The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has denied Corcoran’s appeal to stay Judge Howell’s ruling ordering him to produce documents and testify to Special Prosecutor Smith’s grand jury. See yesterday’s diary for further context.
The actual decision is under seal as it relates to secret grand jury proceedings.
Corcoran’s only option, and it will be challenging with the time constraints involved, is to get an emergency order from the Supreme Court staying Howell’s order pending its own review. That would come from the justice assigned such emergency orders for the D.C. Circuit, Chief Justice John Roberts. Such relief is unlikely.
UPDATE: Corcoran is scheduled to testify to the grand jury on Friday. He may try to plead the 5th in which case Smith is likely to compel testimony by granting him immunity.
This makes six judges who have determined it likely that Trump committed crimes. For the record those are:
Judge #1: Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart: Determined there is probable cause that Donald Trump violated the Espionage Act, unlawfully removed or destroyed government documents, and obstructed justice. The context was an order by Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart to search Trump’s property at Mar-a-Lago. To issue such a search warrant the judge must find that there is probable cause evidence for specific crimes enumerated on the warrant will be found. The search resulted in the seizure of numerous Top Secret items, to include some at the “TS/SCI” enhanced level of Top Secret for exceptionally sensitive information.
Judge #2: Judge David Carter: A completely different judge has determined that it is likely Donald Trump committed two major felonies in his effort to stay in power after losing the election. The context for this determination was a dispute between John Eastman and the January 6th Committee. Eastman is an attorney who was the architect of the plan to convince Mike Pence to unilaterally throw out enough electoral college votes to give the election to Trump. The Committee subpoenaed his emails and Eastman resisted, claiming Trump was his client and the attorney/client privilege protected the emails. The Committee countered that the attorney/client privilege did not apply because the emails were in the furtherance of a crime or fraud.
Thus, Judge David Carter had to decide, to the preponderance of evidence standard (more likely than not), whether the crime/fraud exception to attorney/client privilege applied. The judge decided the crime/fraud exception did apply, ruling it likely that Donald Trump attempted to obstruct an official proceeding and that Trump engaged in a conspiracy against the United States. The judge was quite direct in these conclusions.
“Based on the evidence, the Court finds it more likely than not that President Trump corruptly attempted to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021 . . . Based on the evidence, the Court finds that it is more likely than not that President Trump and Dr. Eastman dishonestly conspired to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021.”
The relevant criminal statutes, 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2) and 18 U.S.C. § 371, carry maximum sentences of 20 years and 5 years respectively.
Judge #3: Judge Beryl Howell: In this matter involving Trump attorney Evan Corcoran attempting to assert attorney/client privilege to avoid testifying and producing documents to Special Prosecutor Jack Smith’s grand jury. Howell similarly decided the crime/fraud exception to attorney client/privilege applied. This decision is also under seal.
Judges #4, 5 and 6: Judges Florence Pan, J. Michelle Childs, and Cornelia Pillard at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding Judge Howell’s decision today.
Being a Trump attorney sucks.