D.C. Mayor Braces for Trump Presidency
After Threats of Federal Takeover

     Washington, D.C.'s mayor is reportedly pulling together a team to figure out how to respond to a possible second Trump presidential administration.
     Donald Trump has dropped hints he would overturn local laws that show tolerance toward abortion, euthanasia and transgender issues. He also said he might take control of the police department to make good on a pledge of a crackdown on crime.
     Trump said this month during a speech in Florida, "We will take over the horribly run capital of our nation in Washington, D.C., and clean it up, renovate it, and rebuild our capital city so there is no longer a nightmare of murder and crime. But rather it will become the most beautiful capital anywhere in the world."
     His plan for a revival of Washington was not welcomed by Mayor Muriel Bowser and other top officials in the city administration.
     She has sparred with Trump previously over how the city is managed.
     Trump first called for the federal government to take over control of Washington in February after the murder of Mike Gill, the former chief of staff of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. He was shot during a carjacking while he was picking up his wife from work.
     “We’re going to federalize it,” Trump said about the nation’s capital. “We’re going to have the toughest law enforcement in the country.”
     Bowser called the suggestion of a federal takeover “disgusting” and politically motivated.
     Trump repeated his tough talk toward Washington again this month when he said, “Let's look at the Jefferson Memorial, let's look at the Washington Monument. Let's go and look at some of the beautiful scenes, and you end up getting shot, mugged, raped."
     He added, "We're going to take over our capital, and we're going to run it tough and smart, and we're going to beautify it. We're going to get all the graffiti off the marble. We're going to fix the roads and the median, which are falling down all over the streets. We're going to make our capital beautiful again."
     Bowser responded to Trump’s threats but this time with a more restrained statement.
     A spokesman for the mayor said only that Bowser was preparing for the possibility of another Trump presidency.
     “As always, we are preparing for national elections, in addition to planning for all election-related events, including a smooth and secure inauguration,” said spokesman Daniel Gleick. “Because of the District’s unique relationship with the federal government, this type of planning is something that happens regularly as we support events leading up to and after inauguration in the Nation’s Capital.”
     Gleick gave no details of how the mayor’s team that is preparing for a second Trump presidency – first reported by NBC4 Washington – might manage the takeover he is pledging.
     Constitutional law gives the president broad powers over the District of Columbia because of its status as a federal district rather than a state.
     Any decisions now by the District of Columbia Council follow rules set by the Home Rule Act, a 1973 federal law that gave most congressional authority over the city to locally elected officials. Congress can still review and veto local legislation but the authority is rarely used.
     An exception to home rule was a 1995 congressional intervention when a financial crisis for Washington resulted in a $722 million budget deficit and drop in its bond rating to "junk" status.
     The District of Columbia Financial Control Board established by Congress took control of the city’s finances until 2001, when financial solvency was restored. It was authorized to veto laws passed by the city council and appointments by the mayor to key government positions.
     If Trump wins reelection, it would be his option to reinstate the Control Board.
     For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: tramstack@gmail.com or phone: 202-479-7240.

Asst. U.S. Attorney Accused of Ethics Breach
In Prosecuting Trump Inauguration Protesters

     A Justice Department attorney who led prosecutions of anti-Trump and anti-fascist protesters during the 2017 presidential inauguration is facing allegations that she hid evidence that would have exonerated the defendants. 
     Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Kerkhoff Muyskens faces a possible loss of her license as an attorney.
     The D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel this month accused her of hiding exculpatory evidence from the defendants, editing videos to take out parts that would minimize their liability and then lying in court to cover up her misdeeds.
     Withholding exculpatory evidence is considered a violation of constitutional rights of due process that allows a judge to dismiss charges against a defendant, similar to the dismissal last week of involuntary manslaughter charges against actor Alec Baldwin.
     The disciplinary proceedings play into the rhetoric of attorneys representing protesters from the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. They say the roughly 1,400 defendants are being subjected to a political witch hunt by the Justice Department.
     The Jan. 6, 2021 cases represent the largest mass prosecutions in American history with more than 1,000 convictions so far. The sentences range from probation to 22 years in prison.
     Kerkhoff Muyskens was the lead prosecutor in about 230 of the cases from the 2017 inauguration protests.
     The disciplinary counsel accuses her of violating six rules of professional responsibility. They include the ban on “dishonesty, misrepresentation, deceit and fraud” as well as “serious interference with the administration of justice.”
     Kerkhoff Muyskens “knew that most defendants did not commit violent acts themselves,” the ethics complaint against her says. “She argued that these defendants were still liable for felony rioting and felony property destruction because they joined a criminal conspiracy to use the protest march to further the violence and destruction that occurred.”
     Some of the protesters at the 2017 inauguration broke storefront windows, set a limousine on fire and threw objects at police officers. Police used the black clothing of many self-proclaimed  #J20 protesters as an indication they should be arrested.
     The prosecutions turned into a fiasco for the Justice Department.
     The first six defendants to reach trial were acquitted in D.C. Superior Court. A judge dropped charges against 10 others based on evidence prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence. Charges against all other defendants were dropped in 2018.
     Kerkhoff Muyskens and Washington Police Detective Greggory Pemberton were "primarily responsible for the government’s investigation," the ethics complaint says. It asks the D.C. Court of Appeals to impose sanctions on her that could include suspension as an attorney or disbarment.
     One of the strongest pieces of evidence against her was a video the Justice Department introduced in court showing a planning meeting by activists that indicated they planned to disrupt the inauguration.
     Defense attorneys argued it was deceptively edited to help the prosecution, which Kerkhoff Muyskens denied.
     “She told the court that the government had ‘provided the clips as we have them,’ and ‘the only editing’ by the government ‘was to combine the three clips’ of the anti-capitalist ‘breakout’ into a single video exhibit for trial,” the ethics complaint says. “Her statements to the court were false and misleading.” 
     In addition, Kerkhoff Muyskens never turned over to defense attorneys a second video of a planning meeting that “showed that protesters were trained and instructed to expect a non-violent protest; to remain non-violent; to use non-violence and de-escalation techniques with police and counter-protesters,” the ethics complaint says.
     Kerkhoff Muyskens has most recently been working as an assistant U.S. attorney in Utah.
     During a trial for the first six defendants D.C. Superior Court, Kerkhoff Muyskens based her allegations largely on the fact they were present during the protest.
     "Each of them made a choice, and each of them played a role," she told jurors in her opening statement. "You don’t personally have to be the one who breaks the window to be guilty of rioting."
     Defense attorneys argued there was no evidence that personally linked the defendants to a crime. All of them were acquitted.
     For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: tramstack@gmail.com or phone: 202-479-7240.

Senator Menendez’s Claims of Reprisal
Rejected by Politicians After His Conviction

     Washington’s top political officials are distancing themselves from allegations by Sen. Bob Menendez that his criminal conviction on bribery and related charges last week puts all of them at risk of reprisal.
     Menendez, D-N.J., repeated the “weaponization of the Justice Department” theme by some politicians who say federal prosecutors target their criminal charges against persons they consider politically unpopular.
     Menendez was convicted on all 16 charges against him. They included extortion, bribery, conspiracy, obstruction of justice, wire fraud and acting as a foreign agent.
     The “foreign agent” charge resulted from favors he granted to representatives of the governments of Egypt and Qatar while he was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
     Prosecutors said he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars, mortgage payments and gifts, such as a Mercedes Benz. FBI agents said they found gold bars and more than $400,000 in cash stashed in places such as jackets and shoes when they searched his home after obtaining a warrant.
     Menendez’s attorney said the senator was acting within his authority to advance U.S. foreign policy. He called the Justice Department evidence against him "cherry-picked nonsense."
     Menendez told the news media as he left the courthouse in New York that he would appeal.
     "I have never violated my oath," Menendez said. "I have never been anything but a patriot of my country and for my country. I have never, ever been a foreign agent."
     He said the verdict places other senators at risk because of uncertainties of what constitutes a foreign agent.
     Senator Cory Booker, a friend and fellow New Jersey Democrat, said the conviction shows that the need for Menendez to resign and the state’s governor to appoint a replacement "has even more urgency” than when the charges were filed.
     Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said, "In light of this guilty verdict, Senator Menendez must now do what is right for his constituents, the Senate, and our country, and resign."
     U.S. Attorney Damian Williams denied political motivations behind the prosecution. The case "has always been about shocking levels of corruption," Williams said in a statement.
     “This wasn’t politics as usual; this was politics for profit," Williams said. "Because Senator Menendez has now been found guilty, his years of selling his office to the highest bidder have finally come to an end.”
     Menendez, 70, is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 29. He faces the possibility of decades in prison.
     He resigned from the chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when he was indicted last fall but has refused to leave the Senate.
     For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: tramstack@gmail.com or phone: 202-479-7240.

D.C. Council Legislation Seeks to Divert
Truant Teens into Social Programs

     The District of Columbia Council approved legislation last week that would send truant teenagers into social service programs instead of the juvenile court system.
     Until now, teenagers between 14 and 17 years old were sent to a juvenile probation agency if they missed 15 days of school without an excuse.
     From now on, they will be referred to the Department of Human Services for family therapy and court diversion programs. Each teen will be assigned a caseworker.
     The new legislation is rooted in years of suggestions from the D.C. attorney general’s office.
     Dana Edwards, an Office of the Attorney General case worker, told the city council during testimony two years ago that her office has found prosecution largely ineffective in stopping truancy.
     Instead, the attorney general “has therefore shifted to using prosecution as a last resort, and OAG now looks for proactive approaches to reduce truancy—approaches that address the actual barriers that are causing kids to miss school. 
     “As part of this effort, OAG has increasingly looked for opportunities to divert truancy cases referred for prosecution to alternative programs that provide kids and parents with the support they need to succeed,” Edwards said.
     The Council allocated $3.38 million to the program, beginning in the next school year at five of the city’s high schools.
     Effectiveness of the program will be measured by determining whether truancy rates fall below the current rate that includes more than a third of Washington’s high school students.
     A contributing reason for the legislation is Mayor Muriel Bowser’s effort to reduce crime. During hearings leading to approval of the legislation, city council members considered evidence that teen truancy contributes to crime.
     For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: tramstack@gmail.com or phone: 202-479-7240.

Casa Ruby Founder Pleads Guilty
To Diverting Pandemic Relief Funds

     The founder of a nonprofit that helps homeless LGBTQ youths in the Washington, D.C., area pleaded guilty to wire fraud last week after she diverted at least $150,000 of pandemic relief funds to her private offshore bank accounts.
     Ruby Corado said in her application for the funds that they would be used to help indigent young people at Casa Ruby.
     Corado agreed to return all money traceable to the fraud as part of her plea bargain. In return, prosecutors agreed to drop their six count indictment.
     The one count of wire fraud in Corado’s plea deal carries a maximum 30-year prison sentence but she is expected to get about two years.
     Corado claimed she diverted only 15 percent of the funds to her accounts in El Salvador but prosecutors disagreed.
     “It was the purpose of the scheme and artifice that [Corado] would obtain money and other property from government-supported pandemic relief programs on behalf of Casa Ruby and misappropriate those funds for her own personal benefit,” prosecutors said in charging papers.
     She also was accused of paying some of her roughly 50 employees less than minimum wage and not paying some of them their full wages.
     The criminal case represents a big fall for Corado and Case Ruby, which served as many as 6,000 people a year at its peak and attracted millions of dollars in grants.
     Corado admitted receiving $956,215 in two pandemic relief loans in 2020 and 2021 from the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. As part of her guilty plea she also admitted that she “knowingly devised a scheme to obtain money by false pretenses.” 
     For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: tramstack@gmail.com or phone: 202-479-7240.