DDC Court Order Re Trump and MAZARS - decent win for Oversight & Transparency -amended with additional court filings
DDC Court Order Re Trump and MAZARS - decent win for Oversight & Transparency -amended with additional court filings
Because I have a lot of files and facts but mainly files. Shall we go over today’s memorandum/opinion and Order as it relates to Trump, Trump Org, GSA Contract, Emoluments and House Oversight?
Background:
Anyone and I mean anyone tweeting “we get to see Trump’s taxes” is absolutely uninformed and they are misleading you -because that is NOT what last month’s DOJ OLC’s Slip Opinion states
DDC Court Order RE Trump Taxes
DDC-ECF for today’s 56 page Ruling/Order: https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/doc1/04508702285 or you can access today’s ruling via my Scribd Link
I also think there’s a need to explain (because I realized that no one has drilled down, I did but those Twitter threads were flushed down the Twitter Tiolet) this case had/has two tracks.
Track One -the House OverSight Committee’s GSA & Trump DC Hotel Contract Breach Investigation.
Track Two - the House OverSight Committee’s Emoluments investigation both domestic and foreign emoluments, get specific to the GSA contact breach.
Today’s Memorandum Opinion and Order addresses both Tracks and you need to keep that in mind when reading both Court Documents. I hope that makes sense. And naturally I’ve embedded the numerous Congressional underlying letters, reports, and Memorandums. …as noted the 116th Congressional Subpoena was litigated up to the United States Supreme Court. If past is prologue you can absolutely take it to the bank that Trump et al will once again re-litigate this up to SCOTUS - Trump v. Mazars - Supreme Court - Jul 9, 2020 — Oversight and Reform issued a subpoena to the President's personal accounting firm, Mazars USA, LLP, demanding information related to.
So let’s get into today’s Memorandum/Opinion, shall we?
applying the NEW greater scrutiny required by Mazars
..which included a NEW Four Factor Test…
…but this court granted summary judgment in favor of the Committee. After the D.C. Circuit affirmed, the Supreme Court granted certiorari and eventually vacated the Circuit’s opinion. In the process, it announced a new four-factor test to assess the validity of a congressional subpoena directed at a sitting President’s personal papers. See Trump v. Mazars USA, LLP, 140 S. Ct. 2019, 2035–36 (2020).
…The Court remanded the case to the D.C. Circuit, which, after receiving full briefing and holding an oral argument, remanded the matter back to this court to apply the Supreme Court’s decision.
Under the NEW MAZARs Test:
Far greater scrutiny which now limits the District Court…
…The court holds that the Committee’s asserted legislative purpose of bolstering financial disclosure laws for Presidents and presidential candidates does not warrant disclosure of President Trump’s personal and corporate financial records when balanced against the separation of powers concerns raised by the broad scope of its subpoena.
…Congress’s authority under the Foreign Emoluments Clause…
You know it’s probably a very good idea that I’m not on Twitter because I would be name checking the Blue-QANON-for-the-Left because they have consistently misinformed their followers. Whereas I repeatedly stated the separation of powers issue was a big Road Block but in the Context of the GSA DC Trump Hotel Contract —Congress has a much stronger argument on emoluments, both foreign and domestic. Because Trump never sought and Congress never granted him permission to accept Emoluments and this is doubling complicated because Trump refused to divest. A revocable trust is NOT a blind trust/
👇🏻AND. YET. HERE. WE. ARE. 👇🏻
House Oversight 2017 Chairman Cummings -primer:
Before we drill down further into today’s Ruling -I think it would be advisable to refresh your memory about the GSA and Trump DC Hotel Contract
GSA provided a response to a previous letter sent by Ranking Member Cummings, Rep. Peter DeFazio, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and Reps. Gerry Connolly and André Carson.
…GSA explained that it would not provide unredacted versions of the monthly reports describing revenue and expenses unless a request was made under the statutory provision known as the “Seven Member Rule” to obtain federal records from federal agencies. This is the same process that was followed in response to a previous request.
GSA explained in its recent letter that it is still reviewing and evaluating information it has received to “assess its compliance with the terms and conditions of the Old Post Office lease.”
In its letter, GSA explained: “Once GSA has a full and complete understanding of the tenant’s structure, GSA will determined whether the tenant remains in compliance with the contract.”
House 2017 GSA & Trump DC Hotel Contract
Letters & other Communiques
Click here to read the Member’s letter
Click here to read the letter from the GSA.
Click here to read the corresponce between GSA and The Trump Organization
Letter to GSA Regarding Failure To Respond To Multiple Requests For Information
Request Briefing and Documents from GSA on President-Elect Trump’s D.C. Hotel Lease (by the own terms and conditions of the GSA lease, the moment Trump took the oath, he was in material breach of the contract, that’s why his 1st act as president was to name a new GSA Director (he wanted to do it on January 20, 2017 9:15AM - before he was sworn in
Issue Subpoena to Obtain Key Documents on Trump's DC Hotel Lease
Congressional Reports surrounding the GSA & Trump DC hotel contract
July 12, 2017 -- release Democratic staff report titled “Breach of a Lease: The Tale of the Old Post Office in the Swamp” detailing GSA’s complete failure to administer the Old Post Office lease agreement in accordance with the terms of the lease.
January 16, 2019: GSA-OIG releases report finding that GSA failed to consider the Emoluments Clauses to the U.S. Constitution in advance of a GSA contracting officer certifying the new organizational structure put in place by President Trump.
IMPORTANT MEMO -the Court referenced this memo a lot👇🏻
August 27, 2020 Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney sent a memorandum to Members of the Committee on Oversight and Reform providing an update on the status of the Committee’s investigations related to its April 15, 2019, subpoena to the President’s accounting firm, Mazars USA LLP, following the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. Mazars USA, LLP.
..the House charged the Committee with “review[ing] and study[ing] on a continuing basis the operation of Government activities at all levels, including the Executive Office of the President.” -116th House Rules at 10. The House also permitted the Committee to “at any time conduct investigations of any matter without regard to [other rules] conferring jurisdiction over the matter to another standing committee.”
Trump, White House and GSA delay deflect distract…
This was the Trump et al strategy, delay, deflect and distract -in short I distinctly remember telling my Twitter followers that this tactic has one primary goal; run down the 116th Congress clock.
“documents related to [his] reporting of debts and payments to his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, to silence women alleging extramarital affairs with [him] before the [2016] election…
“the Committee launched an investigation into the failure of President Donald Trump to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments and liabilities to his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to silence women alleging extramarital affairs during the 2016 presidential campaign.”
Office of Government Ethics Trump broke the law, again
Chairman Cummings explained that “[t]he Committee’s interest in obtaining these documents is even more critical in light of new documents, obtained by the Committee from the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) that describe false information provided by the lawyers representing President Trump.”
As today’s ruling states, by the time Michael Cohen testified before Congress, he had already plead guilty to a litany of crimes, some of which directly implicated Donald Trump’s hush money payments to two women…
March 20, 2019, Chairman Cummings sent a letter to Mazars seeking documents relating to the Committee’s investigation into allegations that the President inflated or deflated financial statements for potentially improper purposes.
April 2019 House OverSight Memorandum Re MAZARS
PAGES 42 & 43 DELICIOUS
By freely contracting with GSA for his own private economic gain, and by not divesting upon taking office, President Trump opened himself up to potential scrutiny from the very Committee whose jurisdiction includes the ‘management of government operations and activities, including Federal procurement… he happened to occupy the presidency for some portion of his still-in-effect lease does nothing to change that fact.”
July 14, 2021 GSA Produced overlapping documents
…the court need not closely scrutinize whether “other sources could reasonably provide . . . the information [the Committee] needs.” Mazars III, 140 S. Ct. at 2035–36. On this last point, even assuming the Committee were required to ask GSA for documents first, it already has. See Maloney Mem. at 20 & n.85; see Pls.’ Mot. at 23 (acknowledging the same).
As recently as July 14, 2021, GSA produced certain documents that the Committee recognizes as overlapping with the subpoenaed material from Mazar’s. See July 14th Notice at 1 (indicating that the Committee will “communicate with Mazars regarding any feasible ways to reduce Mazars’ burden by excluding identical documents received from GSA”). But the Committee still requires the nonidentical subpoenaed material “to determine the accuracy and completeness of the information submitted to GSA…”
The Court RE Foreign Emoluments
Look I’ll never fully understand why some opt to believe the quackery of the Blue-QANON. These individuals suck up all the oxygen on the public square and I’ve lost count of how many times they have mislead their followers. To date I am unaware of any of their Mob, Russia, Mob, Money Laundering, Chill Counterintelligence Got this, Mueller or Rosenstein will save us -coming true.
They have made numerous baseless conspiracies and again I’m unaware of a single prediction of theirs come to fruition. Whereas I repeatedly give my readers unrestricted access to original documents and explain in non-legalese why XYZ is important and whats likely going to happen…because facts have always mattered. Yet the Blue-Qanon screaming goats just scream louder and more unhinged.
“The Committee therefore is not engaged in a baseless fishing expedition…”
…Plaintiffs’ concern that an emoluments rationale always could be used to subpoena a past President’s personal records is a legitimate one, but is ameliorated here by the fact that the Committee has presented “detailed and substantial” evidence, Mazars III, 140 S. Ct. at 2036, that President Trump, at least through his business interests, likely received foreign payments during the term of his presidency. See Maloney Mem. at 25–26 (citing sources regarding hotel revenues, trademark rights, and commercial and residential leases).
…this was an issue of bipartisan interest to Congress, and it led President Trump to commit to contribute to the U.S. Treasury the profits from foreign government payments to his hotels. Id. at 27.The Trump Organization transmitted payments to the Treasury of $151,470, $191,538, and $105,465 in 2017, 2018, and 2019, respectively, id. at 26, thereby validating the Committee’s belief that President Trump’s businesses received some foreign payments during his presidency.
The Committee therefore is not engaged in a baseless fishing expedition. It has presented the requisite degree of evidence to substantiate the Committee’s legislative purpose.
Like I said the August 26, 2020 House OverSight Committee’s 56 page Memorandum —the Court heavily referenced in today’s Order/Memo
Committee’s subpoena to Mazars will further its investigations and aid in Congress’ consideration of important ethics reforms directly applicable to the presidency. The memorandum includes the following sections:
Investigation Overview and Updates. This section describes the Committee’s three tracks of investigations relating to presidential conflicts of interest and financial disclosures, presidential contracts with the federal government and potential self-dealing, and presidential adherence to the Emoluments Clauses.
Consideration of Remedial Legislation. This section describes ethics reforms that Congress is weighing in response to gaps that have been identified in existing law, which Congress will continue to investigate based on the information provided by the Mazars subpoena.
New Developments. This section describes new reports that further demonstrate Congress’ need for the information demanded under the Mazars subpoena to aid its consideration of important presidential ethics reforms.
Supreme Court’s New Test. This section describes how the Committee’s Mazars subpoena meets the new standard announced by the Supreme Court.
The Court then limits the years to 2017 and 2018 with respect to the records Mazars needs to produce -again Trump is likely to appeal today’s ruling because Roy Cohn was his litigation mentor…
Accordingly, the court finds that the emoluments track warrants summary judgment for the Committee on the subpoenaed materials for only the years 2017 and 2018.
…court grants in part and denies in part both cross-motions for summary judgment. The GSA track warrants entry of summary judgment for the Committee (and denial of Plaintiffs’ motion) on the subpoenaed materials of only President Trump, Trump Old Post Office LLC, and the Trump Organization. The emoluments track warrants entry of summary judgment for the Committee (and denial of Plaintiffs’ motion) on the subpoenaed materials for only the years 2017 and 2018. As for the remaining documents covered by the Maloney Subpoena, Plaintiffs’ motion is granted, and the Committee’s motion is denied. A separate final order accompanies this Memorandum Opinion.
And if you do not think Trump and/or MAZARs won’t appeal this then I regret to inform you that you haven’t been paying attention. See DDC-ECF for the actual Court Order -or see my Scribd Link
And lastly if anyone sees the “we get to see Trump’s taxes” feel free to send them my way because I’m over some Blue-QANON-for-the-Left repeatedly misleading their followers simply because their entire self worth is grounded in Twitter Likes and Retweets. Facts matter and so do original documents and anyone who’s tweeting that malarky is beyond uninformed…thanks for coming to my TedTalk
and lastly I beseech you, stop letting the Blue-QANON manipulate you. They are what I’d classify as emotional vampires and use emotional terrorism tactics… because that’s all they know how to do… Ever notice how they rarely do original research? Or how they create long incoherent threads but those threads always come back to them and their “grandeur” —or how they tend to hoard documents? Only providing you with screen shots and cherry picked sections of said documents? That’s an extremely manipulative information tactic because they want you to solely rely upon them for …wait for it… public documents.
Amended previous Court Filings
In today’s Memorandum/Opinion the Court referenced:
July 14, 2021 filing
See DDC-ECF for: NOTICE by COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND REFORM OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES -this Court filing is also available via my Scribd Account -below I’ve highlighted the important disclosures
Shortly thereafter Trump et al filed a response …see DDC-ECF for Trump’s July 14, 2021 Response or you can pull down the Court Filing from my Scribd Link
Cry More Donald Cry More
The funny thing is Donald Trump likes to project this image that he’s so strong and so amazing —yet he constantly plays the “victim card” and the duality of both seem incongruent. But if you take a moment and read what I highlighted …it’s hilarious. The GSA produced responsive documents to the House OverSight Committee but both the GSA and Oversight Committee refuse to tell Trump et al what documents were produced.👇🏻
I now refer you to page 2 of Trump’s July 19, 2021 Response —at the moment I am on the ground howling because well played House OverSight. Well Played. But the newly proffered facts are delicious and this is why one must take the time to read every filing on the docket👇🏻
SIX FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
…Committee would only say that GSA’s production is either “16,000” or “1,600” pages, covers the time period of “approximately 2013 to 2018,” and was provided with a request for confidentiality… The Committee also asserted that “six financial statements” produced by GSA were responsive to the Mazars subpoena…
So let me explain what Trump’s attorneys are doing here. They don’t know exactly what the GSA turned over to the House OverSight Committee so now they are engaging in gamesmanship to force either the OverSight Committee or the GSA to inadvertently disclose what was sent to Congress. It’s a predictable and pedestrian tactic —it’s the jurisprudence “who ever finches first gets two punches”
…should assume that GSA has now fully complied with Chairman Cummings’ April 2019 request… reasonable to infer that the Committee now has;
all monthly revenues and expenses for the Trump Old Post Office since November 2016,
all financial statements that Plaintiffs submitted to GSA regarding the lease, and
all documents in GSA’s possession concerning Mazars
And that assertion is further confirmed on Page 3 of Trump’s response and boy did Trump’s attorneys completely miscalculate the veritas of the Emoluments implication - “hypothetical” subterfuge is never really a strong or winning argument as further evident in today’s Memorandum/Opinion and subsequent order…
Michael Cohen is living in Trump’s head rent free
…Mazars has documents that were never submitted to GSA—and that are thus irrelevant to what “financial information [Plaintiffs were] required to submit.”…The Committee’s insistence that some of Plaintiffs’ filings with GSA might have been false…continues to be supported by nothing except Cohen’s testimony about entirely unrelated filings…even more unjustified without support in the actual documents that were submitted to GSA—documents the Committee now possesses. Also unsupported is the Committee’s speculation about hypothetical “emoluments” concerning unspecified debts.
The Committee now has detailed information about the Trump International Hotel, which has long been the focus of its emoluments concerns and provides a far larger sample than it needs to pass broad legislation…
And included in Trump’s July 19, 2021 Response is an email string. Also please respect my decision to proactively redact the unpublished email addresses of the Committee Staffers. Into day’s climate —particularly in the aftermath of Jan6th I do not want to be perceived as putting house.gov email addresses out in the public fora. And to be clear, yes at times I can be a royal PITA but Jan6th changed me and I am more protective of Hill Staffers than I was before Jan6th
Again you can pull down both of the July 2021 Court Filings from my Scribd Account
Today’s Filings:
And how you should be completely caught up or teetering on the brink of file overload —and if that’s the case — then my job here is done
-Filey
Hehehehe
It’s very clear this will be ongoing. Revisiting your piece on the conservation easements, I agree with your research. That’s where Trump is vulnerable. We are at the stage where accurate information is critical. It’s for our well being as a country. Blue-anon Twitter is exhausting. It would be nice to see the faux intel guy shut down for spreading disinformation. It causes divisiveness and forces people to either defend or refute while the one spreading the misinformation, sits back watching it. If only that energy were put to something useful....I applaud you and anyone else who puts cold hard facts out. I initially bought into the faux intel guy because I tend to not assume everyone is a liar. Everything was mob, Rico, Trump is going to prison....pay for my private feed and the last straw was the GFM. It’s clear that bad actors can exist on left just as the right. Lastly, the NYTs reporting on the resignation of the Georgia US attorney’s testimony before the committee, was definitely criminal in its implications. Using the justice department to sing an election is definitely getting into criminal liability. Each day, the testimony is worse. Rosen May have testified, but he still looks bad. It’s all coming out and more than ever, accuracy is important. Thanks Filey!