A Trump employee who monitored security cameras at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate abruptly retracted his earlier grand jury testimony and implicated Trump and others in obstruction of justice just after switching from an attorney paid for by a Trump political action committee to a lawyer from the federal defender’s office in Washington, prosecutors said in a court filing Tuesday.

  • @lagomorphlecture@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    11510 months ago

    So let me get this straight, the lawyer Trump gave him turned out to only be looking out for Trump? And he turned state’s witness when he got a real lawyer and figured out how effed he was? Wow, what a crazy world.

    • donuts
      link
      fedilink
      6810 months ago

      What’s even better is that the same lawyer, Stanley Woodward, is also representing another key witness and Trump lackey Walt Nauta. Which could mean that if Taveras testifies that Woodward mislead or coerced him into falsifying parts of his testimony in order to protect Trump, it could also call into question the legitimacy of Nauta’s testimony. It’s bad news for Trump on multiple levels.

      • Nougat
        link
        fedilink
        3910 months ago

        Ohhhhh that’s why Jack Smith was making it so very very clear to Nauta that he has a right to an independent attorney.

        • Jay K
          link
          fedilink
          2510 months ago

          To prevent appeals based on inadequate legal representation. There’s some procedure to make sure the defendant knows about his attorney’s potential conflicts of interest and allow him to waive the right to such an appeal if he wants to keep that attorney.

    • And when they cross examine him they could usually grill the witness about being a liar. But since it’s the same lawyer he fired if he asks why he changed his story all he has to say is it’s because I told them what you wanted me to say

    • @some_guyOP
      link
      1010 months ago

      You’re right. All things I’d never have suspected. /s

  • @Rapidcreek@reddthat.com
    link
    fedilink
    8010 months ago

    Let the record show that the first person to become a cooperating witness was the IT guy. Remember kids, it is Black Friday rules – he who flips first gets the best deals.

  • Pons_Aelius
    cake
    link
    fedilink
    5710 months ago

    Oh to be a fly on the wall when the defence team were informed.

  • DontMakeMoreBabies
    link
    fedilink
    35
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    Lmao - federal PD was probably like ‘you fucking moron, fix it. NOW.’

    Edit: If the Trump attorney’s advice was bad enough, wonder if it’ll have repercussions for his bar card? Golly, that’d sure be unfortunate.

  • Ertebolle
    link
    fedilink
    2810 months ago

    If you think this is fun, just watch what happens when his Fulton County codefendants realize nobody’s going to be paying their legal bills; the only question is whether Fani Willis decides Rudy’s testimony is more valuable than the satisfaction of watching him go down.

    • athos77
      link
      fedilink
      2210 months ago

      Georgia Republicans are working on passing a law to let the legislature get rid of any DA they disapprove of.

      • Ertebolle
        link
        fedilink
        910 months ago

        They already passed it, but it’s designed to target DAs who don’t prosecute abortion cases, not to stop Willis; it works through a panel of former DAs/judges and a number of them are appointed by the governor, who has no great love for Trump.

        • DigitalTraveler42
          link
          fedilink
          English
          11
          edit-2
          10 months ago

          No it’s for both, if a loophole exists they will exploit it, you cannot give these people the benefit of doubt, if they don’t go after Willis using this they will just go after some other legitimate case’s prosecutor down the line.

          • Ertebolle
            link
            fedilink
            910 months ago

            Oh I’m not, it’s just that if they want to stop Willis it’s not very well designed for that because they can’t even start accepting complaints until July 2024 and the process seems to be somewhat drawn-out (one panel has to investigate and then refer it to another panel). And of course this assumes it survives the inevitable court challenges.

            I’m sure it’ll be very effective at shutting down whatever prosecutor goes after Kid Rock for trying to steal the 2028 election, but it’s not going to do much about this particular prosecution.

            • DigitalTraveler42
              link
              fedilink
              English
              1
              edit-2
              10 months ago

              I’m sure it’ll be very effective at shutting down whatever prosecutor goes after Kid Rock for trying to steal the 2028 election

              I bow to your God-tier level snark, lol.

              I’m honestly confused if I would rather Robert Richie or Ron DeSantis be the 2028 candidate for the MAGA Qult, both are complete garbage, but at least Richie has done some nice things for people over the years, so he’s a terrible person, but not on DeSantis’s level. Thankfully it looks like Desantis’s political aspirations might be hitting a dead end, finally.

              Also Richie is brainwashed, like absolutely brainwashed, his Howard Stern interview during Trump’s presidency was really eye opening on how much brain rot is there. When Howard would press him about some negative stuff about Trump or the Republicans Kid Rock’s only defense was “because that’s the narrative, it’s all about maintaining the narrative”, he said “the narrative” so often during that interview that it began pissing me off. Also that’s obviously projection since we see how things have gone for the Republicans and maintaining their narrative before, during, and after the 2020 election and Jan. 6.