Louisiana Voice

“Russia has never tried to use leverage over me. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA—NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!

–Donald Trump tweet, Jan. 11, 2017. [He sometimes shouts in his tweets.]

“Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets.”

–Donald Trump, Jr., 2008.

“We don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia.”

–Eric Trump, 2014.

[Reuters News Service said 20 units in Trump Towers I, II, and III were purchased by individuals with Russian passports or addresses. Buyers with Russian passports or addresses also purchased 16 units in Trump Palace, 27 units in Trump Royale, and 13 units in Trump Hollywood. Russian fertilizer magnate Dmitry Rybolovlev in 2008 bought of one of Trump’s mansions in Palm Beach for $53 million more than Trump had paid for it four years earlier. Russian buyers have also brought links to Russian organized crime. In 1984, Russian David Bogatin, who was tied to Russian mob boss Semion Mogilevich, bought five condos in Trump Tower for a total of $6 million. Three years later, Bogatin pleaded guilty to evading millions of dollars in state fuel taxes in what officials called one of the largest gasoline bootlegging operations in the nation.]

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“The Continental Army suffered a bitter winter of Valley Forge, found glory across the waters of the Delaware, and seized victory from Cornwallis of Yorktown. Our army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do. And at Fort McHenry, under the rockets’ red glare, it had nothing but victory.”

—Donald Trump, in a July 4, 2019 speech, somehow confusing the War for Independence with the War of 1812, with a dash of superior air power. (rammed the ramparts? What does that even mean?)

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“Extending the doctrine of judicial immunity to include civil liability for alleged criminal conduct, as in this case, risks undermining the public’s trust in the judiciary, which I cannot countenance.”

—First Circuit Court of Appeal Judge William Crain, in his dissent in Wednesday’s decision that 4th JDC judges were entitled to “absolute judicial immunity” even though a lawsuit said all five judges were complicit in protecting a court clerk who was said to have destroyed court records.

“Judicial immunity is of the highest order of importance in maintaining an independent judiciary, free of threats or intimidation. But it is a judge-created doctrine policed by judges.”

—More of Judge Crain’s dissent.

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