Is it odd that he switched to public defender instead of acquiring his own representation?
this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2023
406 points (98.1% liked)
politics
19097 readers
3480 users here now
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
Well considering Trump has a long history of not actually paying his employees, wouldn't be surprised if this guy couldn't afford it
On review of all the additional evidence and testimony, it became obvious to the prosecution that the key witness ("Trump Employee 4" - revealed by NBC News to be "Yuscil Taveras" - IT Director at Mar-a-Lago) in question had perjured himself in earlier grand jury testimony and that it was a conflict of interest for that witness to be represented by by the same attorney (Stanley Woodward) representing other involved clients.
Prosecutors asked for a hearing on the representation issue before James Boasberg, the chief US District Court judge in Washington DC who oversaw the grand jury investigation.
Judge Boasberg had a federal defender available to advise Taveras if requested, and Taveras did opt to change lawyers after he learned he was being investigated on suspicion of making false statements in previous grand jury testimony.
So, TL/DR: he went with the public defender out of the immediacy and need for independent counsel and the only option available at that moment was the public defender who was pre-emptively made available by the Judge himself.
I will speculate that he will be acquiring his own representation going forward.
Attorneys will jump on it, their name attached to a case like this can make and break careers.
He probably can't afford it
He's the "IT guy" at a hotel. That doesn't scream high net worth to me.
I’m not high net worth and I’ve paid for attorneys. Don’t have to be high net worth to be able to pay for proper representation.
You do have to have money in the first place.
Trump hates paying people.
Also, this is a case that is likely to take a lot of time and require a lot of attorney time. A public defender is likely a more sound financial decision even for someone with a reasonable amount of savings. Why go into crippling debt defending yourself from a former president, when a public defender will do it on the tax payer dime.
Probably was offered immunity, but his Trump paid lawyer said no. So why spend money on a lawyer when you can get a public defender for free and then take the deal?
Idk but possibly related: I've heard that there are a good number of times you should prefer public defender to paid representation.
So there's an attorney recommendinf perjury? Not very cashmoney of him...
Perjury to advantage his other client. There has to be a law against lawyers doing that.
I mean that sounds like fraud to me, is there a form of malpractice that applies to Legal cases? Like a lawyer version of medical malpractice.
I think Kim gets sued for something similar in Better Call Saul. It’s almost definitely something you can get disbarred over.
Conflict of interest, it's an ethical violation and at times grounds for mistrial by willfully ineffective counsel.
load more comments
(2 replies)
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A key witness against former President Donald Trump and his two co-defendants in the Mar-a-Lago documents case recanted previous false testimony and provided new information implicating the defendants after he switched lawyers, special counsel Jack Smith’s office said in a new court filing.
Taveras decided to change lawyers after he learned he was being investigated on suspicion of having made false statements in his previous grand jury testimony in Washington, D.C., the court filing says.
"When Trump Employee 4 testified before the grand jury in the District of Columbia in March 2023, he repeatedly denied or claimed not to recall any contacts or conversations about the security footage at Mar-a-Lago," the filing says.
By late June, prosecutors had "advised Trump Employee 4 (through Mr. Woodward) that he was the target of a grand jury investigation in the District of Columbia into whether he committed perjury."
Prosecutors asked for a hearing on the representation issue before James Boasberg, the chief U.S. District Court judge in Washington, D.C., who oversaw the grand jury investigation.
Shelli Peterson — the first assistant federal public defender in Washington, whom the special counsel's filing refers to — declined to comment Tuesday night.
The original article contains 717 words, the summary contains 196 words. Saved 73%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Making Attorneys Get Attorneys.
Not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure telling your client to lie is a No-No!
You could argue he wasn’t the guy’s lawyer
who was being paid by the former president's Save America PAC
A lawyer represents whoever is the paying his bills.
load more comments
(1 replies)
view more: next ›