Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Rumor has it (UPDATED)

The nice thing about blogging is that we can post rumors as they come in (oh wait, the MSM does that too, see Golden Showers!).  We don't have anything like that, but we have it on a reliable source that the Trump administration has asked U.S. Attorney Willie Ferrer to resign. [UPDATE -- someone with knowledge of this has indicated that this rumor is false and that Willie has NOT been asked to resign.] If true, there should be a shakeup in that office in the near future.  There's also been quite a bit of speculation on what Mr. Ferrer will do next.  I'll leave that for him to say.

The shakeup locally and nationally will hopefully change the extreme position that the government frequently takes on bond.  For example, yesterday DOJ asked for the VW executive (who was arrested in Miami while on vacation with his family) to be held on pretrial detention.  From the DBR:
The defense team said they would like Schmidt to be held in a marshal-supervised hotel until a full bond hearing could be held in Michigan. They argued Schmidt had cooperated with the U.S. government by meeting with FBI agents of his own volition in London early in the investigation.
"He showed that he has absolutely nothing to hide from the government," Massey told the judge.
Massey also said Schmidt's arrest came as something of a surprise, because the government told Schmidt's attorneys as recently as Dec. 16 that he was only a "subject" and not a "target" of the investigation.
Singer insisted that Schmidt's meetings with U.S. officials were rife with deception. Schmidt traveled to the U.S. to meet with regulators in 2015 and deliberately hid the emissions test cheating from them, Singer said.
"It's actually, I think, a fact that weighs against him," he said.

Schmidt's local lawyer is one of the candidates for U.S. Attorney, John Couriel.  If John gets the gig, there may be some hope that he softens the office's very harsh position on bail.

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:25 AM

    Why is there more outrage when bond gets denied to some rich, white, globetrotting white-collar defendant who certainly has the means to abscond if he chose to do so, than when bond gets denied to some poor local guy who has never traveled beyond his zip code.

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  2. Anonymous10:38 AM

    Which hotel? The Mandarin? #whiteprivilege.

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  3. Bob Becerra1:05 PM

    Told his lawyer on December 16 that he was a "subject". He clearly was a "target" and probably under indictment (sealed) on that date. Outrageous that defense lawyer would be told that, and not cricket with the DOJ manual.

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  4. @RealDonaldTrump Tweeted2:08 PM

    @therealdonaldtrump
    1-st- all US attorneys, assistant us attorneys, FBI agents, CIA agents, Homeland security guys, court clerks, janitors, etc all are FIRED Jan 21. They can re-apply at TRUMPwhitehouse.org/ivebeenfired

    2nd- I'VE ORDERED that the defendant be released on bond and hotel arrest. I have six hotels in the Miami area and a real spectacular brand new one in DC. He can stay in any of those (club floors are extra!) pending a decision in his case. White executives should not be in a detention center meant for people of color who deal in drugs.

    3rd- Pending legal review, all US District judges are fired. I've spoken to several high powered lawyers who are all aghast and have told me that this business of life appointments is ridiculous and outdated. #DRAINTHESWAMP also means drain the corrupt courts loaded with mexican judges who apply sharia law. This has to stop and on January 21 it will.

    MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous6:58 PM

    Should have hired Roy.

    ReplyDelete