north//chapter thirteen

genre: angst

pairing: season twelve spencer reid x female oc

warnings: prison arc, blood, implications of being drugged, self harm under implications of being drugged, physical violence, mentions of abuse (lmk if i missed anyting)

word count: 8.2k

summary: spencer’s post-mexico hardships continue on, and get much worse, while amelia has a concerning experience in her own apartment

i hope u all like this chapter! enjoy!! like, comment, and reblog!! reblogging helps so much❤️

SPENCER

The feeling of abandonment is one that I'm far too familiar with. I hadn't expected to be completely abandoned by the FBI and to not have their support in this battle. I know that I have the support of my team and of Amelia, but when the FBI says that they won't support me and help me stay out of jail or prison, it's disheartening. It’s crushing. It leaves me feeling cold as I sit against a cinderblock wall. 

Sitting in jail is boring. It is, by far, the most boring thing I've ever done in my life. I sit and stare at the wall all day while I regret my decisions and listen to the detainees around me scream and shout. The team individually comes by the visit but it's only for a short amount of time because they're working so hard. They're working on my case at the same time they're working on other cases that they would normally take and I know that they can't come to entertain me. I fully understand why, but I wish it didn’t have to be this way. I wish I could be home.

But Amelia never comes. I told her not to come. She doesn't need to see me like this. She has seen enough. I'm a completely broken mess, rotting away in a jail cell and I don't need her crying over me or providing more content for her nightmares. I asked Emily to relay this message to her and I was told she cried and didn't speak to anyone for a few hours. She's been staying in a BAU interview room and will only go home for a few hours every few days, and I don't blame her. If the roles were reversed, I wouldn't want to go home. But it breaks my heart to know how much Amelia is hurting without me and that I can't help her. I choose to pretend like she doesn’t exist so I won’t think about her. I pretend like I’m living the way I was before I met her. Alone, work-obsessed, with nobody but myself to confide in. It’s easy to forget her during the day when there’s a stream of sunlight flooding in from the tiny window to my right. But then I lay down at night and reach for her waist, or wait to feel her hand on my cheek, or crane my neck to kiss her, I crash back down to earth and remember that I can’t be with the woman I love because of my idiotic decisions.

Emily manages to get me in touch with an old friend hers who is willing to be my lawyer, a wonderful woman named Fiona. She's blunt and she knows what she's talking about and I appreciate that. And now that I have representation, we can move onto the trial and maybe I can go home. I try to absorb some of Amelia’s optimism and stay hopeful that I’ll be released on bail, but my own nasty pessimism rears its ugly head and pulverizes any sign of hope. 

Fiona wants me to plead guilty to a crime I didn't commit. I'll only get two to five years as opposed to twenty-five to life, but how could I plead guilty? My memories may be blurry for the first time ever but I know I would never kill that woman. That medicine she was providing me with helping my mom. Why would I kill her? There was another person in that motel room and if my brain would just cooperate and just confirm that it was Scratch, this could all be over.

If I plead guilty then Fiona says I can be released on bail pending trial. Rossi said he would be willing to post my bail, no matter the cost. I'm grateful for him and his generosity but as I spend my time sitting and staring at the wall and the ceiling and the concrete and the mold, the more I don't want to plead guilty. I want to fight this. I have complete faith in my team and their abilities to find Scratch. We found him once and we'll find him again.

"I'm gonna fight it."

That's what I tell Fiona. Being the supportive lawyer she is, she nods and goes on her way, but she comes back far too soon. She doesn't return with a suit for my trial or a date for my trial or handcuffs so I can be transported to my trial. She comes back with Emily.

"Spencer," Fiona sighs, "the Mexican authorities found the murder weapon in the desert. The theory is that you threw it out the window in the car chase. The previous offer you didn't want is off the table. The new offer is to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter and get five to ten years."

"Gosh," Emily breathes, hanging her head. "There's nothing you can do?"

"Your DNA is on it and the blade matches the blade that cut your hand," Fiona explains. "Spencer, if you don't take this offer, there will be no more offers. And if you lose your trial, you're going to prison. I need to know what you're going to do."

"I'm-"

"Spencer," Emily cuts me off. "Can we talk privately?"

Fiona nods and collects her things, leaving the room and Emily takes her spot. As soon as the door is closed, I shake my head at Emily. "I can't plead guilty to something I didn't do."

"You could do life in prison," she whispers, and I can see her eyes start to tear up. I ignore them.

"You guys will find Scratch. I know you will." I nod stubbornly, falsely confident.

"Yes, we will. We will never stop looking for him. But what if we can do that this month? Or this year? Or this-" she shutters, "decade? Because we sure as hell can't do it before your trial."

I look down at my hands, observing the bandages over my hand. It stings and burns constantly and I wish it would go away. "How's Amelia? Is she still staying at the BAU?"

"Mostly," Emily responds. "Her friend- Jenna, I think- has come by a bunch to take her home and back. She's stayed at Jenna's a few times but she stays mostly in the interview rooms and in Garcia's room. She's, um, well, she's mad at you, Reid."

I scoff out a laugh, rolling my eyes. "Because I won't let her come here?"

"Exactly," there's no humor in her voice. "She just wants to see you. She wants to see that you're okay and it might help you feel better to see her and talk to her a bit. You can talk out decisions like this with her. She's your girlfriend and you were planning on moving in with her and JJ told us you were supposed to go buy an engagement ring for her. She deserves to be involved in this and not at the BAU, suffering and crying and having panic attacks-"

"She's having panic attacks?" My eyes widen, my back straightening up as the red flags start popping up in my head. Is she okay? Have her attacks been so bad that they have warranted a hospital trip? How is her breathing? Has she gone nonverbal? "Wha- is she-"

"Yeah, she’s had some. She obviously had that one with JJ and Garcia and she had one on Monday and she couldn’t speak for an hour.” 

"She usually goes nonverbal," I murmur, bringing my hands to my face and trying to avoid biting my nails out of nervousness. "Okay, okay, don't ever touch her until she can speak again. Keep a really calm and low voice and don't freak out because that makes it worse. Get her head between her knees and keep her sitting and get her water and-"

"Spencer, I know how to help a panic attack. We need to be talking about your trial," Emily protests.

"And after her attacks, she usually needs physical attention and she needs comfort and sometimes-"

"You're gonna go to prison, Reid!" Emily shouts, effectively shutting me up. "It's scary to accept but we have to talk about it! You could go to prison for a very long time if you don't accept this deal! Stop talking about your girlfriend’s panic attacks and talk about the situation at hand."

My face hardens and I drop my hands again, sighing. "I can't plead guilty. I just can't."

It's the answer she should have expected, and I'm sure she knew it was coming. Before I even finished, she was out of her seat and banging on the door for a guard to take her away. And yet again I'm left to myself and my thoughts, playing the blurry images over and over again, trying to make out faces and events and names. But there's nothing and I'm left to wonder if I'm going to die in a prison cell.

///

AMELIA

///

My dress has bunched up around my thighs but I can't find it in me to pull it down, even in a courthouse. My legs are full of goosebumps from the air conditioning and my denim jacket isn't doing much to help. I stare down at my lap, my hands resting there with Spencer's medallion between my fingers. The empty space on my hand between my pointer finger and thumb looks too empty and it makes my heart beat faster. I look from the medallion to my hand and back, and I suddenly want to rush out of this goddamn courthouse.

"Amelia," I hear Penelope's voice coming closer, and when I look up, the whole team is approaching.

"Hi," I smile weakly, standing and finally adjusting the hem of my dress. "You guys made it. How was the case?"

"Did they call Reid's case yet?" Luke asks, ignoring my formality question about the case.

"No, but they're about to," I shake my head, gesturing to an open door a few feet away.

They all start walking that way, but I don't follow. I make the decision to choose the horrible wooden bench over the even worse pew-like benches in the court. I had been so upset about not seeing Spencer, but maybe it was a blessing in disguise. Now that I'm faced with the idea of seeing him, I don't want to. I don't want to see him in handcuffs again, or sleep-deprived, or being told off by a judge or prosecutor. I know the BAU has virtually no evidence to support Spencer and that the judge isn't going to rule in his favor. I know that, the pessimist in me knows that. I don't need to see that.

"Amelia?" Dave is standing in front of me and I know it's him from his expensive looking shoes. "You're not coming in?"

"No, I don't need to-" I choke on my words, clutching the medallion in my hand, "to see this happen. I don't want to hear it."

"This doesn't have anything to do with the fact that you're not on Spencer's approved visitor’s list?"

"Maybe," It's taken me two years to learn not to lie to a profiler. "I don't know. But I don't want to see him, Dave. Please go. I'll be here."

I don't even need to ask. The look on their faces tells me everything. The way everyone holds themselves when they walk out and the way they glance around tells me what I need to know. Nobody looks up at me and nobody is running to me for a hug. Spencer isn’t at my side. 

I chew on my cheeks and choke down my tears as I stand, meeting them in the middle of the hallway when they walk toward me. "So how bad was it?"

Stephen is the first fearless one to speak up. "The judge decided he was a flight risk,"

I furrow my eyebrows. "A flight risk? Seriously? My Spencer?"

Tara nods shamefully. "He didn't use his FBI passport, he didn't inform the bureau, the prosecutor claimed he had connections all over the world and could get a fake passport and go on the run if he was released on bail. The judge agreed."

"So what now? What happens to him?" Penelope moves towards me and grabs onto my hand, enlacing our fingers. If she didn’t do that, I might have fallen to the floor in a puddle of tears.

"He's gonna go back to the federal jail," Luke answers. "His trial is in three months and that'll determine if he goes to prison or not."

"Penelope?" I whisper and she just hums in response. "Will you come with me?"

"Of course. Whatever you need," Penelope nods, giving everyone a soft, slightly concerned smile before I lead her away.

///

"Um, seriously?"

"Yeah."

"Now?"

"Yeah, now."

"You or me?"

"Me. Why, do you want one? I'll draw whatever you want."

"No thanks."

I pull open the door and let Penelope walk in first, even though she seems incredibly hesitant, practically tiptoeing through the threshold. She manages to get me to crack a tiny smile, but that's the most she gets before I just revert to my sadness.

"Zav!" I call, noticing the front desk is empty. Nonetheless, I walk up and grab a post-it and a pen, starting to scribble little drawings.

Zav comes wandering from the back of the tattoo parlor at the sound of my voice, smiling. "Oh, hey there! Been a while since I've seen you. Here for some new ink? It's about time you added to your sleeves."

"Just something really quick," I tell him, picking up the post-it with the sixth design I'd drawn. "Not on my arm. On my hand, right here," I gesture to the empty space between my thumb and pointer finger.

"Sounds easy enough," Zav nods, then smiles at Penelope. "Hi, friend. Do I get the pleasure of inking you today?"

Penelope's eyes widen and she hastily shakes her head. "No, no, I'm just here with-- with-"

"No tattoos for her, just me." I save her from more stuttering and Zav puts his hands up in surrender. He winks at Penelope before sitting me in a chair and starting on the stencil.

“So,” Garcia asks over the buzzing of the tattoo gun, “what does this one mean? You've said that all your tattoos mean something. What's this one? And why is it so important that we do it now, after the trial?"

Careful not to disturb Zav's work, I reach into my pocket and pull out Spencer's medallion. I hold it up and show Penelope the compass, and she nods in a confused understanding. "When Spencer was in recovery, he was always told that north is the right way to go and obviously, going the right way is the road to recovery and being clean. Well, he told me that ever since he met me, he considered me to be his north or his reason to go north. I've been wanting this tattoo for a long time. Just never got around to getting it."

"That's really sweet," Penelope whispers, smiling at me. "How much pain are you in?"

"A lot," I answer through gritted teeth. "This one is right on my bone and those are the worst, but it's small so it's fine. It'll be done soon."

As anticipated, the tattoo is done within another few minutes. A compass rose with north labeled. Simple. But it’s beautiful and it’s the perfect reminder of Spencer while he’s gone. Temporarily gone. He’s going to come home. Soon.

He's going to jail. He's going to be sitting in jail for three months and I won't be able to see him, and then after that, he still might go to prison. No matter how much he reminds himself that I'm his north, and no matter how much time I spend at the BAU, no matter how many of his shirts I wear, no matter how many times I visit Diana and Cassie, it means absolutely nothing. The justice system is horrible and I know they have a job to do but why can't they see that my Spencer is innocent? Sure, he broke some protocol but all he was doing was trying to help his mom. It's not his fault that a serial killer was targeting the team and decided to sabotage his trip. He should be at home on bail and he should be searching for Scratch so his name can be cleared.

"Amelia?" Penelope's voice breaks me out of my trance and I notice that Zav has already walked away, probably to the front desk to ring me up. She rests her hand on my shoulder and gives me that same pitiful smile that everyone keeps giving me. "We're gonna get him out. We know he didn't do this."

"I miss him," I admit shakily, eyes locked on my new ink. "I know that I spend all my time at the BAU but everything reminds me of him. When I go home with Jenna, we pass by the cafe that me and him went to almost every day. Whenever I see someone carrying a revolver on tv or in the building, it makes me think of his gun. God, P, whenever I braid my hair, it makes me think of him. I functioned before I met him but with him, I was living and actually enjoying my life for the first time. But now that he's gone again," I look up at her, my lips quivering, "how am I supposed to live?"

Penelope opens her mouth to answer but then closes it again. She drags me into a hug, tighter than any hug we’ve had before. I let her squeeze the life out of me because it’s the only thing that feels similar to the way Spencer scoops me up and hugs me after being away on a case. "I wish I had a good answer. We're all hurting and we're all trying to get through this. As long as we lean on each other and you leave the crime fighting up to us, we'll get through this."

///

I stir awake, bundled up beneath a scratchy, knitted blanket and my head resting on a flat pillow. A yawn escapes my mouth before I even open my eyes, my body begging me to go back to sleep. I blatantly ignore it though, swinging my legs over the side of the couch and yawning again.

"Good morning, sunshine," Jenna comes wandering into her living room, holding out a cup of tea for me, "sleep well?"

I shake my head, sipping the not-well-made tea. "No,” I keep myself from scrunching up my nose at the odd taste, “I didn’t.” 

Jenna gives me a tiny smile as she sits on the couch beside me. "Maybe you should try melatonin. I heard you watching tv at three in the morning." When I don't respond to her really smart and helpful suggestion, she moves on. "How's the tattoo?"

"Itchy," I glance at the covering of my tattoo, then shrug. "It's whatever. I'm used to it. What are you doing today?"

"Well, me and Frankie were gonna go do a shoot today. You should come. You haven't done any shoots in a while. I'm sure Frankie would love your help," Jenna encourages softly.

I shake my head yet again and take the last drink of my tea, then put the mug on the floor. "Thanks but no thanks. I'm gonna go to the BAU today. But I'm gonna shower first. I'll let you know what I'm doing tonight. Thanks for letting me stay here." And without another word, I stand and walk off to the too-bright bathroom.

Going into the BAU used to always be a fun experience. I looked forward to seeing Penelope and lounging around in her lair, and I looked forward to leaving little gifts for Spencer on his desk, and I looked forward to greeting the team when they arrived home from cases. The BAU quickly became like a second home to me when I started dating Spencer and I went there at every chance I could. But now the BAU is a reminder of the situation at hand, and despite the fact that I'm spending so much time here, I wish I didn't have to. The constant reminder is painful. Seeing Spencer’s desk and all of his belongings arranged in the perfect way he needs them to be is maybe the hardest part. Every time I look through the glass doors, my heart breaks a little more.

I've come to learn that seeing the team huddled up and speaking in hushed tones is never a good thing. But it's the first thing I see when the elevator doors open. My eyes are locked on them before I even open the glass doors to the bullpen. Penelope's eyes are wide and she's clinging to Luke's side and everyone is just looking concerned. That's never a good sign. They are federal agents and have seen the worst of the worst. They should be able to have some kind of poker face, no matter the situation. 

JJ is the first to notice me, and when she looks up, she almost grimaces. "Amelia."

Okay. They didn't get a case. This is about Spencer. Something happened with Spencer. Did he get beat up in jail? Did they find more evidence? If they found more evidence, then it's surely not in Spencer's favor. What did they find? What are they hesitant to tell me? Why does everyone look like they’ll burst into tears if I say one wrong word? What the hell happened?

I keep a few feet between me and them, clutching the straps of my backpack, my breath caught in my throat. "What's going on?" I ask, my voice quieter than I expected it to be. "Is Spencer okay?"

The team shares glances and Penelope bows her head, and all the horrible thoughts in my head intensify. Emily clears her throat and my eyes dart over to her. "Spencer," she speaks strongly and confidently, "was transferred to prison this morning."

Spencer likes to put a mountain of sugar in his coffee. Spencer can only fall asleep if he’s read at least two books while lying in bed. And, of course, only after he has received what he deems as a sufficient amount of kisses from me. Spencer prefers to take the train to work instead of driving. Spencer likes to hold my hand when we walk the street. Spencer orders swirled soft serve at every ice cream parlor. Spencer wears purple whenever he gets the chance.

Spencer doesn't fight. Spencer isn't violent. Spencer isn't a criminal. Spencer hates shooting his gun and he wouldn’t even walk around with it on his hip until I told him it didn't bother me. Spencer doesn't resort to violence to solve his problems. He’s the one who puts the violent people where they deserve. Those killers and rapists deserve to be in prison. Not the man who thinks it’s bad luck to wear matching socks. Definitely not the man who mumbles my name in his sleep and whines if he reaches over and I’m not sleeping beside him.

My Spencer doesn't belong in prison.

I'm stunned into silence for a moment and it's almost like I'm waiting for someone to tell me this is a joke. Spencer's not in prison with the worst of the worst. That he's not with the people that he has spent his life hunting and putting away. He isn’t locked inside with people who could be sentenced to life in prison, or in a cell people who will kill him just to have a new pair of shoes, or people who have nothing left to lose.

"He's-" I gulp but my saliva tastes sour and it burns my throat, "he's in prison?"

"There was overcrowding in the jail," Tara explains softly. "I know it's not ideal but-"

"He's-" I cut her off, my voice sharp, "he's in prison? He's in prison with the same people that you guys put away and he's-" my hands fall from my backpack and tears start to fall down cheeks, my eyes darting around until they land on Rossi. "He's with people like my-"

"Why don't you come with me?" Dave cuts me off, stepping forward, holding his arm out for me.

As I break down into sobs, he leads me into his office, sitting me down on a couch as he closes the door. I curl up into myself and cry, and cry, and cry for my boyfriend who is suffering immensely for a crime he didn't commit. He's locked inside a cage with horrible people like my father and he can't escape.

"Amelia, we're gonna get him out," Dave pulls up a chair in front of me, letting out a sigh that doesn't do much to convince me. "We're spending every second we can on his case and searching for evidence that will-"

"He's gonna be in a fucking prison," I sneer, lifting my head, revealing my smudging makeup and tear-stained cheeks, "with people like my father!" Dave sighs again, ducking his head. He doesn't say anything and I don't know what to make of that. "He's gonna be with killers and rapists and abusers and men who kill their wife and son and leave their orphaned daughter to be abused in foster homes!"

"Amelia, I don't know if this will help you at all but, just so you know, serial killers are not held in general population. Serial killers have their own specific wings and they don't get mixed up with the other inmates."

I scoff, staring down at my lap, watching as my tears drip onto my clothes. "Inmates. I guess that's all he is now, right? An inmate?"

"No, Amelia, he's not just another inmate," Dave shakes his head and leans forward, trying to offer me comfort by proximity, but it just makes me feel cramped and overwhelmed. "We're going to get him out of there. I promise."

His promise only makes me cry more. I'd do anything to hear Spencer make another promise to me. I'd do anything just to see him again, but Spencer didn't want me in a jail and I can't imagine he'd want me in a prison. I won't be able to see him, or hear him, or feel him until he gets exonerated. That's going to take days, weeks, months. It could take years.  Could go years without seeing his smile and feeling his touch and listening to him ramble on and on about whatever random factoid surfaces in his brain.

"You should go back to work," I whisper, wiping my cheeks. "Sitting here and watching me cry doesn't help anyone. I'll go somewhere else and worry by myself."

I stand and adjust my backpack, but the whole world just seems wrong. It seems like it's spinning and it feels like I just don't belong here. It feels like I've slipped into a different dimension that I don't belong in. It feels like I should just be able to take a nap and wake up and Spencer will be right next to me, kissing my neck and telling me he has to go to work. I'm waiting for the day that I can experience that again.

///

SPENCER

///

I never thought I'd be in prison. Maybe that's a dumb statement, but it's true. I thought my closest relation to prison would be sending criminals there, occasionally going in to interview inmates, and seldom breaking up riots and breaks. I never thought I'd be forced into blues and shower shoes and thrown into my own cell. I never thought this would become my life. I never thought I'd be sitting out on the prison yard, surveying my fellow inmates and wondering who I should avoid and who I could trust enough to keep me alive long enough for me to return home.

"Sup?" A group of three men I recognize from previously stroll up to me, their hands tucked in their pockets, and that alone makes me more nervous than their confident aura. I rise to my feet when they approach me, not out of obedience, but just because I don't want them to hold too much power over me in height. "Got any bats?"

I furrow my eyebrows in the slightest. "Bats?" Maybe I should've listened to Amelia when she rattled off her slang. Amelia.

"Cigarettes," the same guy clarifies as if it's the most obvious thing in the world, glancing towards his buddy next to him. I fight the urge to jump as the redhead slings his arm over my shoulder, standing uncomfortably close to me. If I wasn't in a prison, I'd rattle off how many germs he passed on to me just by doing that, but I know I'd get beat up for doing so. I keep my mouth shut.

"No, sorry, I don't smoke," it's my honest answer, but I almost instantly regret it. Will they kill me just because I don't have any cigarettes to give them? Is that how it works in here?

"Yeah," that same inmate keeps speaking, "I think I'm gonna quit." But then he narrows his eyes at me and takes a step closer. "You okay, man?"

"Yeah," I answer, but I know my unsure sounding voice has completely betrayed me, "I'm o-okay, thanks."

The third man chuckles and crosses his arms over his chest. "Does he look okay to you?"

The redhead leans in closer to me and it takes all my self control not to cringe. "Looks like he's gonna cry."

"Or wet his pants," the first man laughs, and the other two join in with their own chuckles. "Hey, we're just messing- out of respect, you know? It's all over the yard that you stole from Milos."

I quickly shake my head, finally gaining the confidence to shake the redhead’s arm off of me. Well, if they said they respect me, I might as well. He doesn't put up a fight when I do so. "But I didn't steal from Milos. That was my stuff."

"No," Redhead interrupts, "that was a tribute. Everyone has to pay when they join the group."

I glance between the three of them and they're all stony-faced, but I'm confused. I don't get it. What are they talking about? It's clear to them, but not to me. "What group?" I dare to ask the question.

The third man scoffs yet again. "You're kidding, right? Take a look around. They outnumber us.”

"So we gotta stick together," Redhead goes on, and it all starts to make sense. A gang. They want me to join their gang. Am I gang material? Is this a compliment? Is this some weird, sick, twisted, prison-style compliment? "In here, we're the minority."

They're serious, and it's obvious. There are no chuckles. There are no side eye glances. My profiler skills aren't going off and telling me that they're lying. They're serious. They want me to join a gang.

What would happen if I accept? Does that make me a target by the majority? Will that make the majority look at me and want to take me out? I have to survive three months, at most, in here and that's it. I have to do whatever I need to stay alive for three months, and that's it. But what if I reject them? Will that make me an even bigger target if I say no? Will they take that rejection lightly? I can't imagine they would. Which is the lesser of the two evils? Do I really want to join a gang during my three month prison stay? Would I want to join a gang at all?

"I'm not interested," I say quickly, and attempt to make a quick exit. "Thanks anyway."

Before I can even leave, they catch me. "No, no, no," the first guy shakes his head, his arm now around my shoulders, his jaw clenched, "that's not the way this is gonna go."

"Hey," the third guy interrupts, "Tony-O is over there and he's waiting for us,"

The first guy pats my chest and, thankfully, lets me go. "Okay, my man, we gotta go. But," the three start to back away with devious smiles that I've seen far too many times on psychopaths, "no worries, we'll catch you tonight."

They'll catch me tonight. That can't be good. My eyes follow them as they approach someone else, but when they start chatting like friends, I look away. But then my eyes land on someone I can't look away from because he looks familiar. I know for a fact I didn't see him in the room of cots, but I know I've seen him before.

Ever since the situation in Mexico, my brain has been a little bit slow to react and recall faces and facts, but suddenly, it comes to me. I squint my eyes as a name flashes in my head. Calvin Shaw. He was an FBI agent who killed a criminal agent who was working for a Russian mob. He turned himself in and he's been here ever since, but I studied his case in school and he's become an example at the bureau of what not to do.

He's here? At this prison? And why is he staring at me like that? Does he know who I am? Do I radiate federal agent energy? Amelia talks about people's energy's all the time. Maybe I should've listened to her. I'm realizing that maybe I should have appreciated her more than I did. If I get out of here, I need to lay down all my love for that girl as soon as possible.

The guards blow their whistles and shout for us to line up so they start the process of corralling us back inside. Some inmates are brought back to their cells while others, like me, are brought to rooms with a bunch of cots lined up.

Time takes forever to pass by in prison. There's nothing to do and there's no type of stimulation. I just sit on my bed and try to tune out the chatter surrounding me. I try my hardest not to let my mind wander off to my friends or my girlfriend or my mother because I'll go crazy if I start worrying about them. They're fine without me, I bet.

I sit on my bed with my knees to my chest and guard the box of things I'd fought to get back from another inmate, making sure they don't get stolen yet again. That decision to reclaim my things almost got me killed once and I don't feel like getting in that situation again.

It's nearly impossible to tell what time it is because there are no windows but eventually, a few guards come by to scream at us to shut up. Wilkins looks around as the room falls silent and then informs us that it’s lights out.

My heart starts to pound when the lights go dark and the guards walk away because, despite the darkness, I see three familiar men rise from their cots and stalk over to me. Like on the yard, I rise to my feet just so they don't get too much power over me. I know that I've made the right decision to do so when one man pulls out a makeshift knife he's clearly made from a bed frame or something he smuggled in. The panic and unfiltered fear settle in. My instincts tell me to run, but there is nowhere to go. I don’t have a gun to defend myself, there is no way to talk these men down like I’ve done to others in the past, there’s nothing I can do. I’m all on my own.

One guy smirks, stepping up to me. "It's party time."

The two other men quickly grab my arms and tie my wrists behind my back, then shove a sock in my mouth to keep me quiet and muffle the sounds of me screaming, just so a guard doesn't come in and interrupt. Is that good? Does that mean they're not planning on killing me? They're just going to beat me up?

They start dragging me off, into the connected bathroom and my screams echo even louder off the wall. I'm doing what I can to get out of the grasps of the men but I've never been physically strong. Maybe I should've taken the fit tests more seriously. Maybe I should've gone training when Morgan asked me to go. Maybe I should've taken my life more seriously.

"So," there's another man with a thick accent standing there already, his arms crossed over his chest, "you're too good to be with us? We offer you friendship and what do you do? Spit in our faces."

The redhead tightens his grip on my arm. "Thinks he can survive in here without our help."

"You," the man with the accent grabs the knife, "you need to show some respect," he brings the knife up to my face and traces the blade across my skin. I'm not sure what they're planning on doing to my face but I know it won't feel good.

"Do it," one guy encourages, smirking.

"Back off," there's another voice now, and the four men holding me stop in their tracks, "now." I turn my head to see who my savior is, and it's none other than Calvin Shaw. "Untie him," he says, and the guys behind me quickly do so, and take the sock out of my mouth. "Now get out of here," he tells me and gestures back into the main room. I hesitate, but Calvin gives me a pointed look. "Go on. Go."

I high tail it out of there, my heart pounding harder than it ever has before. I think it could positively burst out of my chest as I return to my cot. It dawns on me now how many people are in this room, and not a single one of them stepped up to help me. Nobody yelled for a guard or helped me fend off the gang or did anything at all.

So I sit down on my cot and I don't even lay down. I don't dare to go to sleep and I barely even blink. I'm even paranoid that, due to the position of my cot, there are people behind me that I can't see. I'm too freaked out. I'm too scared that those men will come back and kill me for real.

I've faced the scariest men and women in the world. I've witnessed things that I never should have and I've talked myself out of horrible situations. I can't escape this. I can't flash my identification or shoot a few bullets and then go home to Amelia. I can't do that. I have to spend every second of my life with my guard up, watching my back at the same time I'm watching my front and my sides just to make sure no one is coming for me. It's day one and I'm already panicked and I'm already lost. I just want to go home.

///

The next two days are like walking on eggshells. I'm constantly watching my back, front, and sides and I'm making sure to keep everyone in front of me at all times. I can't move my cot without risking a fight so I'm barely sleeping at night. I force myself to stay awake to guard myself and protect myself from any possible attacks.

I get to have a talk with Calvin at a time when the cell blocks are open, and he shows nothing but compassion for me. He believes my innocence, shares the story of his sentence, and gives me a book I've never read before. It feels good to have someone I can trust. I can tell he's powerful in this prison, judging by the way he told those gang guys to stop beating me up and they immediately complied. Sitting in his cell is the only time I allowed myself to relax in the slightest.

But that relaxation is short lived because soon the guards are telling us to get back to where we belong. We get cuffed and shoved along to our cells or wherever else, and I get back to my cot. I sit with my knees to my chest and prop my eyes wide open, despite how utterly exhausted I am. I've barely slept in the three days I've been here and I don't know how much longer I can stand this.

"Reid," my name is called by a guard along with a few other names, and we all quickly rise to our feet. "Grab your things and let’s go."

I quickly grab my little bucket of belongings that I've been guarding with my life and hold it close to my chest as I approach the guards. I'm thankful that they don't cuff us as they take us one by one into different blocks.

Wilkins, of course, is gripping my arm harder than he needs to be as he shoves me along a corridor. I keep my eyes forward and no matter how badly I want to see what prisoners I'm walking past, I don't let my eyes wander. I've already seen a guy beat someone else up on the yard just for looking at him and I'm not wanting that to be my future.

"Hold," Wilkins snaps, and I force my feet to freeze in their spot. Then I feel him shoving me inside with, again, more force than needed. "Now get in there." Once I wiggle my way through, not really fitting with the tray I'm holding, Wilkins shouts for the door to close. He gives me another look before stomping away, leaving me all alone in my new home.

I set my tray down on the little table beside me and immediately notice the book on the bed. It's the one that Calvin had told me about yesterday, and I guess he arranged for it to be in my cell.

"Hey," I suddenly hear Calvin's voice from the cell beside mine, "welcome to the neighborhood!"

///

AMELIA

///

I throw my backpack onto the floor of my apartment, locking the door behind me, groaning in pain with every step I take. I dread when I'll eventually have to walk up to my room, but I plan on avoiding it as long as possible.

I start on my walk to the kitchen for a drink, probably a huge glass of wine, but then I stop in my tracks when there's a small, cold breeze against my legs. I shake it off and drag myself into the kitchen. The window is closed and the plants on the windowsill are half dead. Of course, they are. I haven't been home enough to water them.

I grab a wine glass from a cabinet that's far too high for me, definitely placed there by Spencer, and fill it almost to the brim. I toss the entire drink back in seconds and then pour another drink. Once I have my second glass in my hand, I fill a new glass with water and start to feed my dead plants that are probably past the point of return. Once I've quenched the kitchen plants, I move to the bigger one beside the balcony door.

As I approach it, I roll my eyes. I've located the source of the breeze and it's coming from the cracked open balcony door. I’ve left the door open for two days straight. I shake my head at myself and pour the rest of the water into the plant before closing and clicking the lock on the balcony door.

I barely even realize that my hand starts to shake while I pour the water into the plant. I'm blinded by tears that I don't feel coming and something in my mind tells me that the more wine I drink, the less I'll cry. Drink more wine. Drink more wine. So I gulp down the rest of my wine glass and ignore it as my head starts to get fuzzy.

I throw both glasses into the sink and then grab the cracked open wine bottle, taking a long sip. Drink more wine. Drink more wine.

It smells sweet in the kitchen. Did I light a candle? What in the kitchen smells like bubblegum?

My body is moving around the kitchen and through the living room, but my brain is so fuzzy and everything is so blurry that it doesn’t even feel like I’m moving. I feel like I’m floating with my lids drooping closed, hands moving like they’re being told to. I nearly collapse against the couch, but it feels like I’m pulled back up and pushed back to my feet. Drink more wine. You want to drink more wine. 

I grab the bottle and chug down the rest of the contents, my trembling hand dropping it to the ground. I barely even jolt when it shatters at my feet.

The glass, it feels like I have a voice whispering instructions in my ear. Pick up the glass. I fall to my knees and grip a piece of jagged glass in my hand, watching blood come to the surface and stain the clear surface. Tighter. I oblige, watching a drop of blood fall to the floor. A drop stains my jeans. Go to the stairs. 

I toss the glass aside and crawl to the stairs, collapsing at the bottom and dropping my head onto a stair. I bring my knees to my chest, my cries fill the apartment as I slump down, my whole body shaking as I sob. I'm not sure how long it takes me to fall asleep on the staircase, but I do, and the alcohol keeps me asleep the whole night, something I haven't been able to do in a while.

///

"Amelia? Hey, are you here? I hope you are, the door's unlocked."

I whine as I'm roused from my sleep, and as I start to move, I'm expected to be comforted by my duvet. But instead, I go sliding down two steps of my staircase, groaning as I hit my hip. I press the heels of my hands into my eyes as I process the intense pounding in my head.

"Are you-" Penelope comes and stands in front of me, freezing when she sees me, "whoa, you look awful."

I let out a humorless laugh, rolling my eyes. "Gee, thanks."

She observes my surroundings- bloody hand, smudged makeup, messy hair, wrinkled clothes, tear-stained cheeks, sleeping on the stairs. It's not hard to tell what's going on, especially for someone who has been hanging around profilers for over a decade. I'm sure everyone on the team can see that I'm spiraling, and it's obvious to Penelope too.

"How'd you get in?" I ask, shakily pushing myself to my feet and grabbing onto the railing to steady myself.

"Well, I knocked and you didn't answer but the door was unlocked. I came to check up on you because I know you were really upset yesterday. I, well,” she pauses, wringing her hands together, “I'm not really sure what I say but I'm really sorry if I-"

"No," I cut her off, shaking my head, hugging the railing and trying to hide my bloody hand from her view. She looks utterly heartbroken, but I'm not sure what the cause is. If it's because of Spencer or because I lost my cool at the BAU, I'm not sure. "I should be the one apologizing. It was my fault. I overreacted. Um," my eyes wander down to the ground and I ignore the few pieces of random broken glass that have trailed towards the stairs, "I was just kinda upset. Then when Dave was talking to me, he promised that you guys would get him out of prison. Promising was kind of mine and Spencer's thing. Him saying that just made it so much worse."

"O-Oh," Penelope's eyebrows pop up, "I had no idea."

I nod and fall back onto the stairs. "When we first met and he told me he didn't shake hands, I went home and I just thought about how we could do something similar to shaking hands but not actually shaking hands. One of the options I presented to him the next time we saw each other was pinky promising. He liked it and it just stuck. Promising just became our thing." Penelope stares at me, her lips turned downward and her hands laced in front of her, head bowed. “Well, I’m gonna go take a shower. Thanks for checking up on me.”

“Yeah, of course,” Penelope just slightly perks up now, lifting her head and giving me an attempt at a smile. “If you need anything, let me know. And make sure to double check that your door is locked.”

“I will, thanks,” I turn on my heel and start stumbling up the stairs, clinging to the railing for support. My brain is pounding against my skull and I can’t keep a thought in my head for more than a second. My hand is throbbing.

“Hey,” Penelope pauses at the door, looking up at me, “did you light a candle?” I shake my head. “Hmm. It smells like bubblegum in here.” 

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He was freed with the help of the judge who sentenced him. Now he's fighting for prison reform That rare shot became a reality January 20, when Young, now 32, was granted executive clemency In the final hours of Donald Trump’s presidency. Getting off his flight back home to Tennessee, Young had a long embrace with an unlikely supporter and someone he hadn’t seen since the day he was sentenced — the judge who ordered him to serve life behind bars. “This is Judge (Kevin) Sharp. This is the man that had to give me two life sentences,” Young told CNN. “But I knew it was not something that he wanted to do. He wasn’t choosing for me to have two life sentences. America and its judicial systems chose that. … It’s called a mandatory minimum and it means exactly that — it is mandatory. So I knew he had no choice.” The two men first met in 2014, when Young wore an orange jumpsuit in Sharp’s courtroom. Though Sharp was in a position of authority, in reality the judge had no authority to decide Young’s fate. Young was arrested when he was 22 and was one of dozens prosecuted in a 2010 drug trafficking investigation in Clarksville, Tennessee. Unlike most of the other defendants, Young didn’t take a deal; he said he requested a trial and pleaded not guilty in federal court because, in his mind, he was a “low-level” participant. But with two minor drug convictions on his record from his teenage years, this was his third strike — triggering federal mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines, a result of a knee-jerk reaction by Congress to deal with the so-called crack epidemic of the 1980s. It meant that instead of the five- or six-year sentence Sharp said he would have handed down, Young was set to spend the rest of his life in prison. “There’s no justice happening here today,” Sharp recalled thinking about the sentencing. “I’m doing what they tell me to do. But in no way shape or form is this justice.” Young wasn’t the first person Sharp had sentenced under mandatory minimum guidelines, or the last. But Young’s case was the one he couldn’t shake. “It wasn’t just Chris’s case, although Chris’s case … became the poster child for everything that I thought was wrong with the criminal justice system. And if they wanted a messenger, then someone else could do that,” explained Sharp. Sharp didn’t have a choice when it came to Young’s future, but he did have one when it came to his own. “I had to decide, am I more valuable on the bench or off the bench,” Sharp said. A new path Sharp stepped down from his lifetime appointment as a US district court judge in 2017. Nominated by former President Barack Obama in 2011, Sharp noted the frustration of jumping through hoops just to get on the bench, only to have the powerful tools of a judge stymied by the system. “The White House has done their work to decide whether or not I have those qualities to perform this job. The FBI investigates you, it goes to the Senate, they do their own investigations. You have a confirmation hearing, then it goes to the Senate floor. All of this to do one thing, and that’s to make sure that you have the temperament, the judgment, the intellect, all of these qualities to be a judge,” Sharp said. “And now I’m there, and I’ve got a lifetime appointment, and then they say, except for the most important thing, which is someone’s liberty as it relates to a mandatory sentence. We’re going to take that from you. And you’re going to be an errand boy, sent by the grocer to collect the bill.” News of Sharp’s retirement made its way to Young’s prison email inbox. Young said he never blamed the judge for his sentence, understanding the legal handcuffs imposed by mandatory minimums, but he was blown away by Sharp’s reasons for stepping down. “He chose a courageous act of leaving the stage and said, ‘I don’t want to play in this play anymore. This theater, this act that y’all have going on, it’s inhumane, and it’s wrong.’ And I always will respect and admire him for that,” said Young. Sharp joined a law firm that gave him the chance to tackle civil rights cases. But it was an interview with The Tennessean newspaper about his retirement in April 2017 that put him on the other end of that hug from Young in the airport last month. In the interview, Sharp denounced mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines and discussed Young’s case — the one that tore at his conscience the most. “I don’t realize really what to even do about Chris until I hear from Brittany,” Kevin says of Young’s lawyer, Brittany K. Barnett, who called him after reading the article and told him she was going to be taking on Young’s case. A former corporate lawyer who is now a powerhouse civil rights attorney, Barnett is the co-founder of the Buried Alive Project, a group of lawyers and criminal justice advocates that works to get people released from prison who are serving sentences under outdated federal drug laws. “She flew to town and we sat down at a coffee shop around here and she just kind of laid it out,” Sharp said. They found nothing to warrant an appeal of Young’s case. So Barnett — who had successfully represented defendants serving life in prison for nonviolent offenses who then received a presidential clemency or commutation — knew the last avenue for Young’s freedom was through executive action by the President. But his chances were slim. “He would go in line behind 14,000 other people who filed clemency petitions,” Sharp said. ‘I focused on changing their perspective’ While Barnett and Sharp pored over paperwork and dwindling opportunities, Young said he never lost hope. He spent his days working out his body and mind, learning to code and helping other prisoners with their cases in the law library. Young’s determination to learn from his mistakes and forge a positive future was evident even during his pre-sentencing allocution to the court, even though he knew at the time his fate was sealed. An allocution is a courtroom formality usually reserved for a defendant’s apologies or continued declarations of innocence, but Sharp said he still remembers Young’s impassioned, nearly hourlong speech in which he took responsibility for his actions, displaying his potential to be a productive member of society if given another chance at freedom. Said Young: “I didn’t focus on the life sentence, I focused on changing their perspective, changing their feelings of me, hoping I could touch into their heart and change their mentality and make them see me as a human being. I didn’t know at the time that I had accomplished that.” Sharp said Young’s hope for the future made the fact he couldn’t take anything about his past or potential into consideration even more difficult. The former judge noted these types of sentences impact Black and brown communities at a disproportionate rate. “The system is set up to see certain groups as ‘less than.’ Some people would say it’s less than human, but at the very least, it’s less than White. And so they are treated differently,” Sharp said. “And that has got to change. Until we start seeing each other as human beings and recognizing that Chris has the same worth as me or anybody else who was in that courtroom, we’re going to have this problem.” Adding a little star power Barnett said she knew from experience that getting a client’s case before President Trump was possible, but it often required a little something extra to grab his attention: star power. Her previous client, Alice Johnson, had her sentence commuted by Trump after reality star and criminal justice advocate Kim Kardashian West lobbied the President. Still, Sharp said he was surprised when he received a call from Barnett asking whether he would speak with West about the case. And in September 2018, he attended a White House meeting with West, Barnett and others in which he pushed for Young’s release. Though grateful for the advocacy of West and other high-profile supporters, Barnett said a person’s freedom shouldn’t depend on a celebrity’s influence. She said she believes the clemency system itself is broken there should be another way to draw attention to unjust prison sentences. “You should not have to have a celebrity to get your name to the president. I am grateful that people like Kim Kardashian West and many other celebrities use their platform to raise awareness about this crucial issue. But it shouldn’t take a celebrity,” Barnett said. Under the Biden administration, Barnett said, she intends to push for systemic change in the pardon, clemency and commutation process, specifically what she calls out as the “obvious” conflict of interest rooted in the core of the process. “Typically, the way it works is the clemency petition goes through multiple levels of review within the Department of Justice before it gets to the White House, before it lands on the president’s desk. And that part should just be completely transformed,” Barnett said. “There should be no way under the universe that clemency petition should go through the Department of Justice at all (because) you are asking career prosecutors to overturn their own decisions. And so there’s a way to make the clemency process much more efficient than it is now.” ‘And then, nothing’ After the White House meeting, Sharp said he was invigorated. He said President Trump appeared to listen to Young’s case. They waited. “It was all very exciting. There was a great lineup. And then, nothing. There was nothing. Occasionally, I would check on it. And anytime I had the opportunity, I would speak about it. But I’m not hearing anything back from the White House on that,” recalled Sharp. He admitted he thought it was over for Young. Barnett said she was frustrated, but not discouraged. She chipped away at all other avenues, eventually winning Young a sentence reduction in September 2020. Because Young was no longer serving a life sentence, but still had years left behind bars for a nonviolent conviction, he was set to be transferred out of the maximum security prison he’d been living in for six years. But Young said he never got to celebrate. In order to stop the spread of Covid-19, the Bureau of Prisons paused most inmate transfers in March. Since Young couldn’t be moved to a new location, but needed to be transferred out of maximum security, he was instead tossed “the hole” and put in solitary confinement. “It’s called the hole for reason. It’s like a dungeon. You can’t see outside, you have no radios, no TVs, no emails, no nothing. And I did four months there,” Young explained, before a smile crept over his face. “So the morning that they came and got me and told me I was getting released, it was unbelievable.” A second chance Young was one of 143 people to receive last-minute clemency from President Trump on January 20. In the statement from the White House about Young’s commutation, Sharp’s support is mentioned first. “Mr. Young’s many supporters describe him as an intelligent, positive person who takes full responsibility for his actions and who lacked a meaningful first chance in life due to what another Federal judge called an ‘undeniably tragic childhood,'” the statement says. But for Young — and Sharp — it’s the last sentence in the statement that means the most. “With this commutation, President Trump provides Mr. Young with a second chance.” Barnett said she is hopeful thousands more will one day get to read similar life-changing words. She admitted Young’s case was special for her and she’s letting others in her organization handle new cases for a little while. Barnett said she plans to focus on freedom for the remainder of her clients and turn toward improving the support system for people in their lives after incarceration. “There are still people serving life sentences today under yesterday’s drug laws, and so we have a lot more work to do,” she said. Meanwhile, Young said he is ready to take full advantage of his second chance, using the computer science and coding skills he learned in prison. “I want to bridge the gap between the streets and innovative technology,” Young said. “So hopefully you can see more faces like me in Silicon Valley and Wall Street.” He also plans to bring those skills with him to work with the Buried Alive Project, so he can pay it forward and help those who are in the position he was in. “Unfortunately, it’s hundreds of thousands of Chris Youngs and Alice Johnsons still sitting in cages and we need to get them free some kind of way,” he said. Freeing them would take monumental changes to our criminal justice system, but Young and Sharp note they have already beaten the odds once — and are committed to continue fighting for reform together. “As for me and him,” Young said, “he will always be in my life. This is a surrogate uncle, surrogate father, business partner, business adviser. You will see more of Judge Sharp and Chris Young.” Responded Sharp, “However we are moving forward, I’m sticking close to this guy because he’s going to do much more important things than I ever did.” Source link Orbem News #ChrisYoungwasfreedwiththehelpofKevinSharp #fighting #freed #hes #judge #Prison #Reform #sentenced #thejudgewhosentencedhim.Nowhe'sfightingforprisonreform-CNN #us

He was freed with the help of the judge who sentenced him. Now he's fighting for prison reform

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/he-was-freed-with-the-help-of-the-judge-who-sentenced-him-now-hes-fighting-for-prison-reform/

He was freed with the help of the judge who sentenced him. Now he's fighting for prison reform

That rare shot became a reality January 20, when Young, now 32, was granted executive clemency In the final hours of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Getting off his flight back home to Tennessee, Young had a long embrace with an unlikely supporter and someone he hadn’t seen since the day he was sentenced — the judge who ordered him to serve life behind bars.

“This is Judge (Kevin) Sharp. This is the man that had to give me two life sentences,” Young told Appradab. “But I knew it was not something that he wanted to do. He wasn’t choosing for me to have two life sentences. America and its judicial systems chose that. … It’s called a mandatory minimum and it means exactly that — it is mandatory. So I knew he had no choice.”

The two men first met in 2014, when Young wore an orange jumpsuit in Sharp’s courtroom. Though Sharp was in a position of authority, in reality the judge had no authority to decide Young’s fate.

Young was arrested when he was 22 and was one of dozens prosecuted in a 2010 drug trafficking investigation in Clarksville, Tennessee. Unlike most of the other defendants, Young didn’t take a deal; he said he requested a trial and pleaded not guilty in federal court because, in his mind, he was a “low-level” participant.

But with two minor drug convictions on his record from his teenage years, this was his third strike — triggering federal mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines, a result of a knee-jerk reaction by Congress to deal with the so-called crack epidemic of the 1980s.

It meant that instead of the five- or six-year sentence Sharp said he would have handed down, Young was set to spend the rest of his life in prison.

“There’s no justice happening here today,” Sharp recalled thinking about the sentencing. “I’m doing what they tell me to do. But in no way shape or form is this justice.”

Young wasn’t the first person Sharp had sentenced under mandatory minimum guidelines, or the last. But Young’s case was the one he couldn’t shake.

“It wasn’t just Chris’s case, although Chris’s case … became the poster child for everything that I thought was wrong with the criminal justice system. And if they wanted a messenger, then someone else could do that,” explained Sharp.

Sharp didn’t have a choice when it came to Young’s future, but he did have one when it came to his own.

“I had to decide, am I more valuable on the bench or off the bench,” Sharp said.

A new path

Sharp stepped down from his lifetime appointment as a US district court judge in 2017.

Nominated by former President Barack Obama in 2011, Sharp noted the frustration of jumping through hoops just to get on the bench, only to have the powerful tools of a judge stymied by the system.

“The White House has done their work to decide whether or not I have those qualities to perform this job. The FBI investigates you, it goes to the Senate, they do their own investigations. You have a confirmation hearing, then it goes to the Senate floor. All of this to do one thing, and that’s to make sure that you have the temperament, the judgment, the intellect, all of these qualities to be a judge,” Sharp said.

“And now I’m there, and I’ve got a lifetime appointment, and then they say, except for the most important thing, which is someone’s liberty as it relates to a mandatory sentence. We’re going to take that from you. And you’re going to be an errand boy, sent by the grocer to collect the bill.”

News of Sharp’s retirement made its way to Young’s prison email inbox. Young said he never blamed the judge for his sentence, understanding the legal handcuffs imposed by mandatory minimums, but he was blown away by Sharp’s reasons for stepping down.

“He chose a courageous act of leaving the stage and said, ‘I don’t want to play in this play anymore. This theater, this act that y’all have going on, it’s inhumane, and it’s wrong.’ And I always will respect and admire him for that,” said Young.

Sharp joined a law firm that gave him the chance to tackle civil rights cases. But it was an interview with The Tennessean newspaper about his retirement in April 2017 that put him on the other end of that hug from Young in the airport last month. In the interview, Sharp denounced mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines and discussed Young’s case — the one that tore at his conscience the most.

“I don’t realize really what to even do about Chris until I hear from Brittany,” Kevin says of Young’s lawyer, Brittany K. Barnett, who called him after reading the article and told him she was going to be taking on Young’s case.

A former corporate lawyer who is now a powerhouse civil rights attorney, Barnett is the co-founder of the Buried Alive Project, a group of lawyers and criminal justice advocates that works to get people released from prison who are serving sentences under outdated federal drug laws.

“She flew to town and we sat down at a coffee shop around here and she just kind of laid it out,” Sharp said.

They found nothing to warrant an appeal of Young’s case. So Barnett — who had successfully represented defendants serving life in prison for nonviolent offenses who then received a presidential clemency or commutation — knew the last avenue for Young’s freedom was through executive action by the President.

But his chances were slim. “He would go in line behind 14,000 other people who filed clemency petitions,” Sharp said.

‘I focused on changing their perspective’

While Barnett and Sharp pored over paperwork and dwindling opportunities, Young said he never lost hope. He spent his days working out his body and mind, learning to code and helping other prisoners with their cases in the law library.

Young’s determination to learn from his mistakes and forge a positive future was evident even during his pre-sentencing allocution to the court, even though he knew at the time his fate was sealed.

An allocution is a courtroom formality usually reserved for a defendant’s apologies or continued declarations of innocence, but Sharp said he still remembers Young’s impassioned, nearly hourlong speech in which he took responsibility for his actions, displaying his potential to be a productive member of society if given another chance at freedom.

Said Young: “I didn’t focus on the life sentence, I focused on changing their perspective, changing their feelings of me, hoping I could touch into their heart and change their mentality and make them see me as a human being. I didn’t know at the time that I had accomplished that.”

Sharp said Young’s hope for the future made the fact he couldn’t take anything about his past or potential into consideration even more difficult. The former judge noted these types of sentences impact Black and brown communities at a disproportionate rate.

“The system is set up to see certain groups as ‘less than.’ Some people would say it’s less than human, but at the very least, it’s less than White. And so they are treated differently,” Sharp said. “And that has got to change. Until we start seeing each other as human beings and recognizing that Chris has the same worth as me or anybody else who was in that courtroom, we’re going to have this problem.”

Adding a little star power

Barnett said she knew from experience that getting a client’s case before President Trump was possible, but it often required a little something extra to grab his attention: star power.

Her previous client, Alice Johnson, had her sentence commuted by Trump after reality star and criminal justice advocate Kim Kardashian West lobbied the President.

Still, Sharp said he was surprised when he received a call from Barnett asking whether he would speak with West about the case. And in September 2018, he attended a White House meeting with West, Barnett and others in which he pushed for Young’s release.

Though grateful for the advocacy of West and other high-profile supporters, Barnett said a person’s freedom shouldn’t depend on a celebrity’s influence. She said she believes the clemency system itself is broken there should be another way to draw attention to unjust prison sentences.

“You should not have to have a celebrity to get your name to the president. I am grateful that people like Kim Kardashian West and many other celebrities use their platform to raise awareness about this crucial issue. But it shouldn’t take a celebrity,” Barnett said.

Under the Biden administration, Barnett said, she intends to push for systemic change in the pardon, clemency and commutation process, specifically what she calls out as the “obvious” conflict of interest rooted in the core of the process.

“Typically, the way it works is the clemency petition goes through multiple levels of review within the Department of Justice before it gets to the White House, before it lands on the president’s desk. And that part should just be completely transformed,” Barnett said.

“There should be no way under the universe that clemency petition should go through the Department of Justice at all (because) you are asking career prosecutors to overturn their own decisions. And so there’s a way to make the clemency process much more efficient than it is now.”

‘And then, nothing’

After the White House meeting, Sharp said he was invigorated. He said President Trump appeared to listen to Young’s case. They waited.

“It was all very exciting. There was a great lineup. And then, nothing. There was nothing. Occasionally, I would check on it. And anytime I had the opportunity, I would speak about it. But I’m not hearing anything back from the White House on that,” recalled Sharp. He admitted he thought it was over for Young.

Barnett said she was frustrated, but not discouraged. She chipped away at all other avenues, eventually winning Young a sentence reduction in September 2020.

Because Young was no longer serving a life sentence, but still had years left behind bars for a nonviolent conviction, he was set to be transferred out of the maximum security prison he’d been living in for six years. But Young said he never got to celebrate.

In order to stop the spread of Covid-19, the Bureau of Prisons paused most inmate transfers in March. Since Young couldn’t be moved to a new location, but needed to be transferred out of maximum security, he was instead tossed “the hole” and put in solitary confinement.

“It’s called the hole for reason. It’s like a dungeon. You can’t see outside, you have no radios, no TVs, no emails, no nothing. And I did four months there,” Young explained, before a smile crept over his face. “So the morning that they came and got me and told me I was getting released, it was unbelievable.”

A second chance

Young was one of 143 people to receive last-minute clemency from President Trump on January 20. In the statement from the White House about Young’s commutation, Sharp’s support is mentioned first.

“Mr. Young’s many supporters describe him as an intelligent, positive person who takes full responsibility for his actions and who lacked a meaningful first chance in life due to what another Federal judge called an ‘undeniably tragic childhood,'” the statement says.

But for Young — and Sharp — it’s the last sentence in the statement that means the most.

“With this commutation, President Trump provides Mr. Young with a second chance.”

Barnett said she is hopeful thousands more will one day get to read similar life-changing words. She admitted Young’s case was special for her and she’s letting others in her organization handle new cases for a little while. Barnett said she plans to focus on freedom for the remainder of her clients and turn toward improving the support system for people in their lives after incarceration.

“There are still people serving life sentences today under yesterday’s drug laws, and so we have a lot more work to do,” she said.

Meanwhile, Young said he is ready to take full advantage of his second chance, using the computer science and coding skills he learned in prison.

“I want to bridge the gap between the streets and innovative technology,” Young said. “So hopefully you can see more faces like me in Silicon Valley and Wall Street.”

He also plans to bring those skills with him to work with the Buried Alive Project, so he can pay it forward and help those who are in the position he was in.

“Unfortunately, it’s hundreds of thousands of Chris Youngs and Alice Johnsons still sitting in cages and we need to get them free some kind of way,” he said.

Freeing them would take monumental changes to our criminal justice system, but Young and Sharp note they have already beaten the odds once — and are committed to continue fighting for reform together.

“As for me and him,” Young said, “he will always be in my life. This is a surrogate uncle, surrogate father, business partner, business adviser. You will see more of Judge Sharp and Chris Young.”

Responded Sharp, “However we are moving forward, I’m sticking close to this guy because he’s going to do much more important things than I ever did.”

#109 - Hell Hath No Fury Like A Fixer Scorned: The Michael Cohen Story

The admission of guilt by President Trump’s former fixer and his implication of the President in the same criminal activity represent an astounding turnaround for the man who less than a year ago said he would take a bullet for Mr. Trump.

Cohen admitted last week in open court that he violated campaign finance laws “in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office,”

Hmmm…. who could that be?

To understand how we got here, you have to understand the role that Mhael Cohen played for Mr. Trump, his personal issues, and most importantly, you have to understand what the President really thought of him.

Cohen began his career as an attorney pursuing one of the least respected segments of the American legal world, personal injury law.  Yes, he hails from that group of low level bottom feeders who actually make other lawyers look good.  Here he honed the skills which would set him on a most unusual career trajectory.

In 2006 Cohen landed a job working for Trump back, impressing him with the fact that he had read “The Art of Deal”....twice.   Don’t laugh, he knew the best way in with Trump was to flatter him, besides, anyone who could get through that literary jewel once, deserves a medal.  Over time, Cohen convinced family and friends to buy condominiums in the Trump World Tower which helped Trump gain control of the condominium board, and he soon became Mr. Trump’s BFF, or so it seemed to Michael anyway.

This newly minted pit bull had found his purpose in life. Cohen told ABC News in 2011 that "If somebody does something Mr. Trump doesn't like, I do everything in my power to resolve it to Mr. Trump's benefit. If you do something wrong,  I'm going to come at you, grab you by the neck and I'm not going to let you go until I'm finished."

Grab you by the neck…..Nice.  Remember my earlier point about making other lawyers look good? I rest my case.

Between 2011 and 2016 Cohen worked behind the scenes working to gloss over the scandal regarding the alleged rape by Trump of his first wife, and the affairs with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougle and may or may not have met with Russian officials in Prague in 2016 with the objective of paying those who had hacked the DNC and to "cover up all traces of the hacking operation.   The Fixer was proving his value and earning his pay.

But with Trump’s surprise election victory, The Fixer was presented with a new opportunity, to be part of something bigger, to be part of that luxury cruise that was sailing south to DC and included all the beautiful people who had made it possible for Trump to get there, including: Jared, Ivanka, Hope Hicks, Kellyanne, Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn and even Trump’s old bodyguard, but a funny thing happened on the way to the big dance, the President’s fixer was left behind.  Early on his name had been in the mix for the coveted Chief of Staff position, but in the end the man who helped make it possible for Trump to succeed, was all of a sudden, the odd man out.   His fix-it skills would not be welcome in the pristine halls of the White House.

With the President now ensconced in the Oval Office and looking to distance himself from the unsavory activities of his fixer, Cohen had to morph, and he quickly seized on a bigger and better opportunity, peddling access to the big guy and providing insider knowledge to anyone with a big wallet. In the months following Trump’s election in November 2016, Cohen negotiated payments totaling $600K from AT&T for “his opinion on the new President and his administration”, which it’s CEO would later describe as…. “a big mistake”,

Novartis, a Switzerland–based pharmaceutical giant, paid Cohen $1.2M to help the company understand the "health care policy" of the new administration. Novartis subsequently admitted to the public, and thus to its shareholders, that it did not actually receive any benefit for its investment.  The fact that Trump had no health care policy was apparently lost on the Novartis executives. Excuse me sirs, I have some ideas on a health care, and you can have them for $10. Call me.  

But the next one is best described by the old PT Barnum ascribed statement “There’s a sucker born every minute”.  Korea Aerospace Industries paid Cohen for advice on “Cost Accounting Standards,” those highly technical bookkeeping rules that would apply to the company’s bid for U.S. defense work.  If Cohen actually spoke the words “Cost Accounting Standards” once in his lifetime, it would be a shock.

In a matter of months, Cohen had pulled in $2 million, for doing….nothing, which begs the obvious question: Why can’t I get a gig like that? Soon, all of his clients realized that they had been sold a bill of goods, that The Fixer was just another one of Trump’s snake oil salesmen, and they weren’t going to get any bang for their buck.  And that’s because The Fixer had no real insight from the President to offer, because, because, wait for it, wait for it it….the President simply didn’t need him anymore.  His usefulness had expired. Loyalty was a one-way street for this president

And so now, the disrespect was out there, out in the open, for all to see.

But, this wasn’t really anything new, and deep down Cohen knew it.  Of all the stories printed about the President’s relationship with his former fixer, the most compelling one was the President’s reported humiliation of Cohen at his own son's bar mitzvah in 2012.  One attendee told the Wall Street Journal that Trump was so late to the event that Cohen delayed the blessings. Trump then spoke and said that he hadn't actually planned on attending but came after Cohen begged him to come by repeatedly calling him, his secretary, and his children.  On one of the most important days of Cohen’s life, the President took center stage and then used it to belittle his loyal servant.  It’s unlikely that Trump’s performance that day was a surprise to anyone who knew him, but the fact that Cohen accepted this embarrassment and didn’t immediately bail on his boss was.

Fast forward to April 2018.  Already suffering financial difficulties from the devaluation of NY City taxi medallions which he owned (thank you Uber), federal prosecutors raided Cohen’s home and office for anything they could lay their hands on.   Trump’s own instinct for self-preservation immediately kicked in, contending that federal prosecutors were looking more at Cohen's business dealings than the legal work he'd done on Trump's behalf.  "Michael is a businessman, he's got a business. He also practices law," Trump said back then "And they're looking at something having to do with his business. I have nothing to do with his business”.

So much for loyalty.  So much for honor among thieves.

And then in June, almost out the blue, with absolutely no correlation with his legal and financial troubles, Cohen signaled he was having a change of heart and blasted the president’s “zero tolerance” policy under which children have been separated from their parents after illegal border crossings.

“As the son of a Polish holocaust survivor, the images and sounds of this family separation policy is heart wrenching,” Cohen wrote, marking the first time he had publicly distanced himself from Trump.

“While I strongly support measures that will secure our porous borders, children should never be used as bargaining chips,” he added.

“He’s turned his life around from what he did for Donald Trump, much of which he now regrets,” Davis said on the Today Show. “That’s the kind of thing that caused Michael Cohen to change his mind, and decide to dedicate himself to telling the truth to the American people.”

Whoa! Where did all this come from? The Fixer has a conscious?  Who knew?  But there was still more to come.

Cohen’s new attorney, Lanny Davis, recently upped the ante in this chess game, stating his client now believes Trump is “unsuitable to hold the office”, citing Trump’s refusal to accept the conclusion of US intelligence agencies that the Russians were responsible for the election disruption, while standing next to Vladimir Putin.

In the midst of all his legal troubles, pleading guilty, cooperating with the Feds WITHOUT some type of formal leniency deal, Cohen and his attorney were speaking out on the President’s abhorrent policy on the separation of children from their refugee families and on the President’s performance at the Helsinki Summit.

Good-bye Presidential pardon.

The Wall Street Journal later reported that Cohen’s turning point may have been influenced by his elderly father, Maurice, a Holocaust survivor, who reportedly told his son that he did not survive the Nazi genocide to have his name dragged through the mud by Trump.  Maurice had no doubt seen Trump ‘perform’ at his grandson’s bar mitzvah and that was likely all he would ever need to see.  He likely filed this event away and would pull it out if the time every came when he needed it.   No doubt Trump’s pull back from his formerly loyal fixer and his disparaging comments, was that time, and Maurice likely reminded his son of that event to convince him that Trump would never have his back. Never.  

There’s no way of knowing where the Michael Cohen story will end.  Has the former fixer and would-be influence peddler had a legitimate change of heart?  How much information does he have on Trump’s shady dealings?  Will he spill it all to the Feds?  Can it be corroborated?   And will it even make a difference?    

t’s still too early to answer any of those questions, but maybe this Prodigal Son has in fact returned home to right things with his father, and just maybe The Fixer had decided that it was time to fix things, once and for all.

https://www.politico.com/amp/story/2019/01/25/roger-stone-charges-mueller-1127624?__twitter_impression=true

Stone made it perfectly clear that he expects to be pardoned. That was the message he sent #Trump when he said he would need to consult his lawyers before deciding if he would cooperate with #Mueller

President Donald Trump’s reaction to Roger Stone's indictment will be closely watched, particularly because the president has the power to end Stone’s prosecution at any time.

"The #WikiLeaks-Trump campaign association adds a juicy subplot to the ever-expanding Mueller probe—and legal experts say that coupled with Stone’s upcoming case could mean the special counsel still has many months to go before wrapping up his investigation."

The juiciest morsel in Mueller’s charges against Roger Stone

The special counsel offered the clearest evidence to date of the Trump campaign’s alleged attempts to cooperate with WikiLeaks.

By DARREN SAMUELSOHN and JOSH GERSTEIN | Published 01/25/2019 04:18 PM EST | Politico | Posted January 28, 2019 |

The indictment of longtime Donald Trump associate Roger Stone offered the clearest evidence to date of the Trump campaign’s alleged attempts to cooperate with WikiLeaks during the 2016 election.

Special counsel Robert Mueller embedded the tantalizing morsel near the start of the 24-page indictment. He recounts how the Trump campaign swung into action after WikiLeaks — the activist organization suspected of cozying up to Kremlin-backed hackers — started releasing stolen Democratic emails in late July 2016, just days before Hillary Clinton accept her party’s nomination.

In one paragraph, Mueller alleges that an unnamed individual gave instructions to a senior unnamed Trump campaign official to get in touch with Stone “about any additional releases and what other damaging information” WikiLeaks was holding about Clinton’s campaign.

After getting those orders, Stone allegedly told the Trump campaign “about potential future releases of damaging material” that WikiLeaks was holding.

Democratic lawmakers and legal experts tracking the Russia probe singled out those details — which suggest the Trump campaign willingly engaged with a foreign entity seeking to meddle in the presidential election — as the most alluring revelation yet in the Mueller investigation.

The revelation, if true, also suggests that Mueller is potentially sitting on more evidence that could firm up a case of collusion against at least some individuals in Trump’s orbit, or even the president himself.

“This indictment is significant because it alleges coordination between the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks,” said Barbara McQuade, a former federal prosecutor who called the language in the paragraph “particularly alarming” because it used the passive voice when describing the campaign officials.

“This language is very different from other language we have seen Mueller use,” she told POLITICO. “He usually is careful to use some identifying language so that the person can be referenced easily. One reasonable inference is that the person who directed the senior campaign official is someone who cannot be indicted: the president himself.”

The White House so far has distanced itself from Stone, who was formally charged by a Washington, D.C., grand jury on Thursday with lying to Congress and obstructing lawmakers’ investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

And senior Trump officials have claimed the specific charges in the indictment don’t implicate the president. “What I can tell you is that the specific charges that have been brought against Mr. Stone don’t have anything to do with the president,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders told CNN on Friday morning.

But she repeatedly declined to answer whether Trump directed a senior Trump campaign official to contact Stone about his WikiLeaks connections, saying she hadn’t read the indictment.

The WikiLeaks-Trump campaign association adds a juicy subplot to the ever-expanding Mueller probe, and legal experts say that coupled with Stone’s upcoming court case — he told reporters outside the South Florida federal courthouse he would plead not guilty — could mean the special counsel still has many months to go before wrapping up his investigation, even as it approaches its second anniversary.

“It’s going to be messy, and that takes time,” said Mary McCord, a former senior Justice Department official who helped oversee the FBI’s Russia probe before Mueller’s appointment in May 2017.

Stone’s indictment is also hardly good news for Trump, with the drip-drip of yet more revelations tied to the 2016 presidential campaign clearly on track to spill into the president’s 2020 reelection race and as Democrats prepare for their first primary debates this summer while the party’s House leaders contemplate whether to begin impeachment proceedings.

Speaking to reporters in the Capitol, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the Stone indictment reflects poorly on Trump and should be seen in the broader context of a series of pro-Kremlin administration foreign policy maneuvers.

“It’s very interesting to see the kinds of people the president of the United States has surrounded himself with. This connection to the integrity of our elections is obviously something we have to get the truth about,” the California Democrat said. “But it’s also interesting to see his connections to Russia and the president’s suggestions the we should question whether we should be in NATO, which is a dream come true for Vladimir Putin.”

The new details in Stone’s indictment also prompted Democrats, including some involved in investigating Russia’s 2016 meddling, to inch ever closer to proclaiming that the Trump campaign was coordinating with Russian affiliates whom U.S. intelligence officials have accused of stealing the Democratic emails.

“It is clear from this indictment that those contacts happened at least with the full knowledge of, and appear to have been encouraged by, the highest levels of the Trump campaign,” said Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the new chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the revelation that a senior Trump campaign official directed Stone to get in touch with WikiLeaks was the “most significant” allegation in the indictment.

“Our committee will be eager to learn just who directed a senior campaign official to contact Stone about additional damaging information held by Wikileaks, one of the publishing arms of Russian government hackers,” Schiff said.

He also called attention to the timing of the outreach by the Trump campaign to WikiLeaks; it came just days before Trump invited Russia to “find the 30,000 emails that are missing” from Clinton’s private server. “That would mean that at the very time that then-candidate Trump was publicly encouraging Russia’s help in acquiring Clinton-related emails, his campaign was privately receiving information about the planned release of stolen Clinton emails,” Schiff said.

In many ways, the Stone indictment is relatively straightforward: It avoids many of the thorny legal issues that would be raised by a case directly charging Trump aides or supporters with conspiring with Russians or WikiLeaks.

Despite all the outrage and debate about collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, prosecuting a case charging Americans for such activities could be tricky and raises a series of uncertain legal questions.

Among them: Is encouraging the release of negative information about one’s opponent the equivalent of soliciting a campaign donation? Is anything that foreign nationals do to help or hurt a U.S. campaign automatically unlawful?

The Stone indictment dodges those issues in favor of a garden-variety obstruction, false statement and witness-tampering case. It opens Mueller to criticism from Trump allies that he’s not focused on collusion but is instead pursuing what some derisively call “process crimes” that may be easier to prove.

Mueller’s playbook looks similar to that used by then-special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald 15 years ago in his investigation of the leak of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. No one was ever charged for the actual leak, but then-Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, was indicted for making false statements and obstruction.

Critics complained that Fitzgerald was skirting the core issue, but he seemed more than willing to defend a vigorous prosecution of those trying to thwart investigators. “What we have when someone charges obstruction of justice, the umpire gets sand thrown in his eyes. He’s trying to figure what happened and somebody blocked their view,” Fitzgerald said then.

A former prosecutor on the Libby case, Peter Zeidenberg, dismissed the attempt by Trump’s attorneys and allies to minimize the charges against Stone as “process crimes.”

“It’s just spin,” he said. “The crimes alleged here — false statements, obstruction of justice and witness tampering — cannot be looked at in a vacuum. People do things for a reason. There is a reason why Roger Stone lied about this — he did not want prosecutors to know the truth because, obviously, the truth would have been damaging to him as well as others. You cannot divorce these offenses from the underlying offense of Russian interference.”

McCord, a former head of DOJ’s National Security Division who now teaches at Georgetown University Law Center, said the Stone indictment does draw the investigation closer into Trump’s orbit by referring to the two people from the campaign orchestrating the plan to get Stone in touch with WikiLeaks. But she also cautioned that it doesn’t mean the Trump aides broke the law.

“There’s no conspiracy charge in here,” she said. “Does it mean there’s no evidence of one? Not necessarily.”

McCord said it could be that Mueller is holding onto that evidence but didn’t want to release it in the Stone indictment. The special counsel also has been “trying to do things strategically” and could be looking for more evidence.

“Once you obtain an indictment like this, sometimes other potential witnesses come out of the woodwork,” she said, adding that the Stone arrest and the searching of his home starting early Friday morning might help the special counsel obtain materials useful as the Russia probe continues.

Stone complained Friday after his court hearing that he wasn’t notified ahead of time about his indictment, which led to an early morning arrest and FBI agents executing searches of his residences in South Florida and Manhattan. “I would have been more than willing to have surrendered voluntarily,” he said.

But in a court filing Thursday, Mueller argued that he wanted to keep the Stone indictment under wraps until the arrest because of a concern that publicizing the charges “will increase the risk of the defendant fleeing and destroying (or tampering with) evidence.”

“That shows the level of distrust the special counsel has for Stone,” said McCord, noting that Stone is also charged with obstructing justice and witness tampering.

Mueller fretted that if he given Stone a heads-up he could have destroyed evidence in the case. “That shows the level of distrust the special counsel has for Stone,” she said, noting Stone was also charged with obstructing justice and witness tampering.

By allegedly lying to the House panel and seeking to limit the information it received, Stone also made Mueller’s job easier. Instead of the heavy lift of a foreign-collusion prosecution that would arguably be unprecedented, Mueller’s team now faces the more mundane task of proving that what Stone told the panel wasn’t true, that it was material to the investigation and that the longtime Trump adviser intentionally misled.

The treatment of other top Trump officials wrapped up in the probe underscores the point. While the indictment includes an exchange Trump campaign chief Steve Bannon had with Stone about WikiLeaks releases in October 2016, there’s no indication that Bannon faces any legal jeopardy as a result.

A source familiar with the situation said Bannon was advised by Mueller’s team that he’s only a fact witness in the investigation and not a subject or target — designations that can signal someone faces legal jeopardy.

Of course, the charge of obstructing a congressional investigation could be more politically momentous than being charged with interfering in an FBI investigation. (Stone’s indictment appears to allege he did both.)

And the key test for Trump in the near term is likely to be a political one, not a legal one. Do lawmakers view the role Stone and others played in courting WikiLeaks and trying to encourage damaging releases of stolen emails as bolstering an impeachment case? Mueller seemed not to want to step directly into that debate with the Stone indictment.

Trump’s reaction to the Stone indictment will be closely watched, particularly because the president has the power to end Stone’s prosecution at any time. The complexity of the financial charges Mueller brought against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort meant that state prosecutors could step in if Trump acted to pardon Manafort on the federal charges he’s pleaded guilty to.

But Stone’s alleged lies to Congress and his alleged obstruction efforts aren’t crimes that state or local prosecutors could readily go after, so a Trump pardon might get Stone entirely off the hook, but it would obviously come with a political price.

A new ABC documentary and podcast about Theranos features never-before aired depositions

The rise and fall of Theranos, the blood-testing company whose technology never worked despite its promises otherwise, has already been covered extensively. Most notably, the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who broke open the story of Theranos’s secrets and lies, John Carreyrou, went on to author a best-selling book about the saga in Bad Blood.

Still, with Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes continuing to face criminal charges that she knowingly defrauded investors, along with Theranos’s former president and COO (and Holmes’s longtime lover) Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, the company and the pair’s trajectory remain a point of fascination for many.

A new documentary produced by ABC’s “Nightline” airing tonight — along with a six-part podcast series whose first episode is being released today (the others will be pushed out every Wednesday through February’s end)  — will undoubtedly stoke even more questions about how investors and customers like Walgreens bought the act in the first place.

So we gathered after speaking yesterday with Rebecca Jarvis, ABC News’s chief business, technology, and economics correspondent, who led a three-year investigation into Theranos and Holmes, a Stanford drop-out who would go on to win acclaim as the youngest self-made female billionaire in the world before everything, very slowly, crashed down around her.

Some outtakes from our chat with Jarvis follow, edited lightly for length.

TC: You’ve been covering this story for years. Given all that you’ve seen in the depositions that “Nightline” plans to air as part of this documentary, and everything you’ve learned in your reporting, who was the worse actor in all of this, Holmes or Balwani? John Carreyrou certainly painted him as a kind of Svengali figure.

RJ:  Most of what we’ve seen publicly to this point have been official statements, or statements made in very nurturing environments, or interviews don’t don’t explicitly look at the technology itself. When we got access to these depositions — and it’s thundreds of hours of footage — we couldn’t believe our eyes, watching Elizabeth Holmes’s deposition. It was just remarkable, hearing her having to answer to questions in a way that she’d never had to previously.

As for [the way Holmes and Balwani operated], Tyler Schultz [a former employee who later became a whistleblower] has said, for example, that he was flagging things that were wrong to Elizabeth, and after he would flag a concern, she would react with a non-response. It was Sunny who became known as the enforcer, telling Tyler to watch himself and not to continue to raise these issues.

TC: Are they open about their romantic relationship in the footage being aired?

RJ: Yes. We’ve never heard of them speak of it before, and viewers will see them talking about this relationship.

TC: What was something in the many depositions you pored over that really took your breath away?

RJ: One of the things that we heard over and over again, talking with various parties, including customers of Theranos, is that Elizabeth Holmes had told them that these Theranos-manufactured devices had been deployed in hospital rooms, emergency rooms and medevac helicopters among other places, and she’s asked if this is accurate, and in every single case, the answer is no.

Naturally, too, this whole thing was predicated on being able to run tests on a few drops of blood, and for the first time, you see Elizabeth having to answer questions about what the devices were really capable of. A lot of what comes up is how much of this was aspiration versus reality, and the great divide between those two things.

TC: The government filed its criminal fraud case against former Holmes and Balwani last June. Does the documentary cover the status of that case?

RJ: At this point, both of them have pleaded not guilty to the DOJ’s charges. She’d settled with the SEC without admitting wrongdoing; Balwani is still fighting the SEC’s charges. But they’ll have to face the DOJ in court. When will that happen [is a question mark]. The government shutdown has slowed the ability to get millions of documents to the DOJ and to prosecutors.

TC: How much do the podcast and the documentary have in common?

RJ: The podcast encompasses a greater breadth of our work. For example, among the numerous interviews in the podcast that you’ll hear is with Rochelle Gibbons, the wife of a former chief scientist at Theranos [Ian Gibbons] who’d committed suicide, an act she blames on Theranos. You’ll hear how the deal with Walgreens came together from behind-the-scenes accounts. Walgreens ultimately sued Theranos and settled with Theranos for an undisclosed sum, but people look at story and ask how this could have made it into Walgreens in the first place; we looked in depth at how it happened, talking with the people who were there and who share what they were shown by people from Theranos. We also talk with her honors physics teacher in high school and her family friendsl

TC: Do you think Holmes has a personality disorder?

RJ: I don’t have the medical training to answer that question. I”m not a psychologist. But people around her have used the word “sociopath.”

Her family friends give a real sense of what she was like as a kid. They paint  a picture of someone who was incredibly precocious, who wanted to be successful and who believe her family’s history had a lot to do with this. There’s a kind of paradise lost backstory tying back to the Fleischmann yeast fortune, which had dwindled as it passed through the hands of generations, before it made it to her father, Christian Holmes. It’s something that people who were around the family say was a talking point among them.

TC: Were you ever concerned about your safety, reporting on Theranos? Holmes has repeatedly been portrayed as a bully.

RJ: I didn’t feel that way. We did pay Theranos a number of visits over the years and we did get kicked out. But we talked with other people who worked at Theranos at the time the story [of its failings] starting getting out into the mainstream, and for example, one employee who was crashing on the couch of a friend for a few days, at an address that she hadn’t even given to her mother, was sent a legal notice there, which made her believe she was being followed.

TC: How else did the company try to intimidate employees?

RJ: The fear was always that your job was on the line if you raised concerns. If you said, “This isn’t working,” you’d get in trouble and be asked: “Do you like working here?” A lot of people wound up quitting.

TC: Knowing what you do, do you have sympathy for the investors who’d gotten involved in Theranos? There’s only so much due diligence one can do but were there warning signs they should have heeded?

RJ: It’s true that early-stage venture investments, there isn’t a ton of due diligence you can do. For the story, we talk with one attorney who is suing on behalf of 200 investors, and he talks about his long, storied career, in which he has also gone up against Bernie Madoff. And in both of these cases, he points to affinity fraud. If an investment is good enough for you, who are a person in my social circle who I respect, it’s good enough for me. Betsy DeVos’s family was involved. Rupert Murdoch. Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots. The Walton family. But it wasn’t just big names. We hear from a retired executive assistant who got a tip to put money into this, that it was the next Apple, and she lost $150,00 of her retirement savings — the biggest investment of her entire life.

[Renowned VC] Tim Draper wrote Holmes her first check for $1 million around the time she dropped out of Stanford. His daughter Jessie was a friend of hers. But the board you hear about came together in 2011 after she landed the support of [the dean of Stanford’s engineering school] Channing Robertson, who helped her put her board together. He was a very well-liked professor who was taken with her. Because he came on board right as she was leaving Stanford, he really gave credibility to her. Meanwhile, other Stanford professors were wondering: how does a young student with less than two years of college experience know enough about medical devices and the medical industry to develop a product like this?

source https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/23/a-new-abc-documentary-and-podcast-about-theranos-features-never-before-aired-depositions/

A new ABC documentary and podcast about Theranos features never-before aired depositions

The rise and fall of Theranos, the blood-testing company whose technology never worked despite its promises otherwise, has already been covered extensively. Most notably, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who broke open the story of Theranos’s secrets and lies, John Carreyrou, went on to author a best-selling book about the saga in Bad Blood.

Still, with Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes still facing criminal charges that she knowingly defrauded investors, along with Theranos’s president and COO and Holmes’s longtime lover, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, the company and the pair’s trajectory remain a point of fascination for many.

A new documentary produced by ABC’s “Nightline” that will air tonight — along with a six-part podcast series whose first episode is being released today (the others will be published every Wednesday through February’s end)  — will undoubtedly stoke even more questions about how investors and customers like Walgreens bought their act in the first place.

So we gathered after speaking yesterday with Rebecca Jarvis, ABC News’s chief business, technology, and economics correspondent, who led a three-year investigation into Theranos and Holmes, a Stanford drop-out who would go on to win acclaim as the youngest self-made female billionaire in the world before everything, very slowly, crashed down around her. Some outtakes from our chat with Jarvis follow, edited lightly for length.

TC: You’ve been covering this story for years. Given all that you’ve seen in the depositions that “Nightline” plans to air as part of this documentary, and everything you’ve learned in your reporting, who was the worse actor in all of this, Holmes or Balwani? John Carreyrou certainly painted him as a kind of Svengali figure.

RJ: What we have here is never-before-aired deposition footage, where you see Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Balwani being forced to answer to all of these allegations. Most of what we’ve seen publicly to this point have been official statements, or statements made in very nurturing environments, or interviews don’t don’t explicitly look at the technology itself.

When we got access to this — and it’s truly access to hundreds of hours of footage — we couldn’t believe our eyes, watching Elizabeth Holme’s deposition. It was just remarkable, hearing her having to answer to questions in a way that she’d never had to previously.

As for [the way Holmes and Balwani operated], Tyler Schultz [a former employee who later became a whistleblower] has said that he was flagging things that were wrong with Elizabeth, and after he would flag a concern, she would react with a non-response. It was Sunny who became known as the enforcer, telling Tyler to watch himself and not to continue to raise these issues.

TC: Are open about their romantic relationship in the footage being aired?

RJ: Yes. We’ve never heard of them speak of it before, and viewers will see them talking about this relationship.

TC: What was something in the many depositions you pored over that really took your breath away?

RJ: One of the things that we heard over and over again, talking with various parties, including customers of Theranos, is that Elizabeth Holmes had told them that these Theranos-manufactured devices had been deployed in hospital rooms, emergency rooms and medevac helicopters among other places, and she’s asked if this is accurate, and in every single case, the answer is no.

Naturally, too, this whole thing was predicated on being able to run tests on a few drops of blood, and for the first time, you see Elizabeth having to answer questions about what the devices were really capable of. A lot of what comes up is how much of this was aspiration versus reality, and the great divide between those two things.

TC: The government filed its criminal fraud case against former Holmes and Balwani last June. Does the documentary cover the status of that case?

RJ: At this point, both of them have pleaded not guilty to the DOJ’s charges. She’d settled with the SEC without admitting wrongdoing; Balwani is still fighting the SEC’s charges. But they’ll have to face the DOJ in court. When will that happen [is a question mark]. The government shutdown has slowed the ability to get millions of documents to the DOJ and to prosecutors.

TC: How much do the podcast and the documentary have in common?

RJ: The podcast encompasses a greater breadth of our work. For example, among the numerous interviews in the podcast that you’ll hear is with Rochelle Gibbons, the wife of a former chief scientist at Theranos [Ian Gibbons] who’d committed suicide, an act she blames on Theranos. You’ll hear how the deal with Walgreens came together from behind-the-scenes accounts. Walgreens ultimately sued Theranos and settled with Theranos for an undisclosed sum, but people look at story and ask how this could have made it into Walgreens in the first place; we looked in depth at how it happened, talking with the people who were there and who share what they were shown by people from Theranos. We also talk with her honors physics teacher in high school and her family friendsl

TC: Do you think Holmes has a personality disorder?

RJ: I don’t have the medical training to answer that question. I”m not a psychologist. But people around her have used the word “sociopath.”

Her family friends give a real sense of what she was like as a kid. They paint  a picture of someone who was incredibly precocious, who wanted to be successful and who believe her family’s history had a lot to do with this. There’s a kind of “Paradise Lost” backstory tying back to the Fleischmann yeast fortune, which had dwindled as it passed through the hands of generations, before it made it to her father, Christian Holmes. It’s something that people who were around the family say was a talking point among them.

TC: Were you ever concerned about your safety, reporting on Theranos? Holmes has repeatedly been portrayed as a bully.

RJ: I didn’t feel that way. We did pay Theranos a number of visits over the years and we did get kicked out. But we talked with other people who worked at Theranos at the time the story [of its failings] starting getting out into the mainstream, and for example, one employee who was crashing on the couch of a friend for a few days, at an address that she hadn’t even given to her mother, was sent a legal notice there, which made her believe she was being followed.

TC: How else did the company try to intimidate employees?

RJ: The fear was always that your job was on the line if you raised concerns. If you said, “This isn’t working,” you’d get in trouble and be asked: “Do you like working here?” A lot of people wound up quitting.

TC: Knowing what you do, do you have sympathy for the investors who’d gotten involved in Theranos? There’s only so much due diligence one can do but were there warning signs they should have heeded?

RJ: It’s true that early-stage venture investments, there isn’t a ton of due diligence you can do. For the story, we talk with one attorney who is suing on behalf of 200 investors, and he talks about his long, storied career, in which he has also gone up against Bernie Madoff. And in both of these cases, he points to affinity fraud. If an investment is good enough for you, who are a person in my social circle who I respect, it’s good enough for me. Betsy DeVos’s family was involved. Rupert Murdoch. Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots. The Walton family. But it wasn’t just big names. We hear from a retired executive assistant who got a tip to put money into this, that it was the next Apple, and she lost $150,00 of her retirement savings — the biggest investment of her entire life.

[Renowned VC] Tim Draper wrote Holmes her first check for $1 million around the time she dropped out of Stanford. His daughter Jessie was a friend of hers. But the board you hear about came together in 2011 after she landed the support of [the dean of Stanford’s engineering school] Channing Robertson, who helped her put her board together. He was a very well-liked professor who was taken with her. Because he came on board right as she was leaving Stanford, he really gave credibility to her. Meanwhile, other Stanford professors were wondering: how does a young student with less than two years of college experience know enough about medical devices and the medical industry to develop a product like this?

Via Connie Loizos https://techcrunch.com

MCCONNELL: Gov’t won’t shut down — TRUMP unleashes on Twitter: POTUS says people who lost money in stock market should SUE ABC — INSIDE the GRIDIRON DINNER — PETER BAKER A1: TRUMP’s whiplash presidency

KEEP YOUR HOLIDAY PLANS … MAYBE!: MCCONNELL PREDICTS NO SHUTDOWN: GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS speaks to SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL on ABC’S “THIS WEEK”: STEPHANOPOULOS: “Republicans have a majority in the House and the Senate. Can … you keep the government open on your own?” MCCONNELL: “Look there’s not going to be a government shutdown. It’s just not going to happen.”

THE BIG PICTURE: REMOVE THE BLUE BAG — PETER BAKER on A1 of the SUNDAY TIMES — “Wrenched From Scandal to Success, Trump Looks Ahead, and Over His Shoulder”: “The highs and lows of a presidency rarely come in such quick succession. But within hours, President Trump watched as one of his closest former aides pleaded guilty and promised to help prosecutors seek out more targets, then stayed up late to cheer on the Senate as it broke through months of gridlock to pass the largest tax cuts in years.

Story Continued Below

“Scandal and success in short order left the White House whipsawed and searching for a path forward that would generate more of the latter while knowing that the former is not going away anytime soon. Michael T. Flynn, the former national security adviser who pleaded guilty to a felony on Friday, was the fourth person near Mr. Trump to be charged and few in Washington expect him to be the last.

“No president in modern times has faced such a major investigation so early in his term even as he was still seeking to establish his political footing, much less one with as little popular support in polls as Mr. Trump has. The challenge for Mr. Trump in the weeks to come will be how to press forward on his agenda without letting the ominous drumbeat of indictments and court hearings consume his presidency.” http://nyti.ms/2nq5Pvy

Good Sunday morning. WHAT’S ON THE PRESIDENT’S MIND — @realDonaldTrump at 8:36 a.m.: “Report: ‘ANTI-TRUMP FBI AGENT LED CLINTON EMAIL PROBE’ Now it all starts to make sense!” … at 8:15 a.m.: “People who lost money when the Stock Market went down 350 points based on the False and Dishonest reporting of Brian Ross of @ABC News (he has been suspended), should consider hiring a lawyer and suing ABC for the damages this bad reporting has caused – many millions of dollars!”

… at 8 a.m.: “After years of Comey, with the phony and dishonest Clinton investigation (and more), running the FBI, its reputation is in Tatters – worst in History! But fear not, we will bring it back to greatness.” … at 7:42 a.m.: “Tainted (no, very dishonest?) FBI ‘agent’s role in Clinton probe under review.’ Led Clinton Email probe. @foxandfriends Clinton money going to wife of another FBI agent in charge.”

THE TRUMP TWEET EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT: @realDonaldTrump at 6:15 a.m.: “I never asked Comey to stop investigating Flynn. Just more Fake News covering another Comey lie!”

— AP’S CALVIN WOODWARD and KEN THOMAS: “Trump shifted his story Saturday on why he fired Flynn, lumping in the retired Army lieutenant general’s lies to the FBI along with his untruthfulness with Vice President Mike Pence. The president’s initial explanation was that Flynn had to go because he hadn’t been straight with Pence about contacts with Russian officials. Lying to the FBI is a crime, and one that Flynn acknowledged Friday in pleading guilty and agreeing to cooperate with the special counsel’s Russia investigation.

“Trump tweeted Saturday: ‘I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!’ Amid questions raised by the tweet, Trump associates tried to put distance Saturday evening between the president himself and the tweet. One person familiar with the situation said the tweet was actually crafted by John Dowd, one of the president’s personal attorneys. Dowd declined to comment when reached by The Associated Press on Saturday night.” http://bit.ly/2zJrtN2

— JAKE TAPPER talks with SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA.) on CNN’S “STATE OF THE UNION”: TAPPER: “President Trump says he never asked Comey to stop investigating Flynn. As you know better than I, Comey testified under oath before your committee in June that President Trump did ask him to drop the investigation. Whom do you believe?” WARNER: “I believe FBI Director Comey. I think he was very credible in his testimony and his private meetings with us. And it’s not just Comey. You had — clearly, you had an attorney general who has had to recuse himself because of untold contacts with Russians. You had the president of the United States trying to intervene, as has been reported, with other national intelligence leaders, who he appointed, saying, could you back off?”

— TAPPER with SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-S.C.): TAPPER: “Your fellow senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, told CNN that he would urge President Trump to pledge to not pardon Michael Flynn. Do you agree with that?” SCOTT: “I do. At the end of the day, here’s what we know. We have to have a way to restore confidence of the American people in their elected officials and the leaders of this country. One way that you do that is by holding those folks who are, A, lying to the FBI, you hold those folks accountable, and, B, you have a process that is clear and transparent. When the Intel … Committee is finished, we will have the facts.”

NYT’S MIKE SCHMIDT, SHARON LAFRANIERE and SCOTT SHANE: “Emails Dispute White House Claims That Flynn Acted Independently on Russia”: “When President Trump fired his national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, in February, White House officials portrayed him as a renegade who had acted independently in his discussions with a Russian official during the presidential transition and then lied to his colleagues about the interactions. But emails among top transition officials, provided or described to The New York Times, suggest that Mr. Flynn was far from a rogue actor.

“In fact, the emails, coupled with interviews and court documents filed on Friday, showed that Mr. Flynn was in close touch with other senior members of the Trump transition team both before and after he spoke with the Russian ambassador, Sergey I. Kislyak, about American sanctions against Russia. While Mr. Trump has disparaged as a Democratic ‘hoax’ any claims that he or his aides had unusual interactions with Russian officials, the records suggest that the Trump transition team was intensely focused on improving relations with Moscow and was willing to intervene to pursue that goal despite a request from the Obama administration that it not sow confusion about official American policy before Mr. Trump took office.

“On Dec. 29, a transition adviser to Mr. Trump, K. T. McFarland, wrote in an email to a colleague that sanctions announced hours before by the Obama administration in retaliation for Russian election meddling were aimed at discrediting Mr. Trump’s victory. The sanctions could also make it much harder for Mr. Trump to ease tensions with Russia, ‘which has just thrown the U.S.A. election to him,’ she wrote in the emails obtained by The Times. It is not clear whether Ms. McFarland was saying she believed that the election had in fact been thrown. A White House lawyer said on Friday that she meant only that the Democrats were portraying it that way.” http://nyti.ms/2zIdyad

MORE RUSSIA TIES — “Operative Offered Trump Campaign ‘Kremlin Connection’ Using N.R.A. Ties,” by NYT’s Nick Fandos: “A conservative operative trumpeting his close ties to the National Rifle Association and Russia told a Trump campaign adviser last year that he could arrange a back-channel meeting between Donald J. Trump and Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian president, according to an email sent to the Trump campaign.

“A May 2016 email to the campaign adviser, Rick Dearborn, bore the subject line ‘Kremlin Connection.’ In it, the N.R.A. member said he wanted the advice of Mr. Dearborn and Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, then a foreign policy adviser to Mr. Trump and Mr. Dearborn’s longtime boss, about how to proceed in connecting the two leaders. Russia, he wrote, was ‘quietly but actively seeking a dialogue with the U.S.’ and would attempt to use the N.R.A.’s annual convention in Louisville, Ky., to make “first contact.” …

“‘Putin is deadly serious about building a good relationship with Mr. Trump,’ the N.R.A. member and conservative activist, Paul Erickson, wrote. ‘He wants to extend an invitation to Mr. Trump to visit him in the Kremlin before the election. Let’s talk through what has transpired and Senator Sessions’s advice on how to proceed.’” http://nyti.ms/2jaUxHa

WHAT AMERICA IS WAKING UP TO — BIRMINGHAM NEWS — “Will black voters turn out Dec. 12?” http://bit.ly/2iI8NtI … DES MOINES REGISTER: “Despite warnings, few Iowa farmers face tax” http://bit.ly/2BCYFr3

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KELLY FILES — “Trump Finds Loopholes in Chief of Staff’s New Regime,” by WSJ’s Mike Bender: “Chief of Staff John Kelly over the past five months has imposed discipline and rigorous protocols on a freewheeling White House. But President Donald Trump has found the loopholes. The president on occasion has called White House aides to the private residence in the evening, where he makes assignments and asks them not tell Mr. Kelly about the plans, according to several people familiar with the matter. At least once, aides have declined to carry out the requested task so as not to run afoul of Mr. Kelly, one of these people said.

“The president, who values counsel from an informal group of confidants outside the White House, also sometimes bypasses the normal scheduling for phone calls that give other White House staff, including Mr. Kelly, some control and influence over who the president talks to and when. Instead, some of his friends have taken to calling Melania Trump and asking her to pass messages to her husband, according to two people familiar with the matter. They say that since she arrived in the White House from New York in the summer, the first lady has taken on a more central role as a political adviser to the president. ‘If I don’t want to wait 24 hours for a call from the president, getting to Melania is much easier,’ one person said.” http://on.wsj.com/2Aocdsk

JOKES! — HOUSE REPUBLICAN CONFERENCE CHAIRMAN CATHY MCMORRIS RODGERS spoke at the Gridiron Dinner last night. What she said: “I know, it’s been a long evening already, but don’t try to leave early. Matt Lauer helped us with all the locks. … My dear friend Vice President Pence had a lot of fun at the spring dinner. I asked him once ‘Mike, if you could pick any color to be — what would you choose?’ And he said: ‘Definitely never nude!’ … Seriously, I am so proud of our work this Congress. Without the brave and steady hand of Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, those 3 pieces of legislation would never have become law.”

— SEN. TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D-ILL.) also at the Gridiron: “Look at us all here. My goodness. We’re all dressed like we’re getting a huge tax cut. … I actually just heard there’s another event like this at the White House tonight, but it’s not black tie. It’s orange jumpsuit. … Is Donald Trump’s next book going to be ‘The Art of the Plea Deal?’ … It used to be getting invited to speak at the Gridiron was the ultimate sign that you have made it in D.C. No offense, but now that ultimate sign is being mentioned in a Donald Trump tweet. As journalists, you have not arrived until you win Donald Trump’s ‘fake news’ trophy.

“Senators, for us, we have to wait until Donald Trump gives us an insulting nickname — Crooked Hillary, Little Marco, Lyin Ted. Seriously, Pocahontas? But what about me? What’s a girl gotta do to get some of Donald Trump’s attention? On second thought — don’t answer that. I’m Asian. I was born in a foreign country. I’m disabled. I’m a woman. And we know he doesn’t like people who were shot down. So I deserve an insensitive nickname, too. I may have some suggestions for our president.

“How about Not So Fly Girl? Peking Duckworth. Lame Duckworth. Tammy Duckworthless. Or maybe because of my bionic powers, Tammy Duckworth the $6 million woman — which might not sound like an insult, but remember, $6 million ain’t gonna get you in the Trump Cabinet. It’s barely enough to get you one of Paul Manafort’s suits. You can’t even take Mrs. Mnuchin on a date night with that.”

PAGE TURNER — COREY AND BOSSIE’S NEW BOOK — “Trump’s campaign: Big Macs, screaming fits and constant rivalries,” by WaPo’s Michael Kranish: “Elton John blares so loudly on Donald Trump’s campaign plane that staffers can’t hear themselves think. Press secretary Hope Hicks uses a steamer to press Trump’s pants — while he is still wearing them. Trump screams at his top aides, who are subjected to expletive-filled tirades in which they get their ‘face ripped off.’ And Trump’s appetite seems to know no bounds when it comes to McDonald’s, with a dinner order consisting of ‘two Big Macs, two Fillet-O-Fish, and a chocolate malted.’

“The scenes are among the most surreal passages in a forthcoming book chronicling Trump’s path to the presidency co-written by Corey Lewandowski, who was fired as Trump’s campaign manager, and David Bossie, another top aide. The book [is] ‘Let Trump Be Trump’ … ‘Sooner or later, everybody who works for Donald Trump will see a side of him that makes you wonder why you took a job with him in the first place,’ the authors wrote. ‘His wrath is never intended as any personal offense, but sometimes it can be hard not to take it that way. The mode that he switches into when things aren’t going his way can feel like an all-out assault; it’d break most hardened men and women into little pieces.’” http://wapo.st/2BtHBmw … $17.70 on Amazon http://amzn.to/2jFW1Zq

IF YOU READ ONE THING – “Inside the secretive nerve center of the Mueller investigation,” by WaPo’s Bob Costa, Carol Leonnig and Josh Dawsey: “In the past two months, Mueller and his deputies have received private debriefs from two dozen current and former Trump advisers, each of whom has made the trek to the special counsel’s secure office suite. Once inside, most witnesses are seated in a windowless conference room where two- and three-person teams of FBI agents and prosecutors rotate in and out, pressing them for answers.

“Among the topics that have been of keen interest to investigators: how foreign government officials and their emissaries contacted Trump officials, as well as the actions and interplay of Flynn and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law. Often listening in is the special counsel himself, a sphinx-like presence who sits quietly along the wall for portions of key interviews. … Meanwhile, some witnesses who have been interviewed came away with the impression that the probe is unfolding and far from over. …

“The volume of questions about Kushner in their interviews surprised some witnesses. ‘I remember specifically being asked about Jared a number of times,’ said one witness. … Some witnesses were introduced to so many federal agents and lawyers that they later lamented that they had largely forgotten many of their names by the time one team left the room and a new team entered. … People familiar with the Mueller team said they convey a sense of calm that is unsettling. ‘These guys are confident, impressive, pretty friendly — joking a little, even,’ one lawyer said. When prosecutors strike that kind of tone, he said, defense lawyers tend to think: ‘Uh oh, my guy is in a heap of trouble.’” http://wapo.st/2At793U

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-CALIF.) talking with CHUCK TODD on NBC’S “MEET THE PRESS” about the Mueller investigation: “And, I think, what we’re beginning to see is the putting together of a case of obstruction of justice. I think we see this in the indictments, the four indictments and pleas that have just taken place, and some of the comments that are being made. I see it in the hyper-frenetic attitude of the White House: the comments every day, the continual tweets. And I see it, most importantly, in what happened with the firing of Director Comey and it is my belief that that is directly because he did not agree to lift the cloud of the Russia investigation. That’s obstruction of justice.”

ON THE WORLD STAGE — “Trump Boycotts U.N. Migration Talks: The White House’s ‘America First’ policy makers see little gain in setting the global rules for migration,” by Foreign Policy’s Colum Lynch: “President Donald Trump has decided to boycott a global conference on migration scheduled to begin Monday in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, sending a blunt signal that the United States is no longer interested in forging a concerted response to the world’s burgeoning migration crises. …

“The U.S. president’s decision to pull out of the negotiations highlighted the enduring influence of Stephen Miller, the 32-year-old senior White House policy advisor who has championed the Trump administration’s effort to sharply restrict immigration to the United States. In recent weeks, Miller led efforts to pull out of the migration talks. …

“White House chief of staff John Kelly, who previously led the Department of Homeland Security’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions strongly backed a pullout, according to diplomatic sources familiar with the deliberations. The State Department initially opposed the withdrawal, but its policy planning chief, Brian Hook, who represented Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at the principals’ meeting, reversed course and recommended ditching the negotiations. The meeting ended in deadlock, with Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, expressing the lone dissent. Haley had argued that the United States would have a better shot at influencing the outcome of the negotiations if it participated in the process.” http://atfp.co/2nkQFrs

THE LATEST IN ALABAMA — “Is Roy Moore winning? Don’t ask the pollsters,” by Steven Shepard: “Roy Moore appears to have inched back in front of Democrat Doug Jones in the latest Alabama Senate election polls, according to the oft-cited RealClearPolitics average — a change in fortune from mid-November, when sexual misconduct allegations against Moore first surfaced. The reality? No one really has a clue about where things stand with Alabama voters in the December 12 special election.

“For all the national attention and the millions of dollars spent to win the seat, there’s relatively little public polling in the contest. Only three public surveys in the average have been conducted since the Thanksgiving holiday, and odds are you’ve never heard of two of the three pollsters. And that’s precisely the problem. The most important and closely watched election in the nation is taking place in the equivalent of a polling black box.” http://politi.co/2ArzO9q

— “Jones rallies black voters to turn out against Moore: The Alabama Democrat visits Selma as he tries to charge up the African-American vote for the Senate race,” by Daniel Strauss in Selma: “Doug Jones’ hunt for votes took him over the Edmund Pettus Bridge and into Selma’s annual Christmas parade Saturday, seeking to energize his most important bloc of supporters in Alabama’s special Senate election: African-Americans. Jones’ visit to a civil rights movement landmark epitomized his strategy in the final days of the Alabama race. Jones simply cannot win without African-American voters flooding to the polls on December 12, when he faces scandal-plagued Republican Roy Moore and hopes to become the first Democrat in years to win a statewide race in Alabama. …

“[Y]ears of Democratic losses have weakened voter interest and atrophied the state party, which is also riven by conflict between the different factions that remain. That has forced Jones to build a coalition almost from scratch in the last few months, leading some to criticize Jones for starting black outreach too late.” http://politi.co/2zK7jCM

THE BATTLEFIELD — “Battle for the House: GOP targets Democrats in Trump districts,” by Elena Schneider: “When Democratic Rep. Matt Cartwright woke up on Election Day 2016, he represented a safe blue Pennsylvania district. But by the time he went to sleep that night, Donald Trump had painted Cartwright’s turf red beneath his feet. Cartwright still won a third term, but Republicans hope to follow up on Trump’s top-of-the-ticket success by targeting Cartwright and 11 other House Democrats in Trump districts in 2018.

“A well-funded Republican jumped in to oppose Cartwright for the first time, while Cheri Bustos — the only Midwesterner in House Democratic leadership — has also drawn a stronger challenger than last year. Other Trump-district Democrats in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin are also top Republican targets, as are open seats in the Las Vegas suburbs and southern New Hampshire.

“Republicans are mostly on defense in the House of Representatives ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, with Democrats looking to erase the GOP’s 24-seat advantage and take back the majority. But Republicans are also confident they can pad their margin by picking off some Democrats in heavily white, blue-collar districts next fall, despite the political winds blowing against them elsewhere in the U.S. — and Democrats are relying on those members to learn the lessons of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 loss to avoid 2018 surprises.” http://politi.co/2zY33DQ

FASCINATING MCCONNELL QUOTE — “‘This is class warfare’: Tax vote sparks political brawl over populism that will carry into 2018 elections,” by WaPo’s Dave Weigel, Bob Costa and Paul Kane: “‘They tend not to be popular,’ Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), referring to bills passed with only one party’s support, told The Washington Post in an interview Saturday. ‘Generally speaking, in the beginning, people decide they don’t like it.’ The test for Republicans is whether they can convince voters that this legislation will put more money in their wallets — and the GOP leader is not sure whether they can do that in time for the 2018 elections. ‘We don’t know,’ McConnell said. But he said he thinks that in the long run, the economic boost will come and voters will eventually reward Republicans. ‘Whether it’s immediately popular or not becomes irrelevant if it does what you hope,’ he added.” http://wapo.st/2zKsi8w

SUNDAY BEST — CHRIS WALLACE talks to H.R. MCMASTER on “FOX NEWS SUNDAY”: WALLACE: “Let me ask you about another personnel issue which bubbled up this week. White House officials are talking openly about a plan to replace Secretary of State Tillerson by January of the first anniversary of President Trump being sworn into office. The president and Secretary Tillerson pushed back on that hard. But, can you flatly deny that there is any plan in place to replace Secretary Tillerson over the next couple of months?” MCMASTER: “Yeah, I’m not aware of any plan at all. What I’m aware of is that the secretary of state is traveling today to advance and protect our interests, as is our secretary of defense.”

— JOHN DICKERSON talks with OMB DIRECTOR MICK MULVANEY on CBS’S “FACE THE NATION”: DICKERSON: “[L]et me ask you about the shutdown which might be coming. Government’s [going to] run out of money. Democrats wouldn’t meet with the president. What’s the status of things?” MULVANEY: “You know, it’s funny to see now that the Republicans are in charge I think there’s a group of right-wingers in the House who say they want to shut the government down. There’s a group of Democrats who want to shut the government down over DACA. And there’s a group of lawmakers from some of the hurricane states who want to shut the government down until they get what they want. This just sheds light on the fact that the spending system is broken when any little group can sort of hold the government hostage. We need to get beyond that. I think that we will. I don’t think you’ll see a government shutdown.”

DICKERSON: “People used to say that about you. You were in one of those little groups when you wanted to shut the government down for reasons. You’ve changed your stripes.” MULVANEY: “Well, all the more reason the system should be fixed. We don’t spend money properly in Washington, D.C. We jump these massive bills to massive bills. The government shut down I think, John, 17 times in 20 years between ’80 and ’94 or something like that.”

TV TONIGHT — On MSNBC’s “Kasie DC”: former Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.), Jake Sherman, Shawna Thomas, Nick Confessore, Natasha Bertrand, Jeremy Bash, Ken Dilanian, Marin Cogan, Ben Schreckinger

YOU’RE INVITED — Our first live podcast taping next Thursday night (Dec. 7) at 7 p.m. at Sixth and I. Our inaugural guests: MICHAEL BARBARO, host of the New York Times’ hit podcast “The Daily,” DCCC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DAN SENA and NRCC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR JOHN ROGERS. And a panel of POLITICO stars: RACHAEL BADE, SEUNG MIN KIM and ANNIE KARNI. Get your tickets now! http://bit.ly/2hWK7tF

PHOTO DU JOUR: President Donald Trump approaches the South Lawn of the White House aboard Marine One on Dec. 2. Trump was returning from a fundraising trip to New York. | Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images

SNL COLD OPEN – “White House Christmas Cold Open: President Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) is visited by the spirits of Michael Flynn (Mikey Day), Billy Bush (Alex Moffatt), Vladimir Putin (Beck Bennett) and Hillary Clinton (Kate McKinnon)” – FLYNN (in chains): “Donald J. Trump. Donald J. Trump.” … TRUMP: “You’ve come to get me, I knew it. It’s the Muslim stuff, right?” FLYNN: “No.” TRUMP: “It’s for calling Mexicans rapists?” FLYNN: “No.” TRUMP: “The Roy Moore stuff?” FLYNN: “No.” TRUMP: “Draft-dodging?” FLYNN: “No.” TRUMP: “The birther stuff?” FLYNN: “No.” TRUMP: “Pocahontas?” FLYNN: “No.” TRUMP: “The Central Park Five? No wait. Making fun of the handicapped reporter like this?” FLYNN: “No, sir. Sir. I’m not here for any of that.”

TRUMP: “Who are you? Jacob Marley? You’ve got a lot of chains on.” FLYNN: “No, I am Michael Flynn, the ghost of witness flipped. Mr. President, I came to warn you. It’s time to come clean for the good of the country.” TRUMP: “What the good of the?” FLYNN: “The good of the country.” TRUMP: “The goobadacomcom?” 6-min. video http://bit.ly/2AQvwLO

FOR YOUR RADAR — “Pentagon evaluating U.S. West Coast missile defense sites – officials,” by Reuters’ Mike Stone in Simi Valley, California: “The U.S. agency tasked with protecting the country from missile attacks is scouting the West Coast for places to deploy new anti-missile defenses, two Congressmen said on Saturday, as North Korea’s missile tests raise concerns about how the United States would defend itself from an attack. West Coast defenses would likely include Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-ballistic missiles, similar to those deployed in South Korea to protect against a potential North Korean attack.” http://reut.rs/2AQRJti

MICHAEL GRUNWALD — “Trump Wants to Dismantle Elizabeth Warren’s Agency. Good Luck With That”: “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is now the star of a bizarre legal and bureaucratic drama, a Rome-versus-Avignon power struggle unfolding a block from the White House. The resignation of the bureau’s director, Richard Cordray, has created a soap-opera succession battle tailor-made for the frenzied Washington news cycle, with two dueling officials claiming his job and furious partisans arguing both sides.” http://politi.co/2ArktFR

HEALTH CARE FALLOUT — “GOP Medicaid work rules imperil care for opioid abusers,” by Rachana Pradhan and Brianna Ehley: “Red states ravaged by the opioid crisis are pushing for Medicaid work requirements that could push people out of treatment as they try to get off drugs. Kentucky, New Hampshire, Maine and Indiana are among at least eight GOP-led states seeking federal approval to require Medicaid enrollees to work as a precondition of their health coverage. All four states have been hard hit by drug addiction, which claims 140 lives a day nationally.

“Governors say they would exempt people with chronic drug problems or severe mental illness from the Medicaid work requirements, but who would qualify and under what circumstances hasn’t been spelled out. Critics fear that many addicts could lose benefits, particularly if they go in and out of treatment, or have relapsed — a not uncommon occurrence. Employers’ resistance to hiring people who have failed drug tests or have criminal records could also put health benefits at risk.” http://politi.co/2npdwCk

MEDIAWATCH — “ABC News suspends Brian Ross for 4 weeks over erroneous Flynn story,” by CNN’s Oliver Darcy: “ABC News announced Saturday that it has suspended investigative reporter Brian Ross for four weeks without pay after Ross was forced to correct a bombshell on-air report about Michael Flynn. ‘We deeply regret and apologize for the serious error we made [Friday]. The reporting conveyed by Brian Ross during the special report had not been fully vetted through our editorial standards process,’ ABC said in a statement. ‘As a result of our continued reporting over the next several hours ultimately we determined the information was wrong and we corrected the mistake on air and online.’ ‘It is vital we get the story right and retain the trust we have built with our audience — these are our core principles,’ the statement added. ‘We fell far short of that [Friday].’” http://cnnmon.ie/2ADn4iu

–@BrianRoss: “My job is to hold people accountable and that’s why I agree with being held accountable myself.”

****** A message from PhRMA: According to new analysis from the Moran Company, hospitals mark up medicine prices, on average, nearly 500 percent. The analysis of 20 medicines also found a hospital is paid 2.5 times what the biopharmaceutical company, who brought the medicine to market, receives. While hospital markups lead to higher costs for patients, employers and payers, these markups are often overlooked in conversations about medicine costs. As the provider market continues to become more concentrated and the number of medicines being administered in hospital-owned facilities is growing, the amount hospitals mark up medicine prices needs greater scrutiny. http://onphr.ma/2Ba0TOa ******

BONUS GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman:

— “The Lost Genocide,” by Doug Bock Clark in Longreads: “One [Rohingya] survivor described watching an attack on the town’s elderly religious leader as he was being carried from the flaming village on his son’s back. Soldiers knocked the son down, and then four of them grabbed the imam by his limb. They rocked back and forth to start the old man swinging and then hurled him into the inferno.” http://bit.ly/2jE2Ri5

— “The Recruiters: Searching For The Next Generation Of Warfighters In A Divided America,” by Adam Linehan in Task and Purpose – per TheBrowser.com’s description: “To join the US Army you need good physical and mental health, no tattoos on face or hands, a high-school diploma and a clean police record. Only 29% of Americans in the 17-24 age group meet those criteria. It’s easiest to recruit in the south and west around military bases where the army is familiar, hardest in the north and east. Since the draft ended in 1973, recruiting has become ‘one of the most important jobs in the military’. Here’s how the Army goes about it.” http://bit.ly/2AzKGo8

— “A Mother’s Ninth-Century Manual on How to Be a Man,” by Edward White in the Paris Review: “Dhuoda’s book outlines the subjects that should most concern a man of high birth, such as how to pray and read the Bible; how to distinguish vice from virtue; how best to honor his parents; how to serve God and the Crown; how to handle illness, affliction, and hardship. The Liber Manualis beguiles with its intimacy and exquisite intricacy, a glittering portal to a culture that can seem entirely alien from our own.” http://bit.ly/2zHCdLT

— “The Refugee Scandal on the Island of Lesbos,” by Giorgos Christides and Katrin Kuntz in Der Spiegel: “Those wishing to visit ground zero of European ignominy must simply drive up an olive tree-covered hill on the island of Lesbos until the high cement walls of Camp Moria come into view. The dreadful stench of urine and garbage greets visitors and the ground is covered with hundreds of plastic bags. Inside, you see containers meant for six people packed with 14, overflowing toilets and garbage bins that nobody empties with mothers changing their babies’ diapers right next to them.” http://bit.ly/2A7o51O

— “The Conflict in Yemen: A Primer,” by Clare Duncan in Lawfare: “The war is at a stalemate. There are functionally two governments: the Houthis in Sanaa, and Hadi in Aden. Yemenis are facing famine, primarily the consequence of a blockade by the Saudi-led coalition. For decades, Yemen has relied on imports for around 90 percent of its food needs, and the Saudi blockade—meant to prevent arms shipments to the Houthis—has cut off Yemenis’ access to food, along with medicine, fuel, and other humanitarian aid.” http://bit.ly/2AOvLH1

— “Understand and Survive in a Chinese Office,” by Qianwei Zhang on Medium: “Despite the fact that Chinese people are more and more open to outside influence, and economic opportunities have encouraged them to pursue individuality and freedom, deep down, they are still the sons and daughters of Confucius who were taught to respect collective interest and bow to the man above your rank.” http://bit.ly/2iDzekz

— “The Christian Legal Army Behind ‘Masterpiece Cakeshop’: A special investigation into the rise of Alliance Defending Freedom,” by Sarah Posner in the Nation: “The organization, which once aspired to be merely a Christian antidote to the secular ACLU, has fast become a training ground for future legislators, judges, prosecutors, attorneys general, and other government lawyers—including, notably, in the Trump administration.” http://bit.ly/2hXmwZO

— “What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men?” by Claire Dederer in the Paris Review: “The real question is this: can I love the art but hate the artist? Can you? When I say we, I mean I. I mean you.” http://bit.ly/2zY33Aq

— “‘A tale of decay’: the Houses of Parliament are falling down,” by Charlotte Higgins in the Guardian: “As politicians dither over repairs, the risk of fire, flood or a deluge of sewage only increases. But fixing the Palace of Westminster might change British politics for good – which is the last thing many of its residents want.” http://bit.ly/2j71vg5

— “Terry McAuliffe’s Dead-Serious Advice For Democrats: Have Fun!” by BuzzFeed’s Ruby Cramer: “Terry McAuliffe spent 35 years chasing checks from donors, raising millions for Democrats, amassing success and scandal, befriending the Clintons, and earning legendary political status as the high-energy, fun-loving fundraiser known as ‘the Macker.’ Now he’s a governor with a serious record, in a state where Democrats just won big. So what’s changed about him? As it turns out, not much.” http://bzfd.it/2AlUz8w

— “Trump Tower’s Murky History and Murkier Future: Slumping Sales, Pentagon Leases, and Shadowy L.L.C.S,” by Suzanna Andrews in Vanity Fair: “Once home to celebrities like Bruce Willis and Michael Jackson, apartments in Trump Tower are now frequently owned by shadowy L.L.C.s—and even a few criminals. With security up and sales slumping, what does the future hold for the Trump Organization’s flagship property?” http://bit.ly/2zKEdTu

— “Walter Isaacson: Why I Left DC” – Washingtonian: “After years among the capital’s elite, an establishment fixture decides to return home.” http://bit.ly/2izrNuB

— “The case for normalizing impeachment,” by Vox’s Ezra Klein: “Impeaching an unfit president has consequences. But leaving one in office could be worse.” http://bit.ly/2i2W2Gd

— “Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?” by Edward Jay Epstein in the Feb. 1982 issue of the Atlantic: “An unruly market may undo the work of a giant cartel and of an inspired, decades-long ad campaign.” http://theatln.tc/2pkf2ml (h/t Longform.org)

— “22 Crushes,” by Davy Rothbart in California Sunday magazine: “Seeing the names [in a journal] again after so long transfixed me. There was Heidi, who rode the same bus as I did every day in junior high. Tara, whom I met at the neighborhood pool. Abby, a cellist. Colleen from gym class. And Allison, who shared my love for the Detroit Tigers.” http://bit.ly/2BkB0uy

SPOTTED: Reps. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) and Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) in downtown Middleburg yesterday on Main Street before the “Christmas in Middleburg” parade … Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on a 9 a.m. DCA flight on Saturday to Louisville, sitting in first class.

REMEMBERING LES WHITTEN – WaPo’s Harrison Smith: “Les Whitten, an investigative reporter whose skill at cultivating government sources and securing secret documents — sometimes through threats or the use of a paid private investigator — made him a top legman of muckraker Jack Anderson and an enemy of President Richard M. Nixon, died Dec. 2 at an assisted-living community in Adelphi, Md. He was 89. … A self-described ‘swashbuckler,’ Mr. Whitten was an aspiring novelist who covered wars in the Dominican Republic and Vietnam before joining the staff of the country’s most popular daily news column, the Washington Merry-Go-Round, in 1969.” http://wapo.st/2Alr1ro

WEEKEND WEDDINGS — Romney Ramblers wedding – Pool report: “CNN’s Rachel Streitfeld and DHS’s Tim Runfola exchanged hand-written vows Saturday night at the Texas Discovery Gardens in Dallas, beneath the 212-foot Texas Star Ferris wheel. The couple danced the night away to a 10-piece band while guests enjoyed a roving poet, artisanal cotton candy and other Texas treats. Rachel’s mom, former Dallas KXAS-TV anchor Carolyn Raiser, distributed cowboy hats to guests on the dance floor.” Instapics http://bit.ly/2BBfv9z … http://bit.ly/2BvgNSO

SPOTTED: former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker — great uncle of the bride, Kasie Hunt (bridesmaid in pomegranate) and Matt Rivera, Reid Epstein, Ashley Parker and Mike Bender, Sara Murray and Garrett Haake, Phil Rucker, Chris Laible (in from Beijing), Holly Bailey, Eric Thayer, Jo Ling Kent and Scott Conroy, Nicole Busch, Michael Falcone, Zain Asher and Steve Peoples, Shawna Shepherd and Craig Minassian, and Rachel’s CNN crew: Matt Hoye and Melissa Junior, Rob Yoon, Bonney Kapp, Abigail Crutchfield, Kevin Bohn, Laura Bernardini and Marlena (Baldacci) Militana.

— ADAM WOLF, deputy chief of staff to Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.), married ANNIE MINKLER of the Rules Committee.

SPOTTED at Christopher Bedford’s annual Christmas party last night: Amanda Lee House, Heather Swift, Nika Nour, Vince Coglianese, Melissa Brown, Ryan Coyne, Saagar Enjeti and Katie Watson, Sarah Westwood, Gabby Morrongiello, Francesca Chambers and Michael Moroney, Ben Jenkins, Peter Doocy, Alex Pfeiffer, Al Weaver, Asawin Suebsaeng, Lachlan Markay and Anna Massoglia, Steve Guest, Matt Gorman, Tommy Schultz and Ashley Harvey, Matt Wolking, Nihal Krishan, Tina Nguyen, Robbie Myers, Alex Pappas.

BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Deb Haaland, running for Congress in New Mexico

BIRTHDAYS: Robby Mook … Jesse Lee … Politico Florida’s Bruce Ritchie … Eleanor Schiff … Mike Inacay, Sen. Brian Schatz’s comms director … Katelyn Rieley Johnson … Ali Zelenko, SVP of NBC News PR (hat tip: Erika Masonhall) … WaPo’s Scott Higham … Jacqueline Quasney … Elizabeth Edelman, VP of strategy and biz development at Global Citizen and a Romney alum … Bill Sternberg, editorial page editor of USA Today, is 61 … Jamie Carroll … Jamie Sherman … Margaret Mulkerrin, a press assistant for Whip Hoyer … NYT biz reporter Diane Cardwell … Angelica Brantley … Kevin Baron, executive editor of Defense One … Aron Goldman is 47 … Robert Pondiscio … Cody Sanders, former Luther Strange staffer who joined the White House in November as a presidential writer. “What he knows for sure is that Alabama fans care about Alabama football, Auburn fans care about Auburn. War Eagle!” (h/t Nicole Schiegg) … Lance Trover, a Bruce Rauner and NRSC alum …

… Bill Tighe, VP of federal government affairs at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, is 4-0 … Laura Howard of Sentinel Strategic Advisors (h/ts Matt Gorman and Remy) … Katherine Klein, vice dean of the Wharton Social Impact Initiative and professor of management (h/t Jon Haber) … Rep. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio) is 59 … Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Tex.) is 82 … Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is 67 … former Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandler (D-SD) is 47 … Danielle Filson of Uber … Matthew Flaherty … Mandi Critchfield, comms. director for Senate Banking Committee … Neal Ungerleider … CQ-Roll Call VP David Meyers … Lance Trover … Let Freedom Ring USA president Colin Hanna … Chris Kelaher … Rich McFadden … Miles Doran, producer for “CBS This Morning” … Tom Oppel … John Toohey … Greg Everts … Francie Phelps (h/ts Teresa Vilmain)

****** A message from PhRMA: According to new analysis from the Moran Company, hospitals mark up medicine prices, on average, nearly 500 percent. The analysis of 20 medicines also found a hospital is paid 2.5 times what the biopharmaceutical company, who brought the medicine to market, receives. While hospital markups lead to higher costs for patients, employers and payers, these markups are often overlooked in conversations about medicine costs. As the provider market continues to become more concentrated and the number of medicines being administered in hospital-owned facilities is growing, the amount hospitals mark up medicine prices needs greater scrutiny. http://onphr.ma/2Ba0TOa ******

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The hits just keep on coming

My daughter was illegally removed from my legal custody by Stone County social services in Missouri on Feb 6th 2017. When I finally got to visit with her and go to her doctor's appointments, I found out that the plastic surgeon who worked on her also doubled as a miracle worker.  You almost couldn't tell anything happened to her.  Due to the fact that I failed to vaccinate my dog for rabies, they forced my daughter to undergo a series of rabies shots; the case worker actually told me he wanted me at those appointments to teach me a lesson about rabies.  It was actually meant to torture me I think.  Don’t get me wrong, they gave her the shots in the leg, but after the entire trauma my daughter and wife and I had endured, this was almost too much to bear.  My daughter was suffering because the state had turned my dog aggressive.  My daughter's birthday was March 14th and my wife and I demanded DHS acknowledge that as a special day, we were only supposed to get an hour a week of visitation.  Not only did we get two hours on her birthday, we were able to take our daughter to a place of our choosing, provided DHS was supervising.  We took her to an absolute perfect place for a child her age.  It seemed like every time we saw her, the provisional placement told us something new that had developed.  An ear infection, allergies, GERD, acid reflux, it was always something new.  The home my daughter stayed in was clean than a hospital and I doubt my daughter was ever exposed to anything, so naturally she was always sick.  DHS loved it when she was sick, they could use that information against me somehow.  It didn't work through but it was frustrating to see my daughterunnecessarily sick all the time.   Due to some pieces of shit my mother in law lived with, she had to move out of the house she had been living in for about 8 years and move about 60 miles away.  It was late March when the last of her stuff was packed into my truck and I was finally headed home with an empty truck around 7pm on March 20th, my night was go from fantastic to absolutely horrible.  The first time I got pulled over that night, the Fayetteville cops told me I had a tail light out, ok no big deal, give me a warning and on my way I go.  It was somewhere between Hindsville and Goshen I believe that Officer dick face pulled me over.  It was around 8pm or so and I would later learn that I had my day time running lights on at night, I had only driven that truck a few times and almost never at night.  I had no idea there was a setting for night time lights, I just figured the lights sucked.  Just before I had gotten pulled over, I swerved to avoid hitting a black truck with no headlights or tail lights on.  The inbred country cop that pulled me over said that somebody called in an erratic driver matching my truck's description and that I was "swerving all over the road"  He asked me the routine questions that any logical cop would ask, have you been drinking, are you on anything etc.?  He asked me to a field sobriety test, which I agreed to, knowing I had balance issues to begin with.  I later came to believe that agreeing to this stupid test was a mistake; I cannot walk a line heel to toe because that is an un-natural way to walk, I mean who walks like that?  I was unable to stand on one leg for more than ten seconds at time, however had he asked me to touch my nose and lean back, recite the alphabet backwards, I could have done it.  I was stone cold sober; my wife had been with me the entire day so she can testify that the only drug I had taken was caffeine.  They found the energy drink in my truck.  They asked to search my truck, now I hadn't owned this truck for long but I knew for a fact that it was clean, so I said sure.  They obviously found nothing.  The asshole still wasn't satisfied.  He asked me to go to the Sheriff's department with him to take a field sobriety test, apparently in his neck of the woods, they don't have portable blowers anymore, they use some sophisticated shit now.  So, I went with him, he left my wife and truck on the side of the road in Hindsville, at about 9pm.  What a great cop this guy was.  I got down to the Sheriff's department and they did they're stupid test; they have you blow into a straw twice, for verification purposes.  I blew .000 twice.  OK, so no alcohol.  Then, they get this guy who looks like a former junkie reject from Blink 182 to ask me all sorts of questions, what kind of drugs I was taking; they think I am on something blah blah blah.  He is not a certified drug guy and they tell me they are going to take me down to Fayetteville to undergo more tests, take a piss test, which I agreed to and it was just a formality.  I take the piss test and perform some more tests and then country cop and city boy have a pow wow.  They still think I am on something, like a stimulant or something.  (Caffeine is a stimulant, a legal one mind you) They transport me from Fayetteville back to Huntsville and then inform me at around midnight on March 21st they were charging me with DWI-drugs and careless or prohibited driving.  By this time, my wife and mother in law had showed up and then were PISSED!  They told my wife, the piss test could take several weeks and unless they came up with $800, I might sit there for a few weeks until my piss came back clean.  Meanwhile, my wife is scrambling to find a bail bondsman, crying, screaming and is honestly more upset than I am.  I spent about 12 hours in jail so they could monitor me and I was released on a PTA on March 21st.  I am glad my wife didn't waste any mind on these hick ass bastards who had kidnapped me.  It wasn't until June that I got to go before a judge and my public defender presented me with the piss test, oh my god I actually tested positive for something.  Caffeine.  Now, if you thought the cop was a cock sucker, the prosecutor must have been his mentor.  Even when presented with obvious evidence that I was under the influence of nothing that would have impaired my ability to safely drive a car, he actually asked the judge if I could have had enough caffeine in my system to impair me, the judge actually laughed at him.  Sadly, in Arkansas, a charge of DWI cannot just be dropped; you must stand and receive a verdict.  This could not be done in June since the forensic toxicologist who tested my piss was not in court and could not be in court until my next court date which is tomorrow, July 13, 2017.  This fat slob of a prosecutor saw fit to waste tax payer dollars carrying on a case for almost 4 fucking months when obvious evidence of my innocence was right fucking there!!!  Of course, DHS used this against me.  At the time, my wife was getting two hours a week of visitation to see our daughter; I was only allowed one because it was assumed that I was guilty of taking drugs and driving erratically.  It was only after I got the clean piss test back in June, which I copied and sent to DHS that they started to change they're tune.  Related to the felony charge bullshit, I go to court on July 17, 2017 for that.  It has been rumored that the prosecutor in that case will offer my wife and me a deferral.  We don't plead guilty or pay fines and if we stay out of trouble for a year, the charge will be dismissed.  I have been told that this prosecutor is not a fan of DHS.  I know I leave a lot of holes in my stories so if people reading this have questions, please feel free to interact with me.  I am not a professional author so if I jump around a lot, it is because I am telling these stories from personal experience and I choose what I write.  How it comes out may not be pretty but it is the sad truth.  In the next edition of my blog, I will describe reunification, how it felt, the obvious signs of trauma when she finally was allowed to come home and DHS excuses.  Until next time Blessed be. https://www.facebook.com/One-after-another-1387559854882114/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel https://www.gofundme.com/andrewandchrissy

Bill Cosby, the Downfall of a Pop Culture Icon

To many he was Dr. Cliff Huxtable, America’s dad and neighbor. There was nothing he could do wrong -- or at least seemingly so -- and so it came as a surprise to many (and probably to him), when in 2014, a comedian cracked, “Yeah, but you rape women, Bill Cosby.” Three years later, he’s standing trial for sexual assault.

Broad City star Hannibal Buress’ 2014 comedy set in the veteran entertainer’s hometown of Philadelphia reignited a firestorm of sexual assault allegations that had largely been suppressed thanks to Cosby’s overwhelming star power. During an Entertainment Tonight interview, former supermodel Janice Dickinson accused Cosby of raping her in a Lake Tahoe hotel room in 1982. Cosby’s then-lawyer Marty Singer, high-powered attorney to stars like Kim Kardashian, dismissed her claims as a “lie,” and she responded with a defamation lawsuit.

However Cosby’s attempts to move past the accusations weren’t as useful this time. In response to Buress’ set, another alleged victim, Barbara Bowman, wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post asking readers why it took a man’s joke for the public to believe that she and others had been abused and silenced by Cosby. More women began to come forward, and at 77 years old, light years away from his groundbreaking sitcom The Cosby Show, Cosby was primed for a fall from grace.

BILL COSBY: A Timeline of Alleged Sexual Assault Claims

To understand Cosby’s celebrity erosion, one must go back to 2005, when a Temple University employee named Andrea Constand accused the comedian of sexually assaulting her in his Pennsylvania home one year earlier. After the alleged attack, Constand quit her job as director of operations for the women’s basketball program and returned home to Ontario, Canada, where she told her mother of the alleged abuse and they went to the authorities in the U.S. In his deposition, Cosby said he was immediately attracted to Constand and that a mentor-mentee relationship formed between the two. Though, she said she had no romantic interest.

One night, Constand claimed, she went to Cosby’s home for dinner and a chat about her career. While there, she says he offered her pills to relax, which she claims made her feel “frozen,” and that Cosby allegedly sexually assaulted her while she was under their influence. When she regained consciousness, she claims that Cosby was standing in his bathrobe and ushered her out casually. Upon reviewing the case, Pennsylvania District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. decided against charging and prosecuting Cosby. Unable to pursue criminal charges against Cosby, Constand sued him in civil court. During a deposition, Cosby admitted to “affairs” and characterized his use of Quaaludes with women he “wanted to have sex with” as acceptable and consensual. However, before their day in court, Constand and Cosby settled for an undisclosed sum and a confidentiality agreement.

In 2006, Dickinson mentioned during an interview with Howard Stern that she’d wanted to write about the comedian but claimed her publisher, HarperCollins, wouldn’t allow her to include in her 2002 autobiography No Lifeguard on Duty: The Accidental Life of the World's First Supermodel. In 2014, she reiterated her story to ET, and this time she was part of a loud chorus of women publicly claiming Cosby was a sexual predator as far back as the 1960s. (Cosby’s lawyer responded at the time, stating that “HarperCollins can confirm that no attorney representing Mr. Cosby tried to kill the alleged rape story (since there was no such story) or tried to prevent her from saying whatever she wanted about Bill Cosby in her book.”) Bowman’s Washington Post op-ed hit newsstands, and others, like Kristina Ruehli, came forward in Philadelphia Magazine. However, many of the television star’s accusers over the past five decades say they hadn’t pressed charges because they were intimidated by Cosby’s celebrity and the intimation that no one would believe their stories.

BILL COSBY: Keshia Knight Pulliam Defends Her Support, Witness Breaks Down in Tears on Day 1 of Trial

As 2014 rolled on, more and more alleged Cosby victims came forward. By year’s end, supermodel Beverly Johnson had penned her own story of alleged abuse at the hands of Cosby in a Vanity Fair essay, writing he drugged her “good” with a coffee during a Cosby Show meeting. She claimed to have waded through the haze to call him a “mother**ker,” startling him enough to send her home in a taxi. For Cosby’s side, as fast as accusers like Tamara Green, Therese Serignese, Linda Traitz, Louisa Moritz, Barbara Bowman, Joan Tarshis and Angela Leslie sued him for libel in Massachusetts, his legal team adamantly denied all accusations, asserting none of their claims were true and even filing countersuits. However, instead of looking like he was thwarting attacks by money-hungry opportunists, as he had claimed, Cosby appeared incensed by those who were speaking out.

But soon the conversation surrounding the comedian’s alleged behavior became unavoidable, as other pop culture titans started speaking out about Cosby. Jerry Seinfeld simply told ET that the situation was “sad and incomprehensible,” while Chris Rock was at a loss, saying, “[2014 was] a weird year for comedy. We lost Robin [Williams], we lost Joan [Rivers] and we kind of lost Cosby." When Tina Fey, whose 2009 joke about Cosby on 30 Rock quickly resurfaced in light of the allegations, and Amy Poehler hosted the 2015 Golden Globes, the duo joked that “Sleeping Beauty just thought that she was grabbing coffee with” the comedian. Fey also took on Cosby in a Christmas-themed sketch when she hosted a December 2014 episode of Saturday Night Live. Judd Apatow adamantly defended Cosby’s accusers, even revealing his personal connection to one of his alleged victims. “The Cosby thing I took seriously because I know one of the victims, who is not going to come forward," he told Rolling Stone. Meanwhile, Amy Schumer addressed the atmosphere surrounding Cosby head-on with the May 2015 sketch “Court of Public Opinion: The Trial of Bill Cosby,” on Inside Amy Schumer.

By July 2015, New York Magazine had assembled 35 of Cosby’s accusers for a photo shoot and recorded each of them describing their alleged experiences in short videos. The women’s backgrounds run the gamut: actresses, models, comedy writers, bartenders at watering holes he frequented. For all of their varied introductions to Cosby, the common thread was how they say they were allegedly drugged, assaulted and then dismissed by the comedian. Some claim they were assaulted more than once. Publicly, it was became unfashionable to say, as Damon Wayans did, that Cosby’s accusers were “unrapeable,” or that one was simply unable to understand how he could ever do something so heinous, as longtime Cosby supporter and The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg did. The host eventually admitted that Cosby might be guilty of the alleged assaults. Ebony Magazine published a picture of The Cosby Show cast under cracked glass and summoned black America to discuss the mounting allegations against a former hero. How could a man who’d been so influential in the progress of black people on television and in education be accused of such evil? Brown University, among other schools, rescinded the actor’s honorary degree, and museums had no idea what to do with their art collections about or donated by star.

BILL COSBY: Comedian Implies Racism, Revenge Behind Sexual Assault Allegations

Everything was tainted.

On December 30, 2015, newly elected Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney Kevin Steele issued a warrant for Cosby’s arrest in connection to the sexual assault of Constand in 2004, just before the case’s statute of limitations ended. He was arraigned on one charge of aggravated indecent assault. Cosby's bail was set at $1 million with additional conditions of surrendering his passport and having no contact with the alleged victim. He posted $100,000 (10 percent of the bail, as required) and was released. Altogether, Cosby is charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault in the case. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Cosby has not been convicted in this case or criminally charged in regard to the other accusations against him. He has also repeatedly denied that any of these allegations are true. Cosby's attorneys gave a statement to ET, saying, "The charge by the Montgomery County District Attorney's office came as no surprise, filed 12 years after the alleged incident and coming on the heels of a hotly contested election for this county's DA during which this case was made the focal point. Make no mistake, we intend to mount a vigorous defense against this unjustified charge and we expect that Mr. Cosby will be exonerated by a court of law."

The following year was a collection of legal volleying between the comedian’s legal team and prosecutors in Pennsylvania, California -- where Playboy model Chloe Goins, who alleged that Cosby sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in 2008, filed a sexual battery suit -- and Massachusetts, where seven women were suing him for libel. During a 2016 deposition, Cosby’s wife, Camille, maintained she had “no opinion” about whether her husband violated their marriage vows when he obtained Quaaludes to have sex with young women. Cosby’s legal team continued filing paperwork to delay his trial and even sued Constand, charging that she broke her confidentiality agreement by speaking with police. He later dropped that suit to “focus his efforts on defending himself against the claims that have been lodged against him,” his lawyer said in a statement. Cosby also previously dropped a defamation suit against Johnson.

BILL COSBY: Malcolm-Jamal Warner on His Concern Over Legacy of 'The Cosby Show'

Ahead of Cosby’s first day of trial on June 5, his legal team provided a statement to ET saying, "Mr. Cosby is no stranger to discrimination and racial hatred, and throughout his career Mr. Cosby has always used his voice and his celebrity to highlight the commonalities and has portrayed the differences that are not negative -- no matter the race, gender and religion of a person. The time has come to shine a spotlight on the trampling of Mr. Cosby's civil rights."

But now that Cosby’s court date is upon us, it’s easy to track how his star fell, despite last-ditch efforts by his daughter Evin Cosby to proclaim her father’s innocence in a recent open letter on Black Press USA. “The public persecution of my dad, my kids’ grandfather, and the cruelty of the media and those who speak out branding my father a ‘rapist’ without ever knowing the truth, and who shame our family and our friends for defending my dad, makes all of this so much worse for my family and my children,” she writes.

Elsewhere, America is still trying to make sense of the man as American as Jell-O being an alleged sexual predator. The Cosby Show reruns are cancelled, NBC nixed a new show from the comedian and Netflix scrapped his comedy special after protests popped up outside of his performance venues. In Dave Chappelle’s recent Netflix standup special, he compared the dichotomy of Cosby’s new reputation to discovering ice cream itself was a rapist.

In a way, anyone who enjoyed The Cosby Show, A Different World, Fat Albert or any of the comedian’s standup or books is facing, or has already faced, a reckoning. 

the bottom of the bottom

i checked out of the nursing home and me and my wheel chair were on the move home. luckily my house was a ranch and my dad installed some ramps to make it easier for me to get in and out. I learned to drive with my left foot. made some adjustments around the house, but all and all being in a wheel chair wasn't so difficult. the hardest part was watching Tyler struggle to get the wheel chair in and out of the trunk of the car once I got into the drivers seat. but we were a team.. mentally though it wasn't ok, I didn't like seeing my kids see me like this.. worrying I would be gone again, ending up back in the hospital.. I was approved for disability now and knew I wouldn't be going back to work.. but I refused to be stuck in the wheel chair and got myself in outpatient therapy as soon as I could... and the friend and his family moved in.. They had 2 little girls that we put bunk beds in Ls room. Him and his wife and their 2 year old took the extra room on the back of the house.. and with all that we had a month of some what normalcy.. here comes the bottom again..

its a sunday evening and Tyler and the 2 girls are playing monopoly at the table. L was away for the weekend with her her dad, and like clockwork was dropped off when she was supposed to. She comes in by herself, which was normal. a few years back I had pressed charges against Barry for telephone harassment, He couldn't handle sticking to talking to me about just L and would get very threatening.. he plead guilty.. couldn't really deny the texts, and was told he could not have telephone, internet, ect.. communication with me indefinetly.. so we started doing everything thru one of his relatives, who ever was available at the time or he hadn't pissed off at the moment.. and this person had also agreed to do pick up and drop offs as well so that things didn't esculate. So L walks in and announces, “Mama, my Daddy was in the car he dropped me off tonight.” she was kinda excited like it was a big deal and at the same time kinda taddeling on him. I said something along the lines of he shouldn't of done that.. and one of the girls piped up at the table and asked “why shouldn't her dad be here???”

out of know where T blurted out “Because her dad made me touch his penis”... just like that.. no emotion.. kinda the same thing, he was irritated.. he was freaking out knowing that barry was at our house, and he just blurted it out. I couldn't even take the time to see how the other kids reacted to this.. my mind was on T. I froze and told him to go to his room.. my heart sunk.. he hadn't discussed this since years ago when I first left barry, even with all the counciling he never wanted to talk about it.. now hes just blurting it out. I went down to his room and gave him the biggest hug and I just couldn't let go. I asked him, T is this something you are ready to talk about now? He told me no and we just sat there and hugged and cried.. I had so many feelings, so much anger, so much worry about him and lex, so much guilt for bringing this man around my son, so much guilt that I have a child with this man, and guilt for feeling that because how much I love L. it was hard... but I had to get it together, there were other people in this house and I needed to figure this out. so I got the kids to bed and cried myself to bed on the couch.. its like every time.. just let me move forward..

So the next day the kids all went to school and I sat at home, talked to my mom, and some friends and tried to figure out what I need to do. T all ready has all these other mental health issues going on. and my health, and L goes to see him, is she safe? but what do I do?

I didn't have to ask that question very long.. after dinner that evening there was a knock on my door from children services. During the day one of the girls told her teacher what T had said.. the teacher reported it to children services and suddenly they were very concerned. The woman came in and explained all this and why she was here. She asked to talk to T in private.. they went in his room and about an hour later came out.. T told her everything. He said that when he was in kindergarten Barry was home to watch him when he got off the bus, that he walked in and Barry was watching growns ups wrestling naked on tv, and that he made him pull on his penis till he peed on his hand. and that Barry told him that if he ever told anyone that he would kill his family and cut off his genitals.. He had never wanted to talk about it because no one helps, and no one can save his family. .... The lady got on the phone right there and made an appointement for us to have to meet with a detective and a nurse from childrens advocacy center.. and the whole world spun around my head at 1000000 miles per hour, crushing in on me.

We went to the meeting the next day, he talked to everyone, his story never changed, he talked about it over and over.. and 2 days later when in his head barry should of been arrested and wasn't, T tried to kill himself.. my 10 year old.. I mean he tried to cut his arm open with a pencil and thought he could give himself lead poisonng.. so the plan wasn't that great, but the intent was there.. he didn't want to live he thought he put everyone in danger and it was all his fault. He was admitted into another psychiatric unit. This time for 7 days. In the mean time children services was leading me thru the motions.. I had to first get an emergency protective order with all of our names on it.. then I had to file with the courts and get barrys visitation suspended.. sign both kids back up for counceling.. oh yah hows that wheel chair going? by this point I was still using it here and there, but I also had a walker and I was getting stronger and learning a lot about what to push myself on... fuck my life at this point.. that's all I can say about this point in time... I filed and got an emergency protective order that had me, T and L all on it.. so that put a stop to him seeing L... so I thought.. I also Filed with the the court for visitation.. well that judge didn't like that I was keeping L from her dad since at this point no charges still had been filed against barry.. the prosecutor was having a really hard time because there was 1. no physical evidence and 2. it would be he said she said and the person they need was in no mental state to be able to do anything. .... the judge told me that the protective order did not over rule the current visitation order that said he had rights to see L and he gave me a suspended 30 day jail sentence for keeping him from her and had to get the restraining order amended to have L taken off of it.. A lawyer would of probably been nice through all of these proceedings.. but children services made me push through it all and didn't really give me time to get my finances in order... not like I really had any considering my income was disability.. but I got fucked.. long run nothing.. not a damn thing came out of all of this... children services supstantiated that it was true, barry did sexually abuse T. But they couldn't charge him.. and until he actually does something to L, he gets to see her.. but the restraining order is in place for me and T.. and that just means hes definetly not aloud to show up.. and for Tylers mental state, that piece of paper has been enough.. it makes him feel safe.

after that I knew that I just had to focus on one thing.. and that was on my end, I just needed to give my kids the best life that I could.. that family moved out, and it was me and them against the world.. and I was ok with that.. if we could make it through all that we could do anything.. that was the bottom of the bottom.. but I wasn't going to let it effect our future. we had a new life to build.. we were finally living on our own and things only had one way to go!

Bill Cosby, the Downfall of a Pop Culture Icon

To many he was Dr. Cliff Huxtable, America’s dad and neighbor. There was nothing he could do wrong -- or at least seemingly so -- and so it came as a surprise to many (and probably to him), when in 2014, a comedian cracked, “Yeah, but you rape women, Bill Cosby.” Three years later, he’s standing trial for sexual assault.

Broad City star Hannibal Buress’ 2014 comedy set in the veteran entertainer’s hometown of Philadelphia reignited a firestorm of sexual assault allegations that had largely been suppressed thanks to Cosby’s overwhelming star power. During an Entertainment Tonight interview, former supermodel Janice Dickinson accused Cosby of raping her in a Lake Tahoe hotel room in 1982. Cosby’s then-lawyer Marty Singer, high-powered attorney to stars like Kim Kardashian, dismissed her claims as a “lie,” and she responded with a defamation lawsuit.

However Cosby’s attempts to move past the accusations weren’t as useful this time. In response to Buress’ set, another alleged victim, Barbara Bowman, wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post asking readers why it took a man’s joke for the public to believe that she and others had been abused and silenced by Cosby. More women began to come forward, and at 77 years old, light years away from his groundbreaking sitcom The Cosby Show, Cosby was primed for a fall from grace.

BILL COSBY: A Timeline of Alleged Sexual Assault Claims

To understand Cosby’s celebrity erosion, one must go back to 2005, when a Temple University employee named Andrea Constand accused the comedian of sexually assaulting her in his Pennsylvania home one year earlier. After the alleged attack, Constand quit her job as director of operations for the women’s basketball program and returned home to Ontario, Canada, where she told her mother of the alleged abuse and they went to the authorities in the U.S. In his deposition, Cosby said he was immediately attracted to Constand and that a mentor-mentee relationship formed between the two. Though, she said she had no romantic interest.

One night, Constand claimed, she went to Cosby’s home for dinner and a chat about her career. While there, she says he offered her pills to relax, which she claims made her feel “frozen,” and that Cosby allegedly sexually assaulted her while she was under their influence. When she regained consciousness, she claims that Cosby was standing in his bathrobe and ushered her out casually. Upon reviewing the case, Pennsylvania District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. decided against charging and prosecuting Cosby. Unable to pursue criminal charges against Cosby, Constand sued him in civil court. During a deposition, Cosby admitted to “affairs” and characterized his use of Quaaludes with women he “wanted to have sex with” as acceptable and consensual. However, before their day in court, Constand and Cosby settled for an undisclosed sum and a confidentiality agreement.

In 2006, Dickinson mentioned during an interview with Howard Stern that she’d wanted to write about the comedian but claimed her publisher, HarperCollins, wouldn’t allow her to include in her 2002 autobiography No Lifeguard on Duty: The Accidental Life of the World's First Supermodel. In 2014, she reiterated her story to ET, and this time she was part of a loud chorus of women publicly claiming Cosby was a sexual predator as far back as the 1960s. (Cosby’s lawyer responded at the time, stating that “HarperCollins can confirm that no attorney representing Mr. Cosby tried to kill the alleged rape story (since there was no such story) or tried to prevent her from saying whatever she wanted about Bill Cosby in her book.”) Bowman’s Washington Post op-ed hit newsstands, and others, like Kristina Ruehli, came forward in Philadelphia Magazine. However, many of the television star’s accusers over the past five decades say they hadn’t pressed charges because they were intimidated by Cosby’s celebrity and the intimation that no one would believe their stories.

BILL COSBY: Keshia Knight Pulliam Defends Her Support, Witness Breaks Down in Tears on Day 1 of Trial

As 2014 rolled on, more and more alleged Cosby victims came forward. By year’s end, supermodel Beverly Johnson had penned her own story of alleged abuse at the hands of Cosby in a Vanity Fair essay, writing he drugged her “good” with a coffee during a Cosby Show meeting. She claimed to have waded through the haze to call him a “mother**ker,” startling him enough to send her home in a taxi. For Cosby’s side, as fast as accusers like Tamara Green, Therese Serignese, Linda Traitz, Louisa Moritz, Barbara Bowman, Joan Tarshis and Angela Leslie sued him for libel in Massachusetts, his legal team adamantly denied all accusations, asserting none of their claims were true and even filing countersuits. However, instead of looking like he was thwarting attacks by money-hungry opportunists, as he had claimed, Cosby appeared incensed by those who were speaking out.

But soon the conversation surrounding the comedian’s alleged behavior became unavoidable, as other pop culture titans started speaking out about Cosby. Jerry Seinfeld simply told ET that the situation was “sad and incomprehensible,” while Chris Rock was at a loss, saying, “[2014 was] a weird year for comedy. We lost Robin [Williams], we lost Joan [Rivers] and we kind of lost Cosby." When Tina Fey, whose 2009 joke about Cosby on 30 Rock quickly resurfaced in light of the allegations, and Amy Poehler hosted the 2015 Golden Globes, the duo joked that “Sleeping Beauty just thought that she was grabbing coffee with” the comedian. Fey also took on Cosby in a Christmas-themed sketch when she hosted a December 2014 episode of Saturday Night Live. Judd Apatow adamantly defended Cosby’s accusers, even revealing his personal connection to one of his alleged victims. “The Cosby thing I took seriously because I know one of the victims, who is not going to come forward," he told Rolling Stone. Meanwhile, Amy Schumer addressed the atmosphere surrounding Cosby head-on with the May 2015 sketch “Court of Public Opinion: The Trial of Bill Cosby,” on Inside Amy Schumer.

By July 2015, New York Magazine had assembled 35 of Cosby’s accusers for a photo shoot and recorded each of them describing their alleged experiences in short videos. The women’s backgrounds run the gamut: actresses, models, comedy writers, bartenders at watering holes he frequented. For all of their varied introductions to Cosby, the common thread was how they say they were allegedly drugged, assaulted and then dismissed by the comedian. Some claim they were assaulted more than once. Publicly, it was became unfashionable to say, as Damon Wayans did, that Cosby’s accusers were “unrapeable,” or that one was simply unable to understand how he could ever do something so heinous, as longtime Cosby supporter and The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg did. The host eventually admitted that Cosby might be guilty of the alleged assaults. Ebony Magazine published a picture of The Cosby Show cast under cracked glass and summoned black America to discuss the mounting allegations against a former hero. How could a man who’d been so influential in the progress of black people on television and in education be accused of such evil? Brown University, among other schools, rescinded the actor’s honorary degree, and museums had no idea what to do with their art collections about or donated by star.

BILL COSBY: Comedian Implies Racism, Revenge Behind Sexual Assault Allegations

Everything was tainted.

On December 30, 2015, newly elected Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney Kevin Steele issued a warrant for Cosby’s arrest in connection to the sexual assault of Constand in 2004, just before the case’s statute of limitations ended. He was arraigned on one charge of aggravated indecent assault. Cosby's bail was set at $1 million with additional conditions of surrendering his passport and having no contact with the alleged victim. He posted $100,000 (10 percent of the bail, as required) and was released. Altogether, Cosby is charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault in the case. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Cosby has not been convicted in this case or criminally charged in regard to the other accusations against him. He has also repeatedly denied that any of these allegations are true. Cosby's attorneys gave a statement to ET, saying, "The charge by the Montgomery County District Attorney's office came as no surprise, filed 12 years after the alleged incident and coming on the heels of a hotly contested election for this county's DA during which this case was made the focal point. Make no mistake, we intend to mount a vigorous defense against this unjustified charge and we expect that Mr. Cosby will be exonerated by a court of law."

The following year was a collection of legal volleying between the comedian’s legal team and prosecutors in Pennsylvania, California -- where Playboy model Chloe Goins, who alleged that Cosby sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in 2008, filed a sexual battery suit -- and Massachusetts, where seven women were suing him for libel. During a 2016 deposition, Cosby’s wife, Camille, maintained she had “no opinion” about whether her husband violated their marriage vows when he obtained Quaaludes to have sex with young women. Cosby’s legal team continued filing paperwork to delay his trial and even sued Constand, charging that she broke her confidentiality agreement by speaking with police. He later dropped that suit to “focus his efforts on defending himself against the claims that have been lodged against him,” his lawyer said in a statement. Cosby also previously dropped a defamation suit against Johnson.

BILL COSBY: Malcolm-Jamal Warner on His Concern Over Legacy of 'The Cosby Show'

Ahead of Cosby’s first day of trial on June 5, his legal team provided a statement to ET saying, "Mr. Cosby is no stranger to discrimination and racial hatred, and throughout his career Mr. Cosby has always used his voice and his celebrity to highlight the commonalities and has portrayed the differences that are not negative -- no matter the race, gender and religion of a person. The time has come to shine a spotlight on the trampling of Mr. Cosby's civil rights."

But now that Cosby’s court date is upon us, it’s easy to track how his star fell, despite last-ditch efforts by his daughter Evin Cosby to proclaim her father’s innocence in a recent open letter on Black Press USA. “The public persecution of my dad, my kids’ grandfather, and the cruelty of the media and those who speak out branding my father a ‘rapist’ without ever knowing the truth, and who shame our family and our friends for defending my dad, makes all of this so much worse for my family and my children,” she writes.

Elsewhere, America is still trying to make sense of the man as American as Jell-O being an alleged sexual predator. The Cosby Show reruns are cancelled, NBC nixed a new show from the comedian and Netflix scrapped his comedy special after protests popped up outside of his performance venues. In Dave Chappelle’s recent Netflix standup special, he compared the dichotomy of Cosby’s new reputation to discovering ice cream itself was a rapist.

In a way, anyone who enjoyed The Cosby Show, A Different World, Fat Albert or any of the comedian’s standup or books is facing, or has already faced, a reckoning.