by Anne P. Mitchell, Esq. - attorney, law professor emeritus, and author of Federal law
In October of 2025 the State of Colorado sued Trump, alleging, among other things, that Trump's decision to move the U.S. Space Command out of Colorado was retaliation for Colorado's state-wide mail-in voting process. In fact, the lawsuit quotes Trump himself saying "The problem I have with Colorado” is that “they do mail-in voting” and that this “played a big factor” in the decision.
Basically, the lawsuit is about the equivalent of malicious prosecution, only in a civil context and writ large: instead of it being a prosecutor maliciously prosecuting an individual, it's the president of the United States maliciously punishing a state.
You see, Trump, as president, thinks that the states should be subservient to him. A vassel to his lording.
And Trump had another big problem with Colorado: Tina Peters. And it is likely no coincidence that after his impotent effort to try to pardon Peters himself on December 11th (Peters was convicted by a *state* court, over which Trump has no authority or power), just four days later the Executive Office of the President prepared to ramp up its very targeted attack on Colorado.
Last week in a discovery hearing before Judge Richard Jackson, an action in which the DOJ is desperately trying to fight discovery, the State of Colorado introduced what many are now calling the smoking gun email, in which Emily Underwood, from the Executive Office of the President (EOP), tells personnel from at least 7 administration agencies to attend a "brainstorm call" to figure out what those agencies can do to further punish Colorado.
That email is not publicly available anywhere. But it *was* read out loud and entered into the record during the hearing; and I purchased the transcript for you (included for Notes from the Front members) so that I could format and provide the email to you (also included for Notes from the Front members).
It. Is. Stunning. This is someone from the Executive Office of the President *instructing* members of the administration to BRAINSTORM HOW TO PUNISH A STATE!!!
And not just any state, my adopted home state. (Sidenote: I am *so* grateful to have a strong attorney general in Phil Weiser, and he's going to make a great governor!)
[NOTE: I will be doing a livestream broadcast about this email, and the hearing and transcript, today at 2:30 Eastern. As always these live broadcasts are free, and the instant replay video will be available to Notes from the Front members. You can tune into the live broadcast at 2:30 Eastern here: https://open.substack.com/live-stream/326009 ]
Speaking of Colorado governors, this transcript makes clear the *immense* pressure that Governor Polis must have been under to free Tina Peters. Many of us, myself included, were shocked when he did so. It flew in the face of everything we knew.
But apparently there was a lot that we didn't know.
For example this threatened multi-agency all-out attack on our state.
When you read the transcript bear in mind that, again, this is a discovery hearing - in other words a hearing to determine what is discoverable, determine the limits on discovery, etc..., and you will see a lot of references to "Cheney". This is the 2004 Supreme Court decision that deals with, among other things, what happens when the right to discovery hits up against executive privilege.
See you at 2:30 Eastern!
Notes from the Front members: The transcribed email and the full transcript are in your inbox now. Remember that *I* formatted the email from the transcript, it is a transcribed representation of that email.
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P.S. If you actually read all the way to the bottom please leave a sentence in a comment that includes the word "smoking". It will show me that my efforts aren't in vain and that people actually *do* read these things, and it will drive those who just skim crazy wondering just why everyone is talking about smoking! ;~)
(The above was provided by me, Anne P. Mitchell, Esq. - attorney and law professor emeritus - all me, no AI, the buck stops here.)
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