Leading US Media Discuss Tackling Trump In Regular ‘Off-The-Record’ Calls
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – America’s leading legal commentators are reportedly holding regular “off-the-record” conference calls on how to tackle former U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s legal issues.
Members of the Zoom chat group, all part of the “Anti-Trump Cinematic Universe,” denied that their weekly online sessions are aimed at derailing Trump’s re-election bid or sending him to jail, Politico Magazine reported Wednesday.
The gathering, held every Friday, is hosted by Trump critic Norman Eisen, a legal analyst at broadcaster CNN and ex-senior official in the administration of then-President Barack Obama, according to sources familiar with the calls.
Eisen convened the group since 2022 when Trump’s legal woes mounted in the aftermath of the attack on the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., by rioters claiming to be Trump supporters.
Eisen was also a vital member of the team of lawyers assembled by U.S. House Democrats to handle Trump’s first impeachment trial.
Regular attendees on Eisen’s call reportedly include Bill Kristol, the longtime conservative commentator, and Laurence Tribe, a prominent liberal constitutional law professor.
Also joining is John Dean, a White House counsel under President Richard Nixon before pleading guilty to obstruction of justice in the “Watergate scandal.” He was prosecuted for his role in the 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate complex in Washington under the direction of the White House.
CONSERVATIVE LAWYER
Among others attending the calls is George Conway, a conservative lawyer and co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, Politico Magazine reported.
Andrew Weissmann, who was a senior prosecutor on Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia investigation and is now a legal analyst at the MSNBC network, is another regular on the calls, Worthy News learned.
Jeffrey Toobin, a pioneer in the field of cable news legal analysis, is said to be another member of the crew.
The rest of the group apparently includes recognizable names from politics, law, and media, such as Obama-era U.S. Attorneys Harry Litman, Barbara McQuade, and Joyce White Vance.
Litman is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, a cable news regular, and a podcast host. McQuade and Vance co-host a podcast and are under contract with MSNBC.
Two other call participants linked to MSNBC include Jennifer Rubin, an opinion writer for The Washington Post newspaper
who often covers Trump’s legal affairs. The other person is Mary McCord, an ex-federal prosecutor and high-ranking official in the Justice Department who co-hosts an MSNBC podcast with Weissmann, sources said.
Karen Agnifilo, a former senior prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office and CNN commentator, is an occasional attendee, as is Elliot Williams, a former federal prosecutor who provides commentary on CNN, Politico explained.
NO STRATEGY
Members of the group have denied they gathered to streamline their thoughts and strategy towards Trump before they air their views to millions of Americans.
They point out there’s not always consensus during their sessions. For example, they said, CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig engaged “in a cordial but pointed exchange” with Luttig during his guest appearance.
Honig and others “expressed skepticism” about arguments for Trump’s disqualification from presidential elections due to his perceived role in the attack on the U.S. Capitol. The U.S. Supreme Court eventually ruled that Trump could not be thrown off the Colorado ballot by the state for his conduct during the January 6, 2021, violence.
“It feels almost like a seminar in law school,” a participant in the group was quoted as saying. Most calls comprise “deliberation, debate, and discussion,” albeit “with a distinct anti-Trump tilt to it,” the participant added.
Yet critics could wonder whether regular Friday sessions between influential U.S. media personalities on Trump could add to public concerns over perceived liberal bias in mainstream media.
“Trump has claimed that there is a legal conspiracy against him, and there is a risk that news of a group such as this could give Trump and his allies an attractive target,” noted Ankush Khardori, a Politico Magazine senior writer
“Trump’s claims of an organized conspiracy might be bunk, but there are other potential problems with the Friday Zooms: There is a risk, for instance, that the calls could breed groupthink or perhaps help dubious information spread, where it might then reach people watching the news,” Khardori warned.
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