Jul.02

electoral-vote.com

Dem 47

   

GOP 53

Abusing the System, Part III: Trump Minions Pay a Price

For the next 3½ years, Donald Trump is above the law. He may be above the law even after that, since he's very good at dragging out legal proceedings for years and years, and since, well... he is likely to travel the way of all men sooner than most.

On the other hand, his underlings' armor is far less impenetrable. There are many reasons this may be the case, among them: (1) many of them don't enjoy the protections afforded to someone who is a government employee; (2) many bad acts are state-level crimes, and so beyond a presidential pardon; (3) many bad acts are civil torts, and so are also beyond a presidential pardon and (4) many of the people who commit bad acts on Trump's behalf are lawyers, and, in general, it's easier to lose in a State Bar Court hearing than it is in a civil/criminal case.

In the past couple of weeks, a number of the "stars" of Trump v1.0 have managed to reap what they sowed. To wit:

• Kenneth Chesebro: "The Cheese" is the fellow who crafted the plan to send fake electors to Congress to overturn the 2020 election. A couple of months ago, a court stripped him of his law license for unethical behavior unworthy of an attorney. And now, an appeals court in New York has rejected his appeal. He is no longer allowed to practice law in New York state.
  
  
• John Eastman: For Eastman, you can pretty much just repeat the paragraph above, with "California" in place of "New York." Eastman helped promote the plan to steal the election on 1/6, and then lied in court several times in service of the plan. He was disbarred late last year for "multiple acts of moral turpitude," and this week his appeal was rejected. He cannot practice law in California anymore.
  
  
• Mike Lindell: The MyPillow guy has already wrecked his business empire and his reputation with his obsession over (addiction to?) conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. He is most certainly going to go to his grave believing that Donald Trump defeated Joe Biden and, at the rate he's going, that might be all Lindell has when his time is up. This week, he lost yet another lawsuit, this one to Eric Coomer, the former security and product strategy director at Dominion Voting Systems. Lindell accused Coomer of being a traitor and of stealing the 2020 election for Biden.
  
  Lindell's defense in the case was an... inventive one. He and his lawyers claimed that a statement cannot be defamatory if the person making it believes that it is true. It is, of course, impossible to prove what someone believes or does not believe, so if that standard were to be accepted, there would be no such thing as a defamation suit. Anyhow, the jury didn't buy it, and awarded Coomer $2.3 million. Presumably, he won't see a penny of that, since Lindell is broke and has several other unsatisfied judgments, as well. Still, there is some value in having a court and a jury say that the lies told about you were, indeed, lies.

And all of this is just in the last week. Before this, Rudy Giuliani was disbarred in New York and D.C. and was hit with a whale of a judgment in Georgia, while Jenna Ellis was disbarred in Colorado. Also, every one of the people listed here, excepting Lindell, is facing fake-elector-related criminal charges in at least one state.

During Trump v1.0, some members of the administration were willing to do the jobs for which they were hired, but were unwilling to cross lines that could result in sanctions, disbarment, or criminal charges. Pat Cipollone is one example, and Eric Herschmann is another. One wonders if the people who are doing Trump's bidding right now, from "Attorney General" Pam Bondi on down, are taking note of what is happening with "The Cheese," et al., and are getting nervous about the risks they might be taking with their careers and with their lives. (Z & V)