Mar-a-Lago IT manager implicates Trump in classified files case

BagOfHammers@lemmy.world to politics @lemmy.world – 655 points –
Mar-a-Lago IT manager implicates Trump in classified files case
bbc.com
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Basically trump wanted this guy to lie. He was using a trump pac sponsored lawyer at the time. Smith says “hey we’re gonna investigate you for perjury because we found evidence that you did fuck with the tapes so you might want to get a non trump aligned lawyer”. Soon as he gets a public defender he changes his tune and sings like a canary blaming it on trump et al and now he isn’t being charged since he’s cooperating.

Sounds like trump and his ilk are turbo fucked on this. Only the first guy to sing gets immunity usually.

I saw an article where the rump lawyer was saying the state won't call the flipper because then they'd get to crops examine and ask why he changed the story...

They'll never ask that.

Because there's like a 99% chance the answer is:

You told me to lie or I wouldn't get free legal counsel

Both the defense and the prosecutor can select witnesses to call. Why would the prosecution (The State) not want to call the flipper?

"A Trump Pac paid-for lawyer told me to lie or I wouldn't get free legal counsel" is exactly the dream answer the prosecution would like.

Of course they're gonna want to ask it if they thought the answer was 99% that.

Unless the lawyer [or the article] is saying the State is the one afraid because the State is the one that told him to lie for a public defender and the State wouldn't want the defense to ask something that would bring that up during cross examination?

Which would make no sense and is not how public defenders work but isn't surprising to be coming from the caliber of lawyer still willing to represent the defense here.

I also fail to follow the logic of this commenter. I'm not sure if they're conspiracy-minded ("lawyers protecting their own" - when, in fact, one of the ethical lawyer's greatest joys is taking bad actors out of the profession), or confused, or if I am failing to understand their point, or what....

I'm an attorney, and let me tell you, a corrupt lawyer as opposing counsel can make a good lawyer's life hell. Recently there was an opposing counsel who was such a bad actor that the judge themselves filed an ethics complaint with the state bar after the bad guy voluntarily dismissed the case. The judge also put the 10 page memo supporting the voluntary dismissal under seal because it was full of outright lies and slander directed at the judge and counsel on my side.

The rest of the defendants are rich. The it guy was a regular dude. Regular dudes go to prison and rich people don’t. He and the valet were the ONLY ones with a real chance of prison.

Pretty shady in such a high profile case. Surely a lawyer wouldn't have told him to lie, just didn't tell him not to lie.

Oh I'm sure it wasn't in those exact words since trump thinks he's a mob boss, but the sentiment was probably there. We won't know until these guys take the stand.

Once those rico charges stick, we'll have confirmation that he's a mob boss. But we already know he is one.

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I don't know why any underlings would decide turn on Trump, since he has always demonstrated a fervent loyalty and unrelenting effort to protect anyone who supported him.

Sarcasm can be difficult to catch in online conversations. Yours, however, came through like hot sauce on chicken wings.

It came through like a shart in really thin shorts.

To be fair, if you turn on Trump, there is the very real threat of having millions of meal team six members' attention being directed your way by the cult leader. Death threats, doxxing, stalking, harassment, and other criminal behavior are a very real possibility.

That is part of why Rico laws exist. It is to show that there are numerous people carrying out the criminal conspiracy for the boss even if the boss never directly says so.

I have a feeling the current lawyer was never told ‘ make the it guy lie to cover me’ but did so anyway.

The iron law of Trump Supporters is that Everyone Gets Shit On. No Exceptions.

It's such a bizarre cult. They don't even know what they're doing.

Especially his very best of girlfriends, Rudy Giuliani. Coming right through for him

IT folken! If corpo borporate boss ever tells you to erase the security footage and/or logs, remember these magic words: "Sure just send the request in writing and I'll get right on it."

And maybe backup those logs to a thumbdrive if you feel comfortable with that.

Tape backups are better, preferably at a secure off-site location that can be subpoenad by the DA.

Be careful about, and document, chain of custody so that this is more easily admissible in court.

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And get ready for the pool to flood the server room, just in case

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"I'm not paid by Donald Trump and everything your former lawyer told you is bullshit, you will go to jail for a significant amount of time"

It's like a law and order episode, except real.

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Yuscil Taveras, an IT director identified as Trump Employee 4 in legal documents, changed his testimony after switching lawyers, say prosecutors.

Mr Trump, his close personal aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago maintenance worker Carlos De Oliveira have all pleaded not guilty.

The former president is accused of mishandling the storage of sensitive files at his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, and trying to cover up the alleged crime by deleting security footage.

The court document filed on Tuesday says Mr Taveras changed lawyers after special counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing the case, notified him he was being investigated for perjury.

During grand jury testimony in March this year, Mr Taveras "repeatedly denied or claimed not to recall any contacts or conversations about the security footage at Mar-a-Lago".

The chief judge overseeing the federal grand jury, James Boasberg, offered a public defender to Mr Taveras after prosecutors pointed out a conflict of interest for his lawyer Stanley Woodward, who was being partly funded by Mr Trump's Save America political action committee.


The original article contains 403 words, the summary contains 169 words. Saved 58%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

If the IT guy flipped they probably have a nice backup of everything, spicy 😁

No one is going to spend 40 years in jail for Trump. When he realized they had evidence implicating him in the destruction of evidence it was a forgone conclusion he'd flip. Also the Trump lawyer that told the IT manager to lie to investigators needs to be charged as well.

IANAL, but isn't there like a whole thing around you can appeal if you got bad legal advice?

Yes, and the lawyer should be disbarred for telling a client to commit purgery.

Can the lawyer be charged with some sort of crime?

Yes, but usually disbarment is sufficient punishment for corrupt fuckers and a deterrent message to the legal community - permanently losing your livelihood and being publicly shamed in the process, while not a criminal proceeding, is extremely (and justly) punitive. That said, if there was a decent likelihood of the fucker becoming a media personality after disbarment, or otherwise capitalizing on their punishment, I'd suspect that a DA might consider criminal charges.

He actively participated in covering up a coup.

People were executed for less in this country.

A lawyer telling a client to commit perjury in a federal case surrounding a former head of state is absolutely worth prosecuting.

This isn't Keny Lay pretending he didn't know what was for me on at Enron. This is a lawyer hired specifically to defend someone other than his client and intentionally telling his client to lie - which is knowingly and intentionally bad legal advice.

A lawyer really can't do anything worse from a professional or legal standpoint.

I realized I was talking from a more general perspective — you’ll get no arguments from me against prosecuting the fuck out of these folks. You’re totally right.

No one is going to spend 40 years in jail for Trump

I mean, the dumb ones might...