Lawyer for Ukraine whistleblower sends White House cease and desist letter to stop Trump's attacks

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN

(CNN)A lawyer for the Ukraine whistleblower, whose complaint document triggered the House impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, has sent a letter to the White House warning the President to "cease and desist" attacking his client.

"I am writing out of deep concern that your client, the President of the United States, is engaging in rhetoric and activity that places my client, the Intelligence Community Whistleblower, and their family in physical danger," Andrew Bakaj wrote to White House counsel Pat Cipollone in a Wednesday letter obtained by CNN's Anderson Cooper. "I am writing to respectfully request that you counsel your client on the legal and ethical peril in which he is placing himself should anyone be physically harmed as a result of his, or his surrogates', behavior," he said.

Trump has repeatedly attacked the whistleblower and tried to discredit the individual, saying he, Trump, deserves to "meet his accuser" and has demanded the whistleblower's identity be revealed. The President has also accused the whistleblower of partisanship though Trump said he had no personal knowledge of the person's identity.

The whistleblower's complaint alleges Trump abused his official powers "to solicit interference" from Ukraine in the 2020 election and that the White House took steps to cover it up. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/07/politics/ukraine-whistleblower-trump-cease-and-desist/index.html

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READ: Whistleblower lawyer's letter to White House (doc viewer at link)

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. Sad that we need a foreign country to tell as our President to stop breaking the law. nt

What world am I living in?

[ZZenith]

2. Pretty sure all these people are Americans.

The article makes that unclear with “Ukraine whistleblower.”

[Roy Rolling]

4. Poor Grammar

Shoulda been Ukraine [scandal,extortion,bribery] whistleblower...

They forgot the most important word. Sloppy at best.

[thesquanderer]

6. They said Ukraine, not Ukrainian, so it did refer to the scandal and not anyone's nationality (n/t)

[warmfeet]

3. The time to act

is now. Impeach now!

[SergeStorms]

5. It won't phase the Orange Anus in the least.

The law doesn't apply to him, remember? Just ask Bill Barr.

[sakabatou]

7. Trump will ignore it and keep attacking

[riversedge]

8. I wonder what the penalty is for Ignoring this is??

[Bayard]

9. Sounds like a request,

Not a cease and desist court order. Go for that.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. It's a standard initial notification

and if the egregious behavior continues, they will document it and escalate.

They pretty much have to do this prior to going to court because the judge will ask if they actually formally "asked" them to "please stop" (in writing) and if not, then their case would be tossed out with instructions to start there first and then come back.

[Bayard]

11. Thanks!

[BumRushDaShow]

12. As a former supervisor before I retired

we had similar "escalation" procedures for disciplinary actions. Basically starting with a "verbal warning", then doing a "written warning" (with recommendations for correction), then going to a "reprimand" and then to a "suspension" for x number of days, etc. That way, if it is ever challenged (through any number of means - union grievance, EEO filing, courts), you established that you gave the person "notice" (multiple times - unofficial and official) before you started down the path to some sort of punitive discipline.

[EndlessWire]

13. Yes

Codes of Civil Procedure sometimes have the requirement of this part of the process codified right in the law itself. You have to follow it, like a presuit request to say, retract libel.

What I don't get is the new, strange making up of procedure just to weasel out of jeopardy. They are literally making it up as they go. "Absolute immunity." And, because there is so much presidential power, they are doing it with apparent impunity. They are unafraid of the consequences, whereas you or I would be arrested for disobeying a subpoena.

The GOP clearly think they are above the law. They have this criminal ordering them not to talk. You almost get the impression that they have all done something criminal. Why can't they just show up with their own lawyer, even if he has to stay outside, so they are covered with the advice of their attorney? Ahhh, they are afraid of Trump and his vicious demeanor. Cowards.

You know, I'm on Pelosi's side, but she is very cautious and highly unlikely to actually have any of them arrested. If the procedural facts are correct, she should just do it. Trump can't pardon them for contempt of Congress. They are all doing it now, however, and they are effectively above the law. Party Over Country, and loyal to the Dictator. Just awful.

[BumRushDaShow]

14. Apparently there are schools of thought

like Darth Cheney's "Unitary Executive" and the previous (under Nixon) and current attempts at some lawyers declaring a President has "absolute immunity", where they propose, based on a strict read of the Constitution, that somehow the Executive Branch is "more" than it is. They will cherry-pick some of the Federalist Papers to try to justify this thinking and then for some reason, manage to convince the loon appointees of this ability. You'll note that the plain old civil service workers don't and won't buy into that and they came right in to testify. Hell, to go along with what you mention - you had people like Ollie North come in under protest, but he just ended up pleading the 5th and moved on. These guys are too arrogant to even do that. I suppose they really want to test the boundaries of the Constitution and the courts.