Ali Alexander

Alabama-connected extremist Ali Alexander has a history of making inflammatory statements, some of which suggest he might be willing to test the boundaries of law to advance a right-wing agenda. One example came when he led a "victory or death" chant the night before the Jan. 6 mob assault on the U.S. Capitol. The latest example comes via a Media Matters report in which Alexander claims he is working behind the scenes to disrupt the committee investigating Jan. 6.

That raises at least two questions: (1) What tools does Alexander have at his disposal to disrupt a Congressional committee? (2) Is Alexander referring to a potential crime, such as obstruction of justice or the related obstruction of Congress?

Come to think of it, that raises two additional questions: (3) Does Alexander realize he could be talking about activity that amounts to a crime? (4) Why haven't his lawyers told him to keep his mouth shut after testifying before the committee on Dec. 9?

The Media Matters story is built around an online stream in which Alexander appears to reference an interview he did with Tucker Carlson of Fox News:

ALI ALEXANDER (“STOP THE STEAL” ORGANIZER): But something I wanted to say was if you watched that interview, you probably know more -- I'm not kidding -- than 95 percent of the public about the January 6 select committee process. And I'll tell you why it is. It's because most of the liberal media is actually not well-sourced on the issue, which is interesting. And then there are a couple of journalists who are on the left who are well-sourced on the issue, and they're dumping and leaking information that's being illegally leaked from the committee. And, and then on the right, it's not really being covered, which, don't worry, that will fix itself. I've got -- I -- like I said, Ali's hard at work. It's a full-time job right now, but it will pay off for the whole country. There's few things that I've been -- there are few things that I've done in my life that immediately help the country. And what I've been doing for the past four weeks behind the scenes is going to help over 100 million people. 

And so I'm really proud of that. And including a lawsuit with Nancy Pelosi, but again, it's just like the birth of "Stop the Steal." No one understands the crazy connections that I see. You can just either believe me or not, you know? And then everyone sees it. And then the left decides it's a threat. So the fortunate thing is I'm so underestimated by the left, and what I am doing behind the scenes will impact all of America, but it will positively impact at least the 75 million of us that voted for Trump.

Alexander might believe he's being clever or uncharacteristically coy, and in fact, his words might prove to be harmless enough. But there is this little matter called "obstruction of Congress," and Alexander's words suggest he, or someone on his behalf, might be traipsing close to a slippery legal boundary. 

Obstruction of Congress is a complex topic, and it can come in a variety of forms. One of the better definitions we've found comes under 18 U.S.C. 1505, which reads in part:

Whoever corruptly, or by threats or force, or by any threatening letter or communication influences, obstructs, or impedes or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede the due and proper administration of the law under which any pending proceeding is being had before any department or agency of the United States, or the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which any inquiry or investigation is being had by either House, or any committee of either House or any joint committee of the Congress—

Shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years or, if the offense involves international or domestic terrorism (as defined in section 2331), imprisoned not more than 8 years, or both.

We are not sure where Alexander thinks he's headed with his behind-the-scenes work, but the words of Sec. 1505 suggest he should tread softly. 

The language of 1505 suggests fooling around with the work of a Congressional committee might make for entertaining social-media banter, but it probably is not a smart move. If Alexander himself does not understand that, his lawyers -- who probably aren't working for free -- would be wise to make sure he does. 

A Russian convoy

The Russia-Ukraine conflict might be at its most perilous moment, and a key word in the puzzle is "de-escalation" -- and how to achieve it without accidentally prodding Vladimir Putin to take more destructive acts than he's already taken. From a report at Axios, under the headline "Biden's dilemma: How to give Putin an off-ramp":

With Ukraine holding Russia off longer than many U.S. officials had expected, President Biden now faces a great unanswered question — how to give Vladimir Putin an off-ramp to avoid even greater calamity.

A cornered, humiliated Putin could unleash untold pain on the world, from cyberattacks to nuclear threats. After enacting brutal sanctions, the White House now must consider how the invasion can end without a new catastrophe.

Nobody knows what Putin would accept.

Many officials fear that we are heading into a very dangerous period — the punishing Western sanctions pushing an autocrat into a corner.

At least one U.S. official has questioned Putin's mental and emotional stability, and that could be a major wild card in the effort to seek peace:

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), vice chair of the Senate intelligence committee, has hinted Putin could be addled.

"This is the most dangerous moment in 60 years," Rubio tweeted Sunday night. Putin, he said, "is facing a humiliating military fiasco & he has triggered extraordinary consequences on #Russia's economy & people that will not be easy to reverse ... And his only options to reset this imbalance are catastrophic ones."

A European diplomat told reporters at a briefing yesterday: "It's like the Sun Tzu thing of giving someone a golden bridge to retreat across. How do you get him to go in a different direction?"

"I think the door to diplomacy remains open," the diplomat continued. "Putin ... doesn't normally back down. But he also controls the information environment in his own country to such an extent that if he does, he can cover his tracks. ... So I think there is room for him to de-escalate — and that's certainly what we're pressing for."

The diplomat pointed to [Sunday's] Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Belarus as the most viable off-ramp in a sea of bad options, noting that negotiations lasted for four hours and appear headed for a second round.

No one seems to know what might be possible with Putin: 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said before the talks that he was willing to discuss "neutral status" for Ukraine — one of Putin's three demands.

But the other two — demilitarization and "denazification" of Ukraine, and recognition of Russia's claim to Crimea — suggest Putin will never accept a deal in which Zelensky remains in power.

The bottom line: The West's response to Putin — for so long, uncertain and halting — has moved at astonishing speed and ferocity over the past week. How Putin will respond — and whether de-escalation is even possible — is keeping national-security leaders up at night.

A Javelin missile takes to the air

Javelin anti-tank missiles, the weapons that might give Ukraine a fighting chance in a war with Russia, are made in Alabama. From a report at al.com:

Photographs of weapons being used in the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia put a spotlight on an Alabama manufacturer.

A tweet by Illia Ponomarenko, a defense reporter with the Kyiv Independent, showed a row of Javelin missiles, with the words stamped on the side:

Raytheon/Lockheed Martin

Javelin Joint Venture

Lockheed Martin

Troy, AL 36081

  How effective are the Javelins? Ponomarekno provides a clue:

“I’m afraid we should expect to see hundreds of Russian tanks burning, ladies and gentlemen,” Ponomarenko tweeted.

What about the Alabama connection? Here are details:

The missiles are the product of Lockheed Martin’s Pike County Operations facility in Troy, where about 350 employees manufacture, assemble and test many of the missile programs supported by Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, including the Javelin. Troy handles assembly.

Billed as “the world’s premier shoulder-fired anti-armor system,” Javelin is a lock-on-before launch shoulder-fired missile with automatic self guidance, which allows a gunner to take cover and reposition immediately after firing, to avoid counterfire. It can also be fired from inside buildings and bunkers, and employed against armored vehicles and buildings, among other targets.

Jim Croce

The late Jim Croce was one of our all-time favorite pop/folk musicians, and if he were still alive and following corruption in Alabama, he might have written a song that goes something like this (to the tune "You Don't Mess Around With Jim"):

You don't tug on Superman's cape;

You don't spit into the wind;

You don't pull the mask off the ole Lone Ranger;

And you don't mess around with Banbalch.com

Our revised version messes with the meter and rhyming pattern just a bit (OK, a lot). And the last line of this new verse surely would have confused Croce's fans of the day since the Internet was well into the future at the time he was alive, But it helps drive home a point for the purposes of this post: Birmingham-based banbalch.com, which we have come to follow and admire, does serious journalism that has led to an indictment for a one-time client of the Balch & Bingham law firm -- with a criminal-trial date set. And you don't mess around with that kind of reporting, which comes under the banner of the public charity Consejo De Latinos Unidos (CDLU). From  a post by CEO/Publisher K.B. Forbes, under the headline "Update: Motion Denied; Criminal Trial Date Set for Ex-CEO of Balch & Bingham Client":

In 2019, in Balch & Bingham’s 69-page brief before the Alabama Supreme Court in the Newsome Conspiracy Case, the embattled law firm complained that they were not mentioned in the Report by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III, writing:

BanBalch.com also stated that BanBalch.com/CDLU.org had been in contact with the Office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller about Balch. The now-public Mueller Report, however, does not mention Balch.

Did the foolish leadership at Balch truly believe that we were not in contact with the Office of the Special Counsel because Balch failed at getting an honorable mention in the redacted report? Were these clowns really this stupid?

Perhaps lawyers representing the firm should have considered the matter more fully before writing their brief:

In November of 2020, after three and a half years, our work bore fruit and the ex-CEO of Black Hall Aerospace, Paul Daigle, was indicted for exactly what we wrote to the Honorable Robert S. Mueller III about: possible financial fraud and alleged unqualified personnel.

The indictment shook Balch stooges anddefenders who had foolishly dismissed our work with law enforcement.

The shoe dropped loudly, and now a criminal trial date has been set for April 4, 2022, nearly 5 years after we originally briefed Mr. Mueller.

 The lesson? The wheels of justice turn slowly, but hard-nosed journalism can help them lurch ahead in a forward direction:

Judge Abdul K. Kallon, who presided over the North Birmingham Bribery Trial, is presiding over Daigle’s criminal case. In December, Judge Kallon denied Daigle’s Motion to Dismiss the Indictment.

Will Kallon be presiding over additional criminal cases related to Balch & Bingham, Alabama Power, and/or Drummond Coal? The Three Stooges need to be closely investigated and held accountable.

Even if it takes three and a half or five years, inherent goodness shall prevail.

While we're at it, let's enjoy the original version of a Jim Croce classic, which probably ranks up there with "Bad Bad Leroy Brown," and "Time in a Bottle" among his best-known songs:

Lindsey Graham

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has drawn fire from both sides of the political aisle for saying out loud what many Westerners probably are thinking: that the best way to end the war in Ukraine would be for someone inside Russia to assassinate President Vladimir Putin.

Graham's remarks probably have drawn thumbs up from bar stools across North America and Europe. But they have met with disapproval from those in higher circles, mostly in the form of "we don't do things like that here, and we certainly don't talk with such crudeness." Those points are well taken, but as someone who is not prone to defend the likes of Lindsey Graham, I will give him credit for this: At least he did not side with Putin and call his invasion of Ukraine an act of "genius" -- like another right-wing political figure with loose lips. And in fairness, we've seen signs that Graham's words have been misinterpreted in some quarters.

Many of Graham's critics have reacted with no sign of uncertainty. Politico, for example, called his statements an act of "stupidity." From opinion writer Jack Shafer:

Sen. Lindsey Graham’s call for a Russian citizen to perform a hit job on Vladimir Putin is such a self-evidently terrible idea that even Ted Cruz, himself a bottomless lode of 24-carat wretched thinking, dunked on its stupidity.

Graham proposed Putin’s assassination on both a Thursday broadcast of “Hannity” and on his Twitter feed. “Is there a Brutus in Russia?” Graham asked on Twitter. “The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out. You would be doing your country — and the world — a great service.”

As if addressing a five-year-old, Cruz used his brief tweet to explain to his fellow Republican senator that the assassination of a foreign head of state was not something that belonged in the American playbook. Sanction Russia, Cruz argued, provide military aid to the Ukrainians, boycott Russian gas and oil, but don’t encourage someone to whack him.

It probably is quite a feat to make Ted Cruz sound like the adult in the room. But Graham pulled it off,  and he caused NPR to provide background on his comments:

Sen. Lindsey Graham's suggestion that Russians should assassinate President Vladimir Putin has drawn the ire of Republicans and Democrats concerned over the war in Ukraine.

"Is there a Brutus in Russia? Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military?" the South Carolina Republican asked in a tweet.

Roman Emperor Julius Caesar was assassinated by Brutus and others in the Rome Senate on the Ides of March. Graham was also referring to German Lt. Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, who tried to kill Adolf Hitler in the summer of 1944.

"The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out. You would be doing your country - and the world - a great service," Graham said.

Asked about the remarks during the White House news briefing on Friday afternoon, press secretary Jen Psaki said, "That is not the position of the United States government and certainly not a statement you'd hear come from the mouth of anybody working in this administration."

Why does Politico consider Graham's remarks stupid. Shafer seems to acknowledge that such statements have a certain low-level appeal. But he also suggests there are better ways to achieve peace -- and along the way -- he provides some fascinating history on the subject of political hit jobs; even the American government, it turns out, has not always been on the side of restraint in such matters:

The pitch to terminate Putin, Julius Caesar-style, may sound appealing. Who among us has never wished a maximally violent end on an evil dictator who is committing monstrous acts? But that’s not the way our government works anymore. Assigning Putin’s death might be plausible if we were already at war with Russia, but we’re not — yet! And the unintended consequences of murdering Putin need our consideration before we think of locking and loading.

Since President Gerald R. Ford prohibited the assassination of foreign leaders with an executive order in 1976, political assassination has been off the United States’ books (at least formally). But it wasn’t always that way. In the early 1960s, the U.S. government formulated several attempts and plans to kill Cuban leader Fidel Castro using exploding cigars, a pair of murderous mobsters, a femme fatale, an exploding seashell and a poison pen. One reason the U.S. backed away from assassinations was the loss of its own chief executive, John F. Kennedy, to a sniper’s rifle. As long as the U.S. maintained anything like an assassination bureau, it tacitly endorsed the legality of foreign nations setting up their own killing squads to take out our president. Graham may think he insulated President Joe Biden from Russian retaliation by assigning the death of Putin to a Russian, but think how well that argument would hold up if Putin ordered today that some American play Brutus in the coming days by ridding the world of Biden.

Yes, two can play the political-assassination game, and that might be the single strongest argument against Graham's line of thinking. Shafer goes a few steps further:

Granted, killing Putin would eliminate the architect of the criminal invasion of Ukraine. But we have no assurance that his replacement would reverse his military actions. We don’t even have a sound idea of who stands to inherit control of Russia or even an inkling of whether or not Putin’s absolute power would be handed down to just one new strongman. It’s conceivable that a Putin assassination would initiate a deadly, chaotic power struggle among top Kremlin and military leaders, whose outcome cannot be accurately predicted. For instance, who wants to see three or four Russian factions, each with nuclear capability, battling one another? Will one of them be authorized to make peace with the West or will we end up with several new nuclear adversaries instead of one? Never forget what followed the hanging of Saddam Hussein and the murder of Muammar Gaddafi. The death of a strongman almost never serves the remedy we seek.

It might be a different matter had Graham called for the assassination of Putin after the United States declared war on Russia. In times of absolute war, heads of state are legitimate targets. But no such state of war currently exists between our two countries. Did anybody in the U.S. Senate recommend the assassination of Nikita Khrushchev when he invaded Hungary or place an order for Leonid Brezhnev’s hide after he sent tanks into Czechoslovakia?

U.S. sponsorship of Putin’s assassination also could easily backfire if Russians interpreted his killing as an act of American escalation that would unite them in favor of new acts of counter-escalation. Russian citizens who share little affinity with Putin or his war today could become patriotic Putinites overnight.

 NPR provides more detail on the law that governs potential attacks on heads of state:

    Assassination during military conflict is specifically forbidden by the Lieber Code, which     President        Abraham Lincoln issued as a general order for U.S. forces in 1863.

   Section IX of the code states that the laws of war forbid declaring a member of a hostile force or a        citizen or subject of a hostile government to be an outlaw "who may be        slain without trial."

"Civilized nations look with horror upon offers of rewards for the assassination of               enemies  relapses into barbarism," according to the Lieber Code, which underpins international conventions on  warfare.

    Graham's remarks drew wide attention and criticism. In response, U.K. Prime Minister Boris                 Johnson's office said he believes Putin should be held responsible for any war crimes committee         citing an investigation by the International Criminal Court.

    The senator's communications director, Kevin Bishop, sought to clarify his comments.   

Graham "also expressed he was okay with a coup to remove Putin as well," Bishop said.   "Basic            point, Putin has to go," he said, adding that the Russian people should find the "off ramp" to the            international crisis.

As for misinterpretation of Graham's remarks, some have suggested he called for Putin's assassination. But that's not quite what he said; he suggested that Putin's demise would be the best way to end war in Ukraine. Even Politico used the phrase "U.S. sponsorship of Putin’s assassination," but I'm not aware that Graham made any hint of U.S. involvement; in fact, he seems to clearly suggest that any such action must come from inside Russia.  

Bottom line: Lindsey Graham is a U.S. senator, and he should realize he was raising a sensitive subject in a time of war. He should give his remarks more thought before he makes them, they should rise above the level of bar-stool chatter, and they probably should come behind closed doors.

To the extent that Graham's main idea was that Putin has to go, he has a point. But he needs to be more careful about how he makes that point.

Perhaps U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) put it best, in a tweet:

The brutalization of Karen Garner, 73

A Colorado city has settled a police-brutality lawsuit, where the victim was a 73-year-old woman with dementia. Loveland, CO, police responded to a complaint from Wal-Mart employees who said Karen Garner walked out of the store without paying for several items. The cops hog-tied Garner, beat her up, and left her with serious injuries. She is 5-feet and weighs 80 pounds. From a report at the Denver Post:

What started last year in Loveland with a 73-year-old woman with dementia trying to leave Walmart with $13.88 in unpaid merchandise ended Wednesday with the city agreeing to pay a $3-million civil settlement.

The city of Loveland announced it will settle a federal lawsuit Karen Garner and her family brought after Garner was violently arrested by police in June 2020, bringing an end to a months-long saga that prompted widespread outrage, ended the careers of three Loveland police officers and brought about a third-party investigation into the police department.

“This settlement brings a measure of justice to the Garner family, but it does not deliver full justice,” the family’s attorney, Sarah Schielke, said during a news conference. “Full justice to Karen Garner and this community will happen at the moment that every individual who participated in this atrocity and who fostered the conditions and culture that made its happening possible is held accountable.”

Schielke called on Loveland Police Chief Bob Ticer to resign:

“We need change, we need them to change,” said Garner’s daughter, Alissa Swartz.

Ticer said he has no intention of resigning.

“I understand the emotion, I understand those demands,” he said. “But my responsibility here is to ensure the investigations (into the Garner incident) that are moving forward are handled professionally.”

How could a forgetful act by a small, elderly woman lead to such an ugly event? For one thing, it involved grossly unprofessional police behavior. The Denver Post reports:

In June 2020, Garner had started to walk out of a Walmart store in Loveland without paying for her items when she was stopped by employees, who took the items back. Employees still called Loveland police and Officer Austin Hopp confronted Garner as she was walking home, throwing the woman to the ground. Hopp broke Garner’s arm and dislocated her shoulder during the arrest, according to the lawsuit.

Video shows Hopp, Officer Daria Jalali and Officer Tyler Blackett later laughing about the arrest as Garner sat in a nearby cell. They rewatched the body camera footage and Hopp asked, “Ready for the pop?” Schielke said it was the sound of Hopp dislocating Garner’s shoulder.

Hopp, Jalali and Blackett all resigned from the police department. Hopp and Jalali, who were both involved in the arrest, are also facing criminal charges. Sgt. Phil Metzler, a supervising officer who responded to the scene and approved the use of force, is still on paid leave from the department.

A third-party investigation into the police department’s handling of the incident has concluded, but the results may not be public for several months, city officials said in a statement.

Why was any use of force needed in such a situation? Documents show multiple police officials signed off on it:

The settlement announcement follows Schielke’s release Tuesday of an internal police report that shows three different police supervisors signed off on Hopp’s use of force against Garner, as well as the release of body-camera footage that shows Metzler dismissing a bystander’s concerns about the incident. Ticer declined to address the supervisors’ approvals, except to point out that Hopp faces charges related to deception.

“That is why we have a comprehensive third-party investigation evaluating that and any other policies in the department that may or may not have been applicable in this arrest,” he said.

Ticer said that Garner’s arrest led to a change in the police department’s use-of-force review process. Use-of-force incidents are now reviewed by an assistant city attorney and city of Loveland human resources personnel, instead of just by police personnel.

“There is no excuse, under any circumstances, for what happened to Ms. Garner,” Ticer said. “We have agreed on steps we need to take to begin building back trust. Trust is very important. While these actions won’t change what Ms. Garner experienced, they will serve to improve this police department and hopefully restore faith that the LPD exists to serve those who live in and visit Loveland.”

The litigation process helped reveal a touching letter Garner had written several years ago:

The $3 million settlement will need to be approved by a probate court, and should be finalized within two or three months, Schielke said.

Swartz, Garner’s daughter, said the settlement money will be used to pay for the 24/7 dementia care that her mother now requires. When the family was considering whether to settle the case or continue to fight in court, she was guided by a letter Garner wrote years ago, when she knew dementia would later take hold of her.

The family discovered the letter a few weeks ago when going through Garner’s belongings.

“All I wanted all my life was someone to love, adore and care about,” she wrote. “And I find the world scary now, being alone. So value love as a treasured gift. It is all that matters. I want the best and fullest life possible for my children and grandchildren, and I feel the world is getting crueler. Don’t make it any rougher on yourselves by living in the past. Look out the front window and don’t dwell on what is in the rearview mirror.”

Trump and Putin

American President Joe Biden has been on the political scene long enough to recognize an adversary, and a threat, when he sees one. Biden, in fact, has referred to Russian leader Vladimir Putin as a "killer" -- and Putin seems to be doing his darnedest in Ukraine right now to prove Biden correct. America's most recent ex-president, Donald J. Trump -- unlike Biden -- can't seem to distinguish friend from foe. Trump even has a lengthy record of siding with Putin in Russia's longstanding struggles over Ukraine. That should give anyone considering a future MAGA vote cause for concern. Whether it will or not is another matter, even though Trump's distorted mindset is a clear threat to democracy in the U.S., Europe, and beyond.

How disturbing is Trump's chummy approach to Putin? John Harwood spells it out in an analysis at CNN,  under the headline "Trump has been on Putin's side in Ukraine's long struggle against Russian aggression":

Americans rarely pay much attention to international events. Busy lives leave little time for distant events with unfamiliar protagonists.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine has become a rare exception, its butchery in plain view via saturation coverage for anyone with a video screen. But Americans may not yet have absorbed this disturbing reality: The American president who left office just 14 months ago sided with the butcher.

 

That's right: In the struggle now uniting the free world against an autocrat's lawless aggression, America's most recent ex-President sided with the autocrat.

 

It's not just that Donald Trump recently hailed the "genius" of Putin's strike against Ukraine. Since his political career began, Trump has backed Putin in ways connected directly to the Russian's quest to subjugate that country. 

 With scenes of Russia's devastation on a sovereign neighbor a regular feature on newcasts, there no longer is any excuse for American ignorance about Putin's true nature -- from Trump or anyone else. Writes Harwood:

For years, relations between Russia and the celebrity real estate executive were lubricated by money. There was the development financing Trump's sons boasted about, the Palm Beach mansion he sold to a Russian oligarch for $95 million four years after buying it for $41 million, the Manhattan project in association with a mob-linked Russian émigré.

 

He sought to place a Trump Tower in Moscow even as he ran for president. In 2013, when he staged a beauty pageant there, Trump asked on Twitter: "Will (Putin) become my new best friend?"

 

Putin seized Crimea from Ukraine the following year. Protests in Kyiv had forced a Kremlin ally to quit the presidency. The ousted president, who fled to Russia, had been advised by an American political consultant. That consultant, Paul Manafort, subsequently became Trump's 2016 campaign manager.

Did Trump seem concerned in the least about any of this? Nope:

Candidate Trump spoke forgivingly about Russia's violation of Ukrainian sovereignty. He mused about lifting sanctions to smooth relations with Putin.

 

"The people of Crimea, from what I've heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were,"Trump told ABC News in July 2016. That had been Putin's justification for the invasion.

 

President Trump sought to undo one punishment imposed on Putin by proposing that Russia rejoin the G7, an organization of the world's major industrial economies. Other members, who had teamed with the US to kick Russia out during Barack Obama's presidency, declined to go along.

 

His administration implemented some new sanctions on Russia at the insistence of national security officials and Congress. Trump himself objected.

 

"In almost every case, the sanctions were imposed with Trump complaining about it and saying we were being too hard," his former national security adviser John Bolton said on Newsmaxrecently. 

Russia menaced Ukraine throughout Trump's term. He strengthened Putin's hand in several ways.

 

 In short, Trump hardly could have been a more reliable ally for Putin:

Alabama Power's Miller Steam Plant

Recent events suggest federal officials are keeping an eye on environmental problems in Alabama, and they intend to do something about the polluters who cause them. Writes Publisher K.B. Forbes at banbalch.com, under the headline "Tide is Turning in Alabama; “Unacceptable” Misconduct Draws Federal Scrutiny":

The Three Stooges (Alabama Power, Balch & Bingham, and Drummond Company) should be prepared to be slapped around by federal authorities and environmental groups.

Two major events occurred recently that show unequivocally that the tide is turning against some of the most powerful and wealthiest entities in Alabama.

WBHM reports:

The Alabama Supreme Court has sided with environmentalists who say the Birmingham Water Works Board (BWWB) is not abiding by a court order to protect land around Lake Purdy and parts of the Cahaba River, which are the largest source of drinking water in the Birmingham area.

The Supreme Court overturned an earlier court ruling that sided with the board and sent the case back to the circuit court.

The decision was unanimous. The conservative court sided with environmentalists, a surprising, if not stunning, defeat for industrial interests.

The win for environmental activists may cause more scrutiny of Alabama Power and its  allegedly toxic ash pond at the Miller Steam Plant.

In addition, Ketona Lakes may become a liability for Drummond as environmental groups research the alleged polluted lakes hidden away since 1985.

And who dare says there won’t be probes of these two sites or more criminal investigations?

That was not the only positive sign for those who care about clean air and water in The Heart of Dixie. Writes Forbes;

Michael S. Regan, the head of the U.S. Environmenal Protection Agency, also made headlines last week calling conditions in Alabama “unacceptable.”

AL.com reports:

On the eve of the Selma Jubilee, commemorating the “Bloody Sunday” march that helped catalyze support for the Voting Rights Act 57 years ago, the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency toured Alabama’s Black Belt to witness a different kind of struggle: the battle for clean water and basic sanitation.

“It’s very sobering to see that in 2022, in the United States of America, there are people who are subjected to situations that I don’t think any of us would want to be subjected to,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said after touring local homes dealing with wastewater system failures in Alabama’s Black Belt.

“Straight piping into lagoons, failing septic systems, waste and raw sewage backing up into yards into homes, seeing children have to walk around delicately so that they don’t sink or get bogged down into their own front yards. This is not the America that we all know it should be.”

“This is unacceptable,” Regan said. “Safe drinking water, safe sewer systems, you know, this is a basic right. These individuals deserve what every American deserves, which is clean water and a safe environment.”

Regan needs to now focus on the environmental racism and alleged corruption in North Birmingham. North Birmingham’s environmental conditions are neither clean, safe nor acceptable.

And even the Three Stooges know it.

Sean Hannity and Donald Trump

The world's most prominent, and nausea-inducing, bromance apparently is so strong that even the brutalities of war cannot put a dent in it. Donald Trump suggested as much last week when a friendly, conservative TV host gave him multiple opportunities to criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin for his unprovoked attack on Ukraine -- and Trump refused to bite.

To his credit, Fox News' Sean Hannity tried several times to get Trump to say anything that wasn't fawning about the Russian leader, but Hannity came away with little to show for his effort. From a report at Politico:

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday was given several chances during a Fox News interview to reject autocrats and walk back his praise for President Vladimir Putin of Russia but didn’t.

Fox’s Sean Hannity set Trump up multiple times during the 30-minute exchange to criticize Putin, but the former president didn’t go along. He instead touted his relationships with Putin, the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Xi Jinping of China.

Trump came under fire last month for describing Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as “genius” and “savvy,” keeping in line with his tendency to speak favorably of the Russian leader. Even House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Trump ally, broke with the former president this week, saying there was nothing “savvy or genius” about Putin. McCarthy went on to say that Putin was “evil,” condemning a war that has already left hundreds of civilians dead in Ukraine.

How hard did Hannity try to welcome Trump to the real world? Pretty darned hard:

“I got along with these people. I got along with them well,” he said. “That doesn’t mean they are good people. It doesn’t mean anything other than the fact that I understood them and perhaps they understood me — maybe they understood me even better. That’s OK, because they knew there would be a big penalty.”

Hannity pressed yet again, telling the former president he wanted to understand his thinking, while also trying to put words into Trump’s mouth.

“The thinking is, we got along but you knew that they were looking out for their interests at all times,” Hannity said, with the former president interjecting, “One-hundred percent.”

Jay E. Town

A justice official in Maryland has been indicted on mortgage-fraud charges. That's a serious matter, but the charges appear to pale in comparison to allegations of misconduct that have been swirling around a former Alabama justice official for months. We are talking about Jay E. Town, a Trump nominee for U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Alabama. An analysis at banbalch.com(BB) suggests the charges in Maryland might be minor league compared to the allegations surrounding Town. Does that mean Town soon could be the target of a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation, much like the one in Maryland? BB publisher K.B. Forbes shares his thoughts on that question: 

Creating national headlines, the Office of the U.S. Attorney for Maryland indicted Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby in January for alleged mortgage fraud.

The Baltimore Sun reported:

Mosby is charged with two counts of making false statements on a loan application and two counts of perjury. Mosby has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is expected to stand trial in early May. 

The Office of the U.S. Attorney in Maryland gave more details:

According to the four-count indictment… Mosby submitted “457(b) Coronavirus-Related Distribution Requests” for one-time withdrawals of $40,000 and $50,000, respectively, from City of Baltimore’s Deferred Compensation Plans.  In each request, the indictment alleges that Mosby falsely certified that she met at least one of the qualifications for a distribution as defined under the CARES Act, specifically, that she experienced adverse financial consequences from the Coronavirus as a result of being quarantined, furloughed, or laid off; having reduced work hours; being unable to work due to lack of childcare; or the closing or reduction of hours of a business she owned or operated.  The indictment alleges that Mosby did not experience any such financial hardships and in fact, Mosby received her full gross salary of $247,955.58….

Further, the indictment alleges that… Mosby made false statements in applications for a $490,500 mortgage to purchase a home in Kissimmee, Florida and for a $428,400 mortgage to purchase a condominium in Long Boat Key, Florida.  As part of both applications, Mosby was required to disclose her liabilities.  Mosby did not disclose on either application that she had unpaid federal taxes from a number of previous years ….

For anyone who follows legal news in Alabama, the mind naturally turns to Jay Town. Forbes indicates that's where the DOJ's focus should rest, too:

The allegations  against Mosby are nothing compared to the serious and appalling alleged misconduct by Ex-U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town who fled in the middle of the night after resigning in disgrace.

Sources confirmed to us this week that the alleged federal probe involving Town, Alabama Power’s secret million-dollar contracts, embattled law firm Balch and Bingham, the Matrix Meltdown, and alleged obstruction of justice is ablaze.  

And what are just a few of Town’s acts of alleged misconduct?

Here’s that list again:

• Town allegedly told others, according to sources, that his nomination was confirmed too late in 2017 by the U.S. Senate for him to kill the North Birmingham Bribery Trial and that some would have to stand trial.
• Town appears to have cut a secret deal to keep Alabama Power “unmentionable” during the trial.
• After the criminal convictions, Town refused to expand the North Birmingham Bribery investigation and declared that Balch’s Joel I. Gilbert and ex-Drummond executive David Roberson were “lone wolves,” which law enforcement officers and others saw as a betrayal.
• The publication of jaw-dropping photos of Town chugging cocktails with Alabama Power CEO and former Balch partner Mark A. Crosswhite allegedly during the height of the criminal trial rocked Town who was shaken according to sources.
• Town allegedly blocked four different FBI investigations of the Newsome Conspiracy Case.
• Knowing there are no such things as coincidences, the half-baked deposition with Verizon in the Newsome Conspiracy Case appears to be a centerpiece in the alleged dirty work linked to Town.
• And what law firm represents Verizon regularly? McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter in Morristown, New Jersey, just one mile away from Verizon’s Corporate Headquarters. And who worked for McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter before his career as a prosecutor? Jay E. Town

How does the Town laundry list compare to the case in Maryland? Forbes summarizes nicely:

The alleged felonies and crimes connected to Town’sallegedprosecutorial misconduct ismuch worse than a prosecutor lying about her financial situation on a loan application or falsely alleging “hardship” to withdraw her retirement funds.

Today, Town would have been a U.S. Senate candidate. But the jaw-dropping photos and our three letters to the Office of Professional Responsibility at the U.S. Department of Justice ended his political career.

Now Town, Crosswhite, and other Balch stooges must face the consequences for their alleged foolish and corrupt misconduct.

The war in Ukraine has reached a stalemate, which sounds like a tribute to the toughness and moxie of Ukrainians defending their homeland against an assault from Russia. But it is not necessarily good news, according to a report from Axios:

"The war in Ukraine has reached a stalemate after more than three weeks of fighting, with Russia making only marginal gains and increasingly targeting civilians," the N.Y. Times writes(subscription).

That was theassessment yesterday from the Institute for the Study of War, a widely respected D.C. research group:

• "Ukrainian forces have defeated the initial Russian campaign of this war," the note says. "That campaign aimed to conduct airborne and mechanized operations to seize Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odessa, and other major Ukrainian cities to force a change of government in Ukraine." That failed.
• "Russian forces continue to make limited advances in some parts of the theater but are very unlikely to be able to seize their objectives in this way."

Stalemate sounds like the two sides have pretty much reached a standoff. But that does not necessarily paint a rosy picture:

"Stalemate will likely be very violent and bloody," the institute adds.

• "Stalemate is not armistice or ceasefire. ... If the war in Ukraine settles into a stalemate condition Russian forces will continue to bomb and bombard Ukrainian cities, devastating them and killing civilians."
• "The World War I battles of the Somme, Verdun, and Passchendaele were all fought in conditions of stalemate and did not break the stalemate."

All of this is driven, in part, by miscalculations from Russian President Vladimir Putin:

Yaroslav Hrytsak, a Ukrainian historian and professor at Ukrainian Catholic University, writes in a N.Y. Times op-ed(subscription) that Putin made two huge miscalculations:

• "First, he was hoping that, as had been the case with his war against Georgia, the West would tacitly swallow his aggression against Ukraine. A unified response from the West was not something he expected."
• "Second, since in his mind Russians and Ukrainians were one nation, Mr. Putin believed Russian troops needed barely to enter Ukraine to be welcomed with flowers. This never materialized."

Sheena and Eric Greitens

Eric Greitens, former Missouri governor who was bounced from office in a sex scandal, faces accusations of abuse from his ex-wife as he tries to gain traction in the Republican race for U.S. Senate. From a report at ky3.com:

Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, now a leading Republican Senate candidate, was physically abusive and demonstrated such “unstable and coercive behavior” that steps were taken to limit his access to firearms, according to new allegations from his ex-wife revealed in court records.

The sworn affidavit from Sheena Greitens is part of an ongoing child custody dispute in Missouri. A public affairs professor at the University of Texas, she sought divorce from Eric Greitens after a sex scandal that led to his resignation as governor in June 2018. She’s now asking the court to move the custody case to Austin in part to spare her children from renewed public attention as Eric Greitens tries to mount a political comeback.

  The Greitens story has national political implications:

The allegations could complicate his bid to emerge from Missouri’s Aug. 2 primary as the GOP nominee and potentially jeopardize his party’s chance to hold onto a key Senate seat in the general election.

In the affidavit, Sheena Greitens casts her ex-husband as someone who threatened to use his political connections and influence in order to destroy her reputation to win custody of the children.

“Prior to our divorce, during an argument in late April 2018, Eric knocked me down and confiscated my cell phone, wallet, and keys so that I was unable to call for help or extricate myself and our children from our home,” Sheena Greitens wrote in the filing. “I became afraid for my safety and that of our children at our home,” later adding that his “behavior included physical violence toward our children, such as cuffing our then-3-year-old son across the face at the dinner table in front of me and yanking him around by his hair.”

Once a swing state, Missouri has become more reliably Republican in recent years. But the race to succeed retiring Sen. Roy Blunt is nonetheless receiving national attention because some in the GOP establishment are anxious that, with the allegations released on Monday and previous scandals, Greitens would face vulnerabilities against a Democrat. And with the Senate evenly divided, the GOP can’t afford to lose what would otherwise be a safe seat.

Greitens once was considered presidential timber, but he has not been able to outrun scandal:

Greitens was a rising GOP star after his 2016 election, a charismatic former Navy SEAL officer and Rhodes Scholar who founded a nonprofit benefiting veterans. He didn’t hide his ambition, either, reserving the website EricGreitensForPresident.com.

But that all seemed to fade after he was indicted on an invasion-of-privacy charge in February 2018 in St. Louis, accused of taking a compromising photo of his hairstylist without her consent during a 2015 extramarital affair. In short order, a Missouri House committee began investigating campaign finance issues, and Greitens faced a second felony charge in St. Louis, accused of providing his political fundraiser with the donor list of his veterans’ charity.

Sheena Greitens said her ex-husband admitted to her that he had, in fact, taken a compromising photo of his hairstylist that led to the felony invasion of privacy charge. But she says in the affidavit that he warned her that she could face legal trouble of her own if she ever disclosed that fact. She later learned that was not the case.

Eric Greitens mostly kept a low profile after his resignation in 2018. That changed last year after the Missouri Ethics Commission found “probable cause” that Greitens’ campaign broke campaign-finance law, but also “found no evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of Eric Greitens, individually.”

Greitens said the ruling “fully exonerated” him.

Sheena Greitens’ affidavit, however, offers a bleak picture of his waning days as governor. At one point, she said, Eric Greitens purchased a gun but refused to tell her where it was. He also threatened to kill himself “unless I provided specific public political support,” she wrote.

The behavior was so alarming, she wrote, that on three separate occasions in February, April and May 2018, “multiple people other than myself were worried enough to intervene to limit Eric’s access to firearms.”

At one point, Eric Greitens made a reference to the fact that he had the children — and she didn’t — while trying to persuade Sheena Greitens to delete emails she had sent to the family therapist seeking help, according to the affidavit.

Sheena Greitens said her ex is not shy about threatening to use his influence in abusive fashion:

In 2020, after informing Eric Greitens that she accepted a job at the University of Texas, she said he threatened “to use his political influence to get my job offer revoked.”

Her ex-husband’s reemergence in politics has been taxing, Sheena Greitens said in the affidavit. Meanwhile, his past ability to influence law enforcement and appoint judges, as well as the even greater power he would obtain as a senator are “extremely intimidating,” she wrote.

“Now that Eric is a candidate for federal office, public interest in my life, my relationship with Eric and the breakdown thereof, and the existence of issues of custody between Eric and me are being rekindled and brought back into central public discussion,” Sheena Greitens wrote.

“The weight of these facts and the intimidation they cause” justifies moving the case to Texas, she wrote, where “the reach of his power and influence is significantly less.”

Several of Greitens' fellow Republicans encouraged him to drop out of the Senate race and get help:

          Other candidates in the race on Monday called for Greitens to end his campaign.

“Real men never abuse women and children. Period, end of the story,” GOP U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler said in a recorded statement posted on Twitter. “It’s time for Eric to get out of the Senate race and to get professional help.”

Missouri’s Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who is also running, tweeted: “The behavior described in this affidavit is cause for Eric Greitens to be in prison, not on the ballot for U.S. Senate.”

The scene of Burt Newsome's vehicle crash

Alabama Power Company and Montgomery-based Matrix LLC employ a "breathtaking range of dirty tricks" to control politicians, public officials, regulatory agencies, judges, law enforcement, and more, according to a report yesterday from former attorney/banker/entrepreneur Donald Watkins at his online news site. 

How far could such "dirty tricks" go? Could they include the head-on vehicle crash (pictured above) that nearly took the life of Birmingham attorney Burt Newsome in September 2020? At that time, Newsome had become a courtroom adversary for Alabama Power, its "sister-wife" law firm Balch & Bingham, and fellow Balch client Drummond Company. He was leaving his office in north Shelby County one day when a large SUV hit him head-on, and as the photo above shows, the driver turned his wheels sharply right -- toward the driver's compartment -- just before impact, suggesting the crash was not an accident. Newsome wound up with a severely broken leg, requiring hours of surgery at UAB Hospital and implantation of a titanium rod.

Watkins himself has crossed swords with Alabama Power and Matrix LLC proprietor Joe Perkins in recent years and has written a number of revelatory and unflattering articles about them at his Web site. Watkins has seen his professional life blow up, and he now resides at FCI La Tuna, a Federal Bureau of Prison facility in Anthony, Texas. He was convicted in March 2019 of bank fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy. Watkins has claimed he was targeted for his online reporting on hot-buttom topics, including the Robert Bentley-Rebekah Caldwell Mason affair, which led to Bentley's downfall as governor -- and a topic we covered extensively here at Legal Schnauzer.)

Were the criminal charges against Watkins legitimate or were they the result of his entanglement with powerful forces in Alabama? The answer to that question remains unclear, but this much is clear: As yesterday's article shows, Watkins has not been silenced.

He tags the article an "editorial opinion," under the headline "Dirty Secrets: The Joe Perkins File":

In January of 2022, Alabama Power company publicly confirmed what we have known for decades --Tuscaloosa, Alabama-based political operative Joe Perkins has run the company's "dirty tricks" program on an independent contractor basis for nearly two decades. Perkins and his companies have been paid millions of dollars during this period, without having to submit invoices to Alabama Power.

Perkins is known in Alabama for: (a) exploiting the weaknesses of local, state, and federal politicians, (b) facilitating clandestine activities that undermine the integrity of democratic institutions, and (c) capturing and controlling a litany of public officials and government regulators who have abandoned their affirmative duty to advance and protect the public interests.

Perkins recorded the fruits of his labor in secret files that he calls "trade secrets." I call them "dirty secrets."

On September 19, 2021, I published an article that featured an example of Perkins' secret files. The article disclosed Perkins' handwritten notes on his plan to destroy me after I published an exclusive series of investigative articles on the role Matrix, LLC, played in the 2015 reported rape case of University of Alabama honors student Megan Rondini. Matrix is Perkins' public relations and crisis management firm.

How do Alabama Power and Matrix LLC work together to maintain a chokehold on power in a Deep South state? Watkins provides examples:

Joe Perkins' clandestine work for Alabama Power has produced a closet full of "dirty secrets" that the company strategically deployed, as needed. Here are a few examples of the "dirty secrets" in this closet:

(1) Alabama Power Company learned that disgraced former Alabama governor Robert Bentley, another Tuscaloosa native, was having an illicit love affair with his married senior advisor, Rebekah Caldwell Mason from 2014 to 2017. Alabama Power reportedly facilitated the love affair by making its corporate jets available to transport Mason to her clandestine rendezvous with Bentley at exotic ports of call after Bentley's staff cautioned him about having Mason on the airplane the state made available for the governor's official business.

After Bentley's wife learned of the illicit affair, she initially refused to attend her husband's inauguration in January 2015. Alabama Power Company officials, who were complicit in the affair, interceded on the governor's behalf and pleaded with Mrs. Bentley to attend the inauguration for public relations purposes. Mrs. Bentley relented at the last minute and attended her husband's inauguration.

(2) After Bentley exited the governor's office, Perkins and his team of political operatives provided Alabama Power Company with the information they needed to capture and control incoming governor Kay Ivey. They learned that Governor Ivey had serious issues with her alcoholic consumption. According to Alabama Power's intelligence gathering reports, Governor Ivey would often start drinking on the job by noon each day.

(3) After Dr. Richard Arrington, Jr., left office as the city of Birmingham's first black mayor (1979-1999), Alabama Power launched an orchestrated political program to capture and control the mayor's office out of fear and insecurity about Arrington's successors in office. Alabama Power's large corporate headquarters is located within three blocks from Birmingham's City Hall.

From 1999 to the present, Alabama Power has viewed all of Arrington's successors in office as weak, lazy, and unqualified for an executive leadership position. For nearly two decades, one of Joe Perkins' primary jobs was to capture and control the men who succeeded Arrington. Perkins achieved this goal by using a combination of: (a) campaign fundraising activities, (b) arranging for their travel on the company's private jets, (c) lavishing VIP perks at entertainment and sporting events upon them, and (d) stroking of their political egos.

Watkins then turns to perhaps the most important job Perkins' has performed for Alabama Power -- in fact, it could be the most important job any political consultant can perform for a client:

(4) Capturing and controlling the state legislators and judges in Alabama is another area where the Perkins/Alabama Power team achieved great success. Alabama Power quickly discovered that the company could silence the voices of the state's entire political leadership with campaign donations, annual contributions from the company's charitable Foundation to pet projects in the black community and passing out trinkets of symbolic power to them. Alabama Power does not view these activities as "lobbying," even though they are the means and manner of controlling the official actions of these public officials.

Alabama Power's chokehold on black legislators and the state's lone black Congresswoman is so strong that none of them is permitted to complain about Alabama's 19-judge all-white appellate court system in a state with a 26% black voter registration population in 2022.

Sadly, Alabama Power's total philanthropic giving to worthy causes and organizations in the state's black community in past years has been less than the amount the company donates to take care of wildlife and zoo animals. Despite the fact that blacks contribute an estimated 25% of Alabama Power's $6 billion in annual revenues, the amount of contracting dollars the company spends with black-owned business is so abysmal that it does not amount to a blip in the company's annual financial statements.

In line with the control of judges is the extremely important matter of controlling law enforcement. Writes Watkins:

Alabama Power Company and Joe Perkins have been extremely effective in controlling federal law enforcement investigations in Alabama. Working with Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Alabama), they effectively decide who will serve as the three U.S. Attorneys in Alabama.

Alabama Power and Perkins have influenced law enforcement investigations and prosecutions of some of their political adversaries. They have also benefitted from a very liberal application of prosecutorial discretion in their favor by state and federal prosecutors in matters involving highly questionable business conduct.

Alabama Power first learned how to manipulate the federal law enforcement apparatus in the 1970s and 80s when the company battled former Alabama governor George C. Wallace after Wallace blocked a series of excessive rate increases on the company's customers. In 1972, Alabama Power lobbied President Richard Nixon to jail Wallace because of the former governor's pro-customer activism.

Nixon came close to ordering Wallace's prosecution in order to solidify Alabama Power's financial support during his 1972 re-election campaign. Nixon changed his mind about the criminal prosecution after Wallace announced that he was running for president that year as a Democrat. . . .

In recent years, Alabama Power showcased its control over state and federal prosecutors in Alabama. For example, in 2015, Alabama Power contributed $30,000 to the sham non-profit entity that was established to fund bribery payments to former state Rep. Oliver Robinson in exchange for his efforts to block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from designating the 35th Avenue neighborhood in North Birmingham as a Super-Fund clean-up site.

Even though Alabama Power provided money for the bribery scheme, no company executive was indicted or prosecuted in connection with the bribery scheme. An executive with the Drummond Company, which supplies coal for Alabama Power's "dirty" power plants, and a lawyer with the Balch Bingham law firm, which represents Alabama Power, were subsequently charged, tried, and convicted of bribery in the case, along with Oliver Robinson.

Watkins closes his introductory article by hinting that he has many more insights coming on the way power is maintained and exercised in Alabama. He says it's a subject the state's citizens need to know more about, and we agree. Here are Watkins' own words about what lies ahead in his series:

Alabama Power, the Southern Company, and Georgia Power have substantially benefited from Joe Perkins' clandestine political activities. This work has enriched Perkins. These activities are sweeping in scope and shocking in nature. They speak volumes about Perkins' sway over politicians, government officials, regulatory agencies, law enforcement officials, and state and federal judges in Alabama and Georgia.

The public deserves to know how these public utility companies used ratepayers' money to finance a breathtaking range of "dirty tricks." Hopefully, the bright lights from my investigative reporting will disinfectant the dark and seedy world of Perkins' and Alabama Power's clandestine political activities.

Chase Tristian Espy

Of all the unsavory issues surrounding Birmingham's Balch & Bingham law firm, the most troublesome one might involve the child-solicitation charge against a former attorney. It's hard to massage or downplay a story about an accused child predator having been in your midst. And Balch seems to be sinking deeper into a state of disarray following the late-August 2021 arrest of its former attorney, Chase Tristian Espy, on a charge of seeking sex with a child, according to a post at banbalch.com.

Perhaps the No. 1 question hanging over the Espy case is this: How did Espy manage to leave Balch and gain a position on the staff of Gov. Kay Ivey, seemingly without the law firm warning the governor about a potential problem on the horizon? Former attorney, banker, and entrepreneur Donald Watkins might have shined light on that question in his Sunday analytical piece about Alabama Power, Matrix LLC (headed by Joe Perkins), and associated entities -- and the "trade secrets" they use to maintain control over the corporate, legal, and political environments in Alabama.

The Watkins piece originated at his online news site and serves as an introduction to a series of posts he plans about the Alabama Power/Matrix relationship and the extensive bag of "dirty tricks" they allegedly keep in their toolbox. We reported on Watkins' insights in a post yesterday titled "Donald Watkins reveals some of the "dirty secrets" Alabama Power, Matrix LLC, and Co. use to maintain a stranglehold on power in the Heart of Dixie. Writes Watkins, focusing on Gov. Ivey and her office:

After [Robert] Bentley exited the governor's office, Perkins and his team of political operatives provided Alabama Power Company with the information they needed to capture and control incoming governor Kay Ivey. They learned that Governor Ivey had serious issues with her alcoholic consumption. According to Alabama Power's intelligence gathering reports, Governor Ivey would often start drinking on the job by noon each day.

Did Balch & Bingham officials sweep Chase Tristian Espy out the door and send him Ivey's way, thinking they could get away with it, since they reportedly had intelligence about an apparent weakness under the governor's umbrella? Is that why Balch felt no need to warn Ivey about a possible problem employee headed her way? Watkins' analysis certainly suggests that scenario might have been in play.

Public records indicate Espy hardly was a mere hanger-on at Balch; in 2017, he helped handle a case styled Midland Funding LLC v. Johnson before the U.S. Supreme Court. A source tells Legal Schnauzer the incident leading to Espy's arrest occurred in March 2021. That apparently means he still worked at Balch when the alleged child solicitation took place, although the exact date of his exit from the firm remains unclear.

According to published reports, Espy worked for former U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) before taking a job at Balch in 2012. He left to become a staff attorney in the office of Gov. Kay Ivey, but was promptly fired after the August arrest.

As for banbalch.com, which has covered the Balch & Bingham story with more consistency and detail than any other news site, Publisher K.B. Forbes has asked a number of times: How did Chase Tristian Espy wind up in Kay Ivey's lap, seemingly without warning? Writes Forbes, in an August 2021 piece, shortly after Espy's arrest, under the headline "Prestigious to Egregious: Balch in Disarray After “Seeking Sex with a Child” Arrest":

With the criminal arrest . . . of Chase T. Espy, a former long-time Balch attorney who allegedly was seeking to have sex with a child, Balch & Bingham appears to be in disarray, and former attorneys and ex-partners are allegedly scrambling to distance themselves from the embattled firm, sources tell us.

The once prestigious, silk-stocking law firm appears to have become the cesspool of egregious misconduct, and observers are in disbelief that clients like Southern Company and Alabama Power continue to utilize the law firm engulfed in scandal, impacting children to the elderly.

Balch, in sheer panic, stepped on a land mine . . . while trying to save face by telling the Montgomery Advertiser that they had terminated the alleged sexual deviant “nearly one year ago.”

If true, what did Balch know and did they report Espy’s misconduct to the state bar or local authorities?

After 8 years on the job, an attorney is simply not terminated like a novice.

And why in heaven’s name would Balch let Alabama Governor Kay Ivey hire Espy and put the Administration at risk if they knew Espy appeared to be trouble?

Someone seeking sex with a child online is usually an experienced predator.

That raises all kinds of questions, and Forbes is not shy about spelling them out:

Did Balch know of alleged acts or crimes “nearly one year ago?” Was there a cover-up?

Investigators need to probe the matter to make sure no children were victims of Espy’s alleged deviant and sick behavior.

Since 2017, Balch’s alleged unsavory and criminal misconduct has rocked the firm. And the list grows year to year.

• Espy was arrested for allegedly soliciting a child for sex [in August 2021]. 

• A Balch partner was recorded in 2020 telling alleged falsehoods to a senior citizen in an attempt to control the assets and financial decisions of the elderly grandmother who was worth $218 million. 

• An ex-Balch partner was convicted of bribery and money laundering in 2018 and recently headed to five years in federal prison. 

• An ex-Balch partner was fired in 2017 for allegedly spearheading a conspiracy to steal a competitor’s business servicing banks. 

• A former executive of a Balch client, who was lied to and deceived by Balch, was convicted and sentenced to federal prison in 2018, and appears to have been set up as the “Fall Guy.” 

• A former aerospace executive of a Balch client was indicted last year after allegedly ripping off the government and using unqualified personnel. Balch scrubbed their website in 2017 after links to the company were exposed.

The ugliness associated with Balch does not end there. Espy has waived his right to a preliminary hearing and is expected to face trial later this yer. Writes Forbes on other Balch issues:

And these alleged criminal acts add another black eye to the alleged historical and institutional racism associated with Balch.

• Balch & Bingham appears to have grown to power in the 1960s due to its close and inside connection to segregationist and racist Alabama Governor George Wallace. 

• Schuyler Allen Baker, Sr., a top Balch partner and staunch segregationist, was part of Wallace’s inner circle and the legal team that attempted to block the school door in federal court and keep African-American students out of the University of Alabama. 

• Balch was linked to a highway scandal in which the Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan Robert Shelton was hired by one of the engineering firms.

And sadly, the alleged systemic racism continues in the 21st Century.

• Of the more than 200 attorneys at Balch & Bingham, only seven attorneys are African-American or people of color. Engaging in alleged “tokenism,” each one of them is located in a completely different Balch office, except Birmingham which has two African-American attorneys. 
  

• Only about 1 percent of Balch partners are non-white. 
  

• This year, an African-American attorney hired with great fanfare in November of 2020 abruptly left Balch after only eight months. 

• In 2019, Balch let go of their only African-American female attorney in Birmingham who headed diversity efforts at the firm. This year, Balch hired a Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, seen as a desperate act of window dressing. 

• Balch & Bingham was the birthplace of the scheme targeting poor African-American children in North Birmingham and suppressing African-Americans from having their toxic property tested by the EPA. 

• Balch was involved in the alleged abhorrent “whites-only” land grab in Vincent, Alabama, that impacted the descendants of slaves. Voters revolted last year and tossed the Balch stooges out of office. 

• Balch was allegedly involved in the “divide and dilute” effort against African-American voters in 2011.

The rap sheet against Balch is growing longer by the day and chief executives like Tom Fanning of Southern Company need to rid themselves of this embarrassing baggage.

Loyalty and tradition have no place when children, the elderly or minorities are taken advantage of, and said egregious acts appear to be foolishly protected, obscured, or hidden away.

Even Balch’s most honorable partners and professionals would agree.

Many left-leaning Americans have been suggesting for several years that Donald Trump is a politician so corrupt that he might make Richard Nixon blush. Many on the right, meanwhile, seem prepared to go to the polls in 2024  and happily vote for Trump -- assuming he is the Republican nominee, and we see little reason to doubt he will be.

Why the disconnect? Our only guess is that it's the result of a toxic, divisive political culture that seems to have taken over America in the 2000s. But events this week suggest the Nixon comparisons are not too far afield.

First, a federal judge stated in an order that Trump likely committed felonies related to Jan. 6. Then, came reports that Trump's phone records show a seven-hour gap on Jan. 6. In between, were multiple reports about other GOP figures and their efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Mother Jones sums it up in an e-newsletter under the headline "The pieces of the January 6 puzzle keep falling into place":

[Last] weekend, CNN reported that the House committee investigating the attack on the Capitol will seek to interview Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who, in a series of text messages, pleaded with Mark Meadows to overturn the election. [Monday] morning, the Washington Post published an article outlining what the committee has discovered about the role Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) played in the plot to keep President Trump in office; it turns out that he had a far greater hand in the scheme than we knew.

And later in the day came the icing on the cake: A federal judge held in a ruling that Trump had likely committed felonies when he "corruptly attempted to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021." The finding doesn't mean that Trump will be criminally charged, but is still a huge development that's likely to amp up pressure on the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute the former president.

"The illegality of the plan was obvious," the judge wrote in a ruling ordering Trump attorney John Eastman to hand over 101 emails that he had fought to keep secret. "If Dr. Eastman and President Trump’s plan had worked, it would have permanently ended the peaceful transition of power, undermining American democracy and the Constitution."

And what about that seven-hour gap in Trump's phone records, which sounds positively Nixonian? This is from an Axios e-newsletter: 

White House records turned over to the House's Jan. 6 committee show a seven-hour, 37-minute gap in President Trump’s phone logs for the day, including the time the Capitol was being stormed, The Washington Post's Bob Woodward and Robert Costa report."

The lack of an official White House notation of any calls placed to or by Trump for 457 minutes on Jan. 6, 2021 — from 11:17 a.m. to 6:54 p.m. — means the committee has no record of his phone conversations as his supporters descended on the Capitol."

We knew there was a hole in the log. But the extent of this gap is a huge deal for the investigation.

Also notable from the story: An aide to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said, "McConnell declined Trump's call on Jan. 6."

Could Trump have used a burner phone, which are known to help hide criminal activity? In a statement to The Post, Trump said, "I have no idea what a burner phone is, to the best of my knowledge I have never even heard the term.

"Trump had nothing to do with the records and assumed his calls were recorded and preserved, a Trump spokeswoman told The Post.

Here is more from The Post report: 

The records show that Trump was active on the phone for part of the day, documenting conversations that he had with at least eight people in the morning and 11 people that evening. The seven-hour gap also stands in stark contrast to the extensive public reporting about phone conversations he had with allies during the attack, such as a call Trump made to Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) — seeking to talk to Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) — and a phone conversation he had with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

The House panel is now investigating whether Trump communicated that day through back channels, phones of aides or personal disposable phones, known as “burner phones,” according to two people with knowledge of the probe, who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information. The committee is also scrutinizing whether it received the full logs from that day.

One lawmaker on the panel said the committee is investigating a “possible coverup” of the official White House record from that day. Another person close to the committee said the large gap in the records is of “intense interest” to some lawmakers on the committee, many of whom have reviewed copies of the documents. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss internal committee deliberations.

Chase Tristian Espy: Facing child-solicitation charge

Spring break has come and gone in Alabama, but the season is shaping up to be anything but a break for Birmingham's Balch & Bingham law firm -- with two former associates set for criminal trials, according to a report at banbalch.com. Writes Publisher K.B. Forbes, under the headline "Balch Bonanza: Spring Fever and Two Criminal Trials:

Welcome back from a wonderful Spring Break!

This spring two criminal trials are set to begin. One local case is against the alleged pedophile and ex-Balch attorney Chase T. Espy and the other is a federal case against Paul Daigle, the ex-CEO of Balch’s former client, Black Hall Aerospace.

While Stan Blanton, Balch & Bingham’s managing partner, was busy patting himself on the back with a make-believe award for “diversity and inclusion,” the alleged racist law firm among others appears to be under federal investigation.

Spring fever has arrived, and the Three Stooges (Balch, Alabama Power, and Drummond) are under intense scrutiny.

Independent sources confirmed that the feds are apparently investigating Larry, Moe, and Curly. And now investigators and national media are looking deep into the connections between Alabama Power, Balch, Sloppy Joe and the Matrix Meltdown.

The Matrix Meltdown has caused a state investigation in Florida over alleged “ghost candidates” and now sources claim, the feds are involved looking at a multi-state probe.

And disgraced ex-U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town may have caused this cascade.

How does Town fit into the picture? He's front and center, Forbes reports:

Since Town looked the other way on corruption, the fact is there is an alleged “don’t ask, justcut the check” bribery ring among the most powerful entities in Alabama.

And for those who doubt the possible existence of a bribery ring, just look at the money-laundering and corrupt entity Alliance for Jobs and the Economy (AJE) used to funnel more than $360,000 to ex-State Representative Oliver Robinson in the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal.

Many of those that donated had no idea what it really was for and who was getting paid. They appear to have “just cut the check.”

An alleged bribery ring, secret star chambers, alleged indemnity deals, secret multimillion-dollar contracts, and non-disclosure agreements appear to be the tools of a horrific criminal enterprise that has not only corrupted the legislative and executive branches of government in Alabama, but the judicial branch as well.

The feds need to clean this mess up and put the perpetrators behind bars.

Abdul Kallon

Abdul Kallon, federal judge in the Northern District of Alabama, announced his resignation today -- giving up a lifetime appointment as online reports swirl about possible investigations related to the North Birmingham Superfund bribery scandal and apparent efforts to keep corporate entities -- Alabama Power, especially -- out of the case, along with some of the state's most powerful white political figures. Former State Rep. Oliver Robinson (D-Birmingham), who is Black, went to prison in the case.

Currently incarcerated are former Drummond Company executive David Roberson and former Balch & Bingham law partner Joel Gilbert, who were convicted in a joint trial that Kallon oversaw. Roberson has an ongoing $75-million lawsuit alleging that Balch and Drummond combined to make him a fall guy in the case. That civil matter essentially has reopened issues connected to the criminal bribery case, and sources say that could have influenced Kallon's decision to resign.

Kallon's announcement sent shock waves today through the Birmingham legal community. It comes almost two years after Trump-appointed U.S. attorney Jay Town made a similarly surprising resignation announcement. Town famously had been caught in a photograph chugging cocktails with Alabama Power CEO Mark Crosswhite at a downtown Birmingham lounge shortly before the bribery trial. The trial reportedly featured an agreement to keep Alabama Power "unmentionable" during the case. 

Does Kallon's resignation signal that a shakeup might be coming on the Alabama legal scene? Our sources say that seems possible. "I have to think that indictments may be in the works against some of those that were involved in this sham trial of Roberson," one source said. " You just do not resign a lifetime appointment for no reason. Something is on its way down."

A protective coating appears to have applied to white, conservative political figures during the bribery trial, and that did not go unnoticed -- locally or nationally. Former State Attorney General and U.S. Sen. Luther Strange was front and center in much of that reporting. From a February 2021 post at Legal Schnauzer (LS): 

Political contributions from Drummond Company to Luther Strange were in exchange for his opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) making North Birmingham a Superfund site, the company's former director of government affairs says in discovery filed yesterday in his $75-million fraud lawsuit against Drummond and the Balch Bingham law firm. States David Roberson:

"As head of government affairs at Drummond, I never made or recommended any campaign contributions on behalf of the company that were a bribe and/or in any way illegal. The political contributions to Luther Strange were in exchange for him to sign letters as the state attorney general opposing North Birmingham being made a Superfund site. I never met with Luther Strange in connection with this contribution and was not made aware of it until after the fact."

Strange hardly was alone in the unwanted spotlight, as a letter from the Project for Government Oversight (POGO) to Jay Town -- calling for him to step down from the case due to conflicts related to Alabama politicians -- made clear. From a March 2021 LS post on the subject:

POGO’s reason for calling upon you to recuse yourself is that three key officials who are your political allies and supported your appointment as U.S. Attorney—Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Senator Luther Strange, and Senator Richard Shelby—all have deep political, financial, or personal ties to Balch and Drummond. Furthermore, Senator Strange has been linked to the bribery scandal.. . . 

As Alabama Attorney General, Senator Strange filed letters with the EPA in October 2014 and January 2015 declaring that the state would not provide any funding for the cleanup of the Birmingham Superfund site, located in a poor African American neighborhood. The Drummond Co. donated $25,000 to his campaign two weeks before the first letter in October 2014 and another $25,000 a month after the second letter in January 2015. . . . 

You twice advised Senator Strange in political campaigns. He subsequently supported your nomination for U.S. Attorney. Senator Strange is now alleged to be involved in a bribery scandal under investigation by the office of which you are now in charge.

POGO then turned its attention to Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby:

Another public supporter of your nomination as U.S. Attorney is Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Balch and Drummond were, respectively, Senator Sessions second and third largest sources of campaign funding during his Senate career—and through their political action committees and employees have contributed an approximate total of $300,000 to his campaigns since the late 1990s.

Finally, Senator Richard Shelby, another principal sponsor of your nomination as U.S. Attorney, and for whom you appeared in a television campaign commercial in 2016, is a longtime recipient of campaign money from Balch and Drummond. According to public records, Senator Shelby has received approximately $110,000 from Balch and $155,500 from Drummond over his last three election cycles (1999-2016).

The roll call of Alabama politicos tied to the Superfund case does not end there, thanks to a report from Mother Jones. As we reported in October 2017:

Joining Sessions and Shelby on the list of ignominy are U.S. Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL), former Gov. Robert Bentley, State Sen. Jabo Waggoner, U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer (R-AL), and Strange's one-time campaign manager Jessica Garrison. Notice a pattern? Yes, we're looking here at all white, conservative Republicans.

The names of Robert "Luv Guv" Bentley and Jabo Waggoner are particularly interesting:

Drummond was a major political benefactor of former Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, who resigned in April amid an embarrassing sex scandal. Bentley’s administration fiercely battled the EPA’s Superfund push in North Birmingham, yet he was hardly alone. Among the state officials who assisted Drummond and Balch was one of the longest-serving members of the state Legislature, Republican Sen. J.T. “Jabo” Waggoner, who in 2015 successfully introduced a resolution opposing the EPA actions at the 35th Avenue Superfund site. According to the Justice Department, the measure was in fact authored by Balch’s Joel Gilbert.

How did Gary Palmer's name come up?

Sessions, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), and Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) sent a letter to the EPA condemning the use of the “air deposition theory” at the 35th Avenue site. Attached to the letter was a copy of Waggoner’s ghostwritten resolution. In July 2016, according to an EPA spokesman, officials from the agency briefed staffers for Sessions, Shelby, and Palmer regarding the status of the 35th Avenue site.  

And how did Jessica Medeiros Garrison, join the fray. Mother Jones provides the answer:

[Jeffrey] Wood, [Ed] Haden, and other Balch lawyers spearheaded high-profile legal fights with the Obama-era EPA. Wood and Haden represented Republican members of Congress in a 2016 court filing siding with West Virginia as it fought EPA carbon emission standards at coal power plants. The lawsuit appeared to be coordinated by coal behemoth Murray Energy and the fossil fuel industry-funded Republican Attorneys General Association. RAGA’s executive director at the time, Jessica Medeiros Garrison, was simultaneously an attorney at Balch from 2011 through 2016. She has also worked for Sessions.

As for Kallon, he reportedly was three years from going on senior status and reaching full retirement. He had worked at the downtown corporate law firm Bradley Arant before his judicial appointment. From an al.com report on the resignation: 

A federal judge in Birmingham has submitted his resignation to President Biden. U.S. District Judge Abdul K. Kallon,appointed to the lifetime position in 2010 by President Obama, will resign effective Aug. 31, 2022, according to his resignation letter dated April 5.

“I am forever grateful to President Barack Obama for the confidence implicit in his decision to nominate me for this position,’’ Kallon wrote in the letter to Biden.

The judge did not give a reason for his resignation. Efforts to reach him for comment weren’t immediately successful. His office declined comment.

Kallon succeeded U.W. Clemon, Alabama’s first Black federal judge, for whom Kallon worked fresh out of law school.

He is a native of Sierra Leone where he was raised by a single mother. He immigrated to the U.S. at age 11. Kallon graduated from Dartmouth College in 1990 and Penn Law School in 1993.

Prior to his federal appointment, Kallon had been a partner at Birmingham’s Bradley Arant where he represented employers in labor and employment cases.

Ali Alexander (Politico/Getty Images)

Ali Alexander, the right-wing extremist with ties to Alabama, has received a grand-jury subpoena related to a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation of the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. This could be a major development for at least two reasons: (1) It signals DOJ involvement in a probe that, so far, has focused mainly on the U.S. House select committee; (2) It appears to focus on events leading to the attack on the Capitol by Donald Trump supporters -- and the individuals who organized those events. From a report at Politico:

Ali Alexander, the founder of the Stop the Steal organization that helped promote Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud, said Friday he received a grand jury subpoena from the Justice Department and intends to cooperate with the investigation.

In a lengthy statement, Alexander denied any wrongdoing and said he is not a target of the investigation, which he said was more clearly aimed at organizers of a Jan. 6 rally near the White House. That event was run by “Women for America First.”

Alexander’s confirmation of a grand jury subpoena is the first public acknowledgment that the Justice Department’s probe of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol has expanded to include organizers of the events that preceded the attack, including some figures adjacent to Trump himself. The issuance of a grand jury subpoena suggests prosecutors believe crimes may have been committed in connection with those events.

Alexander has previously testified to the Jan. 6 select committee, where he talked about his contacts with Republican members of Congress. His cooperation with the Justice Department was first reported by the New York Times.

How strong are Alexander's ties to Jan. 6. In his own words, they are quite strong:

Alexander said in a since-deleted video that he worked with GOP Reps. Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs and Mo Brooks to attempt to use Congress’ Jan. 6 session certifying Joe Biden’s victory as a chance to pressure lawmakers to overturn the electoral results.

“We four schemed up to put maximum pressure on Congress while they were voting,” Alexander said in the video.

Biggs and Brooks have denied any substantive relationship with Alexander. Gosar has declined to address their contacts.

Alexander is also fighting in court to block a subpoena from the select committee for his phone records.

In his lawsuit to block the subpoena, Alexander revealed he had contact on the morning of Jan. 6 with Kimberly Guilfoyle, the fiancée of Donald Trump Jr. who played a role in securing financing for the ellipse rally.

“Ms. Guilfoyle thanked Mr. Alexander for being a leader on voting rights and creating the ‘Stop the Steal’ movement,” Alexander’s lawyers revealed in the filing. “The two spoke about the ongoing Georgia election and the GOP primaries that would take place in 2022. The Select Committee seemed satisfied with Alexander’s explanation of that short call.”

Guilfoyle is still in talks with the select committee about potential testimony.

Alexander's public statement on the subpoena seems designed to minimize his importance to the DOJ investigation. From Politico: 

In his statement, Alexander sought to separate himself from the substance of the investigation, saying he did not coordinate with the Proud Boys and suggesting his contact with the Oath Keepers was limited to accepting an offer for them to act as ushers at an event that never took place: his own permitted event near the Capitol, which didn’t occur because of the mob attack on the Capitol. The Oath Keepers are the subject of conspiracy charges for their roles in breaching the Capitol that day.

“I did not finance the Ellipse equipment. I did not ever talk with the White House about security groups. Any militia working security at the Ellipse belonged to “Women for America First,” not us,” Alexander said. “I did not coordinate any movements with the Proud Boys or even see them that day. I did take Oath Keepers offer to act as ushers for the Area 8 event but all of that was lost in the chaos. I wasn’t in communication with any of the aforementioned groups while I was near the Capitol working to get people away from the building. Lastly, I’m not willing to presume anyone’s guilt.”

“I did nothing wrong and I am not in possession of evidence that anyone else had plans to commit unlawful acts,” Alexander said. “I denounce anyone who planned to subvert my permitted event and the other permitted events of that day on Capitol grounds to stage any counterproductive activities.”

Despite his disavowal of other extremist groups that participated in the Jan. 6 attack, CNN previously unearthed video of Alexander saying he intended to reach out to the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers about doing security for his event.

Abdul Kallon

Did U.S. Judge Abdul Kallon reach an immunity deal with federal investigators, and did that at least partially explain his stunning resignation last week -- giving up a coveted lifetime appointment for no clear-cut reason? Those questions hover over the Birmingham legal community as new chapters unfold in what now might be called the Kallon-Balch-Matrix-Drummond-Alabama Power caper. Meanwhile reports are surfacing of backstage trickery that sound like they come from the pages of a Tom Clancy spy novel. Reports K.B. Forbes at banbalch.com, under the headline "Federal Dragnet? All Eyes on Crosswhite, Alabama Power, and Newly Revealed Alleged Criminal Acts":

Was Kallon offered a deal?

Just three years shy from senior status, Federal Judge Abdul K. Kallon abruptly announced his resignation to a lifetime appointment. He would have had full benefits and privileges.

Multiple legal observers have told us that this resignation makes absolutelyno sense whatsoever.

And people are asking:

• Was Kallon offered full criminal immunity for his cooperation in an alleged federal probe?
• Was Kallon required to resign after he wrapped up current pending or ongoing cases as a condition of an alleged full criminal immunity deal?

Kallon has cited personal reasons in his decision to step down, but do those make sense for a federal judge who is virtually untouchable in his professional life? Writes Forbes:

What Kallon has said to media is that his spouse has taken a job in another state and the usual “shown-the-door” excuse: he wished to spend more time with his family.

But as a federal judge, Kallon could have easilyadjusted his calendar and made time to travel back and forth. Kallon could have taken Fridays off; or a week here and there; and worked with his wife to make the sacrifice for three years until he reached senior status.

The Kallon resignation has indeed rocked Birmingham and the legal community. Our website has had unprecedented traffic these last several days not only from Alabama but across the country. We received an alert this morning from Google Search Console that average daily clicks increased over 1000% percent.

Is the alleged federal dragnet wider and deeper than most people have believed?

Mark A. Crosswhite, the Chairman and CEO of Alabama Power and former Balch & Bingham partner, is allegedly a principal target of the alleged obstruction of justice probe.

The secret deal during the North Birmingham Bribery Trial that kept Alabama Power “unmentionable” during the trial seems to be cornerstone of the allegations of obstruction of justice.

But what may have accelerated the probe are two factors:

• Drummond Company and Alabama Power’s sheer panic during the rebirth of the North Birmingham Bribery Trial in December of 2019.
• The recent Matrix Meltdown that exposed Alabama Power and their concealment of “no-invoice-needed” million-dollar contracts and alleged unsavory and egregious, if not criminal, misconduct.

 The intrigue extends beyond the borders of Alabama:

In Florida, the alleged “ghost candidates” scandal has shaken the vicious and bitter business divorce between Matrix founder “Sloppy Joe” Perkins and his once-protégé Jeff Pitts. While Florida state investigators have been probing since 2021, are the Feds now piggybacking on a broader federal investigation of alleged criminal acts?

Now let’s disclose some details of alleged criminal misconduct.

Were Alabama Power, Balch or Matrix’s hired guns involved or not involved in these alleged acts?

This is where the Clancyesque material gets disturbingly deep:

In the summer of 2020, an orchestrated campaign against us, the CDLU, completely and utterly backfired.

The buffoons targeted the wrong family at the wrong address, hired a rabble-rouser who was later issued multiple arrest warrants by three different law enforcement agencies, and even had a once-respected journalist amputate his brain to defend the indefensible.

As we reported before, at the height of the orchestrated campaign someone attempted stupidly to impersonate our Executive Director, K.B. Forbes, and his then-eight-year old daughter in two attempts to illegally obtain banking information from Bryant Bank, a regional bank in Alabama.

The criminal suspect(s) had private, confidential information including full bank account numbers. Federal investigators were briefed and intrigued.

At the time, in the fall of 2020, we learned from investigators of another incident that occurred at the same time reminding us of President Richard M. Nixon’s “White House Plumbers.”

The law offices of Burt Newsome saw a single corporate binder checkbook stolen from their offices. The weekly cleaning crew disconnected the security camera and alleged they needed to plug in a vacuum cleaner, an apparent lie. Four plug outlets were available on the eight plug outlet, according to investigators.

And what checkbook was stolen? Only one of several client trust accounts Newsome Law has at various financial institutions.

And what bank was targeted from all the multiple checkbook binders? Bryant Bank. Were the “plumbers” really this sloppy, this stupid?

Can happenstance explain the Bryant Bank connection to both of these incidents? We don't have a clear answer at the moment, but Forbes shares a number of insights:

    And what appears to have had Alabama Power and Balch & Bingham panties in a wad?

    The $2 million grant the CDLU received in 2019 (which we can declare on the record has nothing to do with Balch & Bingham, Alabama Power, Matrix or their competitors) caused them to defecate  rainbows. The grant is related to our two decades of healthcare and consumer protection advocacy, and helped us pay off debt, including multiple years of back-pay, long-ago legal fees, and unpaid rent as we honored promises made to our employees, consultants, landlords, and lawyers during the Great Recession.

    But the smear artists, hired whores, and yellow journalists do not care. The have no            honor. They  have no integrity. They have no moral compass.

    And now a dragnet appears to be sweeping them up.

    Kallon appears to be another carcass. Will more carcasses be wheeled out soon?

Hugo Black Courthouse

Two assistant U.S. attorneys (AUSAs) in the Northern District of Alabama apparently resigned about 24 hours after federal judge Abdul Kallon announced his resignation last week, according to a report at banbalch.com.

Who are the USAs, what do their resignations mean, and are they tied to the curious Kallon announcement, where he stated plans to give up a coveted lifetime appointment -- apparently because his wife had received an attractive job offer from out-of-state? Those are just three entries on a growing list of unanswered questions swirling around the Hugo Black Courthouse in downtown Birmingham. But the questions add to the sense that something big is brewing on the local legal scene.

A federal judge makes a stunning resignation announcement, followed by two U.S. attorneys hitting the exits? Those kinds of events are well outside the norm. Writes Ban Balch Publisher K.B. Forbes:

Over the weekend, the same high-level sources who accurately told us about Federal Judge Abdul K. Kallon’s abrupt resignation last Wednesday, alleged that two Assistant U.S. Attorneys in Birmingham have resigned a mere 24 hours later.

Yesterday, we, the CDLU, reached out to the Public Affairs Specialist for the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama.  We finally spoke at about 2:00 p.m. CDT yesterday afternoon.

We told her that we had heard that two AUSAs had resigned last Thursday.

She stated, “Oh yes…,” and then caught herself, saying after a pause, “I’ll have to check on this. Do you have names?” We told her that we did not, but we were calling to verify the news and obtain the names since it is highly unusual for two AUSAs to resign simultaneously.  

She asked what blog we were, and we told her BanBalch.com the site that published the photos of disgraced ex-U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town having cocktails with Mark A. Crosswhite, the Chairman and CEO of Alabama Power and former partner at embattled law firm Balch & Bingham. She acknowledged that she knew the site.

The public affairs specialist suddenly was in no hurry to confirm what a reliable source already had told Forbes:

We emphasized that we wanted to hear it from the horse’s mouth since last week our reliable source also told us of Judge Kallon’s resignation and we spoke to his clerk who confirmed the fact with a sigh.

She never replied even though we texted her cell phone Monday evening asking her to confirm or deny. This morning, we let her know we were on a drop-dead deadline. We left her a voicemail a little before 12:30 p.m CDT today.

The silence was beyond deafening, and confirmed to us that the reports of twin resignations had merit.

Now, moments ago she replied via text, “We have no comment.”

Maybe we know something we shouldn’t know.