Below is my column in The Hill on the first week of testimony in the Trump trial. It is making Rube Goldberg’s 13 step self-operating napkin look like a model of efficiency and clarity. It is so convoluted and illogical it is mesmerizing.
Here is the column:
Rube Goldberg, the inventor of bizarre machines that performed simple tasks through dozens of mechanical steps, was once asked about the essence of creating such fantastic, illogical machines. He replied “An inventor is simply a fellow who doesn’t take his education too seriously.” After the first week of testimony, the trial of Donald Trump is increasingly looking like a mad prosecution machine by lawyers who don’t take law too seriously.
I have long been a critic of the Bragg indictment as legally incomprehensible. However, I must confess that after a week of testimony, some of us have developed a weird fascination with the utter madness of the scene unfolding in Manhattan. It was not until the second week of proceedings that Bragg even revealed part of his theory of criminality. For months, even liberal legal analysts have expressed dismay that Bragg’s indictment had not clearly stated what specific crime that Trump sought to conceal by allegedly misrepresenting payments to former adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
The premise of the prosecution always had that Rube Goldberg feel. It was so implausible as to be impossible. After all, the base charge is a simple misdemeanor under a New York law against falsifying business records. Trump paid Cohen hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and costs, including $130,000 for a nondisclosure agreement with Daniels.
Bragg is vague as to what should have been noted on the ledgers for the payments. It is not even clear if Trump knew of this expense’s designation as a legal cost. However, it really did not matter, because the misdemeanor has been as dead as Dillinger for years.
The dead misdemeanor was shocked back into life by claiming that it was committed to conceal another crime. Under New York’s penal law, section 175.10, it can be a felony if the “intent to defraud includes an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof.”
For months, Bragg has suggested that the “other crime” was the violation of federal election laws, suggesting that the payment was really a campaign contribution Trump made to himself that was not properly recorded. The problem is that the Justice Department investigated that crime already and decided that it was not a viable criminal claim. It did not even seek a civil fine.
Bragg’s predecessor and Bragg himself rejected the theory behind this prosecution. But then a pressure campaign led Bragg to green-light a prosecution roughly eight years after the 2016 campaign.
In the trial, Bragg added a type of frying pan flip to his Rube Goldberg contraption by arguing that Trump may have been trying to hide his violation of another dead misdemeanor under yet another New York election law prohibiting “conspir[ing] to promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by unlawful means.”
In other words, Trump was conspiring to try to win his own election. This even though the notations were made after he had won the election, and even though Trump was running for a federal, not a state office.
So again, what is the unlawful means?
The machine then flips you back to the beginning — seeking “to influence the election.” There are still the federal election violations, but that theory was rejected after an investigation. And if it were a real crime, it would be brought by federal, not state prosecutors.
There are also the misdemeanor falsifications of business records under section 175.05. So Bragg would use one dead misdemeanor to trigger a second dead misdemeanor to create a felony on the simple notations used to describe payments for a completely legal nondisclosure agreement.
This circular reasoning is already incredibly creative, but the actual evidence used to propel this ball through the machine is even wackier. Bragg decided to start with a witness to discuss an affair that is not part of the indictment. David Pecker, former publisher of the National Enquirer tabloid, had supposedly been paid to kill a story of a Trump affair with a different woman, Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model.
Pecker proceeded to make the prosecution case even more convoluted. On cross examination, Pecker admitted that Trump told him that he knew nothing about any reimbursement to Cohen for any hush money, that he had killed or raised such stories with Trump for decades before he ever announced for president and that he had also killed stories for other celebrities and politicians, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tiger Woods, Rahm Emanuel and Mark Wahlberg.
He also testified that Trump told him that paying hush money never really worked because stories still get out. And he understood that Michael Cohen was working as Trump’s personal counsel, not his campaign counsel. Finally, he testified that Trump had no direct involvement in arranging any payments to McDougal.
Pecker added that Bragg’s star witness, Michael Cohen, commonly exaggerated and often became loud and argumentative. Cohen will effectively ask the jury to send his former client to jail for following his own legal advice.
Bragg will now call to the stand Cohen, whom a judge just recently denounced as a serial perjurer who is continuing to game the system.
Even as legal experts debate what crime can be found in any of these flips and dips, Judge Juan Merchan seems content to listen as this weird machine bleeps and whirls in his courtroom.
That is why Bragg has created the perfect Rube Goldberg attraction. The artist himself explained his unlikely success by saying, “It just happened that the public happened to appreciate the satirical quality of these crazy things.”
In New York, that appreciation has moved from the satirical to the legal.
Jonathan Turley is the J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at the George Washington University Law School.
Hunter Biden attorney threatens litigation against Fox News
The president’s son asks the network to remove sexually explicit images from its website
Hunter Biden and his attorneys have sent a letter making several demands of Fox News, including one that threatens litigation if the network does not remove content from its website that includes sexually explicit images of the president’s son.
By: Matt Viser ~ April 29, 2024
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/29/hunter-biden-demands-fox-news-explicit-images/
Horndog Hunter Biden blew $1.2M on escorts, strippers and sex clubs: Indictment
Get the latest from Brad Hunter straight to your inbox
By: Brad Hunter – Dec 08, 2023
[Link] torontosun.com/news/world/horndog-hunter-biden-blew-1-2m-on-escorts-strippers-and-sex-clubs-indictment
Afroman releases ‘Because I Got High’ remix featuring Hunter Biden parody: ‘Hunter got high’
By: Edward Segarra – USA TODAY ~ Apr 28th 2024
[Link] usatoday.com/story/experience/music/2024/04/28/afroman-because-i-got-high-parody-hunter-biden/73493678007/
Video: ‘Because I Got High’ [This is a Parody]
I really am legitimately trying to find a greater mockery of law than this in US history, and I’m coming up empty. I am the sort, if you can point me toward something, then go. This entire scenario is absolutely unprecedented. Believe AOC and the people that handle and hired her stupid a** when they say they would like to reconstruct our country in the mold of ‘socialism’. They really, really would; there is no room for standing on a butt-hurt partisan fence anymore, and this largely applies to conservatives. There is no longer an option to abstain voting because someone dod not agree with a centimeter of your personal beliefs. Either you are human and respect your fellow humans in spite of your differences (even the political ones), or we are the modern iteration of the USSR. Modern adult voters *over* the age of 50 have just as much prejudice to address as their forebears. Rich or poor: do you want to be free or not? And if you choose ‘not free’ be prepared for what will follow, because this time, it will. And without firing lead, it isn’t going to change.
It’s what kills me about the border: the dems know people flooding in have never lived in a country with our Constitution, and they could not possibly absorb it all in the fraction of a second when they are no longer in the territory (many of them) have paid to exit.
Professor Turley: you absolutely blew an opportunity to call these people out with the dinner; you didn’t. You still enjoy being in the milieu. Having a very difficult time parsing whether or not the fact that you are also just white and generationally rich is where our attention should be. Upstate Farmer is not ‘white’, and neither am I, entirely. Not to say that in your cognizance you aren’t an exception to the rule, but you are also one of the generationally pampered, and there are times your commentary is a little bit insulting to those that aren’t.
I love the discourse here, but our host is to a tiny degree, one of ‘them’, and in certain matters, yes, he is tone deaf. 🤷🏻♂️
Guarantee you his family gatherings are white as the snow and privileged as the bank.
Regardless, thanks for the blog. Maybe take a cue from it in the future, though.
A weird comment when all was said and done, sorry, a bit of a confluence, but this has got to stop if the human race expects to survive. America, thanks to our 1A and 2A are unique on earth. Fight with all your might for them, they are what sets apart and our current administration would love to take those rights from you, if not for the entire rule of Constitutional law. And make no mistake: your kids are f****** stupid. Be an adult and correct them instead of following them into the abyss.
And PS: modern parents, your reticence and pandering are the reasons your kids are f****** stupid.
“…[R]econstruct our country in the mold of ‘socialism’.”
– James
__________
You don’t know how right you are – Marx and Lincoln were fellow travelers, if not ideological soul mates.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“They consider…that it fell to…Abraham Lincoln…to lead his country through the…reconstruction of a social world.”
– Karl Marx to Abraham Lincoln, Letter, 1865
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/iwma/documents/1864/lincoln-letter.htm
Also troubling is the casting of the trial by certain media entities as “The Trump Hush Money Trial,” suggesting that confidential settlement agreements, in any legal or potentially legal dispute, are illegal, unethical or at least questionable. Such agreements occur in cases with no lurid subject matter, often, if not typically, so that the plaintiff bar does not get an idea what the particular insurance company will pay for that type of claim, although confidentiality can certainly be sought for other reasons, even in a non-lurid case.
We all know about creative lawyering – I practice it – but creativity and conjuring are two different things. As for the prosecutors, to borrow a line from the film, A Few Good Men, maybe they were sick the day they taught law at law school.
Regarding Mr. Goldberg, could he have plagiarized his napkin machine from Charlie Chaplin’s feeding machine in Modern Times?
Judge Juan Merchan is skillfully and brilliantly applying the New York (misdemeanors for Republicans can morph into undisclosed felonies) rule of business accounting. It’s genius !! And it makes perfect sense to him, which is why his guilty verdict is already drafted.
A brief description of current events from the inimitable James Howard Kunstler (excerpted). [I can’t provide a link because there is a four-letter word in his website that won’t get past the WordPress censors.]
You realize, don’t you, that what’s going on in our country is the collapse not just of an empire, or an economy, but a comprehensive paradigm of human progress. . . .
What’s most appalling is that our governing apparatus is visibly willing that to happen. When Barack Obama warned America to not underestimate Joe Biden’s ability to f*** things up, was that some kind of joke? After all, it was Mr. Obama and his fellow blobsters — the cabal of Intel spooks, covert Marxist bureaucrats, lawfare ninjas, globalist megalomaniacs, post-liberal think tankers, weapons grifters, degenerate billionaires, and assorted mentally-ill camp followers — who inflicted Joe Biden on the body politic. And then ran him on the country like some demon algorithm designed to wreck the USA as fast as possible.
The source of anguish in all that is the struggle to understand why they would want that to happen. What debauched sense of history would drive anyone to such lunatic desperation? It’s a cliché now to say that the Democratic Party has turned its traditional moral scaffold upside down and inside out. It acts against the kitchen table interests of the working and middle classes. It’s against civil liberties. It demands mental obedience to patently insane policy. It’s avid for war, no matter how cruelly pointless. It’s deliberately stirring up racial hatred. It despises personal privacy. It feeds a rogue bureaucracy that has become a veritable Moloch, an all-devouring malevolent deity. And now, rather suddenly, it aligns itself with a faction that seeks to exterminate the Jews.
And how did the opposition to that epic divergence into bad faith turn so flabby? How did the Republican Party roll over and wheeze so feebly while the FBI ran amok swatting grandmothers in dawn raids, and the US attorney general made justice a whore, and a Republican Congress allowed the Frankenstein agency of Homeland Security to flood the country with its enemies and give them gobs of operational cash? If Mr. Trump was unappetizing to them as a leader, why were they unable to produce an alternative figure of standing and stature at least equally resolute? . . .
He then tries to inject some hope that the above will be remedied, albeit his vision is for a much more localized future with scaled-back technology, closer to the earth and with simpler values and aspirations, consistent with the theme he has utilized for decades now:
In some quarters, a great rage is building. Not a few resent the overthrow of common sense, common law, and common decency. You better believe they will be aiming to do something about it. They will stand up for their dignity, their culture, their history. Virtue isn’t dead; it’s just broke down on a lonely highway waiting to hitch a ride back to where the lights are still on. Don’t forget that this really is the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Meanwhile, prepare for action. It’s obvious that the enemies of the people don’t intend to rest. They are going to try to play out this string to the last move because otherwise a lot of them will be going to jail, or might even hang for their wickedness. Once they turned criminal, there was no turning back.
As for me, I’m less sure there will be any beneficial “action” by the good guys. I hope I’m wrong.
The multiple felony counts based on each step of the accounting process are bizarre beyond belief. Each check is the basis for multiple counts. Each step required to properly record an accounting transaction according to GAAPs is treated as a separate felony. To treat each step of the accounting process as a felony when perhaps (and only perhaps) there was an error to which expense account a transaction was posted (Legal fees vs Campaign contribution) is even more astonishing. This would be a bad bean counter joke if it was not being prosecuted.
Felony 1 – Enter check as a payable
Felony 2 – Debit Expense account
Felony 3 – Credit Accounts Payable
Felony 4 – Select check for payment
Felony 5 – Write check and check register
Felony 6 – Debit Accounts Payable
Felony 7 – Credit Cash
Repeat for several checks then add several counts for good measure. Trump’s response when presented with the indictment must have been along the lines of “You’ve got to be kidding me. You’re pulling my leg, show me the real indictment.”
This absurd “Frankenstein” prosecution is the very personification of “double jeopardy.”
This “Frankenstein” prosecution is conjured of various and several parts from other bodies…of law.
This bizarre, nay, mystical contrivance may very well constitute quadruple or quintuple jeopardy by now.
This “fake” non-case was previously rejected by the FEC, the federal government, and all other conceivable prosecutors.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5th Amendment
“No person shall be…subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb;….”
Bragg is a product of Soros and the Marxist revolutionaries. Some are happy with what Bragg is doing but will be the first to complain when it is directed against them. People must learn that our country is great because we protect the minorities and the ones not presently in power.
Mik said: “Some are happy with what Bragg is doing but will be the first to complain when it is directed against them.”
That is highly unlikely to ever happen. If a scumbag like Bragg haa only one highly developed skill, it will ineveitably be determining the real-time spacial orientation of their slices of buttered bread.
Jonathan: What is remarkable is that a law professor at GWU finds “incomprehensible or “implausible” that Alvin Bragg would charge DJT under NY Penal Code Section 175.10. Nothing “incomprehensible about it!
The “hush money” payments to the doorman, Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels are intertwined with DJT’s attempt to prevent those acts from being exposed during the run up to the 2016 election. DJT wasn’t concerned with what Melania might learn. He was preoccupied with how VOTERS would reaction to his personal scandals. That was election interference and a violation of federal election laws. That turned a misdemeanor into a felony. Nothing “implausible” about the charge.
This isn’t a Rube Goldberg contraption!
We still need you to name the crime.
If you are correct, why did the DOJ decide not to prosecute the federal crime?
I don’t understand.
Is Trump being prosecuted in state court for a violation of federal election law?
What is the felony crime?
The NY law does not apply to federal offices
Federal cannot be prosecuted by state officials
NDA’s are not a crime.
Dennis the troll refuses to answer how Bragg is using federal as a state prosecutor
Please define the crime.
Bragg originally declined to engage in a prosecution. Then,, took up the idea to engage in a prosecution as the result of pressure. The Federal Elections Commission stated that the alleged behavior was not a crime. The DOJ declined to prosecute. Even Vance, the prior DA was unable to find a basis for prosecuting.
Yet, as he prosecutes Trump, he has directed his office to engage in pleading down or not prosecuting criminal behavior that includes violence.
With thirty experience practicing law, this certainly appears to be a malicious prosecution.
Then why were Clinton’s payments for the Steele Dossier, laundered through Fusion GPS, and fraudulently recorded in the 2016 HRC Campaign records (for which Clinton’s s campaign was fined by the FEC) not ALSO violations of that NY State Law? Why has Bragg prosecuted Trump (whom the Feds neither charged nor fined) but not Clinton (whose campaign was fined for their records falsifications)?
Hush money payments made in 2017 would change the outcome of the 2016 election.
You really do such at math, don’t you?
Suck. Suck, suck, suck, suck suck. Suck.
To the uninformed PC commenter: “Ignorance of the law is no excuse”. If paying your lawyer is a crime in NY we are in a lot of trouble. Are lawyer payments subject to mens rea in NY? Hey maybe paying the cafe for supper is a crime, and you can beat that bill too.
“He was preoccupied with how VOTERS would reaction to his personal scandals. That was election interference “
It cannot be considered election interference if there were other reasons for him to do so. When are you going to learn the law? You have been informed of this many times. That means you are a liar who cannot be trusted.
S. Meyer: Section 14.130 of NY’s Election Law “prohibits the personal use of contributions received by a candidate or political committee if such personal use is unrelated to a political campaign or the holding of a public or party position”. NY law mirrors that of federal election laws. NY Penal Code Section 175.10 makes it a felony to falsify business records with the “intent to defraud includes an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof”. The two statutes are tied together in the indictment.
Now, if DJT just used funds cover up his sexual trysts with Daniels and McDougal for the sole purpose of keeping that scandal hidden from Melania that would have been a simple misdemeanor–business fraud. But DJT had another and more important purpose–he wanted to hide the scandal from the VOTERS in the final stages of the election. That’s where the election interference crime comes in.
Forget all the other offenses DJT has committed or the crimes he is being charged with. Are you saying that a married man who engages in sex with at least two women, one a porn star, while his wife is at home with their newborn, this is a candidate that deserves your vote?
” NY’s Election Law “prohibits the personal use of contributions received by a candidate or political committee if such personal use is unrelated to a political campaign or the holding of a public or party position.”
So? Dennis, you are claiming that the money Trump paid was from a contributor. That is not claimed. This rhetoric is more BS from you to make yourself feel you know something. You have proven you don’t, and everything you say about Trump should be considered trash.
” “intent to defraud”
What fraud?
“includes an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof”
This argument is where the stupid hit the gas pedal instead of the brake.
“The two statutes are tied together in the indictment.”
Now, you are acting like a parrot and demonstrating that you don’t understand the discussion at hand. Turley explained it well, but people lacking critical thinking skills failed to understand his words.
“Now, if DJT just used funds cover up his sexual trysts with Daniels and McDougal for the sole purpose of keeping that scandal hidden from Melania that would have been a simple misdemeanor–business fraud. But DJT had another and more important purpose–he wanted to hide the scandal from the VOTERS in the final stages of the election. That’s where the election interference crime comes in.”
Again, you need to gain the critical thinking skills to discuss things of this nature. There is NO election interference if he had other reasons.
” a candidate that deserves your vote?“
You prefer a corrupt candidate selling America down the drain, causing war and inflation and making life worse for the average American. You like sexual perverts like those who shower with their daughter.
“*NY’s* Election Law . . .” (emphasis added)
So today the “crime” is a violation of *state* election law — during a *federal* election?!
Ever notice how the corrupt have a hard time keeping straight the details of their machinations?
Denis is wrong, that’s not even what the indictment presumes to say. It’s a lame indictment and a reasonable judge near anywhere else might have just spiked it before voir dire.
Dennis knows he’s wrong.
Dennis is merely throwing mud at the wall.
Dennis’ orders from the communist party headquarters require him to be on this blog no matter his failure and ineffectiveness.
No, that’s the problem….
Dennis does NOT know he is wrong.
The BRAINWASHED do not KNOW they are BRAINWASHED.
Dennis believes what he is being told on TV.
The TV told him what to believe.
He believes it.
That’s it.
He’s essentially brain dead — just the way Democrats like their voters to be…
Dead voters…or brain-dead voters….matters not….
As long as they all vote Democrat.
“NY Penal Code Section 175.10”
Isn’t that cute. You tried to get all lawyerly, in order to evade naming the actual “crimes.”
For those who don’t believe in evading reality: Those are the dead misdemeanors and Fed (State, too?) election laws.
NEW: OnlyFans creator Farha Khalidi says she was paid by the Biden Administration to spread “political propaganda” & was told to not disclose her videos were ads.
Everything about Biden is fake.
Khalidi says the Biden admin reached out to her because they wanted someone with… pic.twitter.com/CQ40K5IHID
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 28, 2024
The purpose of the trial is to keep Trump off the campaign trail, and force him to spend money on defense — both of which are working. The Democrats do not believe in justice, free speech, or democracy. They only believe that the end justifies the means.
I’m one indictment away from being re-elected.
EV Hall said: “The purpose of the trial is to keep Trump off the campaign trail, and force him to spend money on defense”
That clearly was the intent, on the assumption that keeping Trump from campaigning would hurt his chances for election. However, it appears to have significantly bolstered fundraising (the previous James -Einmoron trial was designed to deprive him of campaign funds, and it (the gamut of anti-Trump lawfare in its entirety, to be perfectly accurate) has apparently done something that a couple of months ago I would have bet you good money, giving you odds, was not even possible. It has made Donald Trump into a sympathetic character to pretty much everyone not suffering chronic TDS. Whatever assessment is made of Trump’s character attributes, evoking sympathy cannot rank very high among them. But the woke Libtards have evidently accomplished the highly improbable, if not the impossible, to their (one hopes) everlasting detriment.
Tch, tch, Jonathan Turley! This is a simple case of New York business records law.
Maybe this is all too honest for the cesspool in which you thrive, inside the Beltway, but as Ms Roiphe makes easy to follow, in New York business records are to be about business matters, not hanky-panky:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/29/opinion/trump-bragg-manhattan-case.html?unlocked_article_code=1.oE0.nUdj.aCUKADKlwoNC&smid=url-share
Seriously? Can you NOT see miscarriage of justice when it is staring you in the face? Or do you need the Commies to railroad your ass to be “tried” before a “judge” in Boss Tweed’s “court” before you see it for yourself?
The words “all too honest” should never appear in proximity to “New York courts”
Nor in the same stratosphere as the names “Bragg” or “Merchan”
All the “hanky-panky” is coming directly from the “officers of the court” –whose duty and obligation is to properly administer justice and uphold the law. That is NOT what this is.
I’m not a Trump lover. David, in all honesty do you actually believe that Trump prepared the expense reports and made the ledger records?
If this really was a simple case of business records law, we’d be talking about misdemeanors past the statute of limitations.
‘Reversible error’ is legal term for just some of Judge Merchan’s “hanky-panky”….
which of course Merchan knows all about but it does NOT MATTER to these corrupt Commies.
“Get Trump!” is ALL that matters to them.
“A reversible error is an error in trial proceedings that affects a party’s rights so significantly that it is grounds for reversal if the affected party properly objected at trial.”
Trump should sue THEM for violating HIS civil rights.
Do it!
Can we file a Class action lawsuit to sue them for violating MY civil rights as a voter by interfering in the election, preventing ME from voting FOR the candidate of my choice?
These people need to be stopped.
They will never do the right thing because to the Commies, the right thing IS what they are doing!
Business records? How much detail do you need? ‘Attorney payment’ is fine. If you have business in the many millions of dollars, the accounting category is ‘Legal and Accounting Services’ for IRS reporting, as used in my company system. Evidently the Federal Election Commission has passed on this being improper. The whole thing is a blatant misuse of the legal process to bankrupt, intimidate, eliminate a political opponent.
David, we shouldn’t accept what you or the NYT writer suggest, but what would happen if we did? That proves the charges are made up, and he should be tried for the actual crime, but they didn’t do that. Why not? Because they couldn’t find a crime that Trump had violated.
S. Meyer, the NYT writer is an attorney in New York state and a former state prosecutor. I do think that she nows what she is writing about and that you-do-not.
Try reading again for meaning. Try very hard.
David, it’s crucial to engage your critical thinking while reading, especially when it comes to political and legal issues.
Use basic logic. If Trump is not being tried for the right things, which is what her column is about, the charges should be dismissed.
If she is correct that Trump is not being charged for the right things, charge him for those things he is guilty of, but make sure there is a law on the books before charging him.
My discussion has little to do with knowing and understanding the law. It has to do with basic logic.
the NYT writer is an attorney in New York state and a former state prosecutor.
David, You are employing the logical fallacy of ‘appeal to authority’
The term is self defining. It is using logic, that is fallacious. Meaning the argument presented by you is useless because you logic is fallacious and you never bothered to address the facts.
This arrogant lady said this:
“Lawmakers in New York, the financial capital of the world, consider access to markets and industry in New York a privilege for businesspeople. It is a felony to abuse that privilege by doctoring records ….”
SOME LAWYER! The rest of us learned in law school a difference between RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES
it is not a PRIVILEGE to do business in New York or anywhere else in the USA for we citizens if that means owning property, buying and selling hiring and firing etc.
Those are PROPERTY RIGHTS not privileges, AND THEY ARE PROTECTED BY THE “COMMERCE CLAUSE”
ever heard of that, lady?
But of course this arrogant witch scolds in the NYT that we are “privileged” to do business there
This is the attitude of the arrogant, corrupt, mendacious managerial caste, the lackeys of the billionaire class which oppresses us, we the workers
they are all in need of RE-EDUCATION and more fitting ways to contributing to society, such as janitors and fruit pickers
we can arrange some -re-education camps when the time is right, perhaps
Saloth Sar
Who are these clowns anyways? Only a fool like this Benson believes a trifle like this matters in NYC which is corrupt to this day
if it was ever less corrupt, it might have been, under Rudy Giuliani, or maybe even the odious Bloomberg, but this and the last mayoral adminstrations? Wow
what a joke that place is now.
think organized crime is gone? like maybe the Italian mafia is defunct or decimated, but for all the other “ethnic” gangs, it’s wide opEN!
and they’re not worrying too much about “False business records.
spare me the law and order schtick!! talk about chutzpah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ywsJlhuB34
“This is a simple case of New York business records law.”
With *dead* misdemeanors.
And yet again: When the desire is to “get Trump,” rule of law is the casualty.
The NYC/NYS electorate will reap what it sowed.
JT’s comment states,
“Rube Goldberg, the inventor of bizarre machines that performed simple tasks through dozens of mechanical steps, was once asked about the essence of creating such fantastic, illogical machines.”
Science Officer Spock said “Mankind is highly illogical.” So there is consensus.
One of your best articles ever! Is there any way that Trump can go after Bragg, Engoron et al. Head on a spit level stuff… ?!
You, my friend, are in the wrong profession. The Babbling Bee cries out for long form satire and you have it down pat.
Jonathan: Student protests around the country on university campuses are not going to end anytime soon. Why? On Sunday Israel airstrikes by Israel in Rafah intensified–killing 25 people, including 9 women and 5 children–one under 5 years.
And Israeli officials are worried because the ICC is considering charges of war crimes against Israel. PM Benjamin Nentanyahu was quick to respond in defiance: “The threat to seize the soldiers and officials of the Middle East’s only democracy and the world’s only Jewish state is outrageous. We will not bow to it.” Ben seems to think the killing of innocent women and children is acceptable for the Jewish state. Neither the US nor Israel recognizes the jurisdiction of the ICC to charge war crimes. It’s an unholy alliance–and for the US a repudiation of its stand over the prosecution of Nazi war crimes. If the murder of 6 million Jews was a “war crime” what about the murder of over 34,000 innocent Palestinians?
So until the US and Israel agree to an end to the war and the recognition of an independent Palestinian state there will be no peace in the Middle East or on US university campuses!
As usual, Dennis’ comment has nothing to do with the topic being discussed.
Anon:
Thanks for the intel. I never read Dennis.
Are left wingers pretending they care about dead women and children again? Last October they weren’t too concerned, I wonder what changed.
“On Sunday Israel airstrikes by Israel in Rafah intensified–killing 25 people, including 9 women and 5 children–one under 5 years.”
How does Dennis get such news? He looks towards terrorists for his news. Just like the hospital bombing that never occurred, we don’t know who was killed in Rafah. “one under 5 years.” makes Dennis look simpler. How can one have such details if Rafah is virtually a closed city? Dennis is a fabulist.
The truth is Israel is protecting the lives of women and children while fighting a war for its survival. Dennis gives aid and comfort to terrorists, so the responsibility for dead women and children falls on his shoulders.
S. Meyer: In the Nuremberg war crime trials the Nazi leadership defendants were charged with the slaughter of of millions of Jews and other ethnic groups. Many of the defendants claimed they never witnessed anyone being killed and argued there was no proof such larger numbers were deliberately killed. We now know the truth.
During the Holocaust the Nazi propaganda machine told the world they were “protecting the lives of women and children”. Not so different than the defenders of Israel today–like you. You seem to accept the same type of IDF propaganda today at face value. You are the one who is giving “aid and comfort” for those atrocities!
Big difference, Dennis. There aren’t millions of deaths, and Israel is at war with terrorists. They are not placing people in concentration camps. All the people Israel killed occurred during combat, and civilian deaths of this nature, though unwanted, are acceptable. Most of the deaths of civilians are caused by Hamas terrorists, whom the Gazans voted for.
The kill-to-combatant rate in all other wars of this nature is much higher than in this war, where the IDF risks its soldier’s lives to preserve the lives of enemy non-combatants. There is no genocide in Gaza. The population is steadily growing.
You accept information from terrorists and don’t get that right. But even if we take the 34,000 mentioned on this blog, the vast majority are combatants or accidentally killed by misfired Hamas rockets, etc. Israel is targeting combatants, and anyone can see that if they look. If Israel didn’t care about civilian lives, this war would have been over long ago. You are spewing nonsense, but almost everyone on the blog already knows that.
A crazy reaction to terrorist terrorizing Israel! Let the hostages go and then negotiate. Hamas rejects the 2 State Solution.
Fake answers.
And That dumb a$$ Biden wants the tax payers to payoff their student debt.
You are correct (unusually) that there is no way out of this morass except establishment of a separate Arab state in the West Bank. But the Biden administration is not pushing for that resolution.
Having a Palestinian state on the banks of the Jordan River will not stop the hostilities. It will just put Hamas closer to their ultimate targets, the Jewish people. It’s odd that none of the other Arab states with all their land won’t take the Palestinian people in and give them a home.
Ed, I respect your opinions, but I am unsure what you are suggesting or to whom. The two-state solution is merely a continuation of multiple wars, Intifadas, and continuous attacks on Israel by those who wish all the Jews dead. Gazan rule in 2005 was a “two-state” attempt, but Hamas terrorists attacked on October 7. I don’t think Israel will accept a “two-state” solution (they would be foolish), and the Gazans might take it for a short time but then return to attacking Israel.
The real two-state solution exists today. The British mandate was divided in two. That is how Jordan was created. The rest was for the Jews, but the 1948 war left Jordan occupying Judea and Samaria. The land was returned to Israeli sovereignty in the 1967 war. If You are interested in some of the laws and treaties, I can provide a few. We are talking about the ancestral history of the Jews who lived in Judea and Samaria for 3,500 years with a continuous presence, built up the land, defended it, were provided the land by law and the British mandate, and won the land back under their control in 1967. Those are its basis for sovereignty.
There is no such thing as Palestinians except in the recent sense. Up to around 1948, when one referred to the Palestinians, they were talking about the Jews, not anyone else. It is easy to prove that by reading news articles before then. International politics played a role in creating the so-called Palestinian people. The KGB used that name to promote Russian influence in the area.
I guess we aren’t supposed to notice things about all these bogus prosecutions like the political party of the prosecutor, his/her financial backers and his/her outrageous abuse of the law. Maybe a judge will step in but I’m not counting on it. The black robe club worries profusely about its jobs, pensions and standing among the Dims. It’s a pity that the flame of societal greatness is held by this sniveling crowd of “officials” we have today who, to a person, know better but do absolutely nothing but drive the train right off the failed trestle ’cause the track leads there. We’ve run the truly courageous out of office with intersectionality, cancel culture and Leftist claptrap about diversity and inclusivness. I don’t want an inclusive legal system; I want an exclusive one that has the best minds we can muster and not the biggest variety in the skin caps surrounding them.
It’s me. Don’t know why it keeps anonnying me.
They are trying to prosecute a “Ham Sandwich”! With no legal crime!
This is a GREAT EXAMPLE of how corrupt our legal system is!
Unequal justice!!! The real thieves, violent criminals and Socialist Elites get away with illegal gun possession, million dollar tax invasion and drugs in the WH.
We need to get back to blind justice by prosecuting the crime without biases !
So in a hypothetical future, would Alvin Bragg prosecute an electoral campaign, together with a President’s cabinet, Vice-President, and President’s family that “conspired” to obscure the mental infirmity and disability of a President up for re-election that would render the President, if re-elected, unfit to serve?
Only if the claims could be substantiated by an DEI hire, press secretary KJP.
The criminal law system in the US is a shameful joke. At the federal level there is a degree of evaluation of the quality and fitness for the job of federal prosecutors as candidates must first gain the support of the sitting president and then of the Senate. At the state level, prosecutors are elected, and that can give very bad results (not all the time of course), as demonstrated by the election of Bragg, James and Willis. Prosecutors win most cases (either at trial or through a plea agreement) because defendants cannot afford the tremendous cost of defense. Either go to jail (even if you are innocent) on a lesser charge, or bankrupt your family. A guilty plea may convince the general public that the prosecutor was correct in prosecuting, but it is no evidence of that at all for the reason just given.
Another problem is that there are no personal consequences for the prosecutor if the prosecution is flawed, unfair, or even unlawful, because of the doctrine of qualified immunity. The idea is that a prosecutor cannot do his job is he has to live in fear of being liable when he makes a mistake (although that is accepted for medical doctors). I buy that argument only to a degree. In the Trump cases brought by Bragg, Willis, James (civil case), and Smith, there is abuse of law on the prosecutor’s side. First, a falsely accused person should be 100% reimbursed for his legal defense costs, which should come at least out of the prosecutor’s office budget (so choices in what to prosecute and not to prosecute have some consequences as the wrong choice would drain their resources). Second, the prosecutor should be personal and criminally liable in clear abuse of law (including deliberate violations of due process rights) and frivolously brought cases. Judges should also feel consequences for the decisions they make, not in an absolute sense (all can make mistakes), but when they cross a certain line. Merchant crossed the line with his unconstitutional gag orders, for example. Judges should be held to account for allowing biased jurors to take a seat. Judges should be held accountable when they allow frivolous cases to go to court. There should be an independent committee perhaps that reviews cases and can sanction judges (warnings, suspension without pay, removal in really bad cases). Prosecutors and judges can take professional insurance to cover the risk like all other professionals do. Not sure whether this would solve it, but clearly something needs to be done. If you have a better solution, please respond.
Excellent reasoning by DD, and these political show trials are showing the flaws in not only the American system of justice, but in American governance in general.
Charge, bankrupt, then extract a plea of the prosecutor’s choosing, and call it “justice”.
No mention that it was Bill Barr telling prosecutors at the Fed level to drop the case while telling the State to hold off while they investigate. We certainly can’t count on Turley to mention any testimony supporting the charges like Pecker saying it was all about the election and he never heard Trump or Cohen suggest it was to protect Melania.
Get your way about Pecker.
What is the crime?
Falsifying business records in the furtherance of another crime (Campaign finance violations). Ask your self two questions, did Trump falsify records, was it related to the election. The testimony will indicate whether those things happened. Or you could just believe Trump who says he never had sex with those women.
Enigma – How were the records falsified? Legal bills were described as “legal expenses”. These are check vouchers not personal diaries, let alone memoirs.
You are letting Turley and Fox misdirect you. Are you reading the transcripts and following the testimony. The documents are being introduced including bank and business records.
of another crime (Campaign finance violations)
Bragg cannot prosecute federal election crimes.
The NY statute applies ONLY to NY State and Local elections.
A.)I am not conceding the accounting entries are illegal. Despite the fact the accounting entries were AFTER Jan 20, 2017. Impossible to effect the election
B.) What is the acceptable category for this expense. If not legal expense in the execution of a legal NDA
You are trying to tell me what isn’t a croime instead of following what’s being introduced at trial.
I’m asking questions that have been asked since the charges were filed. The charges tied the accounting entries to a felony. Did not name a felony. During testimony the State used the NY Statute. But NY cannot use NY election law, to prosecute a person running for federal office. NY cannot prosecute federal laws, federal election law.
Still waiting for an answer
You don’t have to rely on me, follow the testimony. Yesterday and today the prosecution has focused on the falsified documents. The banker is testifying to the shell company established as a “Consulting Company” to make the payment to one of the women. David Pecker testified previously about the conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws (felony). You aren’t arguing against the facts, just repeating talking points.
The FEC, which Barr did not control, voted 3-1 against filing a complaint for violation of campaign laws.
Edwardmahl,
Good point.
The FEC not taking action isn’t much of a standard. They almost never take action. Are you really just going to ignore Barr’s actions and change the subject?
Enigma – The FEC filed complaints against both the Obama and Clinton campaigns, if memory serves. Obama lifted security filters on campaign contributions at the end of his campaign against Romney (Bill Clinton did the same thing in his campaign against Bob Dole). Hillary Clinton misreported the money spent on the Steele Dossier. Heavy fines were imposed, but no criminal prosecutions were made by the DOJ.
The BRAINWASHING is complete with these folks like Enigma, Dennis, David, Gigi, etc.
You can see that they are not PERSUADABLE.
No matter how many ARGUMENTS you make,
supported by actual FACTS and EVIDENCE…
put right in front of them…WITH explanation….
they will NEVER SEE the LIGHT, or the TRUTH.
They are PROGRAMMED and BRAINWASHED by the PROPAGANDA.
They will NEVER be persuaded, not now or ever.
It’s sad, but true.
You can see it by their response….or non-response…
They don’t GET it.
They NEVER will.
Do not waste your energy.
This is a Lavrentiy Beria styled “show me the man and I’ll show you the crime” political witch hunt. People like Alvin Bragg are willful political attack dogs and will literally b-a-s-t-a-r-d-i-z-e any law or combination of laws to Get Trump.
Truth be damned!
Alvin Bragg is a modern day equivalent to Lavrentiy Beria (secret police chief in Joseph Stalin’s reign of terror in Russia and Eastern Europe) and he’s not the only one in the United States that’s intentionally weaponizing the legal system by b-a-s-t-a-r-d-i-z-i-n-g it so they can “Get” one political opponent.
What’s happening in our society right now would have been considered absolutely absurd 50 years ago and laughed off as delusional lunatics that should be ignored but not in the 21st century, all the absurdities in our country right now show us how far down the totalitarian slippery slope we’ve slid. With all the absurdities that have reared their ugly heads since 2008, I think we are watching our country, society and culture being destroyed one piece at a time by totalitarians within the Democratic Party and their willful political lackeys that have been indoctrinated by years of constant anti-American propaganda turning them into sheeple that are willing to stomp on the rights of anyone that goes against the political left’s narrative. Pay attention, it’s happening right now in an urban area near you and rapidly infecting rural America. I think we have passed the proverbial societal pinnacle and are in the process of rapidly sliding down the slippery slope directly into totalitarianism where the Constitution and your individual rights only matter if you outwardly support the political left’s approved narratives and those that oppose that narrative will be publicly persecuted. We are on the cusp of open political violence towards opposition to Democratic Party narratives will be openly tolerated. This of course will lead to blood in the streets and maybe even an unwanted civil war.
And Juan Merchan is our Roland Freisler.