Evan Corcoran: You’re the Next Contestant on Trump’s Crime-Fraud Reality Show

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Multiple outlets are reporting that Judge Beryl Howell, in what may be her last ruling as Chief Judge, has ruled that Evan Corcoran must testify about his conversations with Trump.

This follows the news, from ABC, that Jack Smith’s team is particularly interested in a conversation Trump and Corcoran had on June 24, 2022, after prosecutors sent a subpoena to Trump Organization for surveillance footage that would show Walt Nauta moving boxes out of the storage room where the FBI would later find 70 classified documents. As I noted last year, in the early weeks of Trump’s efforts to stall the investigation, there was a discrepancy about what date this subpoena was served, which I suspected might suggest DOJ had to file subpoenas to two different entities before Trump agreed to comply.

So now we’ve ended up where it was clear we were going to end up in September, with another of Trump’s lawyers whose communications with him are found to be crime fraud excepted.

Corcoran is in good company. He is probably at least the fourth Trump lawyer whose comms were deemed crime-fraud excepted in the last five years. The others are:

Indeed, the first such instance, the conversation Cohen recorded of Trump agreeing to a hush payment, will likely lead to the first (or possibly second, depending on what Fani Willis is doing) indictment of Trump, perhaps early next week.

With both Cohen and Rudy, the lawyers withdrew objections after Special Master Barbara Jones deemed the comms not to be privileged.

Corcoran should feel pretty good, though. He may be the first Trump crime-fraud contestant who manages to avoid legal exposure himself.

That’s got to count for something in the Trump Crime-Fraud Reality Show, right?

 

56 replies
    • missinggeorgecarlin says:

      When it comes to the Trump Crime Family ™, Jamie Farr has just stood up. Get it on, bang that gong Corporal Klinger!!

      • Klaatu Something says:

        Just a comment on your excellent name, my dental technician last week did not know who George Carlin is, or I guess was. Her and America’s loss

        My comment is awaiting moderation? I don’t recall breaking any rules, is this new for us all or have I transgressed?

  2. Sloth Sloman says:

    It seems like a huge mistake on the part of the Deep State to be making all of this effort to pierce AC privilege when they could just have a Teams meeting to coordinate arresting everyone at once and have them arraigned in front of a Deep State judge.

    • P J Evans says:

      It doesn’t work that way in reality. Especially not when dealing with a mob boss and his criminal lawyers.

      • Purple Martin says:

        I thought it was particularly good snark. The Deep State’s “[Microsoft] Teams” meeting was the clincher.

      • WilliamOckham says:

        I don’t know about that. And in this case “don’t know” signifies actual uncertainty. I could see an argument to be made that having Bobb sign the declaration makes Corcoran more at risk of a charge of obstruction of justice. Of course, that depends on what he knew and when he knew it.

      • eyesoars says:

        It does make one wonder. Clinton (Bill) avoided perjury charges but was found in contempt for attempting to mislead the court. This would be a stretch for charges, but it seems Corcoran was clearly aware of his actions, and they were geared towards misleading the court, even if they were strictly truthful.

        • bmaz says:

          Clinton did not “avoid” perjury charges, he really did not perjure himself. Sure did mislead the court though. There is a significant difference.

    • Lawnboy says:

      The late “Steve Goodman” wrote a song parody of the show.

      One sign said “ kiss me I’m a baker and Monty I sure could use the dough “!

      Chorus: My whole world is waiting behind door number 3…..

      Buddy of John Prine he was.

      LB got a new knee in 23!!

        • bmaz says:

          Where oh where are you tonight?
          I searched world over
          And thought I found true love
          But you met another and pffft you were gone. /s/ From The Cornfield

        • phred says:

          Gloom, despair, and agony on me (ohhhh!)
          Deep dark depression, excessive misery (ohhh!)
          If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all (ohhh!)
          Gloom, despair, and agony on me ; )

          Loved that show : )

      • JClarkATL says:

        Did ya’ll (archaic southern spelling) know that John Prine and Steve Goodman co-wrote David Allan Coe’s perfect country and western song, “You Never Even Called Me by My Name?” If this is news to you – as it was to me until last year after 45 years of listening to all three of these singer/songwriters – Prine asked to be uncredited on the song so as not to offend the country music establishment early in his career with what was basically a parody of country music. And while I’m still off topic, did you know that Steve Goodman was a high school classmate of Hillary Clinton’s in Park Ridge, Ilinois back in the mid-1960’s? That’d make a hell of a trvia question.

      • bmaz says:

        Perp walks are disgusting in all instances, and double that in this one. People are simply out of their minds with blood lust and it is revolting. The criminal justice system is NOT designed to be a vehicle for personal jollies and retribution, but that is quickly what the slate of putative Trump prosecutions is being turned into by both his detractors and supporters. It is seriously disturbing.

        • Patrick Carty says:

          yes I know you’re a legal scholar and I certainly am not, but in the vein of game shows I thought at least I hit a double.

  6. CD Wilsher says:

    When can we expect Christina Bobb to be excepted?

    Also, I wouldn’t bet money that Corcoran avoids an indictment.

    [Welcome back to emptywheel. THIRD WARNNG: Please use the same username each time you comment so that community members get to know you. I’ve reverted the username you used to comment to that you’ve used for four previous comments as I have a suspicion you didn’t mean to use your RL name. This is the third time I’ve done this for you; please make a note to use the same name each time as the future comment application will reject mismatches. Your username will be added to the Auto-Mod list until you acknowledge and correct this situation going forward. /~Rayne]

    • bmaz says:

      We’ll see. I think people are getting ahead of yourselves again. This is a lot more complicated than that, and watch when the initial ruling is made, circumstances seem to change rapidly.

      • earlofhuntingdon says:

        So, based on the view from your hotel room balcony, you’re close to Windansea. Hope you brought your surf fins and left room in your schedule for Taco Surf.

        • earlofhuntingdon says:

          Keep posting those eatery visits, please, especially if you stop for fish tacos or carne asada. La Jolla and San Diego are full of them.

        • earlofhuntingdon says:

          Did you try the Hula Pie?

          Not to mar your visit, but you’ll be able to see the La Jolla Cove swim lane, where the high school Tucker claims to have spent summers swimming 1.5 miles a day.

          Love to hear how much you think it’s changed since your last visit.

        • Buzzkill Stickinthemud says:

          1.5 miles is pretty good if you’re not on a swim team. When I was on a team we’d do 14 to 16 thousand meters a day in the summer (talk about boring, that’s why I became a water polo player). So that’s what, like 8 to 10 miles a day?

          1.5 miles… pfft.

        • earlofhuntingdon says:

          14-16 thousand meters a day is a high-level collegiate standard (if not up to the standard of Sam Freas). That’s elite swimming.

          Assuming he’s not exaggerating, Tuck was swimming 2200 yards/day in open water. Not quite the same thing. But La Jolla cove is beautiful.

    • emptywheel says:

      No. She said from the start she was not acting as a lawyer that day.

      On Jan6? Absolutely. On this? Nope. That has already been passed.

  8. punaise says:

    And now back to The Criming Game. Will our contestant choose:

    Counselor #1?
    Counselor #2?
    Counselor #3?

  9. tmooretxk says:

    Actually, “My occupational hazard is, my occupation’s just not around!” seems appropriate. I believe we’ve never seen so many lawyers in legal jeopardy for getting caught doing non-lawyerly things.

  10. BobBobCon says:

    People keep making game show references when the title of this post clearly says *Reality* shows.

    So in that vein:

    — Judge Beryl
    — The Amazing Race (to be the first one to cut a deal with DOJ)
    — Survivor (no explanation needed)
    — Naked and Afraid (also no explanation needed)

    • Savage Librarian says:

      Keeping in mind Trump’s reality show, “The Apprentice,” Trump’s crime-fraud reality show might be called, “Apprehend Us.”

    • Rayne says:

      Three of those are partially scripted with a network production team buffing and editing all the turds. Turd-buffing and editing is what Trump’s legal team has been trying to do all along, but it’s still a pile of feces they’re working on.

  11. AlaskaReader says:

    Is it typical for Howell’s ruling to have taken a bit over a month before being ordered?

    …and if that order is appealed as expected, is there an estimate of how much more time could elapse before a second ruling?

    • John Herbison says:

      An appeal will move as rapidly as the courts choose for it to move. The Fulton County subpoena for Lindsey Graham issued on July 26, 2022. Graham sought relief in federal court on July 29. The District Court declined to quash the subpoena in its entirety on August 15. The Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit, on Aug. 22 ordered a limited remand for the District Court to consider whether to partially quash any of the subpoena. On remand, the District Court ordered partial quashal on September 1. The Court of Appeals on October 20 affirmed the District Court’s order. The Supreme Court denied review on November 1. Graham testified on November 22, 2022.

    • emptywheel says:

      Yeah, I think that’s wildly overblown. It doesn’t say whether there was a subpoena for the notes, for example. It compares a civil case to a criminal one. It ignores all the other lawyers whose content has also already been turned over.

  13. Spank Flaps says:

    To paraphrase Eric Morecambe – “I’m choosing all the right lawyers, but not necessarily in the right order.”

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