A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
A flurry of new reporting over the weekend further cemented the impression that Trump and his legal team (to the extent there is a legal “team” … more on that in a moment) are walking blithely unprepared into what could be the most serious criminal culpability he has yet faced in his long and illustrious career of staying one step ahead of the law.
I saw this little flower truck on the road during the weekend, and for reasons that I cannot fully comprehend, the sight of the tiny Suzuki right sided truck full of flowers driven by a mature lady filled my heart with joy.
Over the weekend, Judge Aileen Cannon ordered DOJ — which had not yet been formally served in Donald Trump’s civil suit to get a Special Master appointed to conduct a review of the materials seized from his home — to take initial steps towards appointing a Special Master.
There are a lot of procedural reasons why that order is crazy.
But Judge Cannon might be excused for believing some grave wrong has been done against the former President. That’s because the two filings his lawyers submitted — neither of which was accompanied by a sworn declaration — were wildly misleading.
Summary
I’d like to lay out a few of those details here. (First filing, Supplemental filing)
One of the lawyers who signed the filings is Evan Corcoran.
Some useful background first. In the Steve Bannon case, Corcoran let Bannon’s earlier attorney, Robert Costello, join his defense team even though Costello was a witness in the case against Bannon. He did so even after DOJ warned that might pose a problem. Ultimately, Costello conceded that might pose a conflict and he dropped off the team. So even in the last year, Corcoran has been rather flexible about where the role of defense attorney ends and the role of witness begins.
Now let’s look at the filings that Evan Corcoran signed, with two others.
One thing that Evan Corcoran didn’t bother to tell Aileen Cannon is that Evan Corcoran plays a lead role in the filing. The following are actions described in the two Trump filings that Evan Corcoran is either known, or by consistent reference, must have done, but which are attributed only to Trump’s counsel:
