Mitch Jackson, Esq.

40 years in the courtroom. Now I explain what the law actually says about the headlines everyone else is just shouting about. Real law. Real facts. Zero spin.

[Marco Foster @MarcoFoster_]

Jennifer Welch: “Boycott every fucking thing on CBS News. From the morning all the way through to the evening. These are the same people that fired Stephen Colbert because Trump got his feelings hurt by a comedian. These people are the biggest bunch of pussies that masquerade with these grandstanding letters like they’re such badasses. These people don’t care about the truth, they don’t care about journalism, they don’t care about the Constitution, they don’t care about a free press. It’s just absolutely devastating what these oligarchs have done to our country”

[Mitch Jackson, Esq. @mitchjackson]

@MarcoFoster_ @danibizz Done!

[Mitch Jackson, Esq. @mitchjackson]

More food for thought...

Did you know that Bill Pulte does not need a single senator to approve him? He can hold the post for 210 days without one confirmation vote. The Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 lets a president slide someone into an empty top job on an acting basis as long as that person already cleared the Senate for a different position. Pulte cleared it in March 2025 when senators confirmed him to run the federal housing agency. That confirmation, for a job about mortgages, now hands him the keys to the entire intelligence community. And there's more. Trump can stall a permanent nomination and drag the fight deep into next year, which means the Senate may never get to weigh in on whether this man belongs anywhere near the nation's secrets.

Federal statute says a person nominated to be Director of National Intelligence must have extensive national security expertise. That language lives in 50 U.S.C. § 3023, and the statute never spells out whether the same bar applies to someone serving in an acting capacity. A separate provision states that the principal deputy director shall serve during a vacancy, and the word shall is the language of a command, not a suggestion.

What all of this means is that when the DNI job goes empty, one statute (the one tied to the intelligence office specifically) says the principal deputy director "shall" serve as acting director. In legal drafting, "shall" is mandatory language. It's a command, not an option. Compare it to "may," which gives discretion. So read on its own, that provision says the deputy automatically steps up. No presidential choice involved. That deputy is Aaron Lukas, the career intelligence officer, and he was in fact already serving as acting DNI under exactly that logic after Gabbard left.

Then there's the other law, the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, the general statute covering vacancies across the whole executive branch. That one says the president "may" direct someone already Senate-confirmed for a different job to serve as acting officer. That's the provision Trump used to install Pulte.

The tension is this. One law seems to say the deputy must serve. The other seems to say the president can pick someone else. They can't both fully control the same situation, and courts have not cleanly resolved which one wins when they collide for the DNI seat. That unsettled question is the "legal tension" experts flagged. Trump is betting the Vacancies Act overrides the "shall" command, and he's acting on that bet before anyone forces the issue.

[Mitch Jackson, Esq. @mitchjackson]

Trump just named Bill Pulte acting Director of National Intelligence. Pulte runs the federal housing agency. He has a broadcast journalism degree. He has never worked in intelligence and never served in the military. The man who now briefs the president on threats to your safety built his career on mortgages. Read why this matters for every American voter.
https://t.co/w6mWnQmfJI

[Mitch Jackson, Esq. @mitchjackson]

The problem I have, Jay, is that you're posting other people's posts that are incomplete, how to context, or just dead wrong. You're using those post as supporting authorities to support your position. You're really reaching when it comes to not believing a woman who's claiming she was sexually assaulted and who told friends shortly after it happened, years ago, and disregarding the findings of two juries that heard the evidence, including a trial judge that didn't let any nonsense come into evidence, and instead favoring the social media post of Trump who has cheated on all three wives, he's been accused of sexual assault by more than 25 women, who's mentioned 30+ thousand times in the Epstein files, who on a daily basis looks into the camera and lies, and I guess that's the part. I just don't understand. Why are you working so hard to give his version of this sexual assault more credibility than the survivor. That's the part. I don't get. And I never will. did you sit in the trial? Did you listen to the evidence? Did you read the sworn testimony? Or is all of your opinion based upon news reports and social media post? Seriously, I'm really disappointed in seeing all of this.

[Mitch Jackson, Esq. @mitchjackson]

As I predicted, Todd Blanche told lawmakers the Justice Department is dropping the proposed $1.8 billion compensation fund for alleged victims of unfair prosecutions.

At the same time, he defended a settlement that gave the president, his family, and their businesses broad protection from future IRS investigations.

That doesn’t work for me.

It’s a bullshit deal that lacks any valid consideration.

What in the hell does future immunity have to do with addressing past frivolous allegations relating to a case that was dismissed by the alleged aggrieved parties.

Nothing.

Just like the underlying “settlement” I see the IRS deal also eventually being revoked voluntarily or by court order.

Mark my words. This case isn't over. You're going to be reading much more about it in the future.

[Mitch Jackson, Esq. @mitchjackson]

@motojt @italianstalions @EnesFreedom @SundayBriefFNC @pdoocy @FoxNews @foxnewspolitics @EnesFreedomOK @EnesFreedomNews One more thought. Why in the hell would you go out of your way to believe anything this guys says? Seriously, generally speaking, almost nothing that comes out of his mouth is accurate or truthful. Why would you give him the benefit of the doubt at all in this case?

[Mitch Jackson, Esq. @mitchjackson]

The misinformation and victim blaming is getting old.

American Future Republic is a grant-making nonprofit, and the money it provided went to a law firm that later represented E. Jean Carroll,  not to Carroll herself. Her counsel has said the funding came together long after Carroll already filed and the case was well underway, which means it played no part in her decision to sue. Carroll’s attorneys took the matter on a contingency fee, so they agreed to collect a fee only if they won,  shouldering the risk of working the case for nothing, with outside money covering only a portion of the expenses. When Trump’s team raised the funding question at her deposition, the appeals court credited Carroll’s account and found she had plausibly represented that she had forgotten about the limited outside funding and was simply not involved in who funded her litigation.  A jury found Trump liable for sexually assaulting and defaming Carroll, and an appeals court upheld that decision.  Outside support for legal causes is common in high-profile civil cases,  and no rule required Carroll to disclose it.

But let's not let the facts get in the way of blaming the victim, again.

[Mitch Jackson, Esq. @mitchjackson]

It’s June. It’s Pride Month. And yes, I’m glad Trump is celebrating it.

[Mitch Jackson, Esq. @mitchjackson]

I Never Fell for a Single One of His Lies. Here Are Trump's Top 26.

For more than ten years now, Donald Trump has asked you to trust him over the doctors, over the generals, over the courts, over the math, over your own grocery receipt. I want to walk you through twenty six of the biggest lies he told across his first term and his second. I want to show you what I saw each time, so the next time he opens his mouth, you see it too.

Read these. Sit with them. Then send this new article to someone you love who still has doubts.

https://t.co/EBlHe4otIH

[Mitch Jackson, Esq. @mitchjackson]

So do I.

[Governor Newsom Press Office @GovPressOffice]

No. You’re just a loser.

[Governor Newsom Press Office (parody) @AwesomeNewsom]

PATRIOTS DON'T WANT A UFC FIGHT OR A LOSER CONCERT TO HONOR AMERICA. THEY WANT SOMETHING BIGGER. SO I, GAVIN C. NEWSOM, WILL LIVE STREAM THE GREATEST MOMENT IN AMERICAN HISTORY - THE DESTRUCTION AND REMOVAL OF DONALD'S NASTY NAME FROM THE KENNEDY CENTER. HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!

[Mitch Jackson, Esq. @mitchjackson]

👇

[Mitch Jackson, Esq. @mitchjackson]

An open message to Jaxson Dart, Boomer Esiason and everyone else who supports this moron.

We're tired of the bullshit.

You should be too.

This isn't normal.

The people making excuses count on you staying distracted. The people selling the lies count on you looking the other way.

Don't do it.

See it for what it is. Call it what it is. Then do something about it.

[Mitch Jackson, Esq. @mitchjackson]

@Acyn The others gave us policies to argue about, this one gave us 34 felony counts and a sexual abuse verdict, so spare me the comparison.

[Mitch Jackson, Esq. @mitchjackson]

@kristengough @EnesFreedom @SundayBriefFNC @pdoocy @FoxNews @foxnewspolitics @EnesFreedomOK @EnesFreedomNews @JaxsonDart Exactly. Thanks, Kristen!

[Mitch Jackson, Esq. @mitchjackson]

@Realrclark25 Carter is spot on.

People tell you who they are. Dart just did.

And if you think that's the whole story, you're not seeing the full picture...

https://t.co/lR32iuiFjI

[Mitch Jackson, Esq. @mitchjackson]

An open message to Jaxson Dart, Boomer Esiason and everyone else who supports this moron.

We're tired of the bullshit.

You should be too.

This isn't normal.

The people making excuses count on you staying distracted. The people selling the lies count on you looking the other way.

Don't do it.

See it for what it is. Call it what it is. Then do something about it.