Same Day Judge Slapped Down Mueller, Another Slapped Down Stormy
If you’re prone to Twitter screeds about how the justice system is going to take down President Donald Trump, Thursday wasn’t really your day.
First, the special counsel’s office took a swing and a miss on sending former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort to prison for most of the rest of his life.
Prosecutors wanted 19 to 24 years on bank and tax fraud charges, according to The Washington Times. What they ended up getting was 47 months, which was effectively 38 months, or a little over three years, when one takes into account the time that Manafort has already served. The judge also gave a thorough dressing-down to the prosecution, which we’ll get to later.
But then there was Stormy Daniels.
Remember when the former adult film star (government name: Stephanie Clifford) was going to take down the presidency along with her can-do lawyer, Michael Avenatti? Remember those heady days? And remember how things were going to really start clicking once she got out of the nondisclosure agreement she signed?
Well, for all I know, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s testimony regarding the NDA payment (more commonly referred to as the “hush-money deal” because it sounds more sinister) will end up destroying the Trump presidency. After watching last week’s testimony, I doubt it, because the stoat-like Cohen is arguably the least-believable cast member thus far presented in the Trump revue. But hey, you never know.
What I do know is this: When it comes to beating Trump in court over portions of the agreement, Daniels and Avenatti still seem to be not doing so hot.
“A lawsuit by adult film star Stormy Daniels against President Donald Trump over a non-disparagement agreement has been tossed out of federal court,” CNN reported Thursday.
“US District Judge James Otero says the suit, which sought to invalidate the $130,000 agreement that kept Daniels from speaking publicly about her allegations of an affair with Trump ahead of the 2016 election, should be sent back to California Superior Court. In his ruling, Otero says the suit ‘lacks subject matter jurisdiction.’
“By remanding the case back to where it was first filed, Otero made it clear the case is over.”
Now, mind you, both Cohen and Trump had said, while the case was being adjudicated, that they wouldn’t enforce the non-defamation agreement. In fact, if you were one of the 54 people who bought Daniels’ memoir, you a) know that she pretty much told every graphic detail of what she says happened without any legal action being taken against her and b) had Mario Kart ruined for you forever.
“But, Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti said his client wanted the judge to rule that what Cohen and Trump did was illegal,” CNN reported. “Instead, Daniels’ case was dismissed in favor of the defendants.”
Yet Avenatti insists that his client is a lot like John Legend: Even when she loses, she’s winning.
“By dismissing the case, the judge essentially gave Daniels what she wanted all along — to be able to tell her story without the fear of being sued for millions of dollars, Avenatti said,” CNN reported.
“The court found that Ms. Daniels received everything she asked for by way of the lawsuit — she won,” Avenatti told the network.
This sounds eerily similar to how Avenatti tried to spin that time his client was ordered to pay almost $300,000 in fees incurred by the president’s legal team in a defamation case gone awry:
Trump and his attorney’s attempt to fool the public about the importance of the attorneys’ fees in the defamation case, which are a fraction of what they owe my client in the main NDA case, is an absolute joke. People are smarter than that.https://t.co/oo3kkjVzPU via @YouTube
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) December 11, 2018
“Clifford’s attorney would claim victory if he got run over by a bus,” Brent Blakely, Michael Cohen’s attorney, said. “Clifford has lost every argument in these lawsuits since day one — her defamation cases have been dismissed and now the Court has granted EC’s motion regarding subject matter jurisdiction.”
Trump attorney Charles Harder agreed. “The US District Court confirmed today that the claim against the President has no basis in law,” he told CNN in a statement. “Combined with the attorneys’ fees and sanctions award in the President’s favor totaling $293,000, the President has achieved total victory.”
And then there was the Manafort case, where Mueller’s team wanted up to two-dozen years in jail on bank and tax fraud charges. Federal Judge T.S. Ellis called the guidelines they wanted to use “excessive” and instead gave Manafort 47 months, which translates to 38 months with time served.
“It is a just sentence and I have satisfied myself about that,” Ellis said.
“The government cannot sweep away the history of all these previous sentences,” he added. CNBC reported that Ellis said Manafort has “been a good friend to others, a generous person.”
“He has lived an otherwise blameless life,” he said.
Oh, and he also made sure the court knew none of the convictions had anything to do with Russian collusion: “He is not before the court for any allegations that he, or anyone at his direction, colluded with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election,” the judge said.
But he was supposed to be the keystone the case was going to be built upon, right? The same way that Stormy Daniels was going to be the Jenga block that, when pulled out of the structure, would topple the Trump presidency.
Neither has panned out quite that way.
Two courtrooms, one day, two bad outcomes for Trump foes. That streak may not continue, mind you, but the idea that the legal system would cripple President Trump hasn’t played out yet.
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