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  1. #1

    Meet the Justice League; the team that is going to take down Donald Trump.

    The Justice League is real.

    https://www.vox.com/policy-and-polit...es-rhee-zebley

    Notice their backgrounds:

    • The Criminal Law Expert who has argued more than 100 cases before the Supreme Court and is a living legal encyclopedia
    • The Blackbelt Prosecutor who specialized in organized crimes and financial fraud.
    • The former Watergate prosector, specialzed in campaign finance
    • The cybersecurity / national security expert
    • The DoJ insider who knows all the rules and avenues of the modern DoJ.


    This is a team designed to take down a President.

    Mueller’s strategy: picking experts he trusts
    The Russia probe is a criminal investigation historic in its implications and scale. Members of the special counsel’s team need to know how to best make use of the vast resources of the FBI and Justice Department to make their case. And they need to know how to do that quickly given the political importance and public interest.

    That’s why, as Mueller set out to put a team together, he reached out to seasoned hands.

    “Experience at the FBI, experience at the DOJ, experience working with members of the Congress — these are all critical to working quickly,” said Michael German, a fellow at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice and a former FBI special agent. “You don’t want anyone having to learn how those communication channels work while they’re on the job.”

    This shouldn’t be too hard for members of team Mueller, all of whom have spent years embedded in these organizations, familiarizing themselves with how they work and whom to call when more information is needed.

    Mueller also wanted a team he could trust, which is why four out of five of his hires have worked with him before. Hiring from his personal network not only let him recruit more quickly, it let the team hit the ground running.

    “The [counsel members] understand each other’s shorthands. They know each other’s strengths and weaknesses so they can communicate more easily,” German explained. “Remember: The goal here is to get this investigation done as quickly and as thoroughly as possible.”

    But why did they join the team in the first place? After all, most of them left high-paying jobs and put important federal duties on hold within weeks of Mueller’s appointment. Three former WilmerHale partners — Rhee, Quarles, and Zebley — as well as Mueller himself, likely took a large pay cut to join the team. A simple look at Glassdoor shows that a WilmerHale associate earns a base salary of around $175,179. A partner would have made ... quite a bit more.

    To get a sense of the scale of the pay cut, a 2016 survey of more than 2,000 law firm partners showed that their average compensation was $877,000. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who technically sits above the special counsel, is paid at the government’s executive level 1 rate, which for 2017 was about $207,800 — less than a quarter of what law firm partners are said to earn.

    The upshot is that Mueller’s team is full of people so committed to him, and the mission he’s been given, that they’re willing to put their careers on hold and take massive pay cuts to help lead the Trump investigation. And that has the real potential to be very, very bad news for both the White House and the president himself.

    For deeper dives into the five members of Mueller’s team, see below.

    Michael Dreeben: the criminal law expert


    With decades of experience representing the federal government before the Supreme Court, former Deputy Solicitor General Michael Dreeben has been touted by CNN as Mueller’s most important hire.

    Paul Rosenzweig, a former deputy in the Department of Homeland Security, wrote in Lawfare that the worst thing to happen to Trump last week wasn’t Comey’s testimony, but the announcement that Dreeben — “quite possibly the best criminal appellate lawyer in America” — had been recruited into the special counsel’s office.

    Dreeben’s appointment has drawn praise from lawyers of both parties, including Preet Bharara, a former US attorney who alleges he had some uncomfortable phone calls with Trump before being fired in March.

    Bharara’s praise is a reflection of Dreeben’s long career in the solicitor’s general office, where he has argued more than 100 cases before the Supreme Court. Many of them delved into the exact issues the special counsel will investigate.

    “There have been cases in the past 20 years that have determined what obstruction of justice means, and he was involved in many of them,” Rosenzweig said in an interview. “He will have worked on issues of executive privilege. He will have worked on issues of grand jury investigations.”


    Andrew Weissmann: the expert prosecutor

    One of Mueller’s first appointments, Andrew Weismann, is another heavy hitter. He has taken a leave of absence from working as the head of the Justice Department’s criminal fraud unit to join the special counsel, and has been described by Politico as Mueller’s most significant hire.

    That reflects the fact that Weissmann has a reputation as someone who has made a career out of taking on organized crime.

    In the 1990s, Weissmann worked at the US attorney’s office in the Eastern District of New York, where he eventually rose to become the chief of the criminal division. He supervised more than 25 cases, going after the infamous Colombo and Gambino Mafia families in New York City and digging into organized crime on Wall Street.

    From 2002 to 2005, he led the Enron task force that prosecuted more than 30 individuals and corporations involved in white-collar crime, after which he received several honors, including the Attorney General's Award for Exceptional Service in 2006.

    Weissmann’s investigative skills will be a key resource for the Russia probe, said James Jacobs, a criminal law expert who worked with Weissmann while he was an adjunct professor at New York University.

    “He’s very familiar in following the money and very familiar with technology,” Jacobs said in an interview.

    James Quarles: the former Watergate prosecutor
    A renowned litigator, James Quarles also happens to be a former assistant prosecutor in the Watergate investigation, where he specialized in campaign finance research, according to Wired.

    The FBI has already requested financial documents from both Flynn and former campaign chair Paul Manafort. It makes sense that someone with experience in these matters was selected to join the team.

    "There is nothing comparable to the kind of pressure and obligation that this kind of job puts on your shoulders," Richard Ben-Veniste, one of the leading special prosecutors for Watergate, told CNN. "Having been there before gives [Quarles] the confidence to know how to do it and how to do it right."

    Aaron Zebley: the cybersecurity expert
    Aaron Zebley has spent most of his career working in national security, but has more recently focused on cybersecurity.

    When he was hired at WilmerHale in 2014, the firm’s co-managing partner, Robert Novick, said in a statement that the longtime FBI staffer would boost WilmerHale’s cybersecurity expertise.

    Zebley worked as a special agent in the FBI’s counterterrorism division for seven years. He went on to become the FBI’s chief of staff and, later, a senior counselor in the National Security Division of the Justice Department.

    Jeannie Rhee: the DOJ expert


    Rhee, another career litigator, brings an insider’s view of the Justice Department.

    From 2009 to 2011, she was the deputy assistant attorney general, charged with providing counsel to then-Attorney General Eric Holder and to the White House on issues surrounding criminal law, executive privilege, and national security, according to WilmerHale.

    After joining the private law firm, she focused on advising clients involved in government-related litigation, which again, suggests that she has a strong sense of how the Justice Department works. This is important given that the special counsel will technically be part of the department — albeit with more independence — and will need to know how to navigate its many different departments and resources.
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    I'll make a post about Trump's Legion of Duma when he hires somebody worth mentioning.

  2. #2
    Regardless, it’s probably not their legal aptitudes that got Bowe and Sekulow spots on Kasowitz’s team. It’s their showmanship.
    This is just embarrassing.
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  3. #3
    The Lightbringer
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    Makes sense to assemble a lot of big names when your potential catch is a world leader. Let's see how this plays out moving forward, but I doubt the public will be getting much info about the state of the investigation until it has already happened.

  4. #4
    Void Lord Felya's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Xyonai View Post
    Makes sense to assemble a lot of big names when your potential catch is a world leader. Let's see how this plays out moving forward, but I doubt the public will be getting much info about the state of the investigation until it has already happened.
    Absolutely true... People who are looking for evidence, will need to wait a while. Revealing evidence, especially in an obstruction of justice case, is tantamount to telling the accused what evidence to destroy. It's like thinking it's a good idea, to have a half way house for bank robbers, in a bank.

    That's the reason why leaks are bad. Not because they make Trump and Putin look bad.
    Folly and fakery have always been with us... but it has never before been as dangerous as it is now, never in history have we been able to afford it less. - Isaac Asimov
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  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Felya View Post
    It's like thinking it's a good idea, to have a half way house for bank robbers, in a bank.
    If you own a private prison corporation, it *is* a good idea.

  6. #6
    Deleted
    Trump literally and forever btfo. He'll be impeached before next sunset for sure.

  7. #7
    The Lightbringer fengosa's Avatar
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    Two of these guys have background in fraud and financial crime which is telling. You don't hire 40% of the team unless there's a correlation.

    #followthemoney

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by fengosa View Post
    Two of these guys have background in fraud and financial crime which is telling. You don't hire 40% of the team unless there's a correlation.

    #followthemoney
    You also have that cyber security guy to track that money.

  9. #9
    Merely a Setback PACOX's Avatar
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    This needs to happen before or after election season. Too close to election season and the GOP will revert back putting its head up its ass for votes.

    Resident Cosplay Progressive

  10. #10
    The Undying
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    Quote Originally Posted by pacox View Post
    This needs to happen before or after election season. Too close to election season and the GOP will revert back putting its head up its ass for votes.
    I think this happening near an election would be a terrific idea. All the idiots who backed that asshat will be on full display for their horrible choice - and will be punished accordingly.

    Could be a huge sweep for the DNC. Then (again) they can go about fixing all the shit Trump fucked up (again) while being in office for such a short time. I swear the GOP mantra is "reverse anything Obama did".

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Xyonai View Post
    Makes sense to assemble a lot of big names when your potential catch is a world leader. Let's see how this plays out moving forward, but I doubt the public will be getting much info about the state of the investigation until it has already happened.
    Very well said. Could not agree more. Slow and steady to take down a sitting U.S. President.

  11. #11
    Skroe seems like he has really gone off the deep end lately.

  12. #12
    Banned GennGreymane's Avatar
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    Okay Skroe,

    This is more cringy than the made up presidential cabinet I made. Are there tee shirts?

  13. #13
    It is kinda adorable how they keep doing this... quick someone grab a photo of them together before they fall apart.

  14. #14
    Banned GennGreymane's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by primalmatter View Post
    It is kinda adorable how they keep doing this... quick someone grab a photo of them together before they fall apart.
    You're gonna get a tee shirt too?

  15. #15
    The Insane Glorious Leader's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Skroe View Post
    The Justice League is real.

    https://www.vox.com/policy-and-polit...es-rhee-zebley

    Notice their backgrounds:

    • The Criminal Law Expert who has argued more than 100 cases before the Supreme Court and is a living legal encyclopedia
    • The Blackbelt Prosecutor who specialized in organized crimes and financial fraud.
    • The former Watergate prosector, specialzed in campaign finance
    • The cybersecurity / national security expert
    • The DoJ insider who knows all the rules and avenues of the modern DoJ.


    This is a team designed to take down a President.



    - - - Updated - - -

    I'll make a post about Trump's Legion of Duma when he hires somebody worth mentioning.
    Thats presumimg he can hire anybody. My understanding is law firms have been thumbing their noses at him. Thanks but no thanks.
    The hammer comes down:
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    Normal should be reduced in difficulty. Heroic should be reduced in difficulty.
    And the tiny fraction for whom heroic raids are currently well tuned? Too bad,so sad! With the arterial bleed of subs the fastest it's ever been, the vanity development that gives you guys your own content is no longer supportable.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by GennGreymane View Post
    You're gonna get a tee shirt too?
    Why not. What else will go with my "Make America Great Again" cap during Trumps second reelection celebration party?

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by TheNoseKnows View Post
    Trump literally and forever btfo. He'll be impeached before next sunset for sure.
    Why did you change your forum name from "CantStumpTheTrump"?

    Is Trump feeling a little stumpy these days?
    Help control the population. Have your blood elf spayed or neutered.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by GennGreymane View Post
    Okay Skroe,

    This is more cringy than the made up presidential cabinet I made. Are there tee shirts?
    This isn't made up though, they're the actual people brought on. A whole lot of RICO background going on.
    While you live, shine / Have no grief at all / Life exists only for a short while / And time demands its toll.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Glorious Leader View Post
    Thats presumimg he can hire anybody. My understanding is law firms have been thumbing their noses at him. Thanks but no thanks.
    http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/15/vice-...ries-wapo.html

    Well, Trump has his own lawyers from before, at least. And Pence has already lawyered up as well.

  20. #20
    Deleted
    Love how America looks like Russia. Two warring clans of Oligarchs going at it.

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