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Trump’s Lawyer’s Lawyer: Deposing Trump and Cohen “Not Gonna Happen”

Stormy Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti

Yesterday, Stormy Daniels’ attorney pushed to depose Donald Trump under oath in the case regarding an alleged affair with the adult-film star years before he took office.

The aggressive step is just the latest development in the lawsuit filed by Daniels against the president and his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. This follows amending the lawsuit to include a charge of defamation against Cohen.

Daniels is attempting to have the agreement reached just days before Trump won the presidency in 2016 declared null and void. For the sum of $130,000 the agreement requires Daniels to remain quiet about the alleged affair.

Daniels’s attorney, Michael J. Avenatti, says that Americans were told “a bucket of lies” by Trump’s White House and by Cohen, and a deposition is needed to determine if the agreement was “lawful.”

The White House has previously told the press that Trump denies having any affair with Daniels.

This morning, David Schwartz, the lawyer who represents Michael Cohen, told NBC host Megyn Kelly that a motion filed by Daniels’ legal team seeking to depose the president and Cohen under oath won’t be happening.

“It’s absolutely not going to happen — not in this case, anyway, because the case itself is completely frivolous,” Schwartz said.

Avenatti trolled Schwartz on Twitter in the fiercest of ways:

It’s looking more and more that Avenatt is right about Schwartz not being the sharpest legal tack in the shed.

Last night, Schwartz sat down with CNN’s Erin Burnett and announced Cohen was acting independently when he created an LLC and paid Daniels, though he used several Trump Organization addresses.

He went on to say Cohen drew up the agreement without telling Trump, and that’s why his signature isn’t on the document.

“The president was not aware of the agreement. At least, Michael Cohen never told him about the agreement,” Schwartz said. “Michael Cohen left the option open. That’s why he left that signature line, the option open to go to him. He chose not to. He chose to bind the LLC, EC LLC and Stormy Daniels into the contract.”

Legal minds found that statement troubling.

Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti explained on Twitter that this statement supports Daniels’s claim that the agreement is void, as it says in the document that only Trump, not Cohen’s LLC, can enter into an agreement with her.

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Trump Dismiss Yet Another Cabinet Member #NoChaosWhiteHouse

“You’re fired!” says Donald Trump to VA Secretary Shulkin

President Trump dismisses yet another Cabinet member!

The President announced via Twitter that Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin is out and that he is nominating his physician Dr. Ronny Jackson to replace him.

From The New York Times:

After weeks of uncertainty atop the Department of Veterans Affairs, President Trump said on Wednesday he plans to replace its secretary, David J. Shulkin, with Dr. Ronny L. Jackson, the White House physician and a rear admiral in the Navy.

The announcement punctuated what has been a sharp fall from favor for Dr. Shulkin, a politically moderate former hospital executive, who delivered Mr. Trump a string of bipartisan legislative victories at a time when he was struggling to find them. And it adds to a significant shake-up of Mr. Trump’s senior staff, which has already included the secretary of state, director of the C.I.A. and the president’s national security adviser.

The secretary’s prospects dimmed last month after the department’s inspector general issued a report describing “serious derelictions” related to a trip Dr. Shulkin took last year to Britain and Denmark. The report found that Shulkin spent much of the trip sightseeing, charged first class travel for his wife and improperly accepted Wimbledon tickets as a gift.

But there is no CHAOS in the White House. This is peeeeeerfectly normal. #Not

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News Round-Up: March 28, 2018

Some news items you might have missed:

• NYC actor/singer Jim Newman (above) is giving you serious cowboy, which makes total sense as he’s the “Cowboy” in a very famous disco band. Wanna guess which one? #SaveAHorse

• Legislation that would give same-sex couples the right to marry in Northern Ireland has advanced to a second reading.

• A father had his girlfriend rape his 11-year-old autistic son because he was afraid the boy was gay. Both father and girlfriend have been convicted and face life in prison. #LifeInPrisonSoundsRight

• We could see over 150 LGBTQ candidates in elections this fall as members of the tribe run for national, state and local office.

• Congress may be fixated on Facebook for data breach during 2016 election, but Donald Trump is apparently obsessed with Amazon. I’m sure it has nothing to do with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos also owning The Washington Post.

• Speaking of Trump, it looks like the bloom is off the rose as far as former Trump fan Ann Coulter is concerned. She told an audience of college Republicans last night, “I knew he was a shallow, lazy ignoramus, and I didn’t care.”

• With over $24 million in box office in two weeks, coming-of-age/coming-out film Love, Simon ranks in the Top 25 highest grossing teen romance movies of all time.

• Bonus Love, Simon: Keiynan Lonsdale, who plays one of the love interests in the hit gay teen comedy and came out as bisexual last year, just dropped a new queer love anthem, “Kiss the Boy.”

The song will be included on an upcoming album from Lonsdale.

Check out the lyric video below which is off-the-charts in its awesome diversity.

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Hump Day Round-Up

Whoo! So busy here at Randy Report Central! Gotta love a pot of coffee.

I’ve been on a blogging roll this morning, but stopping and alternating hours with working on choreography for South Pacific at San Diego Musical Theatre. We started rehearsals last night and open April 28. So, if you’re in the area come check out the show!

I’m getting up to get some sunlight on my face like Dr. Marco (above) who’s not only a fitness trainer but a medical student!

Here’s some more outdoor Hump Day eye-candy to help you get to Friday 🙂

A post shared by Jose Javier (@javixca) on Mar 27, 2018 at 3:52pm PDT

A post shared by Nick Sandell (@nick_sandell) on Mar 26, 2018 at 7:56am PDT

A post shared by azzankaseri (@azzan_kaseri) on Mar 28, 2018 at 11:09am PDT

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Fox News Host Mocks Parkland Shooting Survivor For College Rejections


 Fox News host Laura Ingraham took to Twitter today to mock 17-year-old high school student David Hogg who survived the Parkland gun massacre on February 14.

Hogg, a leading voice since the shooting and helped organize one of the biggest rallies in the history of the country, recently shared on his social media that he’d been turned down by four colleges.

Ingraham thought it would be wise to attack the kid.

How gross a human being do you have to be to attack a high school student because you don’t like his “politics?”

Personally, if I was a college/university looking at a student with a 4.1 GPA and all the leadership he’s shown the past several weeks since seeing his fellow students gunned down, I’d snap that student up.

But, just so you know, Hogg has the fire to stand up to bullies. Note this from the past weekend:

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The Cast Of “Dawson’s Creek” Reunites For 20th Anniversary

Hard to believe it’s been 20 years since we met the teens of the WB’s LGBT-friendly teen drama Dawson’s Creek.

The cast recently reunited for the first time since the series finale in 2003 for Entertainment Weekly.

Those of a certain age remember the series for its daring, often groundbreaking portrayals of gay teens — including a gay kiss between high schoolers Jack McPhee (Kerr Smith) and Ethan Brody (Adam Kaufman).

According to then-show runner Greg Berlanti, “the kiss” was a big negotiation between him and the network.

“I had to threaten to quit, basically because they wouldn’t let us have the characters kiss,” Berlanti recently told Indiewire. “At the time, there were shows that were fine to show lots of violence in network, but they wouldn’t allow a kiss between two gay characters. They asked me to run the show that year, and part of my agreement with them was that they would allow the character, Jack, to have a kiss. There was a lot of negotiation about that kiss.”

With so much talk of reboots of iconic series’ like Will & Grace and Roseanne, it was inevitable the idea would come up about Dawson’s Creek.

“It would have to be a reinvention of sorts,” offered series star James Van Der Beek.

Katie Holmes added, “What I love about this show is that it existed at a time pre-social media, pre-internet, and it was nostalgic when we were shooting it. So I really like it where it is, to be honest.”

“Dawson’s Creek was me expressing myself at that point in time,” says series creator Kevin Williamson. “And here I am, at another age, at another point in time. I don’t know what I could emotionally bring to the table. I can’t wait for someone else to do it. I don’t think it’s going to be me. But I’ll be happy to watch it.”

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Federal Judge Allows Emoluments Case Against Trump To Move Forward

Donald Trump’s legal woes just got that much more complex as a federal judge just ruled that lawsuits brought by attorneys general in both Maryland and District of Columbia alleging foreign gifts made to Trump can move forward.

However, the decision by Judge Peter Messitte of the US District Court of Maryland narrows the scope of the case to Trump Organization activities in Washington.

Other Trump properties like Mar-a-Lago will be out of bounds for this legal proceeding.

Maryland and DC filed the case saying that the Trump International Hotel holds a special advantage over nearby hotel and entertainment properties, and that the Trump hotel got special tax concessions.

In his ruling, the judge made note several times that foreign governments have shifted their business from hotels like the Ritz Carlton and the Four Seasons to the “President’s Hotel.”

Due to the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, presidents are barred from illegal “gifts” from foreign countries.

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Retired Generals & Admirals: Trump Transgender Military Ban Is “Troubling Move Backward”

More than 20 retired generals and admirals are opposing the latest version of President Trump’s ban on transgender people in the military in a new statement Tuesday.

“The administration’s announcement on the treatment of transgender service members is a troubling move backward,” the 26 officers wrote in their statement via the Palm Center, which researches issues of gender and sexuality.

“There is simply no reason to single out brave transgender Americans who can meet military standards and deny them the ability to serve.”

More from The Hill:

In their statement Tuesday, the retired officers argue the new policy is similar to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which banned gays and lesbians from serving until Congress repealed it.

“Many of us personally experienced the belated removal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and faced firsthand how that mistaken policy set back our force and enabled discrimination against patriotic gay and lesbian Americans,” they said. “We learned a clear lesson: the singling out of one group of service members for unequal treatment harms military readiness, while inclusion supports it.”

Transgender troops who are able to serve under the new policy, they continued, would do so “under a false presumption of unsuitability,” not be able to receive needed medical care and will live in “constant fear” of being discharged.

“We should not return to the days of forcing men and women to hide in the shadows and serve their country without institutional support,” the officers said. “This deprives the military of trained and skilled service members, which harms readiness and morale.”

In his report, Defense Secretary Mattis recommended banning most transgender soldiers except under three specific criteria:

• If they have not had gender dysphoria for 36 months

• If they have been diagnosed after entering service but do not need to transition gender

• If they are currently serving troops who came out and are receiving treatment since the ban on their service was first lifted in 2016.

Trump’s new policy is currently stalled from going into effect as four separate federal courts have issued injunctions against the ban calling the new policy unconstitutional.

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Connecticut Republicans Block Gay State Supreme Court Chief Justice Nominee

Connecticut’s state Senate voted Tuesday to reject Governor Daniel Malloy’s nominee for Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, and Senate Democrats say the rejection was due to Judge Andrew McDonald being openly gay.

From LGBTQ Nation:

There are 18 Republicans and 18 Democrats in the Connecticut Senate. One Democrat recused herself from the vote, citing a personal issue between her and McDonald, and one Democrat crossed party lines and voted with Republicans. All the Republicans voted against McDonald, so his nomination was rejected 19-16.

Democrats are now accusing Republicans of rejecting McDonald because he’s gay.

“I personally would not vote for anyone who voted against Justice McDonald,” Governor Malloy said at a press conference. “And I think anyone who has a gay friend, or child, or relative, should think twice about supporting anyone who voted against Justice McDonald.”

The governor wasn’t the only elected official who thought Republicans were being homophobic. State Senator Beth Bye, who is the only LGBT member of the state senate, said that Republicans’ opposition to McDonald was unprecedented.

“Forgive my skepticism that this has nothing to do with Justice McDonald being gay,” she said. “I am so sorry for my good friend, Andrew, that he has had to go through this very different and very unusual confirmation process.”

McDonald delivered a statement following the vote:

“Whenever I faced a challenging situation, or was disappointed about something that happened to me, she would always remind me, ‘Andrew, life is not about you. It’s about those who need you.’

To everyone I tried to help, and to everyone who tried to help me, I am sorry I failed in this endeavor.

And to the LGBT community, particularly its youth who I know have been closely watching this process, I want you to understand that every minority group in history has faced setbacks.

In the fullness of time, those setbacks usually end up becoming a source of strength, a reminder of why the community must continue to press for equality, and a framework that helps shape and develop the next steps of progress.”

The CT Mirror wrote that this could signal a Republican return to the “God, guns and gays” approach in the upcoming mid-term elections.