Taylor Jude

The grand juries in the SDNY cases have been convened for almost 18 months now. Those prosecution are ripe and likely beyond Barr's ability to tamper at this point.

the likelihood of an insurrection within the ranks and, above all, the probability that Barr is himself implicated in at least one of the cases. As to the latter possibility, Berman may be in a position to 'bargain' for his office's independence by entering into tradeoffs.

If he had an entirely free hand, Barr would certainly have ended multiple SDNY cases long ago. He has not, because he doesn't have an entirely free hand. There is public opinion to consider (many will respond "pshaw"), +

I would add this: the question of SDNY's operational independence, and the fate of the specific cases being pursued there, is of sufficient importance to the nation that I would caution those who assert that SDNY has hoisted the white flag that they need to adduce +

better 'evidence' than that "SDNY reports to Barr," or "Berman donated to Trump." These are superficial, trivial arguments that don't begin to reflect the day to day reality of an immensely tense situation.

Thread: Apologists for US Attorney Berman (SDNY) must contend with the following: 1-Berman donated money to Trump’s campaign 2-Berman worked on the Trump transition team 3-Berman was law partners with Giuliani 4-Berman’s dad was in NJ real estate and Kushner recommended him

5-Berman was one of only 3 US Attorneys personally interviewed for his job by Trump 6-Berman evaded Senate confirmation 7-Berman’s ties to Trump/Cohen caused him to be recused from the Cohen case 8-Berman hand-picked former Deutsche Bank GC to lead the Cohen investigation

9-SDNY scheduled interviews of Trump Org executives and then abandoned the investigation after Barr was appointed 10-Berman caused SDNY to intervene in Trump’s personal defense and argued that Trump should be immune from criminal investigation by the Manhattan DA

11-Berman failed to recuse himself from the Parnas case despite its obvious overlap with and implication of Trump and Giuliani 12-Berman met with Barr in NY on the day Parnas was arrested but claims the timing of Barr’s visit was coincidental

Any investigations which fall under DOJ umbrella have been shut down by Barr. Fortunately he has no control over NY state or Congress, and both have ongoing investigations into trump's finances. They need his financial records from the banks. SCOTUS will rule at the end of March.

Imagine an intelligent person arguing that selling the office of the President and obstructing justice shouldn't matter as long as you can get your policy priorities passed.

why do you think those would have gotten votes in the Senate, when all the votes they've actually passed (including a prescription drug vote) haven't?

And if you pre-ordered #Bolton's book, you should cancel it.https://twitter.com/Mimirocah1/status/1225261421711286272 …

From an email from Central Europe: “It is incredible for me, who grew up in a communist country, to listen to Republicans speak of Trump in an almost identical fashion to how communists spoke in the 1980s. The lies, demagoguery, straw-man arguments, ad hominem attacks…ugh…”

There is no way this passes Constitutional muster. Post-impeachment Trump will be vindictive, willing to flagrantly violate civil rights & fully cognizant of the delays involved in using the courts to protect them.https://twitter.com/maggienyt/status/1225251040074850305 …

Man, that was hard yesterday watching 52 rabidly partisan Senators representing less than half the country smash our constitutional system of checks for a crook they know threatens democracy, then seeing two Senators double down by launching a corrupt investigation of his rival.

They did. Health care, voting rights, gun control, education, and so much more. The House passed ALL of them. ALL are sitting in the Senate. Don't blame the people who are both legislating AND holding Trump accountable. Blame the people who are doing NEITHER.https://twitter.com/nytdavidbrooks/status/1225187715983036416 …