A Coveted Lawyer’s Juggling Act May Be Good, and Bad, for Trump

Considering whom Burck has represented, he knows the whole story.

Surely no collusion here.

I consider the vetting of these important documents by the White House to be another obstruction of justice on the highest level. Is this really legal?

We see essentially the same thing in our gated community, where a group of homeowners have asked to exercise their rights under state law to examine the association’s books and records. Instead of just granting us free and transparent access, the association leadership consulted an attorney at community expense to find ways to make the task of examining the records as difficult and constricting as possible. When governments at any level do this, it always means they are hiding something bad. Before Americans — citizens of “the greatest country in the world” — complain about the suppression of democracy in places like China, they need to look in their own backyards.

Why wasn't a Special Master appointed to oversee the release of the Kavanaugh papers? A Special Master is often a retired judge who is more impartial than a lawyer when it comes to deciding what papers are privileged. In the case of Michael Cohen, the president's personal lawyer, it was a Special Master who got to oversee the release of the Cohen's papers. Why not here in the case of Kavanaugh?

This is what corruption looks like at the highest levels of state.

Let me get this straight: Burck, who represents several witnesses in the Mueller investigation, including Bannon, and who is a friend of Kavanaugh's, and the personal attorney of McGahn for the Russian investigation, is the sole person reviewing and selecting which documents are seen and is now using a “never before" utilized “Executive Privilege” excuse for withholding information from the hearings. Wow now that stinks. Question: Who filed the “executive privilege”? Was sit Trump or Bush?

Americans, please read Timothy Snyder's book, "The Road to Unfreedom." Reclaim your history while you still can!

From the quotes of Senator Schumer in this article, one might think he was just a disinterested neutral party commenting on those horrible partisans on the other side..

Myriad examples of grotesque corruption emanating from this vile administration a.k.a. "The Trump Destructors" (of the principles this country was supposedly founded upon) seem limitless, but of all the grotesqueness decent people have thus far endured from Trump and his GOP enablers who deign to swear an oath to defend The Constitution, their complicity in destroying the historic process by which Supreme Court Justices are confirmed is THE WORST. Make no mistake: any pretense that Justices confirmed through subterfuge will decide cases impartially is LIE. Obama was denied his constitutional mandate to nominate a Justice, notwithstanding TEN MONTHS remaining in his term. The filibuster, meant to protect the minority from the tyranny of a majority as small as one vote, was SHATTERED by a majority of one with gross indifference and contempt. Finally, instead of presenting Americans with all the facts relating to a nominee, the effrontery (even by Trump's standards) to claim WHAT? EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE? Withholding documents about WHOM? HIS nominee? Sorry, Kavanaugh will NEVER have the respect a Justice must engender. Disgusting that GOP Senators wholeheartedly embrace such decadent tactics to confirm a nominee. DECENT people must be prepared to oust the GOP and reverse EVERYTHING they've done through collusion and deceit. REMEMBER: THAT WHICH HAS BEEN DONE CAN EQUALLY BE UNDONE AND MUST BE POST HASTE! Who among Democrats has the backbone to get the job done? Anyone?

"In a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday, Mr. Burck said Mr. Bush had deferred to the Trump administration on which documents to withhold." So, bottom line, the withholder of his multi-promised tax returns has been given the authority to decide what to withhold about his favorite SCOTUS nominee. And the RINOs in the Senate are gurgling this down along with the rest of the swill our Deflector-in-Chief is dishing out. Obfuscation and obstruction are the operative words, not transparency and power-vetting. Is there one person sitting as a named Republican in the Senate who has the courage to take up McCain's mantle and give a Thumbs-Down to this outrageous abuse of power? I know, that is a rhetorical question.

Judge Kavanaugh will join the Supreme Court is a foregone conclusion. But if his past is to be blacked out and documents withheld to become a SC Justice then he should'nt be confirmed. Executive Privilege from this Executive means lots to hide. If a SC Justice is not being transparent and honest about himself at the confirmation hearing and his documents are not available to be perused, he is already compromised and thereby the Supreme Court is compromised. And most important, he cannot be fired! Our Justice System will then just collapse.

“He didn’t seem to be weighed down by all of it,” Mr. Mukasey said. “He carries it lightly.” I'm glad that Mr. Burck is lighthearted and all, but I hope he doesn't feel that the nation takes any of this lightly. Beside, didn't Mr. Burck say he wouldn't work for Trump? What does he think he's doing now?

Burck should have declined Bush's offer to review the documents. He has a glaring conflict of interest — protégée of Kavanaugh, friend of his, employee under him, etc. Anyone with any sense of moral integrity would have declined. The fact that he represented Maureen McDonnell, the profligate, law-skirting wife of the governor of Virginia, and FIFA, etc., show he lacks a moral compass and defends bad apples. Were he a public defender, were he someone who defended people across all sorts of walks of life, it would be a different matter. Instead, he assists morally corrupt individuals and organizations. Back to his being in charge of reviewing documents. It is a singular act of immorality and lack of ethics. It taints Kavanaugh. Once the Democrats retake Congress and the presidency, they should either impeach and remove Gorsuch and Kavanaugh or they should expand the Supreme Court to 13 members, selecting four progressives, and putting in place a requirement that any future changes in the size of the court require a 2/3 or 3/4 vote to enact. That would redress two horrendous miscarriages of justice and undemocratic actions.

No smoking gun, but the stench is overpowering. Smells like something rotten in the swamp.

Old school Democrats like Schumer, Warren and Pelosi have cried “wolf” way too many times about pushing grandma off the cliff, Russian “collusion” and now an impendong right wing cataclysm should Judge Kavanaugh be confirmed to the Supreme Court. None but the most leftist listen to them anymore. In response they become ever more shrill, and ever more irrelevant.

So, McGahn—who is responsible for vetting judges—including Supreme Court nominees-- hires Burck as his legal adviser in the Mueller investigation. McGahn then recommends Burck to Priebus and Bannon—who also subsequently hire him. Burck just happens to be a long-time acquaintance of Kavanaugh—the Supreme Court nominee. Kavanaugh is also the subject of the fast-track document review that Burck has been “hired” (by Bush) to oversee to avoid the more deliberate National Archives document review process. So, we’re to believe Burck and his allies—that there is no conflict of interest here? In other administrations, the suppression of unclassified documents during the review of a Supreme Court nominee, the potential conflicts of interest and circumstances leading up to Kavanaugh’s nomination would already be under investigation… the optics here are extremely disturbing.

"Bush had deferred to the Trump administration on which documents to withhold" - Bad decision.

“Why would anybody, particularly somebody who has as much riding on his reputation as Bill Burck, play games with the production of documents?” Mr. Cullen said. This summer has been a perfect storm for Mr. Burck, conspiring to dramatically raise his profile. Asked and answered: power, prestige, control, ego and money. Just another rich white male in politics protecting other white males and believing he can do no wrong. No wrong to the masses for we do not count. Interesting events when he will have to pick and choose should many clients get swept up at one time.

What recourse will we have if there is a "bombshell" in the documents that the National Archives releases? Do the republicans get to steal another SCOTUS seat?

Here’s the problem....Burck cannot possibly make objective informed judgements about these documents. He wants his friend on SCOTUS. His boss, Trump, wants his nominee on SCOTUS. As a result, damaging but non privileged documents will be withheld and the GOP controlled Congress doesn’t care because they want the nominee on SCOTUS. There is no interest in having an objective review of the documents.

If we don't get it by now that the ethics of the Republican majority has been non existent for quite some time, when will we get it. There is no longer any pretense that they are working for the people. Make no mistake, they have clear goals that they are all in lock step with, handed down by the Koch's that give corporations and the controlling, wealthy class even more advantages and the middle class less. The end clearly justifies the means, with the appearance of fairness not even a concern.

Sigh. We do, it turns out, have way too many lawyers, and they do not for the most part, come down on the side of the public's interest. Withholding documents, ones not tied to extremely private or highly classified information, is akin to having a picador - Burck - stab the bull ( anyone with questions about Kavanaugh) knowing the response will be rage. This administration's behavior has been so much tied to chaos and divisive bombast, I wonder if that might be another end here - not only to deprive the public and it's elevated representatives the right to view anything of relevance ( a tall order of course), but once again to increase the level of rancor in the country. And so, when do take that advice to kill all the lawyers? Alas, the Democrats must resort to more lawyers and court to try to stop the nomination moving forward without full disclosure.

Judge Kavanaugh being approved by the Senate is a foregone conclusion and now the Republicans and the Democrats do their Punch and Judy show of appeasing their extremist wings. Yawn....

Why, what a surprise! Republican operative Burck shields damaging documents of his close friend Kavanaugh from release, with no truly independent arbiter there to see if the documents merit withholding. Has any other SCOTUS nominee had thousands of documents withheld? What is Burck’s basis for withholding them? If you’ve got nothing to hide, why withhold? Schumer is absolutely correct that this is a cover-up. Yet this article makes him sound like a whiner. What’s sad is the Republicans will get away with this cover-up, and our country will be stuck with a right-wing reactionary, whose function will be to do Trump’s bidding for as long as Trump is in office. And after Trump is finally gone, he’ll be doing the Republicans’ bidding for at least a generation. Under normal circumstances, if you’re good enough for a federal court of appeals judgeship, you’re good enough for SCOTUS. But in this case, no way. Kavanaugh should be ashamed of himself. If he’s too ashamed to be considered based on his full record, he shouldn’t have agreed to be nominated. But never mind. The Republicans have enough lock-step votes to push him through.

Note to Senator Schumer and the other Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, all the Democrats in the Senate: Go to Federal Court and challenge the Executive Privilege claim. Get an injunction. Stop the confirmation proceed. Here is the opening you need. Question #1: Has Executive Privilege ever been claimed by a president not in office? Question #2: Has Executive Privilege ever been used to circumvent the Senate’s constitutional authority? Question #3: Do Senators have the standing to bring such a claim? Question # 4: Do Democrats have courage to make this claim? Question #5: Why is W not honoring John McCain, as he called on us to in his terrific eulogy on Saturday, by putting his actions where his mouth is and telling Mr. Burck to release all the documents requested? Last question: Can we meet at the evenly divided, for the moment, Supreme Court on November 7th?

It says the Trump administration is trying to keep 100,000 documents secret. But when I do the math based on the numbers cited at the end of the article (663,000 total documents - 147,000 of those shared Congress only and 268,000 shared with the public) that leaves about 250,000 documents kept from public eyes. 250,000 is MUCH larger than 100,000. So which is it? If it's the former then it's an even larger story.

I do not know why so many lawyers are willing to put there reputations at risk to defend Trump. Why do so many lawyers have to defend Trump? Is it because he has a lot to hide? And why would George Bush just release Kavanaugh's papers to Burck? If they are part of the Presendential Library should not they be released to the Public and the Congessional Democrats as well? Burck needs to remember that it definitely seems that a lot of dirty pool is being played by the Congressional Republicans, Trump and his Administration and the Trump organization. Burck too can be eventually be called on to find out if he has a conflict of interest representing so many people who were part of Trump's inner circle. Most ethical lawyers would not do this. Burck must need the money. Even in a real estate transaction there are different lawyers for each side.

Why, I ask, should any documents pertaining to the record of a supreme court nominee be "vetted?" Surely the record of any judicial appointment should be a public record, especially so for someone being considered for the highest court in the land.

William Burck and his clients (McGhan, Bush et al.) are spitting in the face of the American public who have a right to know everything about Brett Kavanaugh's work as a public servant before he is appointed for life to the Supreme Court. Burck cannot ethically serve two (or more) masters, and cherry pick which documents will be disclosed to the Senate and the taxpayers. And the NYT should have included analysis from impartial legal ethics scholars. The corruption extends way beyond Donald Trump.

"This article is based on interviews with a dozen current and former White House officials, lawyers involved in the Mueller investigation, friends of Mr. Burck and Democrats involved in the Kavanaugh hearings." This article depends on conversations with lawyers who put the interests of their clients first and are not ethically inclined to be truthful when dealing with the press. Just ask Lenny Davis.

Does it become any clearer that as a collective these DC pirates are stabbing us, the American Public, in the back?

If you sleep with dogs, you’ll get fleas. I’m happy this NYT article will be around on the interwebs to follow Burck around forever. People of principle do not work to shield the truth from the American public.

“Why would anybody, particularly somebody who has as much riding on his reputation as Bill Burck, play games with the production of documents?” DUH. Try to get a confirmation for Kavanaugh, and to worry for "permission" later. Oh, yeah, ... he is also GETTING PAID the big bucks for the privilege. What happens if after Kavanaugh is confirmed, a trove of documents turns up that suggests he may have lied in responding to questions? Or that he evaded questions entirely, which questions were never asked, because there was no proof regarding the premise of the unasked question? Are we going to have to impeach sitting Supreme Court Justices who lied, or who were given a "pass" that should never have happened? How about a "Special Master" to do the review, rather than hiving it done by a known Bush attorney and Kavanaugh pal? Or how about just waiting for a complete "extreme vetting" that Delusional Donald spoke about as a candidate, so we know who Kavanaugh is and what his record shows?

Again, and again, and again. There is no end of the brightest of the brightest and the titans of the legal profession and their successes. Again now we read about Mr. Bruck and his achievements. Wow, we see him in Paris, we see him at the White House, we see him at expensive restaurants. The lesson to be learned by every generation is that being a “titan of the profession” has nothing to do with character, judgment, and an understanding of the importance of institutional memory. So here we are, again, with another legal leader without an understanding of the effect his access to power has and the harm his lack of good character means to a nation. We cannot remove or eliminate the advisors that are selected by the current office holder, but the Times can be less toady in lauding him with fawn and “respect”. For What? Truth is Mr. Bruck is nothing other than one in a long line of men, and women, whose resume and bank account come ahead of everything else. The everything else is that history will judge them, not the powerful or the elected. It is a shame that Mr. Bruck looks to see himself as a titan when in fact he is just one of many passing through, one of many who had an opportunity to be a leader but declined and just wanted to be, in his own mind, really “cool”. Sad for us.

Mr. Burck is obviously a player in all this. The degree of unchecked graft and quid pro quo shenanigans on display here is just astounding. Kavanaugh was selected by Trump because of his history of supporting the other criminal President, Nixon. Burck is representing Bannon of all people, so Burck must have a clear idea of Trump's degree of involvement in the criminal activities surrounding the 2018 election. Burck has no credibility in terms of sending a representative set of Kavanaugh's papers to the people who have to decide whether he will be a honest and impartial Justice. He should recuse himself immediately.

once again, President Trump delivers on his promise of jobs. in this case, he and his cronies are one of the best things to happen to those poor, struggling legions of Washington lawyers who now seem to have more administration-related clients than Carter has pills. chalk up another big win!

Both Kavanaugh and his censor worked for a judge who left the bench because he sexually harassed his female clerks and they never heard or suspected anything? Come on.

What a joke! Burck holds himself out as being impartial yet admits he has beena close friend of Kavanaugh for ages.

The five Republicans on the Supreme Court gutted campaign finance laws freeing Republican billions to fund the "Red Map Strategy" resulting in Republicans gaining total legislative control of 30 plus states and gerrymandering them to preserve their control. The five Republicans on the Supreme Court then gutted Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act allowing Republicans to implement voter ID laws in many swing and other states to favor Republicans in Governor , Senate and President state wide races. As Mike Turzai bragged "Voter ID which is going to allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done". And then, Mitch McConnell, to preserve Republican majority control of the Supreme Court, threw his constitutional duty to the American people under the bus and refused to take any action on Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland, who had been unanimously confirmed by the Senate to the 2nd Circuit of Appeals, keeping the seat open for the appointment and confirmation of Republican Neil Gorsuch. And then, to further secure Republican control of the Court, Anthony Kennedy, cementing a different place in history then he might otherwise have had, gratuitously resigns in a rush from the Court to allow Trump to appoint and have Brett Kavanaugh confirmed to the Court before the coming midterm elections. Republican concealment from the public of thousands of documents on Kavanaugh's history is to be expected.

How does executive privilege extend to a President now 10 years out of office? Is it Bush's privilege or Trump's privilege?

One of these days, this country will see an individual rising to the call of decency and emerge as a here for all by doing the right thing, whatever that may be. Let's see if Mr. Bruck will take a shot at this.

Would there have been this much intrigue had Judge Merrick Garland's nomination by President Obama been accepted by the Senate's Committee on the Judiciary as required by the Constitution? The Republicans want it both ways: the power to hijack Democratic appointments and the power to withhold documents that may be embarrassing or compromising to a Republican appointee. What does the Constitution say about the politics? Wiki: "The term "advice and consent" first appears in the United States Constitution in Article II, Section 2, Clause 2, referring to the senate's role in the signing and ratification of treaties. This term is then used again, to describe the Senate's role in the appointment of public officials, immediately after describing the president's duty to nominate officials. Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader in 2016, failed in his duty to follow the Constitution that he swore to uphold. He thereby established a political precedent for obstruction of appointments and their ancillary documents relating to the person nominated by the president. McConnell tore up the Constitution and the Republicans have no skin in the game in upholding the law or in restoring it. If Mr. Burck's high-wire balancing act fails, a majority-Congress will rescue him--and the president's nominee--from the ignominy of a public and humiliating defeat which will redound to the eternal discredit of the party.m It's all politics. Nothing else matters but ideology, fair or foul.

Will these documents be available to the press after a confirmation? Or, shall we presume that the documents will hereafter remain a potential liability hanging over the head of the presumed justice? Are there other justices on the court that had documents withheld from the confirmation process? We were assured by the current president,as a candidate, that there would be no “hanky lanky” if elected. Why are these documents being kept secret?

Why not release all documents? Are you afraid perhaps it will be too much to support Kavanaugh? Abuse of power this shameful is an insult to reason!

That will mean that not one single document from the White House will be useful,,, or trustworthy. Not even one. Cherry picked evidence s simply useless as evidence. How much money has Trump borrowed from the Russian Mafia? How much does he owe them? Release the Trump tax returns,,, then we will know.

This is blatant conflict of interest. Obviously, Supreme Court seats have boiled down to political and partisan expediency. It began with depriving Garland of his seat to serve Mitch McConnell's political needs. Continued with the quick appointment of Gorsuch. And now, Kavanaugh will be stuffed down our throats to serve the blatant desires of the Republican base to return American to the early 20th Century. And all we can do it seems is stand and watch and call our Senators.

"...Mr. Burck defended the process, pledging that it was not a partisan one.". Yup. And Trump is trustworthy, and Kavanaugh will not be partisan as he "legislates" from the bench in the best "conservative" way he can.