All posts tagged "katie phang"

'First of its kind' Epstein lawsuit against Todd Blanche has legal world abuzz

A journalist's lawsuit against the acting head of the Department of Justice to release the unredacted Epstein files is the "first of its kind" and shows promise, according to a legal expert.

Former MSNBC host Katie Phang's lawsuit against Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche "broke the glass ceiling," attorney and legal commentator Michael Popok hailed on an episode of his Legal AF podcast.

Phang said that one of the key parts of her lawsuit is a preliminary injunction that would "give me access to illegally redacted names, email addresses, the names of the co-defendants," as well as "the FBI interview notes for the Donald Trump allegger," who claimed she was "13 years old when she was sexually battered and physically abused by Donald Trump" — an allegation Trump has denied and the DOJ has called "unfounded and false."

Her lawsuit is also asking for a judge to force Blanche to provide a public "roadmap" for what he can and cannot redact, Phang explained.

"That was supposed to have been done and recorded with the Federal Register," she said about the redaction roadmap. "But Blanche wiped his a-- with it and said he's not going to do it."

Phang says that she's basically looking for "somebody who's going to call the balls and strikes" on what can and can't be redacted.

"We're literally just asking the court to force the federal government to do what the law requires it to do," Phang says.

She added that as a journalist, she refuses to be "a mere mouthpiece" for the information the DOJ wants to put out.

"As soon as I get anything from the court, I just blast it out to everybody in the world," Phang said. "That's the point of me doing this as a journalist."

For Popok, her doing it as a journalist is why the lawsuit stands out, as he agreed, "Their spoon-feeding of the media has made us complicit in their scandal."

John Roberts warned he just left 'huge asterisk on his legacy in such a bad way'

Legal experts blasted Chief Justice John Roberts for his part in weakening the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and its ability to block discrimination when district maps are drawn.

"For Chief Justice John Roberts, this is a huge asterisk on his legacy in such a bad way," journalist and lawyer Katie Phang said during an interview for the Contrarian with lawyer and professor Leah Litman. "He has had a series of really not good asterisks next to his name, but this, I think, is one of the biggest ones."

The 6-3 decision on Louisiana v. Callais came down on Wednesday. Phang described the decision as "clearing the way for the GOP to racially gerrymander us back to the days of Jim Crow voter suppression."

Litman noted that Roberts "began his career as a lawyer in the Reagan Department of Justice, pushing to limit the Voting Rights Act, pushing against the amendments to the Voting Rights Act that sought to expand its protections to encompass unintentional discrimination."

Roberts "dismantled the other key leg of the Voting Rights Act," as the author of the opinion in the case Shelby County v. Holder, Litman added. "So, yes, he has been able to cultivate this appearance and reputation as an institutionalist. He is a hard-line ideologue on the Voting Rights Act, and always has been."

Litman warned that people should "never, never buy into this narrative that the Republican appointees are just respecting the democratic processes."

She also pointed out that while Justice Samuel Alito penned the majority opinion in Louisiana v. Callais, "Roberts, he is the senior-most justice in this opinion. That meant he had the option of who to assign the opinion to."

'Something stinks': Questions raised over timing of Judge Cannon's pro-Trump ruling

On Saturday morning on MSNBC, former prosecutor Katie Phang and ex-RNC chair Michael Steele both suggested there was more than a hint of collusion that led to U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida Judge Aileen Cannon to issue her ruling dismissing the obstruction of justice charges filed against Donald Trump on the same day the Republican National Convention convened.

Phang, appearing on Steele's "The Weekend," said the timing was very suspicious coming from a judge most famous for dragging her feet on the DOJ case filed against the man who placed her on the bench with a lifetime appointment.

Noting that Cannon's opinion that special counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutionally appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland was the basis for the dismissal of the case related to stolen government documents hoarded at Mar-a-Lago, ex-prosecutor Phang said everything about Cannon's performance deserves scrutiny.

RELATED: 'Judicial malpractice': Judge Cannon accused of boosting 'wacky or unfounded arguments'

Add to that, the timing of the dismissal.

"Why not dispose of that issue in February? We hear the oral argument including friends of the court which never happens," she began. "This is at the end of June, the beginning of July and then she sits on a 93-page opinion for that long?"

"But the reality is once [Supreme Court Justice] Clarence Thomas gave her the green light to file her dismissal, that is when she did it," she added. "And for her to drop that on the first day of the RNC stinks. Something is rotten in Denmark, and I'm going to say it is Aileen Cannon."

Host Steele agreed, interjecting, "I am with you on that one because the timing and the process, the level of, you know, coordination is the only word that comes to mind."

Watch below or at the link.

MSNBC 07 20 2024 09 42 47www.youtube.com

MSNBC's Katie Phang dares Trump lawyer Alina Habba to come on her show

Donald Trump's lawyer/spokeswoman, Alina Habba, was issued a standing invitation on Saturday to appear on the show of MSNBC host and legal analyst Katie Phang.

Phang read live on the air on Saturday that Habba had claimed she wanted to appear on CNN and MSNBC. Habba has been criticized for her role in Trump's civil trial for defamation.

"Alina, you are welcome to come on my show, any time. You are welcome."

When someone else tried to chime in, Phang said, "I got her. It is fine."

ALSO READ: Trump just endorsed this Virginia congressional candidate whose social media isn’t so MAGA

On social media, Dem strategist Adam Parkhomenko said Phang "called out" Habba.

"It's a standing invite," Phang wrote.

Watch below or click here.

MSNBC legal expert clashes with 'whack-job' Trump ally on hush money judge accusations

Former President Donald Trump's allegation that the daughter of the judge in his New York hush money case was posting anti-Trump content on social media is unsubstantiated, as there is no evidence the recently-created account is actually associated with her — and news outlets leapt to fact-check his complaints.

But far-right Trump loyalist Laura Loomer wasn't happy about this — and launched a volley of attacks on MSNBC legal analyst Katie Phang, against which the latter was completely unfazed.

"@KatiePhang was also community noted for lying and saying the X account doesn’t belong to Judge Merchan’s daughter. It does. And community notes even said I brought the receipts and Katie brought nothing but insults," wrote Loomer. She posted a screenshot of what appeared to be an unapproved, nonpublic community note that simply said, "Laura brought the receipts; Kate [sic] brought nothing + insults."

ALSO READ: A neuroscientist reveals how Trump and Biden's cognitive impairments are different

"'Not Shown on X'. Nice try, Laura," Phang replied. "Again, move on to someone who actually thinks you’ve got a point."

"Wow you’re so triggered," wrote Loomer. "You’re also a hack. Spiraling out of control because you have been exposed for lying. Were you paid to do rapid response last night?"

"Laura: you’re a whack-job and I say that with complete sincerity," Phang shot back. "Your problem is you continue to think I care about you and your baseless opinions. I really don’t. But you continue to show everyone that you’re OBSESSED with me. It’s really unhealthy."

Loomer, a self-described "proud Islamophobe" who has defended white nationalism, had been banned from the platform, then known as Twitter, for years, before tech billionaire Elon Musk acquired the company, after which a large number of accounts banned for promoting hateful content were reinstated. She has mounted multiple unsuccessful campaigns for Congress, and Trump has even considered hiring her to his campaign, only to be talked out of it by his strategists.

'Sad, sorry sideshow': Expert shreds double standard effort to put Fani Willis on trial

MSNBC legal analyst and attorney Katie Phang unloaded on the double standard being forced on Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis amid the ethics investigation into whether her relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade introduced any conflicts or misconduct into the Georgia election racketeering case against former President Donald Trump.

"The thing is, Katie, you know this all too well," said anchor Joy Reid. "Look, I have a book about this, about the way they did this. Be pretty but not too pretty. Be forceful but not too forceful. Don't be loud, don't be angry. If you're questioning my integrity and accusing me of hiring somebody that I was having an affair with when I'm telling you the timeline and then asking, did my kids live at my house? You want to know how much money I have? She was insulted and rightfully so. This idea that women of color have to sit there and be demure and take it, there were people on social media saying oh, she's coming in too hot. No, she wasn't. She was offended and she had a right to be offended."

"Yeah, so you know, there is something to be said about decorum and professionalism, but you didn't hear anything that wasn't decorum and professionalism from Fani Willis," said Phang.

ALSO READ: Prison president: How Donald Trump could serve from behind bars

"I'm glad you bring about the example of being a woman of color," Phang continued. "There are more women in law school than there ever was when I was in law school, but when it comes to women of color, we're so sorely underrepresented. Especially when it comes to trials. When it comes to trial lawyers. For a woman to have to defend the fact that she makes her own money, the fact her daddy told her to make sure she had money stashed away. My mom told me the same damn thing. Make sure that you have money stashed away to take care of yourself because you shouldn't count on someone else."

"And that's the thing," she said. "Why should anybody have to defend this? But under the law, unfortunately, because the other side made these representations that met this threshold that forced this hearing to have to come to pass, that's the reason why Fani Willis and Nathan Wade got dragged into court. I will remind our viewers too, Joy, under Georgia law, you do not disqualify a prosecutor simply because there is a personal relationship. In fact, in this case, you have lawyers on the defense side that are married to each other. You have lawyers on the defense side that are dating each other, yet nobody has made a big stink about that. It's only the defense making a stink about that about Fani Willis."

"The important thing is this, she's not on trial," Phang added. "It's the people that tried to steal an election in the state of Georgia that are on trial. This is a sad, sorry sideshow that needs to end."

Watch the video below or at the link right here.

Katie Phang calls Fani Willis ethics hearing a "sad, sorry sideshow"www.youtube.com

'Daddy Trump': Ex-president mocked for cringey social post of 'worst mall Santa ever'

The former president of the United States of America wants you to know the “worst mall Santa ever” just wants his “daddy Trump back.”

Donald Trump was relentlessly mocked Friday after he shared on Truth Social an interview between Tucker Carlson and golfer John Daly, who sported a bright red shirt and a long white beard.

“We all want daddy Trump back,” Daly tells Carlson, who gives an uncomfortable giggle before asking, “Really?”

Journalist Aaron Rupar shared on X Trump’s Truth Social share with the simple message “lol” and received a litany of delighted replies.

“That’s one messed-up looking Santa Claus,” wrote MSNBC host Katie Phang.

Among a slew of comparisons to Santa was @strothersScott’s take dubbing Daly the “worst Mall Santa ever.”

This appears to be the first time the “daddy Trump” made the liberal X rounds, but conservatives have been mulling it over since the interview went live on Dec. 12.

ALSO READ: Mention ‘Liz Cheney 2024’ and things get very, very awkward on Capitol Hill

Christian podcaster Shannon Joy replied with a Brittany Spears “cringe” gif and the words “holy cow.”

The group Republicans against Trump argued the interview was proof that his supporters were part of “a cult.”

While most of the critics Friday focused on Daly — a professional golfer on the PGA Tour — one of Rupar’s respondents took a wider view.

Replied @miss_speech, “We really didn’t spend enough time discussing how someone so unfathomably gullible and susceptible to flattery should probably not be put in charge of national security and our military.”