Trump attacks Marc Elias, Elias makes him regret it - Brian Tyler Cohen

[TexasTowelie]

this is Democracy Watch Mark it looks
like Donald Trump has focused his eyeire
again on you I'm going to put a a post
right up here on the screen that he
posted onto Choose Social I'm suing the
law firm of Perkins Kuey for their
egregious and unlawful acts in
particular the conduct of a specific
member of this firm only to find out
that the judge assigned to this case is
Barl Howell an Obama appointee and a
highly biased and unfair disaster She
ruled against me in the past in a
shocking display of a sick judicial
temperament on a case that ended up
working very well for me And she goes on
and on Uh couple things here First
obviously you don't work at Perkins Cooi
anymore So what do you make of the fact
that he is I mean the suggestion is that
he's going after you by name because you
were their most high-profile attorney uh
at the time but what do you make of the
fact that he is going after you yet
again here and yet even still doesn't
seem to know what firm you work at well
so I I'm wondering if Donald Trump is
starting to experience some memory
problems here Um you know so perhaps
some you know acuity I know he had that
recent test that he said he passed You
know he said he passed it He He said he
passed it I think we have like those
five words We're back to the uh back to
the days of man camera woman TV whatever
it was Exact Exactly But but just a few
things Number one uh uh Donald Trump my
name is Mark Elias You've used it before
That's who you were referring to
obviously Number two I haven't been at
Perkins Kooi since 2000 since 2021 So
it's been like four years Uh so you know
that that's a fact And and by the way
you're not suing Perkins Perkins is
actually suing you And so far they're
winning So So Donald Trump got a lot of
stuff wrong in this but the basic point
is that Donald Trump knows that he is
losing the lawsuits that he is where
he's being sued by law firms over his
unconstitutional targeting of them
including uh by Perkins Kuey He lost the
preliminary injunction I'm sorry the
temporary restraining order when Perkins
sued He uh there was an oral argument uh
uh earlier today uh on the uh final
merits there and he is clearly based on
that argument going to lose again Uh and
uh you know uh he can badmouth me all he
wants I I wear his scorn like a badge of
honor He can attack federal judges He
this is not the only federal judge as
you know he's attacked Uh and that's not
going to affect the outcome either What
do you make of the fact that he is so
trained on you in particular and and
more broadly i mean obviously it's not
customary for a president of the United
States to focus all of his attention on
one individual attorney and certainly
not uh threaten or take legal action to
prevent that attorney from being able to
do his job Yeah Look Donald Trump has
been focused on me for years He in 2018
tweeted that I was the Democratic
Party's best election stealing lawyer uh
in 2020 after we were successful in
defeating him uh in court uh uh both
before the election and then more than
60 times in the post-election period
representing President Biden and the DNC
at that point Uh he had a lot to say
about me uh his sickopants uh you know
on Fox News uh Steve Bannon Cash Patel
uh you know have all had uh a lot to say
about me mostly that they think that I
win more in court than their Republican
lawyers do and so sometimes they lament
that sometimes they accuse me of
unethical behavior but but but you know
it's all of a of a piece and of course
in his most recent round of executive
orders he targeted me several times
including in the Perkins Kooi order one
another one attacking the entire uh
legal profession and he gave a speech at
the Department of Justice in which he
referred to me as a bad person and I
believe a communist trying to undermine
the United States which is a really
weird one since like half of his
administration seems to have been paid
commentators for for Russia today right
you know like I mean like and they're
currently in the process they're
currently in the process of banning
books uh disappearing political
opponents and but but sure it's the
Democrats who are who are the uh the
communists right we're the communists
right like we're the like I am like he's
the one imposing trade barriers you know
giving away Ukraine to Vladimir Putin
putting by the way tariffs on every
country other than Russia Like I'm
pretty sure if he's looking for the
folks supporting communists he ought to
just like do one of those meetings of
his cabinet where they all say "Yes sir
you're wonderful sir." And he might find
them Mark on the on the lawsuit that you
were just referring to previously the
lawsuit that Perkins Kuey brought
against the Trump administration uh can
you give an update on where that stands
right now and more broadly what signal
it sends to other law firms that a opted
to capitulate and b uh may be next on
the chopping block and are still
deciding what what to do Yeah Yeah I
mean for the law firms that capitulated
or any law firm that may consider
capitulating I mean what's going on in
the Perkins Koolie federal court case is
just utter humiliation I mean the fact
is Perkins Gooey won the initial uh
temporary restraining order in a matter
of hours Uh the hearing that took place
uh earlier today on the merits this is
to decide the case once and for all I
mean can be described as nothing other
than a humiliating asskicking of the
government I mean the government lawyer
who who showed up basically was just
offered up I think as tribute It was one
lawyer alone uh sitting at council table
and for two hours was grilled by the
federal judge and mostly delivered the
following answer I I don't know your
honor Like I I don't know I don't know I
mean the judge is clearly going to rule
in favor of Perkins Kuey and the for two
hours the judge wanted to understand
what the government's position is as to
why it is possibly conceivably the case
that what Donald Trump doing here is
conceivable and the lawyer for the
department of justice had no answer
Interestingly the judge asked
specifically about the terms of the
agreements that the capitulating law
firms had entered into like is there a
written agreement are there criteria
like is there anything that can be
gleaned from this other than Donald
Trump's musings on Truth
Social i don't know your honor I I don't
know I got I got I got nothing for you
on that one Yeah Okay So then I I do
want to dig into the second part of that
question And and there are still firms
that have yet to decide what they're
going to do Um that are looking at the
environment that Trump's created
Obviously firms like Paul Weiss have
made it more difficult because they've
already capitulated And so it gave it
gave Donald Trump this sense that that
it's easy to own them right he smelled
blood in the water by virtue of them
rolling over And so he barreled ahead
and he says "Hey if I got one this
easily it I I'm going to go for
five or 10 or 20 or 30 whatever it is
and just rack up these free pro bono
billable hours I can get so that these
people who were once my enemies can now
fight on my behalf." And so he's just
collecting these people Um and that does
make the field more difficult for folks
who are watching this play out and have
to determine okay do I want to you know
be on the side that stands up against
Donald Trump And yes there are 600 law
firms yours included but there are also
big law firms that have opted to
capitulate and maybe they've got an
easier road ahead at least in the
immediate future because now they're not
on Trump's radar in the same way that
yours is or that Perkins Kuey is Um and
so what's your message to those firms
yeah so look I mean you're exactly right
I mean the fact that the Department of
Justice sent a lawyer to defend the
indefensible was a signal and it was a
signal to all of the big law firms that
look even though we have no legal case
we have you know Donald Trump has no
legal standing to to have done this He's
going to continue to do it And he did it
and he's going to continue to do it And
he's going to do it because he is he is
a man who believes in retribution And if
you assert the rights that Perkins has
asserted in other words if you if you
assert the minimum constitutional rights
that everyone is is entitled to he's
going to exact political retribution And
that political retribution might not
come in the context of another AO EO It
may come when your law firm is
representing a client and you need a
government approval from say the FCC or
you need the FTC not to block a merger
like whatever it is we will exact a
political penalty because our legal
theory may stand for nothing but we are
still a v a vindictive vengeful
administration and that's what we've got
So what I would say to the law firms is
have a shred of dignity You know like if
you you know what kind of lawyers are
you that you think you are making an
enforcable deal with Donald Trump i mean
what kind of lawyers are you that you
think that Donald Trump is gonna follow
and going to abide by whatever deal you
think is in your head i mean what what
what kind of lawyer are you who has
judges almost begging you to show up in
their courtrooms to give you protection
and instead you are prostrating yourself
in front of Donald Trump to do the right
thing and to protect you i mean what
kind of law firm are you and by the way
what kind of client would hire you i
mean that's the law firm The law firm
you want is the law firm that will that
thinks that he can they can make a deal
with Donald Trump So I hope this gives
spine and more backbone to law firm I
hope that that the humiliation that Paul
Weiss and the others have faced causes
uh law firms to think twice But you know
one thing uh Brian that you and I have
been constantly astounded by and we talk
about this all the time is it seems like
no large institutions learn from the
lessons of the last large institutions I
mean we just read about 60 Minutes I
mean 60 Minutes looks like it's a you
know the head of 60 Minutes uh you know
resigned because he doesn't feel like he
has the backing of of the ownership and
so CBS looks like it may capitulate
Hasn't CBS learned anything from the
other large legacy media companies right
Right Here's the thing Going back to
what you said about the about the law
firms if these folks aren't willing to
fight for themselves how in the world
are they going to be trusted to fight
for you that that's the first thing The
second thing as it relates to the CBS's
of the world you know the reality is
that major legacy media outlets are are
actually in a you know you would think
that by virtue of their size and the
amount of money that they have and the
amount of power they're able um to wield
that they would be in a better position
to fight back against this
administration but because they're so
exposed because they need the
government's approvals for mergers
because they they they they are so
leveraged um by virtue of their size
they actually are in a position where
they have to capitulate if they want
approval from the very government that
Trump uh runs and that he's perfectly
content to to abuse to get what he wants
And so if if ever there was a better ad
for independent media for the work that
you do with Democracy Docket which for
folks watching right now if you're not
familiar with it it's the News Outlet
Mark founded to focus on everything
voting in elections If ever there was a
better ad for independent media that is
not able to be manipulated by this White
House by virtue of their size by virtue
of the fact that they're overexposed uh
this is it So again for anybody watching
right now uh highly recommend if you're
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please go ahead and uh and subscribe
I'll put the link right here on the
screen and also in the post description
of this video Yeah and Brian I just want
to add to that I mean the fact is that
we are learning a lot in this era about
who is for the people and who are for
themselves You know if your lawyers
settled with Donald Trump they are not
for you right they are for protecting
their own profits They're not willing to
fight hard enough for you to risk some
financial loss themselves If you are
getting your your news from an
organization that is capitulating to
Donald Trump they may be about selling
you games and puzzles They may want you
to go to theme parks and watch movies
They may want you to cross you know
crosspopulate their online streaming
services with their digital offerings
but what they're not interested in is
you as a news consumer Yeah And so the
difference between the Brian Tyler Cones
and the Democracy Dockets is we don't
have anything other than you We don't
have anything other than you watching
these videos you reading democracy
online becoming a paid subscriber or a
free free subscriber We don't have
anything else other than to provide you
the news information analysis that you
need to understand a very very complex
and dangerous world in which democracy
is under attack And what we've learned
is that a lot of the sources of news
like a lot of the law the big law firms
they got something else they're falling
back on Like I said it may be theme
parks it may be streaming movies it may
be it may be uh you know uh games and
puzzles it may be you know uh recipes
but it's not about making sure you are
getting the accurate news information
That's the reason why I do these videos
with Brian because Brian gives you that
because Brian day in day out when he
wakes up and he chooses stories to tell
you about When Brian wakes up and starts
shooting uh for the day the only thing
he's trying to do is inform you He's got
nothing else He's not he's not holding
up a bottle of shampoo in the middle of
it trying to sell you that He's not
trying to sell you chachkis or gold
coins He's not trying to pitch to you
you know nine other you know lifestyle
programs He's just trying to keep you
informed on what's in what's important
for you to know And that is true about
democracy docket as well Well I
appreciate that And again for anybody
watching look highly recommend uh that
you not just support independent
fearless journalism but you support Mark
and his team who are doing invaluable
work on a daily basis So I'll put that
link to Democracy Docket right here on
the screen and also in the post
description of this video I'm Brian
Teller Cohen I'm Mark Elias This is
Democracy Watch.