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Hunter Biden Prosecutor Leo Wise Aspires to Be the James Comer of John Durhams
Leo Wise aspires to make the Hunter Biden tax case -- what Wise claims is just a "straightforward tax case" -- into the largest Special Counsel trial in recent history. He aims to do that by airing a bunch of irrelevant influence peddling allegations.
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How David Weiss Plans to Prove the Gun Case against Hunter Biden
Fully half the communications that David Weiss wants to use to prove Hunter Biden was an addict when he owned a gun in 2018 are sourced to the laptop. The success of his case may rely, then, on conflating summarization of evidence with technical admissibility.
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Trials of Insurrectionists are Not Simply an American Thing
While we in the US are focused on Trump's trials and other Jan 6-related cases, take a look at the Reichsbürger trials unfolding in Germany.
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Hunter Biden Prosecutor Derek Hines Confesses He Failed To Do Basic Due Diligence, Again
Hunter Biden's prosecutors confess they only this month discovered that the gun shop from which he bought a gun altered the form on which he allegedly lied after the fact.
![](https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Cannon-495x400.webp)
Aileen Cannon Blames Jack Smith That She Fucked Over Stan Woodward
Aileen Cannon's complaint that Jack Smith is selectively acceding to the release of grand jury materials actually arises from her own decision to intervene in grand jury proceedings before Trump or Stan Woodward asked her to.
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Fridays with Nicole Sandler
We spoke about Trump's New York trial and Sam Alito's betrayal of the country.
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Jim Risch Demands that Avril Haines Formally Tell Us He Is Lying
Jim Risch thinks Avril Haines should come forward and formally debunk false claims that those with privileged intelligence access make, which must include the false claims he made about 51 private individuals who expressed an expert opinion.
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Three Things: Let the Tedious Bashing Commence!
We haven’t even touched the depths of tedious media bashing in this country let alone at this site.
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David Weiss' Exhibit List Looks Like One Matt Gaetz or James Comer Would Assemble
In addition to a bunch of tax-related documents, David Weiss wants to use some of the right wing frothers' favorite Hunter Biden documents -- documents that have no obvious relation to the tax charges -- in his tax trial.
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Hunter Biden Moves to Enjoin David Weiss Under an Appropriations Argument Trump Adopted
Before Trump made his frivolous challenge to Jack Smith's Special Counsel appointment on appropriations grounds, Hunter Biden challenged David Weiss' appointment with more merit. That could make the parallel track of these prosecutions -- with Hunter Biden's prosecutions rushing towards conclusion next month and Trump's stalled past the election -- more interesting.
![](https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-14-at-11.04.59-495x400.png)
David Weiss Continues to Misrepresent the Damage Keith Ablow Did to Hunter Biden's Addiction
David Weiss repeated in one of his motions in limine what might have just been stupid error when he made it earlier this year: He is portraying Hunter Biden's addiction after Keith Ablow made it worse as the state of Hunter's addiction in fall 2018, when he bought a gun.
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The Cultivation of Don Jr: A Framework to Think of the Russian Attack
With the 2016 attack, Russia didn't need cooperation from Trump's people (though they got it from at least Manafort and Stone and idiot who proved useful Don Jr). They just needed to make any already improbable conciliation impossible, impossible politically and impossible for a Narcissist like Trump to do. That would practically guarantee that Trump would attack the country to defend himself, his son, his ego.
![](https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-12-at-18.09.27-495x400.png)
Another Maggie Haberman NYT Story Covers Up Oleg Deripaska's Role
NYT and other media outlets are burying the truly scandalous details of Trump's willingness (and second thoughts) about bringing Paul Manafort back onto a campaign role: his role (witting or not) in Russia's interference in the 2016 election.
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Happy (Forced) Mother's Day!
Wishing all mothers in fact or mothers of invention a restful Sunday — except for Sen. Katie Britt (R-Gilead). Also a note about a comments system change.
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Barr Time 1: "Conjuring up criminal conspiracies about political opponents"
Bill Barr walked into the AG job determined to kill an investigation into Russian interference. Before he walked out, he set up a system that protected interference from Russian agents in Ukraine. His claims about what he did fall apart given what we've learned since he made them.
![](https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Fridays-with-Nicole-Sandler-495x400.png)
Fridays with Nicole Sander
Nicole Sandler and I discussed the hush money coverup trial, Aileen Cannon and right wing propaganda, and Steve Bannon's failed appeal.
![](https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Screenshot-2024-01-24-at-22.14.36-495x400.png)
Judge Maryellen Noreika Prepares for a Hunter Biden Trial ... without Bates Stamps
Judge Maryellen Noreika relied in a key decision on evidence made available from Rudy Giuliani, while claiming that it derived from Hunter Biden's memoir. That's one of many reasons to be alarmed that Judge Maryellen Noreika has decided that Hunter Biden prosecutors don't have to tell him whence they've derived laptop evidence before trial.
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About Those Two Sealed Dockets Related to the Henry Cuellar Case...
DOJ rolled out several filings in the Henry Cuellar prosecution that reinforce my impression that this case may not go to trial.
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Right Wing Propaganda Fail: Julie Kelly's Troubles with Ten and Two
A key piece of propaganda that may have given Aileen Cannon cover to indefinitely stall Trump's stolen documents trial is based on a failure to distinguish between the numbers ten and two.
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How We Got to a Place Where Right Wingers Cheer Stealing Nuclear Documents
Trump's propaganda machine has drowned out facts and replaced it with grievance.
And until something starts cutting through that grievance, mere trials aren't going to fix this.