Trial lawyer, criminal defense lawyer, criminal justice reformer, San Diego Padres fan, founding partner at Hecker Fink LLP.
He’s earned it.
Peter BakerTrump is now all but the most unpopular second-term president at this stage of their tenure in the history of polling. The only exception: Nixon had even less public support at this stage but at that point he was just days away from resigning. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/01/u...
A time will come when- hopefully soon - we can investigate who is responsible for turning lives upside to fulfill a corrupt president’s revenge fantasies. Suspect many law licenses will be lost.
Carl Quintanilla“.. In normal times, [it] would be the stuff of major investigations .. “.. the DOJ brought a clearly shoddy case without getting all the information first .. another hasty prosecution brought for Trump’s political purposes ..” @cnn.com www.cnn.com/2026/08/01/p...
The Administration owes Davey Hearn more than an apology.
Norm EisenBREAKING: STATEMENT ON DOJ’S DISMISSAL OF CRIMINAL CASE AGAINST DAVEY HEARN
When the obvious truth makes it impossible to pursue vindictive and frivolous prosecutions.
Jon CooperIt looks like we found the Reflecting Pool vandal.
Corruption on a grotesque scale. Corporations should plan now for the congressional investigations and future DOJ investigations that will look for evidence that multi-million dollar corporate donations to favored Trump causes were quid pro quos for some official act. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Exclusive | ‘The Boss Wants This Money’: Inside Trump’s Unprecedented Fundraising OperationMeredith O’Rourke, nicknamed ‘princess of darkness,’ carries out the president’s desire to wring hundreds of millions from companies for his projects.www.wsj.com“Mr. Blanche has personally made multiple serious prosecutorial missteps in public. His attacks on judges have foolishly antagonized courts. The judge who dismissed the human smuggling case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia cited some Blanche’s remarks in declaring that it was a vindictive prosecution.”
Opinion | There Are So Many Reasons to Reject Todd Blanche. Here’s Another One.Don’t forget this key reason the Senate should reject him.www.nytimes.com“[P]ulling Mr. Blanche’s nomination, even temporarily, would demonstrate Mr. Trump’s willingness to advance his personal interests over the institutional stability embodied by a Senate-confirmed attorney general.” Wasn’t it already obvious Trump would put his personal interest over anything?
Trump Threatens to Withdraw Blanche as Attorney General, Dealing Blow to NominationPresident Trump’s threat followed a day of fruitless negotiations with two Republican holdouts, Senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis.www.nytimes.comThey ought to review the motion practice in the Comey case. Regardless of their views of Comey, Blanche’s conduct in pursuing that frivolous, vindictive and selective prosecution required numerous violations of the Constitution and the rule of law. @chrisgeidner.bsky.social is all over this.
Chris GeidnerNYT on the Blanche vote delay that’s the result of Cornyn and Tillis not being on board due to where things stand with the IRS audit immunity provision. “‘I can see why he wants it, because it provides immunity from audits no other taxpayer would get,’ Mr. Cornyn added. “
Hard to imagine better evidence for a vindictive prosecution claim, where the evidence gets you all the way to Trump. Usually have to just infer that from circumstantial evidence.
Trump Demanded Details of Agents’ Interview of Comey, New Filing SaysThe demand suggests the intense personal involvement of President Trump in investigating one of his longtime critics, the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey.www.nytimes.comThis is a winning motion. The facts revealed should be more than enough to end a presidency in a functioning democracy. Gone too would be the federal prosecutors and agents whose careers should end for participating in this charade of a case. All to fulfill a madman’s revenge fantasies. Brutal.
Chris GeidnerNEW: James Comey has filed a motion to dismiss his seashells indictment as an unconstitutional vindictive and selective prosecution.
Couldn’t happen to a more deserving fellow.
Jonathan LemireNEW: President Trump has finally crashed into the limits of his power He can’t escape the Iran war. Republicans have begun to defy him And as the midterms approach, he will soon face his worst fear: His coming irrelevance www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
Bravo! Such a huge win. And such a rarity to watch the DOJ actually back down rather than having an independent judiciary rule against them.
Anna BowerStatement from David McCraw, Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at the New York Times:
“In a move that one administration insider said was designed to show a “middle finger” to the legal industry…” How to confirm (anonymously) that you don’t care about the rule of law… giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
Big Law braces for second fight with Donald Trump over capitulation dealsDepartment of Justice tells top firms their leaders must sit for depositions over agreements they reached over a year agogiftarticle.ft.comIf you work in the Trump Administration, you must be all in on letting Trump and his minions decide who is vindictively investigated or audited. Period.
Kyle GriffinThe Trump Treasury Department's top tax policy official was forced out of his job after he warned that the Trump White House was at risk of violating a federal law prohibiting senior officials' involvement in IRS audits.
The Trump attack on the press is different from past attacks because Trump and his henchmen now have a demonstrated pattern of vindictive investigations and prosecutions targeting those who embarrass them. And courts are onto them, no longer presuming that DOJ subpoenas are issued in good faith.
SlateThis could end up with a reporter in jail. slate.trib.al/4laWQzD
Bob Bauer's piece is worth a read. A new congress should pass this model statute, designed to prevent both self-pardons and pardons aimed at immunizing those who participated in corruption schemes with POTUS. Make republicans vote no. Executive Functions www.execfunctions.org?utm_source=n...
Executive Functions | Jack Goldsmith | SubstackBob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith, two former senior government lawyers from different political backgrounds and administrations, decode the presidential power issues and controversies of the day. Click to...www.execfunctions.orgJack Smith has a ton of courage. And he’s also correct here.
Lee WestSmith said DOJ has jettisoned expertise & that losing people who know how to protect nat security will have consequences for national security. That's not a political claim. That's an operational warning from an expert who relied on DOJ institutional knowledge to run sensitive investigations.