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Matt Gaetz reported to be leaving the House
- Thread starter plague311
- Start date
dudalb
Penultimate Amazing
People don't get that in a case like this the prosecution wants every I dotted and T crossed before they indict.
Trebuchet
Penultimate Amazing
Twitter. He was absent for a while but is back.
"All the President's Lawyers" podcast.
https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/lrc-presents-all-the-presidents-lawyers
Segnosaur
Penultimate Amazing
Ah, who to believe, when both sides are completely reprehensible?
From: Salon
Volunteers for a right-wing organization at the Conservative Political Action Conference spent Sunday morning promoting an "official" event featuring a speech Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., posting signs sponsored by a group called "Look ahead America" — though a CPAC official told Salon the event was never sanctioned at all.
...
The whole debacle kicked off...when security personnel approached a "Look Ahead America" volunteer holding a sign which read, "Matt Gaetz & Allen West Event"....A Look Ahead America official brushed off the signs being taken, telling Salon they hadn't had previous contact with any CPAC officials....the executive director of "Look Ahead America" called CPAC's statement a "100% lie." "It is an official #CPACTX event."
Hmmm... a group which cheered the fact that thousands of Americans will die because they don't get vaccinated, vs. a group supporting a guy accused of child sex trafficing.
From: Salon
Volunteers for a right-wing organization at the Conservative Political Action Conference spent Sunday morning promoting an "official" event featuring a speech Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., posting signs sponsored by a group called "Look ahead America" — though a CPAC official told Salon the event was never sanctioned at all.
...
The whole debacle kicked off...when security personnel approached a "Look Ahead America" volunteer holding a sign which read, "Matt Gaetz & Allen West Event"....A Look Ahead America official brushed off the signs being taken, telling Salon they hadn't had previous contact with any CPAC officials....the executive director of "Look Ahead America" called CPAC's statement a "100% lie." "It is an official #CPACTX event."
Hmmm... a group which cheered the fact that thousands of Americans will die because they don't get vaccinated, vs. a group supporting a guy accused of child sex trafficing.
dudalb
Penultimate Amazing
GOP has become a Death Cult.
Segnosaur
Penultimate Amazing
I hope they are getting good value for their money...
From: ABC News
As Rep. Matt Gaetz faces an ongoing federal investigation into alleged sex trafficking, a new campaign finance report reveals how the Florida congressman is spending the funds that he's raised...As the investigation has ramped up, Gaetz has beefed up his legal spending, with his campaign paying $50,000 to law firms in June alone. Half of that went to the law office of New York criminal defense attorney Marc Fernich, who lists on his website "notable clients" that include...Jeffrey Epstein...El Chapo... John A. "Junior" Gotti, and "alleged propagandist in Nazi Hungary" Ferenc Koreh.
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Gaetz has also continued to pay political operative Roger Stone amid the ongoing investigation...for "strategic campaign consulting"
I know it is a smart decision to line up competent legal representation, but getting the same lawyer who represented a pedophile and a nazi certainly puts him in, well, I would say strange company but I guess he fits right in with them.
From: ABC News
As Rep. Matt Gaetz faces an ongoing federal investigation into alleged sex trafficking, a new campaign finance report reveals how the Florida congressman is spending the funds that he's raised...As the investigation has ramped up, Gaetz has beefed up his legal spending, with his campaign paying $50,000 to law firms in June alone. Half of that went to the law office of New York criminal defense attorney Marc Fernich, who lists on his website "notable clients" that include...Jeffrey Epstein...El Chapo... John A. "Junior" Gotti, and "alleged propagandist in Nazi Hungary" Ferenc Koreh.
...
Gaetz has also continued to pay political operative Roger Stone amid the ongoing investigation...for "strategic campaign consulting"
I know it is a smart decision to line up competent legal representation, but getting the same lawyer who represented a pedophile and a nazi certainly puts him in, well, I would say strange company but I guess he fits right in with them.
slyjoe
Illuminator
Not sure why he's considered competent. He lost all of those cases.
plague311
Great minds think...
To be fair, since Trump and his cronies took office the standard for "competent" has been lowered significantly.
RecoveringYuppy
Penultimate Amazing
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I don't know about those particular cases but competent lawyers represent guilty people all the time.
plague311
Great minds think...
But do they generally brag about it despite not getting them off?
slyjoe
Illuminator
And that's the point.
RecoveringYuppy
Penultimate Amazing
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I have no idea about "generally". But a competent attorney can do a lot for a guilty client so they might brag about it.
If you or a friend of yours was guilty of a crime would you seek out an incompetent lawyer because it's cheap and competency doesn't matter for guilty clients?
plague311
Great minds think...
As a convicted multi-felon that didn't have any money at the time, I took whoever the state gave me.
That being said, it would depend on my case. If it was pretty clear that I was guilty and didn't have a way out of it then I wouldn't waste the money. I'd plea out, and pretty much any attorney can do that. If I thought I could get off on a technicality or something like that, I'd spend the money to get an attorney I had more faith in.
gnome
Penultimate Amazing
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There's also different outcomes within "guilty". Even if I know I'm guilty and going to be found so by the court, I would want a decent lawyer to keep from getting overkill in the sentencing phase.
From a justice point of view, that's another key function of a defense attorney--not only to prevent unjust guilty verdicts, but to prevent unjust sentencing. People talk about whether certain defendants deserve a good lawyer, forgetting the other half of their job--keeping the power of the state in check. That needs to be done even if the defendant is a monster. Having a particularly odious and "obviously" guilty criminal doesn't mean throwing the rules out.
Cynically, for public figures there's also the question of setting up their end game. After they have gone through the penalty, or sometimes during the penalty phase, they needed to have taken whatever steps they can to either set up for going back on career track (if the storm might blow over) or something new. Making the wrong choices during the defense can close some options out, I'm sure.
From a justice point of view, that's another key function of a defense attorney--not only to prevent unjust guilty verdicts, but to prevent unjust sentencing. People talk about whether certain defendants deserve a good lawyer, forgetting the other half of their job--keeping the power of the state in check. That needs to be done even if the defendant is a monster. Having a particularly odious and "obviously" guilty criminal doesn't mean throwing the rules out.
Cynically, for public figures there's also the question of setting up their end game. After they have gone through the penalty, or sometimes during the penalty phase, they needed to have taken whatever steps they can to either set up for going back on career track (if the storm might blow over) or something new. Making the wrong choices during the defense can close some options out, I'm sure.
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True but if he hadn't, Epstein would have had a far harsher sentence and died in prison.
RecoveringYuppy
Penultimate Amazing
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I have no personal experience here, but I tend to doubt this is always true.
As gnome points out there are a lot of possible nuances here under "something like that".
plague311
Great minds think...
You're absolutely right, it's not always true. It's just true for me, it's my personal outlook on how I would handle a case. You can have the best attorney in the entire world, but when it comes to sentencing there are no requirements for the judge (outside of the penalties of the crime). Your lawyer and the prosecutors can come to a plea and the judge can completely disregard it. No matter what attorney you have and within the legal system it's a lot like every other job. Anything can happen at any time.
Sure. It would be an interesting debate to be had, but this guy was a high powered lawyer that worked with all of those clients. Is there any evidence or proof at all to show he got those clients anything better than any other attorney would have gotten them?
It just seems like an odd flex to me. Though maybe his website brags about how good of deals or sentencing he got them. I haven't looked at the site but saying he defended a bunch of guilty people that ended up getting convicted is odd.
TurkeysGhost
Penultimate Amazing
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He has a twitter account and a substack.
He also cohosts a weekly public radio show called "all the president's lawyers" that covers legal issues in political news. I suspect this (and his real job) are the reason why he's not working on his blog and other projects as much as he once was.