Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump's Personal Lawyer.

 

Todd Blanche is now the Attorney General of the United States. He was Trump's personal defense lawyer who defended Trump in multiple criminal indictments, including the New York "hush money" trial, and he acted as his trusted personal counsel through various state and federal legal challenges.

It is highly unusual in modern U.S. history for a president to appoint his personal defense lawyer to serve as Attorney General. While presidents historically appointed close political allies or campaign managers, modern legal norms demand strict institutional separation between the President’s personal legal troubles and the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Blanche's appointment is a blatant conflict of interest. The Attorney General represents the United States and the American people, not the president as an individual. Can Trump's former personal defense lawyer face intense scrutiny over whether he can objectively oversee federal law enforcement, or if he will act as the president's private counsel?

For your information, here is a list of Trump attorneys who at one time worked for him and what happened to them as a result. Blanche is NOT in good company:

* Roy Cohn — Disbarred; dead

* Michael Cohen — Disbarred; pleaded guilty to tax, campaign and false-statement crimes

* Rudy Giuliani — Disbarred in NY and DC; $148M in defamation damages

* Alina Habba — Sanctioned $1M for frivolous litigation. 

* Boris Epshteyn — Pending AZ criminal charges  in fake-elector case.

* John Eastman — Disbarred in CA and suspended in DC; AZ criminal case pending.

* Kenneth Chesebro — Disbarred in NY; pleaded guilty in GA; WI case pending

* Sidney Powell — Pleaded guilty in GA.

* Jenna Ellis — Pleaded guilty in GA; suspended in CO; AZ criminal case pending.

* Jeffrey Clark — Facing criminal charges in AZ over fake-elector scheme.

* Christina Bobb — Facing AZ criminal charges over fake-elector scheme.

Total number of criminal convictions or disbarments among all of Ronald Reagan’s, George H. W. Bush’s, Bill Clinton’s, George W. Bush’s, Barack Obama’s, and Joe Biden’s lawyers:

0

Total number of criminal convictions or disbarments among Donald Trump’s lawyers:

Nine and counting

GUEST POST BY DAVE MILLER

 

Make it stop.

In early July, after the new DC Reflecting Pool paint started peeling, Dept of Interior Secretary Burgum stated the US had evidence of wrongdoing and that “acts of vandalism” were caught on camera.

US Atty Jeanne Pirro presented “evidence” and got an indictment of former US Olympian David Hearn for that vandalism from a DC Grand Jury.

President Trump stated “We have photographs, or tapes…” In addition, he said in June  “We also have pictures… ”. When he was pressed to show those images, he said they would come out in time. “At the right time you’ll see it,” he said. “You’ll see it in court.”

But then reality set in.

US Atty Pirro, after getting the indictment against Hearn actually sat down to look at the evidence and realized something… there was no evidence. No photos, no tapes, no nothing. She had stepped up to do the president’s bidding and was caught holding the bag.

Even as she dropped the case, Trump essentially ripped her a new one in stating "I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro on the Reflecting Pool.” He then went on to add the following…

"Frankly, I think she choked, because the judge was really vicious.” And that he said she "folded like a cheap umbrella”.

Yesterday he had this to say after admitting there was “contractor error” on the job…

“…there is no video or proof, other than the damage, itself,”, essentially exonerating Hearn and Pirro.

None of the above is in dispute. It’s all part of the public record and included in court filings and POTUS Trump’s own Truth Social postings.

Conclusions… I’ll admit, I don’t want to be charitable to the POTUS. I’m fed up with Trump, his lies, his profiteering off the office of the presidency, and his petty narcissism.

But I’m willing to say that it is possible no one in the Oval Office orbit was actually aware of the truth. Perhaps in a rush to satisfy the demands of the president, Burgum and Pirro just went along with what Trump wanted, hoping some real evidence would later turn up.

Because the only alternative is that all three of them knew early on that the president had gotten out over his skis, and it was their job to protect him… even if it meant lying to the American people.

What say you?

YOUR SUNDAY MOMENT OF ZEN

 

SATURDAY NIGHT DANCING

Baryshnikov:   Nureyev:   Osiel Gouneo:

Trump bank accounts were closed due to concerns over possible money laundering, Capital One says

 

What did MAGA expect when they voted to put a convicted criminal back in office? Integrity? Honor? Virtue? Those are words no one would ever associate with Donald Trump.

 NEW YORK (AP) — "Bank accounts held by President Donald Trump were closed by Capital One in 2021 after it flagged financial activity that had characteristics of money laundering, the bank disclosed in a court filing over the weekend. The court filing is tied to a lawsuit filed against Capital One by one of Trump's financial holding companies shortly after he was sworn into office a second time. Trump alleges that Capital One illegally closed his accounts for political reasons, following the Jan. 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol. Capital One wants the lawsuit dismissed."

 [skip] 

"Trump had more than 300 bank accounts with Capital One before they were closed. The bank accounts were for a variety of Trump-branded businesses, ranging from a golf course to a winery. Trump had banked with Capital One for more than a decade before the accounts were closed. In the court filing, Capital One said it had no reason to make a political statement with the closure of Trump's accounts in 2021 and the move had everything to do with activity in the accounts being flagged by anti-money laundering experts with the bank." 

 AI Overview  

Capital One disclosed in a federal court filing that it closed hundreds of bank accounts linked to the Trump Organization in 2021 following an internal anti-money laundering review.  The filing is part of a legal defense to dismiss a lawsuit from Donald Trump and his business entities alleging politically motivated "debanking".

The Closures: Following the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, Capital One conducted reviews and moved to shut down over 300 accounts tied to the Trump Organization. [1, 2]

The Allegations: Trump, his trust, and Eric Trump filed a lawsuit arguing the closures were an unlawful, politically motivated effort to distance the bank from his conservative views. [1, 2]

The Defense: Capital One asked a federal court in Florida to dismiss the amended lawsuit, stating the closures stemmed from standard compliance and risk assessments rather than political retaliation.

Summary

While regulatory bodies like FinCEN previously fined Trump casino properties for anti-money laundering compliance failures, and financial institutions like Capital One closed accounts based on automated or internal AML risk indicators, there are no criminal convictions or formal legal charges of money laundering against the Trump Organization itself. Proven criminal charges against the organization to date focus on tax fraud, falsification of records, and asset misvaluation rather than money laundering.

 "The closures were the result of months of analysis and a careful review by Capital One's AML team in accordance with bank policies and regulatory guidance," lawyers for the bank said in a court filing on July 31. "Capital One never publicized the termination decision nor its confidential internal process giving rise to the closure, and it permitted Plaintiffs several months (and granted several extensions) to find new banking services, which they did."