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Talking Feds Substack with Harry Litman is a series of dispatches from the front of a constitution in crisis. Harry explains how the maneuvers of Trump and his circle transgress constitutional norms a...

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Like rats from a sinking ship: “Last month, Pirro offered prosecutors in her office a $25,000 retention bonus to stay for the next two years, according to people familiar with the matter.” The office is irredeemably screwed up and will stay that way as long as she’s in charge

"Blanche can say the fund is dead. He can say it in a memo, in testimony, under oath, in triplicate. What he cannot do is extinguish an agreement that Trump—having dismissed his suit—is entitled to enforce."

Blanche and Trump Snooker Cornyn and Tillis

The Senators got a piece of paper. Blanche got out of committee. Trump got everything.

harrylitman.substack.com

As predicted, Susan Collins comes out against Blanche. Don’t make too much of it. The R leadership okayed it b/c they have a vote to lose and b/c Collins in a tight race in Maine, in which Ds have won last several presidential elections. But they can’t lose another. All eyes on Cassidy and Murkowski

Among the first pieces out post Blanche vote, this essay argues that the "deal" that sealed his yes vote was a completely empty arrangement that left Trump with all he had before. open.substack.com/pub/harrylit...

Blanche and Trump Snooker Cornyn and Tillis

The Senators got a piece of paper. Blanche got out of committee. Trump got everything.

open.substack.com

A consummately shameful week for the R Senate majority. We have a Pres proven to engage in self-dealing into the $ B and to be 100% indifferent to the constitution, law, & norms there to constrain him; and an AG. nominee proven to have no limit in enabling him. What do we think is going to happen??

Blanche reported out of committee as expected. but a total travesty nonetheless that could lead to all manner of additional abuse and self-enrichment schemes by Trump. They know what and whom they're ratifying.

@schiff.senate.gov on fire with a litany of reasons not to confirm Blanche. "he will only do what's best for Donald Trump. And you can't leave someone like that as highest federal law enforcement official" Here comes the vote: straight party lines, he's reported out of committee. ugggggghhhhhhhhh

"But the farce shouldn’t obscure the gravity—perhaps the purest instance of totalitarian abuse of the Trump years: the government cast a private citizen with no quarrel with Trump and no connection to the pool as the villain of a fiction, and moved to put him in prison for years."

Reflecting Pool Case: A Kafkaesque Debacle Even After the Dismissal

The dismissal of the Reflecting Pool prosecution was a forced retreat, and it leaves an ugly injustice unremedied. Plus, Talking Feds Substack hits 250 posts.

harrylitman.substack.com

Irony doesn't begin to capture the situation if Jeanine Pirro winds up losing her job for towing Trump's barge through 100% false and corrupt waters all the way to the very edge of the waterfall she was about to plunge over. substack.com/@harrylitman...

Harry Litman (@harrylitman)

This essay marks my 250th dispatch on the Talking Feds Substack. I have to say, it took me by surprise. When I resigned from the Los Angeles Times in protest of the paper’s currying favor with the Tru...

substack.com

Na-na-na-na Hey-hey-hey Trump met with Jeanine Pirro at the White House on Monday, hours after saying that she had “choked” when she concluded that the damage to the Reflecting Pool was not the work of vandals, as Trump continues to insist. He is an utter madman. substack.com/@harrylitman...

Harry Litman (@harrylitman)

This essay marks my 250th dispatch on the Talking Feds Substack. I have to say, it took me by surprise. When I resigned from the Los Angeles Times in protest of the paper’s currying favor with the Tru...

substack.com

In other words, going from a constitutional right (Roe) to a constitutional state by state decision (Dobbs) to a constitutional rule of no abortions. What is the DOJ/legal underpinning for that? There isn't one. Ladies & Gentlemen, your lawless soon-to-be AG. www.politico.com/news/2026/08...

Blanche assures anti-abortion supporters that Dobbs will be ‘permanent in every single state’

The acting attorney general made the remarks during a private call with faith leaders.

politico.com

"It’s hard to imagine a more consummate and humiliating debacle than the complete retreat that the Department of Justice was forced to execute Friday in the Reflecting Pool case."

The Blanche statement that likely now secures his confirmation does nothing to abrogate Trump’s rights in the slush fund and perpetuates the outrageous tax amnesty for Trump and family, which the American people are paying for without getting anything in return. It’s all lip service and a travesty.

Trump’s abortive push to save the slush fund, the collapse of the Reflecting Pool prosecution, Anthony Fauci’s return to the headlines, and more. @glennkirschner.bsky.social, #JohnMarshall, and @alivitali.bsky.social join Harry on an all-new Talking Feds. Link: youtu.be/eGoMj5q53Yw

A week of unforced errors. @glennkirschner.bsky.social, #JoshMarshall, and @alivitali.bsky.social join me to discuss Trump’s abortive push to save the slush fund, the collapse of the Reflecting Pool prosecution, Fauci’s return to the headlines, and more. Link: youtu.be/eGoMj5q53Yw

The fact that the Blanche memo was announced yesterday jointly by Cornyn and Blanche in an X post suggests strongly that Cornyn is placated and Blanche is back on track. That's so notwithstanding the core of the tax amnesty remains, and as a bogus windfall to Trump in return for ....zero.

Blanche's statement simply disregards the main point Cornyn's questioning of him established. If the slush fund/amnesty agreement were legal -- rather than the product of a a bogus collusive prosecution -- it would give Trump the legal right to enforce, and DOJ couldn't unilateraly abrogate.

As further illustration that Judge Williams knows the case is collusive, she has asked the three amici–Gleeson, Gay, Verrilli--to weigh in on Trump's motion for her to stay here ruling while he appeals it to the 11th circuit. The appeal makes the web of the slush fund even more tangled.

Trump is own worst enemy lately. Tomorrow, Glenn Kirschner, Josh Marshall, and Ali Vitali join me to break down a week defined by the administration’s screw ups.

Tillis is really working up the rhetoric. Sorry about site; it’s where he posted x.com/senthomtilli...

Pirro/Trump owe Hearn more than an apology. There's plenty of 'slainin to do, including Pirro's statements, already out of school and prejudicial, and. now apparently false as well; and how the Grand Jury found $1k damage w/ no evidence. Looking forward to discussing on @lauracoates.com at 11 PM ET

The additional information that demonstrated they had no case against Hearn came from the department of interior, in other words, the federal government. How in the world could they not have checked that before filing charges? In some ways, this is the absolute nadir of the DOJ under Trump

The dismissal of the reflecting pool charges saves the department from having to face the music from what it looks to have been a grievous blunder or worse in the grand jury, as Hearn’s motion alleged. They didn’t present any evidence on me for element and yet somehow got the GJ to indict.

Feds dropping charges against David Hearn in reflecting pool case. Pirro said docs show"the damage to the pool “was the result of a flawed installation by the contractor." Now they tell us. Looking forward to discussing, along with Blanche, on @allinwithchris.bsky.social at 8:15 PM ET.

Trump and counsel appeal Williams Order, withheld the settlement agreement is collusive, to 11th circuit. Among other things, that serves to complicate the whole Blanche situation.

"So: too early for the states to sue, and too late for the government to wait. Not ripe enough to be a real case, but so urgent it can't survive an ordinary appeal."

A Procedural Skirmish That Could Lay the Groundwork for a Stolen Election

The Trump administration's mail-in voting gambit asks the Supreme Court to have it both ways. Plus, Friday's Lighter Fare.

harrylitman.substack.com

The web blocking Blanche's confirmation grows more tangled, as indications grow that Trump really wants the slush fund and IRS amnesty, even more than his AG pick. Looking forward to discussing, along w/ Pulte's holdover at DNI even after Clayton confirmation, on @deadlinewh.bsky.social at 4 PM ET.

Two more courts of appeals reject the administration’s cock position that people in the country for years remain “applicants for admission” subject to detention without bond. That makes the count 6 to 2 at the court of appeals and very lopsided at the District Court level

Short answer is yes-the whole thing was a fraud for one. But it could be precarious depending on the court

Molly Ann@bma53.bsky.social · 6d ago

Honest question: say Blanche does do the no audits for trump agreement can a Dem AG just undo it?