Dear listeners,
Paul Engelmeyer, a federal judge in New York who has been suffering for a moderate amount of time, has refused the Trump administration’s request to release the grand jury transcripts from Ghislaine Maxwell’s prosecution. As he weighs the factors about permitting release, he notes forcefully that he’s reviewed the grand jury transcripts and there’s no there there — the grand jury heard only from one witness, a government investigator who summarized evidence, and everything of interest he disclosed to the grand jury became public at trial.
“A member of the public familiar with the Maxwell trial record who reviewed the grand jury materials that the Government proposes to unseal would thus learn next to nothing new,” he wrote. “The materials do not identify any person other than Epstein and Maxwell as having had sexual contact with a minor. They do not discuss or identify any client of Epstein’s or Maxwell’s. They do not reveal any heretofore unknown means or methods of Epstein’s or Maxwell’s crimes.”
Indeed, the only reason Engelmeyer considered releasing the transcript was that it would serve the public interest of showing the government had been lying about what’s in the transcript. But he said that wasn’t necessary, either, because the government ultimately admitted in subsequent filings that the transcript didn’t contain interesting information. So what, exactly, have we been doing here?
In other news, some idiot threw a sandwich at a CBP officer sent by Trump to patrol the streets of Washington. The Justice Department is hot to make an example of sandwich guy, but Ken thinks he’s likely to just get probation, since a sandwich is soft and he didn’t appear to injure anyone. Ken also notes that, while it is generally inadvisable to shout “I DID IT, I THREW THE SANDWICH” in the context of a sandwich-related offense, if you’ve already thrown the sandwich in front of dozens of witnesses, the adverse statement probably doesn’t do that much at the margin to harm your legal position.
Laura Loomer’s defamation suit against Bill Maher continues — this is the one where Maher speculated that she’d been having sex with President Trump. Maher’s defense, obviously, is that he’s a comedian and he was joking. But the judge presiding over the case denied a motion to dismiss, saying that’s a question for a jury, in part because the Maher’s audience groaned when they heard the comment instead of laughing. So Loomer had to sit for a deposition, and the deposition is a real doozy — not only because of the discussion it contains of exactly what Loomer meant when (speaking of sandwiches) she said her nemesis, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, had “Arby’s in her pants.”
Back in the spring, the Trump administration said the president’s sweeping global tariffs shouldn’t be stayed while courts consider their legality, because if the tariffs get thrown out, the government can always just refund the payments that taxpayers made in the meantime. But now, his administration has changed his tune, saying the tariffs can’t be enjoined because it would be financially ruinous for the administration to refund what’s already been paid.
That’s all on this week’s show, plus a look at a couple of favorable rulings for Trump out of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, an update on US Attorney Bill Essayli’s effort to keep former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Trevor Kirk out of prison, and the misfortune of Mohamed Bahi, an aide to Eric Adams who does not seem to enjoy the same protection from federal justice that Adams himself has.
We hope you enjoy the episode,
Josh
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