Serious Trouble
Serious Trouble
XL Brief
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-19:13

XL Brief

Jack Smith offers 185 pages on the evidence he'd use to try Trump; Garth Brooks tries to anonymously sue his anonymous accuser; Eric Adams wants one of his charges dismissed.

Dear listeners,

The promised long memo is here: Jack Smith has filed a 185-page document laying out evidence he’d like to present in his January 6-related case against Donald Trump. The memo has to be so long because the Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity was so complex and vague: Smith must show, act by act, that he’s offering evidence either of Trump’s unofficial actions, or of official acts where he can overcome the presumption of immunity. Ken and I discuss how Smith argues that most of the acts he wants to present are unofficial, his case that Trump’s official efforts to coerce Pence are fair game, and how long it’s going to take courts to adjudicate all these questions before a trial can start (years).

That’s for free subscribers. Paying subscribers get discussion of all these additional topics:

  • One of the bitchiest motions Ken has ever seen, filed by prosecutors in (where else?) Fulton County, Georgia;

  • Clare Locke surviving a motion to dismiss in their nine-year-old-fan-of-Kansas-City-Chiefs client’s defamation case against Deadspin, for having accused him of wearing blackface and hating black people and Native Americans (pundits, beware: calling someone “racist,” even a child, is virtually always non-actionable opinion, but accusing someone of having committed a specific racist act may not be);

  • Garth Brooks (a.k.a. the anonymous celebrity “John Doe”) facing an anonymous lawsuit (for sexual assault and creating a hostile work environment) from his former hairstylist, who he also tried to sue anonymously to stop her from suing him anonymously, thus giving Ken and me an opportunity to talk about when and why it’s possible to be an anonymous litigant;

  • Professor Joe Gow, who will sue the University of Wisconsin for dismissing him over his vegan porn side project;

  • Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters getting nine years in prison for her “Stop the Steal” efforts, a long sentence likely driven by her terrible behavior in court, and how she’s yet another one of the Trump true believers facing severe consequences for her actions in support of him even as he (so far) escapes them; and

  • Updates on the Eric Adams scandal; prosecutors have suggested there’s likely to be a superseding indictment, they’ve arrested one of his community liaisons who appeared likely to flee the country, and Ken has thoughts on what you should do if you’re one of his top aides who hasn’t been indicted (yet).

So if you want to hear about all that and you’re not a paying subscriber yet, how about hitting this button right here? It would make us goat-scream with joy.

We hope you enjoy the episode,

Josh

This post is for paid subscribers