The Supreme Court ruled that the Manhattan DA can get access to Trump tax record in the Stormy Daniels case, and that the lower courts have to apply a stricter standard before letting Congress have his tax returns.
While the rulings are a rebuke to Trump’s legal argument, Frum argues they are a gift to Trump candidacy: But Trump’s legal strategy was cannier than his legal arguments. The strategy was to play for time, to push the day of reckoning beyond November 2020. That strategy has now paid off….It will catch up to him. But Trump never thinks so far ahead. In law, as in his approach to the pandemic, Trump’s one thought is: Save myself today; I’ll worry about tomorrow tomorrow. The Supreme Court saved Trump today.
Geoffrey Berman, who stepped down form the SDNY, told his story to the House on Thursday in a behind closed doors session: He said Barr offered him other jobs, and then threatened to fire him, to get him to step down: But under questioning, Mr. Berman called the attorney general’s actions irregular and said they raised serious concerns in his mind. He told lawmakers that he believed that Mr. Barr’s plan to replace him with an outsider would “delay and disrupt” important cases under his watch. And when asked specifically by Republicans whether Mr. Barr had offered him a quid pro quo, he said he believed the description would fit an offer of a job in return for his resignation, according to three people familiar with the testimony who spoke on the condition of anonymity because it was private.
Trump commuted Roger Stone’s 40 month sentence on Friday night.
Within a day of the commutation, Mueller wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post, reminding the country of Stone’ crimes: A jury later determined he lied repeatedly to members of Congress. He lied about the identity of his intermediary to WikiLeaks. He lied about the existence of written communications with his intermediary. He lied by denying he had communicated with the Trump campaign about the timing of WikiLeaks’ releases. He in fact updated senior campaign officials repeatedly about WikiLeaks. And he tampered with a witness, imploring him to stonewall Congress.
Wittes writes in Lawfare that the commutation is especially corrupt because the president is using his powers to pardon a person who committed a crime to expressly protect that same president.
COVID-19
Trump wore a mask in public for the first time on Saturday, arranges a dramatic video at Walter Reed Hospital: “Anticipation over whether he would wear a mask had been building, after the president had repeatedly dismissed suggestions that he wear a mask, frequently appearing in public spaces without one, mocking those who did and ignoring public health rules in several states…. ““I’ll probably have a mask, if you must know… I’ve never been against masks, but I do believe they have a time and a place.””
Personal Log: A close relative–a dear aunt–died on Friday after a week long hospitalization with COVID-19. She is a victim of skyrocketing cases happening in Florida.
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Trump’s Job Approval: 40.1%
COVID-19 Cases / Deaths: 3,106,931 / 132,855