens to all of Trump's indicted co-conspirators?
Goodman said, "these folks might be left holding the bag."
The move contradicted the fact that then-President Elect Joe Biden had been found to have won by 10,457 votes and state officials certified his electors.
Among some of the others named in the indictment were former Arizona GOP chair Kelli Ward, who
tweeted on Jan. 6, 2021, following the siege on the U.S. Capitol by hordes of Trump supporters: “Congress is adjourned. Send the elector choice back to the legislatures.”
The Campaign Legal Center, a prominent ethics watchdog group, is warning that a scheme by former President Donald Trump's campaign to conceal payments to his legal defense could be afoul of the law, reported USA Today on Wednesday.
This comes after new reports this week revealed that Trump funneled payments from his 2024 presidential campaign to his attorneys through a compliance firm called Red Curve Solutions, at a moment when he is facing multiple criminal cases — and classified the money as "reimbursements" in filings with the Federal Election Commission.
"Red Curve Solutions helps political campaigns with a range of services, including 'comprehensive budgeting, accounting and financial management and compliance services,' according to the company's LinkedIn page," reported Zac Anderson. "Campaigns often pay outside organizations to manage polling, consulting or other needs. The Campaign Legal Center said in its Wednesday release that virtually all of the payments from Trump's campaign and committees are described as 'Reimbursement for Legal Fees' or 'Reimbursement for Legal Expenses' — despite the fact that Red Curve Solutions is not a law firm itself."
"The arrangement seems designed to obscure the true recipients of a noteworthy portion of Trump’s legal bills and, in doing so, seems to violate federal law," wrote CLC in a statement on the complaint they have filed with federal regulators.
Specifically, CLC noted, "Red Curve appears to have been fronting legal costs for Trump since at least December 2022, with Trump-affiliated committees repaying the company later. This arrangement appears to violate FEC rules that require campaigns to disclose not only the entity being reimbursed (here, Red Curve) but also the underlying vendor."
Trump is currently facing four criminal trials, including two related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. He is also facing civil judgments in multiple cases totaling hundreds of millions of dollars, and is in the process of appealing them.
