Thanks a lot to Roger Shuler/Legal Schnauzer for linking my blog.
Appreciate you and all you hard work. - TheMeck
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The first report surfaced yesterday at The Meck, a Dothan-based blog published by David Meckley. Attorney Donald Watkins confirmed last night on his Facebook page that the deal had been finalized.
Wednesday, May 04, 2016
Trump Has Clear Path To GOP Nomination; Senator Jeff Sessions Expected To Be Tapped As His Running Mate - By Donald V. Watkins
Trump Has Clear Path To GOP Nomination; Senator Jeff Sessions Expected To Be Tapped As His Running Mate
By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on May 4, 2016
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on May 4, 2016
On August 2, 2015, I predicted that Donald Trump would win the Republican nomination for president because no other Republican candidate had the political muscle needed to stop him. I was bashed by friends and foes alike for making this bold prediction.
Today, America now knows I was right. With Ted Cruz suspending his presidential campaign yesterday and John Kasich suspending his campaign today, Trump now has a clear and uncontested path to the GOP nomination.
On March 3, 2016, I predicted that Trump will tap Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) to be his vice president. Sessions was the first U.S. Senator to endorse Trump. He introduced Trump at both of Trump's wildly successful campaign appearances in Alabama. Trump and Sessions genuinely like and respect each other.
Sessions would be a powerful political asset for Trump if he wins the presidency. Sessions has been a member of the U.S. Senate since January 1997. He is a staunch conservative and an influential senator. Sessions is an expert in judicial and military affairs. As vice president, Sessions would preside over the U.S. Senate with a measure of authority and stature not seen in Washington for decades.
I also predict that Trump will tap New Jersey governor Chris Christie to serve as his attorney general. Christie, who was a former U.S. Attorney, would be a pitt bull in this position. He is smart, aggressive, and would know how to use the full powers of the office to protect and advance Trump's political and policy initiatives.
As I stated on August 2nd, Donald Trump is chasing his biggest deal yet – the presidency of the United States. Trump knows a lot about the art of the deal. He lives and breathes corporate mergers and acquisitions, and his business empire spans the globe.
Trump has brought his business skills and intellectual acumen to his pursuit of the American presidency, and they appear to be working very well for him. As a result, Trump clinched his party's nomination today. He was the last man standing in a crowded GOP field of seventeen presidential candidates.
For decades America’s super-rich billionaires have controlled the political scene in this country. In recent years, this class of billionaires has lost faith in the usual “political hustlers” and career politicians who run for and hold national political office. These political hustlers are responsible for the across-the-board deterioration in the caliber and stature of candidates who offer themselves for Congress and the presidency. This pool of candidates is increasingly comprised of weak, financially broke, lazy and marginally intelligent individuals who memorize sound-bites, specialize in photo opportunities, and need to be told what to think and do on a daily basis. For the most part, these candidates have no backbone, character, integrity, work ethic, self-determined political agenda, or vision. They are just hustlers looking to make a career and living out of politics.
Trump and his billionaire friends have decided that enough is enough—no more government representation through weak surrogates. Trump has led this charge by seizing direct control of the political process for electing a president the way he would do it within a private business empire.
At first blush, Trump’s campaign style and tactics seemed extremely bizarre to the multitude of journalists, news analysts, commentators, and talking heads who cover presidential elections. Remember, none of them are billionaires. None of them has orchestrated a corporate merger or acquisition, or has lead a corporate takeover initiative. None of them has practiced the art of the deal in real life. Trump has, and he does it on a routine basis.
Once Trump entered the presidential race for the purpose of winning it, the first thing he did was to show his strength over all of the other candidates. He made himself directly accessible to the media and does not engage in scripted interviews. Trump speaks his mind on every issue and is not concerned about political correctness. His private views are expressed in public. Whether one likes him or not, Trump is a strong leader with a demonstrated record of creating dynamic economic growth for his businesses. He does not apologize for expressing his political views, which is a rarity in today’s world.
Furthermore, Trump cannot be bought by the money crowd because he is rich. He cannot be tempted by the power of sexual seduction because he is truly happy in his marriage to Melania.
Next, Trump took the iron club he routinely uses to browbeat his business competitors and quickly bludgeoned his fellow Republican candidates with it. He nullified them as competitors in record time by showing America just how weak and pathetic these candidates are. All of them are little more than political pack mules who were created by rich Republicans and who are tasked with the job of carrying the political water of America’s super rich individuals and corporations. None of them has ever built or run anything of significant economic value.
Trump showed a majority of Republican primary voters that he was their candidate of choice with the backbone to “make America great again”. In turn, they catapulted Trump to the top of the polls in the state-by-state race for the Republican nomination.
Knowing that most Americans see President Barrack Obama as a nice guy who is a weak president, Trump made his strength in business the centerpiece of his campaign. Trump worked at projecting the toughness that he believes is necessary to effectively deal with world leaders in Russia, China, North Korea, Mexico, Iran and other tough spots for America around the world.
Trump implemented a winning game plan that the other Republican candidates for the presidency never had the grit to implement. Trump needed no campaign money to get his message across to voters because he enjoys the media coverage of a rock star. Unlike the other candidates, Trump had global name recognition. Unlike the other candidates, Trump did not have to pretend tot be someone that he is not. He just had to be the Donald Trump that America already knows.
Trump flies to campaign events on “Trump One”, his very nice private jumbo jet. Some of he other candidates were hopping rides on Delta, Southwest, American Airlines and other commercial carriers. Upon arrival, Trump is treated like he is already president, complete with Secret Service protection, a motorcade, and an army of reporters following behind him.
Trump is spending his own money. The other candidates were begging supporters for their money. Everybody is talking about Donald Trump all of the time. Very few people talked about the other Republican candidates.
The Trump campaign is a reality show in real time on the art of the deal – winning the American presidency. It is being masterfully produced and directed by Trump himself.
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The Trump campaign is a perfect blend of entertainment prowess mixed with passion, intellect and a big dose of business acumen, from a man who has played hardball all of his adult life. Trump knows the art of the deal and his ultimate prize – the American presidency – is within his reach.
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The Trump campaign is a perfect blend of entertainment prowess mixed with passion, intellect and a big dose of business acumen, from a man who has played hardball all of his adult life. Trump knows the art of the deal and his ultimate prize – the American presidency – is within his reach.
Donald V Watkins
The Meck Report/Blog
A Conversation With Bill Baxley – Part 1 - By Donald V. Watkins - Yesterday, high-powered Birmingham, Alabama attorney Bill Baxley called me. Baxley represents House Speaker Mike Hubbard in his pending criminal case.
https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins/posts/10209354543442725
Donald V Watkins
A Conversation With Bill Baxley – Part 1
By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on May 4, 2016
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on May 4, 2016
Yesterday, high-powered Birmingham, Alabama attorney Bill Baxley called me. Baxley represents House Speaker Mike Hubbard in his pending criminal case. He called to discuss Tuesday’s Facebook article titled, “From ‘Storming the Statehouse’ to Jail on Corruption Charges: The Incredible Rise and Fall of House Speaker Mike Hubbard”. Baxley, who is by far one of the best criminal defense lawyers in America, provided me with exclusive insight regarding the status of Hubbard’s criminal case, as of Tuesday.
I have tremendous respect for Bill Baxley and his legal skills. He is one of my heroes in the legal profession. Baxley has no peer in the criminal defense bar of the state of Alabama. Baxley’s track record for winning tough criminal cases under the most difficult circumstances is legendary.
While Baxley was Alabama’s attorney general, we worked together on several matters. One of them was the November 26, 1976, pardon of Clarence Norris, the last known surviving "Scottsboro Boy". The nine Scottsboro Boys were falsely accused in 1931 of raping two white girls on a train running through Paint Rock, Alabama. All were arrested, tried, and convicted of rape. Eight of them were sentenced to death on multiple occasions. The U.S. Supreme Court saved their lives on each occasion within hours of their scheduled execution.
Starting in 1974, I fought Alabama officials for two long years to clear Norris and the other eight Scottsboro Boys from the false criminal charges. Baxley helped me in this fight by reviewing the decades-old case files and strongly recommending the pardon for Norris. The all-white Alabama Pardons and Parole Board's resistance to this pardon was massive and heartbreaking. In the end, Bill Baxley and I prevailed.
Norris was the only Scottsboro Boy who lived long enough to see their names officially cleared. The pardon, which was the first and only one ever issued by the state of Alabama to a death row inmate based upon a finding of "innocence", ended a 45-year legal battle to saved the Boys' lives and clear their names.
To this day, the Clarence Norris pardon was my greatest and most satisfying accomplishment as a lawyer and a man. This is why Norris' picture is on my Facebook wall.
Like Baxley, I have also enjoyed success in the criminal defense arena. Some of my other landmark cases are still nationally recognized to this day. They include the following:
U.S. v. Richard Arrington, Jr.: From 1988 to 1992, I successfully represented Richard Arrington, Jr., Birmingham’s former mayor, in his fight against federal prosecutors who sought to make Arrington a criminal defendant in an ongoing public corruption and bribery case. In 1991, prosecutors named Arrington an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the fraud trial of another individual. In 1992, the Department of Justice cleared Arrington of all allegations of wrongdoing and, at my insistence, issued the first-ever public apology to a public official for smearing his name during a criminal investigation.
U.S. v. U.W. Clemon: In 1996, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles formally notified then-Birmingham U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon of their intent to indict him on various fraud-related charges arising from his sister’s operation of a non-profit school in Los Angeles. I represented the lead political group responsible for Judge Clemon’s presidential appointment to the federal bench in 1980. I immediately launched an investigation into all aspects of the government’s case, including allegations of widespread prosecutorial misconduct in the case. My investigation produced a comprehensive report to the U.S. Attorney General on prosecutorial misconduct in the case. Based upon this report, the Department of Justice promptly terminated the criminal investigation of Judge Clemon with no charges filed.
U.S. v. Richard Scrushy: In 2003, I represented Richard M. Scrushy, the former CEO of HealthSouth. Scrushy was originally indicted on 85 felony counts of Sarbanes Oxley and related accounting fraud charges. If convicted on all charges, Scrushy faced 650 years in prison. He was the first CEO in the nation charged with violating Sarbanes Oxley. The case was featured on 60 Minutes. In 2005, Scrushy walked out of the federal courthouse in Birmingham as a free man. My legal team defeated prosecutors on all charges in Scrushy’s case. The July 25, 2005, edition of Fortune magazine profiled the case in a feature article titled, “Donald Watkins: The Man Who Saved Richard Scrushy”. I was labeled the “real legal mastermind of the case” in the February 2, 2005, edition of the Wall Street Journal. No white-collar criminal defendant before or since the Scrushy case has defeated 85 felony charges in an individual case.
It is against this backdrop of criminal defense experiences that my conversation with Baxley occurred. The conversation was fascinating, straightforward, and very educational.
As a seasoned litigator, I fully understand the multitude of challenges facing Baxley in mounting a successful criminal defense to Hubbard's 23-count indictment. This task is especially difficult in today’s anti-public corruption environment where citizens around Alabama and the nation are demanding that public officials adhere to the highest standards of accountability, transparency and ethics in government. What is more, Hubbard’s trial is scheduled in the midst of the public corruption firestorm engulfing Governor Robert Bentley and his lover, Rebekah Caldwell Mason.
Tomorrow, I will disclose the substance of my discussion with Baxley in “A Conversation with Bill Baxley - Part II”. I will also provide my personal legal analysis of what is happening in Hubbard’s criminal case, why it is happening, and how I expect this case to eventually end.
Stay tuned.
Donald V Watkins
The Meck Report/Blog
Tuesday, May 03, 2016
Trump is declared the presumptive GOP nominee on historic night as Ted Cruz drops out following humiliation in Indiana | Daily Mail Online
Exclusive--- From “Storming the Statehouse” to Jail on Corruption Charges: The Incredible Rise and Fall of House Speaker Mike Hubbard - By Donald V. Watkins
A Facebook News Team Exclusive---
From “Storming the Statehouse” to Jail on Corruption Charges: The Incredible Rise and Fall of House Speaker Mike Hubbard
By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on May 3, 2016
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on May 3, 2016
Mike Hubbard, 54, is a Republican member of the Alabama House of Representatives, representing the 79th district in Lee County. He was first elected in 1998 and currently serves as Speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives. Hubbard previously served six years as House Minority Leader (2004–2010) and two terms as chairman of the Alabama Republican Party (2007–2011).
As the Alabama GOP chairman, Hubbard created and headed Campaign 2010, the most comprehensive fundraising and coordinated campaign plan in the Party's history. The effort raised over $5 million and, in the November 2010 general election, resulted in Republicans winning every statewide office, picking up a congressional seat and taking majorities in both Houses of the Alabama Legislature for the first time in 136 years.
This sweep resulted in Tuscaloosa-based dermatologist and former legislator Robert Bentley becoming the 53rd governor of Alabama. It received a major boost from Alabama Democratic Conference Chairman Joe L. Reed and deceased Alabama Education Association Executive Secretary Paul Hubbert. Reed and Hubbert teamed up with Bentley to provide him the cash and campaign support he needed to defeat Bradley Byrne in the 2010 Republican primary elections.
Hubbard wrote about this unprecedented political takeover of Alabama in his 2012 book, “Storming the Statehouse”. With it, Hubbard became Alabama’s most powerful politician.
Hubbard quickly used his new power position to hustle Alabama’s rich, famous and privileged members of society. Motivated by greed, Hubbard traded the power of his office for personal gain.
In October 2014, Hubbard was indicted by a Lee County grand jury on 23 felony counts of corruption and ethics charges accusing him of soliciting or receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from Republican power players around the state. The individuals referenced in Hubbard’s indictment are a Who’s Who list of the Republican Party. They represent Alabama’s royal oligarchy.
These individuals include former governor Bob Riley, his daughter Minda, Auburn trustee Jimmy Rane, former Sterne Agee CEO Jim Holbrooke, Business Council of Alabama head Bill Canary, former BCA chairman Will Brooke, Hoar Construction Company CEO Rob Burton, and political operative Dax Swatek.
In the 2005 Don Siegelman-Richard Scrushy bribery and public corruption case, both the alleged “giver” of bribes (Richard Scrushy) and “taker” of bribes (former governor Siegelman) were indicted. Both men were convicted in 2006 and sentenced to prison.
In Mike Hubbard’s case, he is presently the only person under indictment. Hubbard’s trial is set for May 16, 2016. A conviction on any one of the counts could send Hubbard to prison for two to 20 years.
Hubbard fought state prosecutors “tooth and nail” throughout the long pre-trial process. He extracted his proverbial “pound of flesh” from prosecutors along the way. In the end, Hubbard ran out of money and delaying tactics.
Hubbard’s first set of lawyers left him because he could not pay his legal bills. Additionally, a mock jury presentation of Lee County residents, which was arranged by Hubbard’s legal team as part of its trial preparation, found him “guilty” on all 23 counts.
Tired and exhausted, and emotionally and financially drained, Hubbard authorized his replacement attorneys to negotiate a plea deal in April. Our Facebook news team confirmed and first reported this plea deal on April 17th.
Yesterday, we reported exclusively that all aspects of Hubbard's plea deal with state prosecutors have been finalized. Under the deal, Hubbard will: (a) resign from public office; (b) plead guilty to public corruption charges; (c) agree to an 18-month sentence, 12 months of which will be served in the Lee County jail and 6 months of which will be suspended; and (d) be allowed to register as a lobbyist after serving his sentence. As part of his deal, Hubbard will cooperate with state and federal prosecutors investigating allegations of public corruption by Governor Robert Bentley, Bob Riley, Senate President Del Marsh, among others.
The precedent for allowing Hubbard to register as a lobbyist after his release from jail was set in the criminal case of former state senator John Teague, who pleaded guilty in 2002 to a charge of underpaying federal income taxes. In 2004, Teague was pardoned by the Alabama Pardons and Parole Board and had his rights to vote and own guns restored after serving six months in federal prison. Prosecutors did not object to Teague’s speedy pardon. After his pardon, Teague was back operating on Goat Hill as a registered lobbyist. Today, Teague is one of the most powerful lobbyists in Montgomery.
Hubbard’s plea deal will be publicly announced after the legislature adjourns. After today’s meeting, there is only one day left in the 2016 session of the legislature. Hubbard’s plea deal will be announced in open court on or before the start of his scheduled May 16, 2016, criminal trial.
This plea deal is a major victory for lead special prosecutor Matt Hart, who was recently under fire by Hubbard and his political ally, Robert Bentley. The Hubbard-Bentley alliance resulted in the March firing of former Alabama Law Enforcement Agency head Spencer Collier after Collier executed an affidavit requested by Hart in Hubbard’s case. Bentley ordered Collier to NOT execute the requested affidavit. This order contravened Collier’s law enforcement duties under Alabama law. Bentley’s order also constituted witness tampering and obstruction of justice in the case.
Stay tuned.
Donald V Watkins
The Meck Report/Blog
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