New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan this week became the latest court to impose a gag order on former president Donald Trump with a stinging order that found a history of Trump attacks that threatened the administration of justice. The order will bar public criticism of figures who are at the center of the public debate over this trial and the allegation of the weaponization of the legal system for political purposes, including former Trump counsel Michael Cohen, former stripper Stormy Daniels, and lead prosecutor Matthew Colangelo. Trump is still able to criticize Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Merchan himself. What is most striking is the protection of Cohen who continues to goad Trump in public attacks.
While many of us have criticized past attacks by the former president of judges and staff associated with cases, theses gag orders raise very serious free speech questions in my view. Prosecutors like Special Counsel Jack Smith and Bragg have pushed for a trial before the election. (Recently, Smith even stated that he may force Trump into a trial running up to or even through the election).
After these charges were delayed until just before an election, they have maintained that it is essential to try Trump before November. The timing of charges and proposed trial dates were the choice of these prosecutors. If judges are inclined to facilitate the effort for a pre-election trial, they should show some recognition of the unique context for such prosecution. Yet, judges like federal District Judge Tanya Chutkan have stated that she will not make any accommodation for the fact that Trump is the leading candidate for the presidency.
I was previously highly critical of the efforts of Smith to gag Trump before the election. In my view, the order issued by Judge Chutkan was unconstitutional. I have opposed gag orders in many cases for decades as inimical to constitutional free speech rights.
The barring of Trump from criticizing jurors or court staff (or family members) is largely uncontroversial. However, Cohen and Daniels have long been part of the political campaigns going back to 2016. Indeed, I was highly critical of Cohen when he was still the thuggish lawyer for Trump. He is now one of the loudest critics of his former client and has made continual media appearances, including on his expected appearance in this case.
Cohen’s appearance on the stand will only add to the lawfare claims given the recent view of a judge that he is a serial perjurer who appears to be continuing to game the legal system.
Cohen ironically went public to criticize Trump and celebrate the gagging of him:
“I want to thank Judge Merchan for imposing the gag order as I have been under relentless assault from Donald’s MAGA supporters. Nevertheless, knowing Donald as well as I do, he will seek to defy the gag order by employing others within his circle to do his bidding, regardless of consequence.”
Many Americans view the Bragg case as a raw political effort and many experts (including myself) view the case as legally flawed. Some polls show that a majority now believe the Trump prosecutions generally are “politically motivated.”
This election could well turn on the allegation of lawfare. However, Merchan has now largely barred the leading candidate (and alleged target of this weaponization) from being able to criticize key figures behind the effort.
The inclusion of Colangelo in the order is equally problematic. Trump has campaigned on his involvement in a variety of cases targeting him in his federal and state systems. His movement between cases is viewed by many as evidence of a “get Trump” campaign of prosecutors. He is currently the most talked about figure that many, including Trump, view as showing coordination between these cases and investigations.
My opposition to past gag orders was based on the constitutional right of defendants to criticize their prosecutions. Courts have gradually expanded both the scope and use of such orders. It has gone from being relatively rare to commonplace. However, the use to gag the leading candidate for the presidency in the final months of the campaign only magnifies those concerns.
There is a division on courts in dealing with such challenges involving politicians. For example, a court struggled with those issues in the corruption trial of Rep. Harold E. Ford Sr. (D–Tenn.). The district court barred Ford from making any “extrajudicial statement that a reasonable person would expect to be disseminated by means of public communication,” including criticism of the motives of the government or basis, merits, or evidence of the prosecution.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit rejected the gag order as overbroad and stressed that any such limits on free speech should be treated as “presumptively void and may be upheld only on the basis of a clear showing that an exercise of First Amendment rights will interfere with the rights of the parties to a fair trial.”
This order allows for criticism of the case and both Merchan and Bragg. However, you have key figures like Cohen and Coangelo who are already central figures in this political campaign. In Cohen’s case, he has actively engaged in a campaign to block Trump politically and has done countless interviews on this case as part of the legal campaign.
While courts routinely rubber stamp such orders (and Trump’s history will reinforce the basis of the Merchan order), I would still try to appeal it. The odds always run against challenging such orders and appellate courts are disinclined to even review such orders. However, there is a legitimate free speech concern raised by this order that should be reviewed by higher courts.
RNC Job Interviews Preview ‘New Normal’ If Trump Wins
Those seeking employment at the Republican National Committee after a Trump-backed purge of the committee this month have been asked in job interviews if they believe the 2020 election was stolen, according to people familiar with the interviews, making the false claim a litmus test of sorts for hiring.
In recent days, Trump advisers have quizzed multiple employees who had worked in key 2024 states about their views on the last presidential election, according to people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private interviews and discussions. The interviews have been conducted mostly virtually, as the prospective future employees are based in key swing states.
“Was the 2020 election stolen?” one prospective employee recalled being asked in a room with two top Trump advisers.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/03/26/rnc-2020-election-stolen-trump-hiring/
………………………………..
Not only is Trump planning to short circuit all legal cases against him (if he wins this election), but Trump is also planning to rewrite history.
One can bet that red states will demand that textbook publishers include history chapters officially saying the 2020 election was ‘stolen’.
If Trump wins the truth will be a lie and lies will be the truth; like Putin’s Russia. Professor Turley should enjoy that. Conservatives won’t feel so oppressed.
No one has done a better job of rewriting history than Democrats.
And they continue to do so with all their lies.
The Democrat party is the party of lies.
^^ Paid DNC troll. Ignore.
Thats a lot of spiel.
To bad you lack a single source.
That is exactly the way the Russia hoax was perpetrated. But there you are lapping up the new lies. Same as the old lies.
OT,
BREAKING: Prominent LGBTQ activist Trey Farmer arrested on child p*rn charges.
Trey is an alumni of Princeton and is President of the “Queer Princeton Alumni” organization. pic.twitter.com/t7GcyZ2e6Z
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 27, 2024
I have nothing against the gay community. I have friends and family who are gay. But the decent, common sense part of the gay community all see this kind of thing as morally wrong. These are the kind of outside fringe people who exploit and abuse children. They are the sex traffickers. They are the ones anyone with any degree of decency should fight against these kind of people. The kind of people who defend pornography in elementary schools, groomers.
They are the face of evil.
Wow, Estovir, the DNC trolls will have will be stupefied over this! You did the right thing by posting it.
I never heard of this Trey guy, but if you say he’s prominent, conservatives must know him. Conservatives know more about these activists than anyone else. Unless one follows “Libs Of Tic Tok”, they’re totally in the dark.
^^ ED (Estovir Derangement)
Six die from cargo ship.
Ban cargo ships.
Just read that article a minute ago! There is another story (Free Republic???) about the Lesbian Oregon Governor’s “wife” being an alcoholic and mentally ill. I think that is where I read it. I do not post there, though.
Yep, nothing says sane and sober like being part of the Alphabet People!
@LarrySchweikart
“Gonna say it right now: through whatever mysteries of the universe, President Trump will name at least one, and probably two more USSC justices. The Supreme Court will be a Trump Court with 5/9 or even 6/9 named by him if Thomas retires next year.”
This is not just an election; this is war. A battle for the soul of our nation – which is a Christian nation.
God-less Dems/globalists are fighting to win it: By any means necessary.
A GUN TO THEIR HEADS
Lincoln said to —- with the Constitution, imposed martial law, seized power, and ruled by edict, dictatorship, and kinetic military power.
The inverse would be a conservative president imposing martial law, seizing power, and compelling the dominion of the “manifest tenor” of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Wait!
That’s precisely what the American Founders did.
OT, but funny!
Jon Stewart found to have overvalued his NYC home by 829% after labeling Trump’s civil case ‘not victimless’
“In 2014, Stewart sold his 6,280-square-foot Tribeca duplex to financier Parag Pande for $17.5 million. The property’s asking price at that time is not available in listing records.
But according to 2013-2014 assessor records obtained by The Post, the property had the estimated market-value at only $1.882 million. The actual assessor valuation was even lower, at $847,174.
Records also show that Stewart paid significantly lower property taxes, which were calculated based on that assessor valuation price — precisely what he called Trump out for doing in his Monday monologue.
Pande, who purchased the penthouse from Stewart, then resold the property at a nearly 26% loss, according to the Real Deal — at just over $13 million — in 2021.
2013-2014 Property assessment of Jon Stewart’s Tribeca penthouse.”
https://nypost.com/2024/03/27/real-estate/jon-stewart-found-to-have-overvalued-his-nyc-home-by-829/
Upstate, I just read about that little piece of liberal hypocrisy and I enjoyed it as much as you did. Nothing better than seeing a smug as h*ll liberal eat crow.
But he’s not really eating crow, until he’s been hit with a fine at a similar percentage of his net worth as Trump’s half a billion dollar fine. He’s not really in the same position, until the law fare machine gets directed at him.
Which won’t happen.
Gee, Karen S. learned her new word–“lawfare”, which she uses as much as possible. Karen: you have no clue as to the grounds for Judge Engoron’s judgment, so let me help you out. The judgment was based on the value your hero obtained as a result of his lying on loan applications, which allowed him to borrow more money at a lower rate of interest than if he had told the truth about his collateral–not a percentage of net worth. Experts calculated the value he obtained by lying, and that was the basis for the judgment. The amount of the judgment is large because the degree of fraud was large. Actual default and loss to the lender is not a defense to deliberately LYING on loan applications and financial statements by misrepresenting actual value of collateral. The misrepresentations were proven by comparing the values listed on loan applications with values listed on tax documents. The extent of lying was found to “shock the conscience”, which included $200 million overvaluation of Trump’s apartment by triplsing the size from less than 11,000 sq. ft to claiming it was 33,000 sq ft.. The $200 million figure came from Alan Weisselberg, Trump’s financial manager. And, it’s not academic to think that Trump would never default on loans — he’s taken bankruptcy 6 times.
Tell us–did Stewart borrow more money and at a lower interest rate based on lying about the value of his property? No, he didn’t.
The misrepresentations were proven by comparing the values listed on loan applications with values listed on tax documents
Property Tax Assessment, has ZERO relationship to Property VALUE
Every single person that owns real property knows this. No owner would sell for the assessed tax figure.
Gigi: You lifted and copied and learned not only the accusatory line of “learning a new word,” but also your new use of colons when addressing a comment, ….from ME. You learn every day, from other bloggers and MSNBC. I saved several of your earlier comments for laughing proof.
give it up, girl.
dumb ass
I wish professor Turley would consider joining Trump’s legal team, not to defend Trump, whom he clearly dislikes, but the rule of law.
Where did you get the idea that Trump is being denied the benefit of the “rule of law”? Trump flaunts the law–always has–he has a well-earned reputation for cheating people, lying, and filing frivolous lawsuits. Every civil and criminal suit against Trump is based on the “rule of law”.
That’s all NUTCHACHACHA has.
Incoherence and hysteria.
That’s it.
Can we get rid of your unconstitutional welfare and affirmative action yet, NUTTY?
Here defines the problem of the Democrats:
‘They accuse Someone of something They are not’
No One like it when They are accused of something They are not.
They have done this to; Trump and Family, RFK Jr., and now they are out “Framing”
Republicans as Criminals, as they are to “Steal the Election” from Biden et.al..
This is the Dems foreshadowing the ‘LOSS’ of the 2024 Presidency,
and setting up the justification of retribution following the Election.
𝐁𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐈𝐬 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 ‘𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞’ 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
Trump and his MAGA allies have been working for years to pre-rig the 2024 election. Here’s how Team Biden is planning to fight them
By Asawin Suebsaeng, Adam Rawnsley ~ March 24, 2024
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/biden-trump-stop-steal-election-2024-1234993149/
New York’s bizarre legal activism should scare any business thinking about locating there and the businesses that can are likely planning their escape. They are shooting themselves in the foot.
E.M.
Watching the outflow of people from failed Blue states like CA and NY, it is only a matter of time before NYC will lose it’s Financial Capital of the world status.
NYC itself is well on its way to San Fran status where the only people there will be homeless, illegals, criminals of the not-white collar kind.
All they will need is Snake Plissken.
If Democrats had their way, all big cities would look like San Fran.
All us normal people need to be Snake.
By barring Trump from condemning lawfare as an abuse of power to interfere in the election, it will fuel the collective belief that this is exactly what is going on.
Much as I personally wish that Trump would suddenly show restraint in his public comments, in my opinion as a lay person, a court gag order does infringe on his right to free speech.
THE ROGUE JUDICIAL BRANCH HAS USURPED POWER AND COMMITTED HIGH-CRIMINAL JUDICIAL OVERREACH
Why is it that the judicial branch, including the Supreme Court, is woefully unable to read, comprehend, and assimilate American fundamental law, the Constitution and Bill of Rights?
It’s not that judges and Justices cannot read the law; it’s that they are communists (liberals, progressives, socialists, democrats, RINOs, AINOs) who erroneously claim that they are “entitled” to seize control and dominion as an integral component of the communist American Deep Deep State “Swamp” Regime.
All Americans, including those in the process of being prosecuted for alleged crimes, enjoy the absolute freedom of speech.
The judicial branch can’t understand that – the judicial branch does not enjoy superior mystical powers not referenced or otherwise enumerated in the Constitution.
For clarification and edification, consider the case of the president controlling classified documents?
The judicial branch is woefully unable to read, comprehend, and assimilate American fundamental law, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.
THE POWER – UTTERLY, CATEGORICALLY AND EXCLUSIVELY
_________________________________________________________________
Article II, Section 1
The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.
PERIOD.
__________
The President alone wields the executive branch power of classification, declassification, disposition, and archiving of materials.
The legislative branch has no constitutional power, authority, or legal basis to usurp any aspect, facet, or degree of the power of the executive branch.
No legislation usurping the power of the executive branch is constitutional.
No legislation usurping the power of the executive branch to classify, declassify, dispose of, and archive material is constitutional.
18 U.S. Code § 1924 – Unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material – is unconstitutional because it does not exclude the President of the United States.
The judicial branch has no power or authority to deny the President full, sole, and exclusive dominion, in perpetuity, over any and all materials the President inherited, classified, declassified, disposed of, or archived.
The judicial branch craves power, so it steals power, but only if Americans and their representatives allow that theft, confiscation, usurpation, and overreach.
Rasmussen Reports: ‘Bloodbath’? 60% Say Media Are ‘Enemy of the People’
https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/biden_administration/bloodbath_60_say_media_are_enemy_of_the_people
KNOW THE ENEMY
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
– Sun Tzu, The Art of War
_____________________________
The communists (liberals, progressives, socialists, democrats, RINOs, AINOs) in America are the direct and mortal enemies of the American thesis of Freedom and Self-Reliance, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, actual Americans, and America.
The communists (liberals, progressives, socialists, democrats, RINOs, AINOs) in America fully subscribe to the motto of Karl Marx – “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs” – by order of the “dictatorship of the proletariat,” under the principles of communism as central planning (buy solar panels, EVs, etc.), control of the means of production (i.e. unconstitutional regulation), redistribution of wealth (unconstitutional public assistance, welfare, WIC, SNAP, HAMP, HARP, HUD, etc.), and social engineering (forced busing, discriminatory “non-discrimination,” unfair “fair housing,” etc., etc., etc.).
______________________________________________________________________________
“I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”
– Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
___________________________________________
One can only hope.
Two men standing on a corner looking across the street they see a man with one leg shorter than the other, one says to the other, look not even. This is how I see the New York legal system one leg shorter than the other and stumbling into the abyss of tyranny of dissected laws!!!!
God save us from these morons.
If I were the Prosecutor….I would beg the Judge to withdraw that Gag Order.
I would want Trump to have every opportunity to say something that would add to my ability to convince a Jury of his wrong doing and at the same time to be able paint him in very dark colors to them.
Now…as a Citizen….I also think Trump should be free to speak as he wishes on First Amendment reasons.
There are limits of course….and as long as he does not cross one of those relatively bright red lines….he is free to speak his mind.
If he were to cross those lines…..and commit a criminal act….then prosecute him for that.
We are seeing an ever increasing rate of the loss of freedom every day it seems.
This is like a dog eating a wool blanket…..he does it a little bit at a time and pretty soon that blanket is gone forever.
Yes, on not having a gag order. Trump is constantly accused of intimidating others anyway so why not allow him his 1A Rights then use them against him in Court when someone says they’re being butt-hurt by spoken words (oh my). Let the system work either for the defendant or against himself based on what he says about anything he wishes short of direct bodily harm threats – which are already illegal). Gag orders always make me wonder what the Court is trying to hide should any defendant wish to speak freely outside the walls of the courtroom.
Makes me wonder what the origin of the “gag order” was, and what was the importance of it’s use. Possibly a national security issue? Seems a direct violation of The First Amendment, especially since Trump, is a political candidate.
The “Gag Order” is irrefutably unconstitutional as a crime of high office—the denial of constitutional rights—egregiously and willfully committed by the judge and the court with full knowledge.
The prosecutor may argue in court until he is blue in the face against the claims made by the defendant when the defendant availed himself of his freedom of speech.
“Some polls show that a majority now believe the Trump prosecutions generally are ‘politically motivated.’” Professor Turley cleverly links to a poll taken 9 months ago as his supporting evidence for “a majority now believe.”
A more recent poll taken this year shows a majority of Americans believe the J6 Capitol riot was an attack on democracy. 35% believe the legal punishments for the people who entered the Capitol on J6 are fair while 38% believe the legal punishments should have been more severe.
Trump wants to pardon all of the convicted J6 rioters who were successfully prosecuted for committing violence & assaulting police officers.
Trump’s CFO, Weisselberg, & Trump’s buddy Roger Stone are convicted serial perjurers. Easy to see why Michael Cohen was Trump’s top attorney for 12 years. Trump’s attorney Giuliani was convicted of repeatedly defaming two Georgia election workers & suspended from practicing law. Trump’s attorneys, Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell & Ken Chesebro pleaded guilty to criminal charges in Georgia. Trump attorneys Jeffrey Clark & John Eastman currently face disbarment & ethics charges.
In Fox News contributor Turley’s world, that’s evidence of the weaponization of the legal system for political purposes.
BugAnon – please provide a link to the polls you cite.
Not sure who BugAnon is but here’s the link
https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2024/01/02/poll-on-third-anniversary-of-jan–6-attack
I appreciate the cite, but the WP story is behind a paywall. Why do think that this survey from December 2023 is more reliable than the poll cited by JT?
My apologies for associating you with the Anonymous poster calling himself Bug. It is hard to keep track of the many Anonymous commentators.
Jonathan: I’ll get to Judge Merchan’s gag order shortly but first–some breaking news. DJT is out with his latest grift. With the Easter Holiday coming up DJT is hawking Bibles! That’s right. Under a licensing agreement he is endorsing “God Bless USA” Bibles–in partnership with country musician Lee Greenwood. On Truth Social DJT says: “It’s my favorite book. I’m proud to endorse and encourage you to get this Bible. We must make America pray again”. The Bibles cost $60 a pop! And we thought DJT only read the writings of Adoph Hitler!
Liz Chaney was quick to respond to DJT latest grift: “Happy Holy week, Donald. Instead of selling Bibles, you should probably buy one. And read it, including Exodus 20:14. Thou shalt not commit adultery”. But it was not only Cheney mocking DJT. Some Ron DeSantis and Niki Haley supporters were on Twitter also commenting. One said this: “Trump, a billionaire, hawking $60 Bibles for personal profit is just straight up mocking Christianity as a product to be commercially exploited”. There were other conservatives on Twitter with similar comments but I’ll spare you.
So, are we finally disgusted by DJT’s continued grifting? It was bad enough with the “golden sneakers”. But now hawking Bibles? For DJT everything is for sale–even Christianity!
Here’s how to handle your outrage, Dennis.
Don’t buy one.
Don’t buy the gold sneakers.
Don’t buy the God Bless the USA Bible.
Those who want one will buy one.
This is what “Fweedom” looks like, as your girl the Giggler calls it.
What’s your guy Xiden selling that you want to buy, besides his lies and his treachery?
What’s Lord Haha selling besides promoting the good work being done in abortion factories?
Denis is taking his orders from Joe and MICA. Good boy, Denis!
As usual, Trump’s message in promoting the God Bless the USA Bible going right over your head, Dennis.
America is a Judeo Christian nation — being run into the ground by God-less, amoral, immoral, soulless Marxist psychopaths and Communists. Trump’s message is the same it’s always been: It’s time to take back your government.
Dennis: thanks. One pundit I saw last night (I don’t recall whom) said that it would be poetic justice for Trump to pose with one of his bibles and to have a bolt of lightning instantly vaporize him and the bible on the spot. There still is such as thing as blasphemy, and this qualifies.
How can the god that you do not beleive in punish Trump by lobbing a bolt of lightning at him.
Blasphemy requires that you actually beleive in god.
Ferengi 9th rule of acquisition: Anything worth doing is worth doing for money.
Most of us recognize Mother Theresa as a saint.
Most of us think that very very few people are as truly good as she was.
But Christ said that you should judge a tree by its fruit.
It is remotely possible that in here entire life – 10,000 peoples lives were improved by Mother Theresa.
Probably 10,000 people in Manhattan alone depend on Trump for their livelyhood.
Trump is the single most important commerical developer responsible for Reviving NYC – most of you forget that NYC was bankrupt 50 years ago. Trump built, renovated, attracted capital to NYC and is a major contributing factor to a late 20th centuiry renesaince in NYC.
Nor is Trump’s contribution to the betterment of the rest of us limited to NYC alone.
250 years ago Adam Smith came to the realization that the uber rich of his time were incapable of sufficient hedonism to use their wealth entirely for their own benefit. And that in reality nearly all of their wealth is used tot he benefit of others.
Truth Social and the rest of Trump’s Social Media empire is worth $8B as of yesterday.
That did not exist 5 years ago. The jobs did not exist. The services it is providing people did not exist.
I came to the realization in the mist of the financial crisis, that Christ observation that we should judge a tree by its fruit, means that the captians of industry – the so called robber barrons – who steal nothing and make all the rest of us far better off in return for not all that significant improvements in their own lives – they are the ones who are bearing the good fruit.
Liz Cheney should read Exodus 20:16: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor “
” DJT is hawking Bibles!”
Has someone forced you to buy one ?
If not – Why do you care ?
If you do not want a DJT Bible – do not buy one.
If you do not want a Wendy’s burger – don’t buy one.
That is how free markets work.
I have zero interest in DJT bibles, or golden sneakers, or steaks or golf, or pretty much anything else Trump sells.
I can not think of anything he sells that interests me.
But I am not so stupid as to claim that my lack of interest in what Trump is selling makes me imoral.
I would further note that we have myriads of examples right in front of us of exactly how stupid Judge EnMoron’s decision is.
Trumps SM stock was worth about 200M 5 days ago. It was worth 3.4B last friday. I beleive it is now close to 6B.
So what exactly is the price ?
I am sure some people who bought it early monday have sold it and doubled their money. Did they commit a crime ?
The WH in a remarkable fit of stupidity posted “Broke Donnie” on Friday. Nopw they look like Fools.
In a 3 days Trump has become one of the 400 richest men in the world.
That is the top 0.000004712% or 5 MILIIONTH of a percent.
Still he was worth 2.6B this thime last week and last I heard he was worth $8B
In a few days that were supposed to be his WORST days he has gone from left wing nuts claiming he was broke – because they were demanding half a billion dollars they are never going to see, to acheiving a life long ambition of his and breaking into the top 500 richest men in the world.
I told you before that he met with Musk a week ago and Musk confirmed – Trump did NOT ask him for money.
It is unlikely he asked ANYONE for money – he does not need Money. He is one of the top 400 richest people in the world.
What he needs is cash and he is trying to figure out how to get almost 200M without it costing him an extra 100M
Because even wealthy people do not have 100M in change lying arround to squander.
One of the ways that you get to be one of the 400 richest people in the world is not wasting hundreds of millions of dollars.
Regardless Trump’s rapid change in net worth – which can go down just as fast as it went up, is NORMAL in the top 1%.
I beleive that Musk and Zuckerberg lost 100’s of Billions in the past couple of years – and may have made them back up.
But back to the POINT
VALUE IS SUBJECTIVE.
Trump’s bibles are worth to YOU whatever you will pay for them – my guess is that is $0
Other people are willing to pay more.
That is how it is.
Trump will not sell a bible – unless the money is worth more to him than the bible.
No one will buy a bible from Trump unless the bible is worth more than the money they pay to them.
Every time I have tried to sell my home or a property I own – I list it for what I WANT. If no one pays that – either I lower my price or I do not sell.
I have not committed fraud by setting a selling price that no one was willing to buy at.
Last year I went to the bank to get a loan for on of my properties.
I told the bank it was worth 125K, the appraiser for the bank said it was worth 105K.
I did not commit fraud by giving the bank a value different from the appriasers.
And I will NOT sell the place for 105K – I am not in any rush to sell and probably will be holding it until I can get 200K or more.
The point is there is NO correct price, only the one I am willing to sell for that someone else will buy for.
Banks will not loan me the full value of the property. If I default on the loan – they are going to sell it at fire sale prices to get their money out ASAP. That does not mean the correct price is the one the bank sells for. Because there is no objectively correct price.
Fraud is NOT where you pay more than you wish you had. I paid TWICE as much for my first apartment building as an identical building sold for a year later.
No one cheated me. Today I would not sell that building for less than 3 times what I paid for it.
I am not cheating anyone.
If God forbid the multifamily housing market goes bust – as the commercial office market is doing right now – I might be lucky to get what I paid for it. Fortunately the odds of that are tiny.
EnMoron thinks that MAL is only worth 18M – the tax assessed value. But it is likely that I f Trump put it on the market he could get $2B.
Conversely – it is likely his NYC Office buildings are at BEST barely holding their value.
One of the reasons that Banks only write morttgages (absent government guarantees) for 80% of the value – is BECAUSE value is subjective.
The bank can only guess at the future – and while it is very very very rare than any property is not worth MORE 20 years after it was last purchased – there is no guarantee of that – though the NORM is that it will be worth MUCH more.
AGAIN Value is subjective.
The value of bibles, golden sneakers, office towers, Florida Resorts and social media stock.
All subjective. And the state has absolutely no business involving itself in something that it does not understand and is clueless about
and trying to pretend that there is an objectively correct value to anything.
Fraud is where you lie about something when you have an actual duty to tell the truth, and where those who you lied to have no means of knowing the trust, and where as a result of your lie they are harmed.
None of that occured in the EnMoron case.
And the lesson of the last week is that NONE of us are entitled to make decisions about the value of anything to OTHERS.
Only to ourselves.
The banks decided what they were willing to loan Trump using his property as security.
The ODDS were incredibly excellent that the bank would make money – that is their job and their good at it.
But there was no guarantee.
World War III could start next week and the value of everything in north america could go negative.
Dennis,
Unless you are a remote tribesman living entirely off the land,
everyone else – including YOU sells things for personal profit.
If you are a steelworker – you sell your time and effort
The differences between you and Trump is that he is better at it.
If the democrats weren’t so disastrous to the US and hard-working citizens, they’d be a complete joke. As it stands, they are simply a laughingstock at every attempt to do anything competently.
Uh huh, yeah. According to you, Democrats didn’t pass the Infrastructure Act, Inflation Reduction Act, Chips Act, COVID Relief Act, turn around the 10% unemployment rate Trump left behind to the lowest unemployment in 50 years, get schools, restaurants, businesses and leisure travel opened up again, reverse the daily new records for COVID deaths and infections, reestablish relations with our EU and NATO allies, get inflation under control and our GDP on the mend. We are now making computer chips in the US and the auto industry is stronger than ever. Finland and Sweden are joining NATO, which is stronger than ever. What part of this is a disaster, a complete joke or laughingstock?
If Republicans get their way, the national debt will soar due to Trump tax cuts for the very wealthy, they will cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and food stamps to pay for the tax cuts, there will be a national abortion ban, so women will be dying again from unsafe efforts to end pregnancy, and doctors won’t be able to save women who are hemorrhaging by ending a pregnancy for fear of being charged with murder. Trump will build concentration camps for migrants, instead of allowing them to work until they get their immigration hearing. Putin will destroy Ukraine because Republicans will cut off all aid and pull the US out of NATO, Putin will invade Poland and the Baltic countries and we’ll see WWIII.
This is communist (liberal, progressive, socialist, democrat, RINO, AINO) America in a nutshell.
The judicial branch and Supreme Court believe they are above the law.
The freedom of speech shall not be abridged, even by the Supreme Court.
The judicial branch has no power or authority to void the Constitution.
Courts must work within the limitations and restrictions of the Constitution, just like every other American individual and organization.
The Constitution and Bill of Rights provide maximal freedom to individuals while severely limiting and restricting government.
The courts have it backwards and must be made to pay the price of their deliberate, egregious crimes of high office.
Courts that deny Americans their constitutional rights must be impeached and convicted.
The singular American failure is the judicial branch, with emphasis on the Supreme Court.
I am not a lawyer, so I preface what I say with this admission.
I do not understand why a defendant would be issued a gag order. A defendant should “self-gag” or be counseled to do so by his attorney since extrajudicial statements can only be harmful to him before the judge or jury. Trump should be circumspect in what he says outside the courtroom in any of his cases lest what he says is used against him.
jajuan62: Your statement is as good as any lawyer’s. (gag orders used to be a rarity.) The imbalance between Trump and any party-opponent being buoyed by the media-is truly palpable.
As a matter of personal and national responsibility a leader and a contender for POTUS cannot fold to legal tyranny.
A defendant should “self-gag” or be counseled to do so by his attorney since extrajudicial statements can only be harmful to him before the judge or jury.
True
In a legitimate court case with a legitimate crime.
Bragg is offering neither. 31 counts is for each accounting entry in the ledgers
Trump is still waiting for the underlying crime, concerning the entries.
This is to explain, this is not a legitimate court proceeding, and the prosecutor and the Judge have no interest in the outcome of the trial. The only important thing is to sway public opinion against Trump. To hurt him in the election of our next President. Shutting up Trump is required in order to push a single narrative.
Assuming arguendo that one’s right to speak can be taken away by a mere indictment, let’s think about this case–this is a nakedly partisan prosecution. Why should Trump respect any of this? Why should he have to?
The first amendment is highly relevant – government can not take away your first amendment rights by charging you with a crime.
The fact that there is an election involved is not relevant to first amendment scrutiny.
But it is relevant to the possibility of charging many of those involved in trying to restrict Trump’s rights with Election fraud later.
Attempting to gag a political candidate in the course of an election – is election fraud.
LOL — Turley voted for what he’s complaining about when he voted for Obama, Hillary, and Joetard. His statements lamenting what’s become of the justice system should be accompanied by violin. The Professor is whining about authoritarianism that he directly voted for AND WOULD VOTE FOR AGAIN.
it would be amusing if it weren’t in reality directly connected to the death of America, Turley should send a bouquet of flowers to multiple-felon Cohen, his porn-queen ex-client, Stormy, corrupt prosecutor Bragg, and the idiot communist acting as a “judge” in this case.
It’s also noteworthy that Christine Blasey Ford has recently crawled back out from under her rock to join in the democrat media celebration of the death of the justice system. The cast of famous (or infamous) characters involved in this fiasco could easily be assembled to create a perverse version of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper album.