Crazy, Dangerous World Of Trump Lawyers and Followers
Lawyers and political candidates in the trump orbit keep getting weirder and more dangerous, if that’s possible.
The revolving stable of trump’s lawyers is just one more sign of the embarrassing and supreme incompetence that ruled the nation for four grueling years and promises four more years of darkness.
The lawyers include Rudolph Giuliani, a one-time “America’s Mayor,” a national hero of 9/11, who descended into an alcoholic self-parody and is a target of a Georgia grand jury looking into potential criminal charges, including racketeering and conspiracy, in connection with trump’s efforts to overturn Georgia’s vote for President Biden. Giuliani had been the subject of riotous incident from his hair dye running down his head during a press conference, to the press conference next to a Pennsylvania landscaping company, near a sex shop and a crematorium and a scandalous appearance in a Borat movie in which he appears in a compromising situation with one of the film’s actors. Giuliani is currently being sued in a billion dollar defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems for claiming the company acted in league with China to fix the 2020 election.
Another disgraced lawyer, Sidney Powell, promised to release the legendary sea monster, kraken, to overturn trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election (the kraken was never to be seen).
Trump attorney Joe diGenova proclaimed the nation is in a civil war and advised people to buy up guns and said the former Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency for the United States Department of Homeland Security, should be “drawn and quartered. Taken out at dawn and shot.”
And most recently, another trump mouthpiece, Alina Habba, who once represented a parking garage company, said the surveillance footage of the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago should be made public, even though it could identify and jeopardize the lives of agents.
As far as the latest candidates with trumpian values, tied for the top (or bottom) of the list are Luis Miguel, a Republican candidate for Florida House of Representatives; and Carl Paladino, a New York Republican and congressional candidate who has trump’s support. Miguel has called on Floridians to shoot federal agents while Paladino said Attorney General Attorney General Merrick Garland should probably be executed.
Miguel tweeted, “Under my plan, all Floridians will have permission to shoot FBI, IRS, ATF and all other feds on sight! Let freedom ring!” His Twitter account was permanently pulled, leading him later to say, somewhat disingenuously, “I am in no way advocating any kind of vigilante, extra-judicial, illegal or other form of violence against federal officers.”
Miguel said his tweet referred to a proposal that would require federal agencies to have permission from Florida to operate in the state, and that people could protect themselves against threats to their lives or property. (Then why didn’t he say that?)
Paladino suggested that Garland be killed in the context of the FBI seizure of possible top secret documents during a search of trump’s Florida estate. Paladino didn’t exactly withdraw his call to kill Garland but did say his comments were facetious, just a quip, a joke about executing the nation’s top law enforcement officer. Paladino has been endorsed by Rep. Elize Stefanik, R-N.Y., the third highest ranking House Republican who claims that widespread voter fraud denied trump reelection in 2020.
Paladino ran and lost a 2010 bid for governor of N.Y. and has a history of racist, conspiratorial and extremist remarks.
Which brings me to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a trumper to the core, who could lose her standing as the looniest in Congress if Florida elects another trump favorite, Laura Loomer. Days after Infowars wingnut Alex Jones was ordered to pay $45.2 million in punitive damages for his lies that the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax and accusing the grieving parents of the slain children of being paid actors, Jones heaped praise during an interview with Loomer on his show “Infowars.”
“They think MTG (Margaret Taylor Greene) is dangerous — I can’t wait until you’re in Congress,” Jones said to Loomer.
Loomer, 29, a proud, unabashed COVID-19 denier, conspiracist and Islamophobe is supported by various white supremacist groups. She has said that “Muslims should not be allowed to seek positions of political office in this country.” She also said that Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., a Muslim, is “pushing for another 9/11” and Loomer said ominously, that Americans should “rise up” against Omar. A Jewish woman, Loomer also supports the white supremacist, Christian nationalist movement.
Loomer won the Florida’s Republican primary for congress in August 2020, receiving 14,500 votes out of 34,000 cast and gaining the love of Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla, who is under investigation for possible sex trafficking and Roger Stone, a former Trump adviser Roger Stone, who was convicted in 2019 of witness tampering, obstructing an official proceeding, and five counts of making false statements but was later pardoned by trump.
In support of Loomer after the 2020 primary win, trump tweeted, “Great going Laura. You have a great chance against a Pelosi puppet!” Loomer was trounced in the 2020 general election but is back trying for congress in 2022 and has been endorsed by far right wingers, Greene and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz.
Loomer has been banned from numerous social media platforms, payment processors, vehicles for hire, and food delivery mobile apps for various reasons, including violating policies on hate speech and spreading misinformation. She has promoted many crazy conspiracy theories, including that school shootings in February 2018 in Parkland, Fla., and in May 2018 in Santa Fe, Texas, were staged, and that the killer in the 2017 Las Vegas, Nev., shootings was affiliated with ISIS.
Loomer also has suggested the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by trump supporters may have been planned by the FBI “as part of an organized false flag operation to create mass condemnation of President Donald Trump and his supporters, and to justify the deplatforming by Big Tech social media companies of a sitting United States President and millions of his supporters over false claims of an ‘insurrection.’”
In November 2020, trump named Sidney Powell, Joe diGenova and his wife, Victoria Toensing, and Jenna Ellis to join a legal team led by Rudy Giuliani to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Powell was one of the loudest legal mouths in the effort to overturn the 2021 election. She had claimed to have evidence of problems with voting machines made by Dominion Voting Systems and said that the “kracken” will rise and overturn election results in several states. Powell also represented trump’s disgraced former national security adviser, Michael Flynn. No such problems were ever proven, no kracken rose and Dominion has filed a billion dollar lawsuit against Powell and others.
Powell’s ignominious fall from grace has her facing possible disbarment and several billion dollar lawsuits in connection with the lies and conspiracies she espoused about the fictional 2020 election fraud.
In August, District Court Judge Linda Parker minced no words in telling Powell and her fellow denier lawyer that the lawsuit they filed to overturn voting results in Michigan “represents a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process. It is one thing to take on the charge of vindicating rights associated with an allegedly fraudulent election. It is another to take on the charge of deceiving a federal court and the American people into believing that rights were infringed, without regard to whether any laws or rights were in fact violated. This is what happened here.”
Parker ordered Powell and her colleagues to attend continuing legal education courses and cover some of the defendants’ legal fees. She also referred the lawyers for “possible suspension or disbarment.”
DiGenova and his wife, Toensing, are other stars in the parallel universe that is trump’s legal team. In November 2020, diGenova said in a television interview that Chris Krebs, former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, should be “drawn and quartered. Taken out at dawn and shot.” Facing a huge libel lawsuit, diGenova later apologized to Krebs. Krebs had been fired by trump for contradicting the former president’s false and baseless claims of widespread election fraud.
“Given today’s political climate, I should have more carefully expressed my criticism of Mr. Krebs, who was just doing his job,” groveled diGenova.
DiGenova and Toensing are outspoken conspiracists. The couple frequently appeared on Fox News and Fox Business channels, until diGenova began to spread conspiracy theories about George Soros, a billionaire Democratic supporter, leading to widespread calls for him to be banned from the network. Criticisms of Soros are often considered as veiled anti-Semitic attacks against the billionaire who is Jewish.
In July 2019, diGenova and Toensing began representing Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash to help him to avoid extradition to the United States under a federal indictment. Their efforts unfolded, as Giuliani, their associate and trump’s personal attorney, sought information in Ukraine to damage Biden.
Ellis has claimed she is a “constitutional law attorney” during cable news appearances, though The New York Times reported she had no such expertise and The Wall Street Journal reported she had no history in any federal cases. As a member of trump’s team to overturn the 2020 election, Ellis made unsubstantiated claims that trump won the election and drafted two memos falsely asserting vice president Mike Pence could change the results.
Previously to trump, Ellis was hired in 2012 as deputy district attorney in Weld County, Color. It didn’t last long as a year later, she was fired. She claimed she was fired because she would not prosecute a case she thought was unethical but a published report about her dismissal referred to her “mistakes,” including a failure to “adhere” to Colorado’s Victim Rights Act. In 2015, Ellis became an affiliate faculty member of Colorado Christian University, and later an assistant professor of legal studies, although the university does not have a law school.
In her self-published book, “The Legal Basis for a Moral Constitution: A Guide for Christians to Understand America’s Constitutional Crisis,” Ellis argued that the U.S. Constitution must only be interpreted according to the Bible. She said that homosexuals were “sinners” whose “conduct is vile and abominable.”
After the General Services Administration recognized Biden as the apparent winner of the 2020 election, Ellis clung to her baseless claim that the “election was stolen and President Trump won by a landslide.” Ellis was subpoenaed in January 2022 to testify before the House Select Committee on the January 6 attack.
Others in the faux legal trump circle include Alina Habba; Christina Bobb, a former host of the far right, One America News (OAN) show; and Florida insurance lawyer Lindsey Halligan.
Habba is the shill who suggested the surveillance footage of the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago be released, even though it could reveal the identities and jeopardize the safety of agents who executed the search. Habba’s inflammatory comment came at a time when authorities report an increase in violent threats posted on social media against federal officials and facilities, including a threat to place a so-called dirty bomb in front of FBI Headquarters and issuing general calls for “civil war” and “armed rebellion.”
Habba, 36, is the founder and managing partner of Habba Madaio & Associates LLP, a small firm based in Bedminster, just a stone’s throw from the Trump National Golf Club. With her partner Michael Madaio, the firm focuses mostly on helping businesses with legal issues. She had been the general counsel of a parking garage company, according to the Washington Post.
Habba is representing trump in his effort to halt a N.Y. state civil investigation into the trump company. She fought and lost a battle to kill a subpoena to sit for depositions concerning the investigation.
Habba also is defending trump against two sexual assault lawsuits, and she filed a lawsuit against the New York Times and the ex-president’s niece, Mary Trump, over leaking his tax documents. Before representing trump, Habba’s highest profile case was as the lawyer for “Real Housewives of New Jersey’’ star Siggy Flicker who claimed she was banned from Facebook after wishing Melania Trump a happy birthday.
Habba is currently the subject of a lawsuit alleging discrimination against Habba by Na’sia Drayton, a Black woman who worked there as a legal assistant. The lawsuit alleges that Habba’s behavior created a hostile work environment for Drayton, including through Habba’s tendency to repeatedly sing the n-word while blasting hip-hop music in the office.
Bobb, 35, was previously a host on OAN, where she covered the Arizona Republican Party’s review of 2020 ballots while also raising money for the effort and conferring with Trump advisers. Her prior legal experience at the federal level consists mainly of trademark infringement cases on behalf of CrossFit. Bobb was the executive secretary for the Department of Homeland Security under trump.
Lindsey Halligan’s legal work has focused on insurance claims at residential and commercial properties. She was admitted to the Florida bar in 2014. Halligan is just 33 and very attractive, something that no doubt appealed to trump. Halligan and the other lawyers have been on the right wing talk show circuit showing that their boss never did anything wrong, ever.