Below is my column in The Hill on the expected appearance of Michael Cohen in the Manhattan trial of former president Donald Trump. It will be a scene that is both mesmerizing and repellent for many, particularly in the bar.
Here is the column:
A disbarred, serial perjurer walks into a courtroom and asks to take an oath . . . No, seriously, this is not a joke. Michael Cohen will soon appear in a Manhattan courtroom in what is sure to be one of the most bizarre moments in legal history.
Cohen nearly comprises the prosecution’s entire case against former President Donald Trump under a criminal theory that still has many of us baffled. It is not clear what crime Trump was supposedly trying to conceal by making “hush-money” payments to former porn actress Stormy Daniels.
What is clear is that none of the witnesses called in recent weeks has had any direct involvement with Trump on the payments.
The witnesses had a lot to say about Cohen, and most of it was not good. They described an unprofessional, self-proclaimed “fix-it man” who created a shell corporation to buy out Daniels with his own money. The money was later paid back by Trump after the election, with other legal expenses.
So Cohen will now make the pitch to the jury that they should put his former client in jail for following his own legal advice.
This would be difficult even for a competent and ethical lawyer. For Cohen, it is utter insanity. But Bragg is betting on a New York jury looking no further than the identity of the defendant to convict.
Cohen has an impressive history of lies and exaggerations that may be unparalleled. Just weeks ago, another judge denounced him as a serial perjurer who was still gaming the system.
This is not the defendant, mind you, but Alvin Bragg’s star witness.
I have been an outspoken critic of Cohen going back to when he was still representing Trump. His unethical acts were matched only by his unprofessional demeanor.
In 2015, after students on the Harvard Lampoon played a harmless prank on Trump, Cohen was quoted by a student on the Lampoon staff as threatening them with expulsion.
When a journalist pursued a story Cohen did not like, he told the reporter that he should “tread very f—ing lightly because what I’m going to do to you is going to be f—ing disgusting. Do you understand me?”
It is not hard to “understand” Cohen. He has long marketed his curious skill of voluntarily saying whatever the highest bidder wants him to say.
He is a convicted perjurer who seems to lie even when the truth would do. Each time he is caught lying, he claims to be the sinner who has finally seen the light, seeking redemption.
When he was called before the House to testify against Trump soon after his plea agreement with the Justice Department (for lying), Cohen was again accused of perjury. House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), warned Cohen repeatedly that he had better tell the truth this time. Cohen then testified that Trump wanted him to work in his administration and offered him multiple jobs, which he turned down. He also claimed, “I have never asked for, nor would I accept, a pardon from President Trump.”
Multiple sources have said that Cohen’s lawyer pressed the White House for a pardon, and that Cohen unsuccessfully sought a presidential pardon after FBI raids on his office and residences last year.
Even after being stripped of his law license and sentenced to three years in prison, Cohen continued the pattern. In 2019, Cohen failed to appear to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee, citing an inability to travel due to surgery. He was then seen partying before the hearing date with five friends.
Even while in jail, Cohen was accused of lying to a court, in violation of an order for early release due to medical problems. He was ordered back into custody after being spotted at a high-end restaurant.
But the most impressive moment came when Cohen was put back on the stand under oath and matter-of-factly claimed that he had lied in his prior hearing, when he pleaded guilty to lying.
In his 2018 guilty plea before U.S. District Judge William Henry Pauley III, Cohen admitted to this conduct under oath.
Then, when Cohen was asked by Trump’s counsel, “Did you lie to Judge Pauley when you said that you were guilty of the counts that you said under oath that you were guilty of? Did you lie to Judge Pauley?”
Cohen responded, “Yes.” He was then again asked “So you lied when you said that you evaded taxes to a judge under oath; is that correct?” He again responded, “Yes.”
Most of us expected the Justice Department to bring new perjury charges at that point. It is rare that a defendant will actually take the stand and confess to perjury. However, Cohen was now useful again. This time, he was willing to deliver Trump. The Justice Department and Manhattan prosecutors were clearly willing to tolerate a little perjury for that prize.
Cohen’s conduct has already loomed large in the Manhattan proceedings. When Keith Davidson took the stand — the attorney who represented both Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal — he recounted how Cohen was furious about not being offered a job in the White House. That directly contradicts Cohen’s congressional testimony. Davidson said that Cohen believed he might be named attorney general.
The account, if true, shows that Cohen is not only unethical, but also delusional. Cohen was found incapable of being an attorney, let alone an attorney general.
As prosecutors set the table for the grand arrival of their star witness, the testimony only got worse. David Pecker, the former owner of the National Enquirer, said charitably that Cohen was “prone to exaggeration.”
Davidson described Cohen’s profane and unprofessional conduct, stating that “the moral of the story is nobody wanted to talk to Cohen.” That may be the first time the word “moral” was used in the same line with Cohen.
Former Trump associate Hope Hicks mocked Cohen on the stand. She said that he constantly tried to insinuate himself into the campaign, without success, and that he “used to like to call himself Mister Fix It, but it was only because he first broke it.”
Mind you, these were his fellow prosecution witnesses, not the defense.
These witnesses also contradicted the basis for the prosecution. Pecker said that he killed stories for various celebrities for years, and that he did so for Trump for over a decade before he ran for office. Davidson testified that he did not consider the deal to be “hush money” but simply “consideration” to kill bad press.
Hicks testified that she believed Trump wanted to kill the stories in significant part to protect his family from embarrassment.
Cohen could not even maintain a consistent position during the trial. Many of us have denounced the gag order on Trump that prevents him from responding to Cohen’s unrelenting attacks in the media. Cohen then promised to stop any further comments. That promise may have set a record for Cohen. He kept it for roughly three days before being accused of trolling for dollars on social media by attacking Trump.
District Attorney Bragg will now call this disbarred, serial perjurer to make the case against a former president.
Under New York law, the oath administered by the court is supposed “to awaken the conscience and impress the mind of the witness in accordance with that witness’s religious or ethical beliefs.”
Before the bailiff administers the oath to Cohen, Judge Juan Merchan may have to warn spectators in the courtroom not to laugh. For anyone familiar with Cohen, it will sound like the ultimate punchline to a bad joke.
Jonathan Turley is the J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at the George Washington University Law School.
Trump Reconsiders Bill Barr’s Shortcomings
Donald Trump once called Bill Barr, his former attorney general, “Weak, Slow Moving, Lethargic, Gutless, and Lazy.” When Mr. Barr recently endorsed Mr. Trump, rather than express gratitude or graciousness, the former president said, “Based on the fact that I greatly appreciate his wholehearted Endorsement, I am removing the word ‘Lethargic’ from my statement. Thank you Bill. MAGA2024!”
This is the sort of thing Mr. Trump is known for, even with people who came around and bent the knee. It is a critical part of his politics — and it’s an area that pollsters aren’t fully measuring and Democratic strategists rarely take into consideration.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/06/opinion/trump-dominance-democrats.html
………………………………….
In today’s column Turley worries that Michael Cohen could slander Trump’s ‘good character’. Yet Turley neglects to mention Trump’s treatment of Bill Barr, a man Turley has identified as a dear, personal friend.
Bill Barr broke the law in failing to investigate widespread and extensive voter fraud.
Barr is as responsible as leftists for destruction of the legal system.
Turkey can say whatever he wants about cohen but trump hired him.
Bill Barr is a loser, and one of those appointments that signals Trump’s many failures in his first term in office.
Total deep state bureaucrat
If he gets a second one, no more Mr Nice Guy! fire half the government on the first day like Vivek said. That’s a start!
Then the rest might actually do something useful to hold on to their cushy jobs.
Saloth Sar
Turley: they must pay you a lot of money to spin the manure you put out. Here’s the biggest fib of all: “Cohen has an impressive history of lies and exaggerations that may be unparalleled. Just weeks ago, another judge denounced him as a serial perjurer who was still gaming the system.” Cohen doesn’t have enough years of life left to catch up to Trump’s lies and exaggerations, just since 2015, not to mention his well-earned bad reputation for being a chronic, habitual liar, cheater in business, cheater in his 3 (so far) marriages, and for the biggest whopper of them all THE BIG LIE that actually cost people their lives–one of whom was one of his gullible supporters, plus several Capitol Police who died as a resuilt of the insurrection started by his lies. How Turley can claim, with a straight face, that Cohen’s “lies” are “unparallelled” is literally stunning to me. Trump is a pathological liar and sociopath who uttered over 30K lies and serious misrepresentations while he was stinking up the White House. Tell us, Turley: who has died because of Cohen’s alleged “lies’? Name someone. What property damage resulted from him lying? The Capitol sustained millions of dollars in damage. Trump’s Big Lie has caused millions of Americans to unnecessarily worry about the security of elections–even though there was not and is not any proof of any widespread voter fraud . And, most of all: who benefitted from Cohen’s thuggish and unprofessional behavior–WHAT person did Cohen serve as a “fixer” for after Roy Cohn died? What person wanted and needed a “fixer” to go around threatening and bullying people who said things he didn’t like? Tell us. I know you know. They must pay you a lot of money.
Turley also claims: “…Cohen will now make the pitch to the jury that they should put his former client in jail for following his own legal advice.” Turley knows better–the issue isn’t “legal advice”, it’s misrepresenting hush money paid to a porn actress as attorney fees to prevent voters from learning the truth about his liaisons with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougall–covering up reimbursements to Cohen as “attorney fees”. Trump signed the checks. And, witnesses have blown out of the water Trump’s lawyer’s feeble attempt to claim that it was all to benefit Melania–it was to keep the gullibles from finding out about Trump and his side action–he tried to delay payment until after the election, because if he lost, he wasn’t going to pay. He really didn’t care if Melania found out.
All Cohen’s testimony will do is corroborate that of Hicks and the other Trump insiders who have laid the groundwork for the hush money payment. Turley claims: “Cohen was found incapable of being an attorney, let alone an attorney general.” NOT in TrumpWorld–Trump likes his attorneys to be loutish bullies, just like he is. Turley’s pal, Billy Barr, finally grew a conscience, but not until late in the game–and that’s when Trump fired him.
Nope, Turley: what you have here, at best, is a pissing contest among skunks. Trump is the biggest skunk of them all, and all of the alleged misrepresentations and thuggist behavior engaged in by Cohen were for Trump’s benefit. Tell us, Turley–will Trump take the stand–will he? Anyone want to bet? And if he doesn’t–WHY NOT?
Why not? Because Bragg has not proved his case.
Trump also said he would testify in both E Jean Carroll cases—but he didn’t—why? He has lied so much about so many things for so long that he’d get slaughtered on cross examination. At minimum, he’d have to take the Fifth so many times that the jury would get the picture anyway—he’s a crook. In fact, Trump said that only guilty people take the Fifth. What would he testify about anyway? The checks are in evidence, the intent to pay off Stormy Daniels for her silence has been established, the intent to misrepresent the money as attorney fees is in evidence. Do you believe that the jury would believe Trump over all of the witnesses who have testified? Nah.
🚨BREAKING: Kash Patel calls for Jack Smith to be held in contempt and JAILED:
“Judge Cannon should be implementing actual contempt proceedings against Jack Smith and the Department of Justice for lying to a federal judge and withholding evidence of exclusion and innocence from Donald Trump.. Maybe we can put Jack Smith in prison.”
The DOJ’s Doctored Crime Scene Photo of Mar-a-Lago Raid
https://www.declassified.live/p/the-dojs-doctored-crime-scene-photo
Trump doesn’t need to prove anything for the jury to acquit.
Bragg’s case is falling apart despite all the help the corrupt commie judge is giving him.
Why would Trump take the stand?
Has the media kept a running tally of all Biden’s lies?
The list for Biden is well over “30K lies and serious misrepresentations” –including irresponsible lies that cause foreign leaders to respond. Why has the media not kept tabs on Biden’s lies? Any thoughts?
And that doesn’t even count his tally of brazen lies going way back to the 1980s.
Zero Capitol Police died in the Jan. 6 riot, imbecile.
“all over the world there were people like me sitting in offices, day after day after day, who did not fully appreciate the depth and the speed with which you were being engulfed by this unimaginable terror.” CLINTON
Gigi approves the lies of this filthy liar. To her, Clinton is wonderful, and Trump killed a million innocent people. She is an evil, lying, deceptive enemy of humanity.
The most evil American knew exactly how, why, when and where tens of thousands were cut to pieces on his watch and he Refused to lift a finger. And Gigi hates Trump
Jonathan, astounding that you write this with no sense of self-awareness. Cohen is nothing but a reflection of your leftist legal sabotage for the past 50 years. You and all leftist “jurists” are DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE for our legal collapse. Bar associations, prosecution groups, judicial practice organizations HAVE ALL FAILED because of the legal guild’s inability to hold itself responsible and act ethically and thoughtfully.
Here is where you sit, Jonathan:
The courts – a joke
“Judges” – a joke, and mostly criminals
FedGov prosecutors – all criminals
The public long ago lost faith in the legal system, and now see its total corruption and decay laid bare, because you and your associates failed to act professionally and ethically.
Not only is this incredibly dangerous for you and the country, it is tantamount to treason and insurrection.
God have mercy on you and your “profession,” because we will not.
Another right wing gas bag.
There will be no reform even remotely possible without lawyers.
Lawyers are legal technicians and you can’t fix and engine without the mechanic.
If you don’t like legal profession, then go to law school and try to help fix it,
dont just bloviate like a right wing gasbag.
If every right wing Republican gasbag of a lawyer I have ever known would get active in bar associations instead of just repairing to the country club for golf, do a little bit of volunteering inside the legal community and lead, well, the situation would not have gone so far. The problem is decent patritotic people think freedom comes for free. It doesnt. It requires work, or the aggressive sociopaths who now dominate our society will take over, like they obviously have.
The solution is not just making idle threats on the internet.
And Turley is actually an exemplary lawyer. He is a veritable Malsherbes. Turley is not the problem.
Saloth Sar
Turley IS the problem, dumbass. You are correct that right-leaning attorneys have done nothing to oppose the total leftist destruction of the US legal system, but the perpetrators are ALL leftists – leftists have controlled the legal system for multiple decades now, and this is the result. Turley is a self-admitted leftist attorney, who has only recently become miraculously aware of the extreme peril his colleagues have created.
Lawyers are anything but mechanics – they are spanners in the works, imbecile. The system cannot be fixed using your already corrupt actors.
A total revamp from scratch is required.
11 Invoices Falsified
Key testimony: Mr. McConney, the only witness of the morning, testified about 11 invoices that prosecutors said had been falsified as part of an effort by Mr. Trump to conceal the account of the porn star, Stormy Daniels, during the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign. Mr. Cohen ultimately received $420,000 — covering the hush money, a bonus and additional funds — with nine of the 11 payments coming from the personal account of Mr. Trump, who Mr. McConney said had to have the checks sent to the White House for him to sign. During a brief cross-examination, a lawyer for Mr. Trump aggressively questioned Mr. McConney and sought to distance the former president from his company’s financial record-keeping.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/05/06/nyregion/trump-trial-hush-money
Entirely false.
The invoices are not Trump’s records.
Then what are they, pray tell???
Deborah Tarasoff, a long time Trump book-keeping employee today testified that she entered the invoices into the General Ledger of the Trump Organization.
Are you saying that the General Ledger of the Trump Organization is not Trump’s records????
The level of denialism here when confronted with actual facts is truly staggering!!!!
Mc Conney testified the checks were written on personal accounts
So what!!!
Writing the checks was not the crime. It is irrelevant what bank account the money came from.
Trump committed the crime when he falsely characterized the payments as a business expense.
. It is irrelevant what bank account the money came from.
A personal account, means it is not a business transaction. Not a business, not a crime.
OK fine. He wrote the checks from his personal account.
Why then, did he characterize the payments as a business expense. You cannot co-mingle personal funds with your LLC business.
The problem he faces is entirely due to the fact that he falsely entered the payments into his business General Ledger.
THAT IS HIS PROBLEM!!!
If he had simply made the payments from his personal account and left it at that, then this trial would not be happening.
He brought this on himself by falsely claiming that the payments were a business expense.
THAT IS A CRIME!!!!!!
All you dweebs keep saying that the records should not be written as a business expense, then pray tell what should they be classified and how should it have been documented in the books. Now please explain why the FEC that looked at this and said that it wasn’t a campaign expense. Explain why you think you know more about it than the FEC when the FEC said it actually would have been a serious problem if it had been charged as a campaign expense and paid with campaign money.
The payments were personal expenses. They don’t need to be classified as anything related to his business. They don’t need to be entered into his books at all.
The fact that he DID enter them into his books is the PROBLEM!!!!
Entering personal expenses into your books as business expenses is a CRIME!!!! That is what he is charged with.
If he had simply made the payments from his personal account and left it at that, there would be no problem, no crime, no trial.
I am clearly saying that invoices prepared by Cohen are not Trump’s records. I keep doctors’ bills, but that does not make them “my records”.
As Deborah Tarasoff testified today, the invoices were entered into the General Ledger of the Trump organization.
Thus, the invoices are absolutely and undeniably part of Trump’s business records as a matter of fact and of law.
Also, your doctor’s bills are your records. If not, what exactly are they.
The delusional thinking here is staggering.
As Deborah Tarasoff testified today, the invoices were entered into the General Ledger of the Trump organization.
“The Trump Organization”
Which one?
The prosecution is intentional commingling lots of terms and names, and actions. Mixing and matching stuff that never commingle. The judge is perfectly happy to allow all this manufactured confusion
There is only one Trump organization.
It is Trump Organization, Inc. It is an LLC.
It is a holding company that owns and operates all his other businesses.
These MAGA world attempts at obfuscation are absolutely staggering.
The invoices are not Trumps Records
You are correct. It is impossible for ME to falsify the monthly ‘invoice’ I get from the water company. Trump, (actually employees) never falsified any invoice. to make such a claim is stupid and ignorant of simple life functions.
You are obviously being deliberately obtuse with this characterization of the facts in order to make an obviously twisted talking point that has no relationship to reality.
Trump did not falsify the invoices.
Cohen presented the invoices.
Trump paid the invoices, and the invoices and record of payment were entered into the General Ledger of the Trump Organization.
Once entered into Trump’s General Ledger, the invoices are by definition a part of Trump’s business records.
No falsification of the actual invoices took place.
The falsification occurred when Trump characterized the payments as a business expense.
This is very simple. I suspect that you realize this. What you are saying is a typical MAGA world response when confronted with actual facts. You fall back to some absurd interpretation of the situation that is completely untethered from reality.
Why do you lie so?
Mc Conney testified that he, and he alone directed bookkeepers that invoice from an Attorney, was to booked as a legal expense.
There should be a directed verdict now. Nobody was hiding anything, and testimony proves DJT was not involved in the accounting decision.
Of course if Trump made the decision, it still is not falsifying anything. Lawyers are legal expense. But also in the testimoy, the checks came from personal, not business accounts.
What a dumba$$ you are! Don’t you know what an invoice is? Invoices come FROM the person who is getting paid, not the person who is paying.
Bookkeepers enter into the general ledger (probably first thru an Accounts payable subsidiary ledger) – they enter what is on the invoice, you dumba$$!
If the Invoice reads “Legal” fees, they enter “legal fees” in the ledger. They do not break the invoice down to specifics – like $5,000 attorneys fees, $215 copy costs, $385 court fees, $200 travel – nope they enter $5,800 legal fees.
Dumba$$!
Like Trump sits around telling the data entry girl how to categorize the funds he authorizes. Ridiculous
Payments To Daniels Processed As ‘Retainer’ Fees For Cohen
Former Trump Organization senior vice president Jeffrey McConney was in charge of accounting for the corporation. When the first invoices started coming in from Michael Cohen in early 2017, seeking reimbursement for Cohen’s payment to Stormy Daniels, McConney told a staff member to list the expenditure under “legal expenses.” He also told the staffer, Deborah Tarasoff, to enter “Retainer for the months of January and February 2017” as the explanation for the payment.
The alleged mischaracterization of the actual reason for the payments in the company’s general ledger is the basis for about a dozen charges against former president Donald Trump.
Though Cohen repeatedly wrote in his invoices, “Pursuant to the retainer agreement,” McConney was asked if he ever saw a retainer agreement with Cohen. “I did not,” McConney said.
Jurors just saw records showing that Michael Cohen’s reimbursements for paying off an adult-film actress in 2016 were treated as regular compensation as a contractor and that 1099 tax forms were generated to formally document the payments that way.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/06/trump-hush-money-trial-live-updates/
……………………………..
These payments, and the way they were entered on the ledger books, are at the heart of Bragg’s case. However dubious Michael Cohen might be, the Trump Organization treated him as a regular contractor.
Why would McConnell be expected to see the Retainer Agreement. Further, does it have to be writing?
“with nine of the 11 payments coming from the personal account of Mr. Trump,”
personal, not business.
Still not a crime
You’re traveling through another dimension — a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. There’s a signpost up ahead: your next stop: the Twilight Zone!
Michael Cohen will be controlled by DA Alvin Bragg who is an excellent ventriloquist.
Trump was just found guilty of contempt for saying this:
“You know [the judge is] rushing the trial like crazy. Nobody’s ever seen a thing go like this. That jury was picked so fast – 95% democrats. The area’s mostly all democrat. You think of it as a – just a purely democrat area. It’s a very unfair situation that I can tell you.”
Where’s the lie?
We continue to fracture as sates. Privileged and lazy people in blue urban areas (the laptop class’) really need to take a backseat, but they won’t. Their cities WILL continue to fail, and they will continue to flee. It is up to the rest of us to not allow them to transform what they are coming to into what they left behind. For real. It could happen in your place, even Texas, even Florida, without consciousness. Remain stalwart. Vote out the people for whom the dollars are just too tempting. At this point, it isn’t hyperbole to say freedom depends on it. If we cannot do this then we cannot survive. The middle class, let alone the United States, cannot survive another four years of modern dem rule.
The Left alleges that there is “another crime,” in addition to the 34 alleged misdemeanors. That that “another crime” is the one that (magically) transforms 34 dead misdemeanors into live felonies.
Yet that “another crime” is not named or specified in the indictment. That “another crime” is not even being adjudicated in this trial.
Vague and capricious is bad enough. Nonexistent is absurd.
I wonder what odds are being given in Las Vegas and elsewhere on the likelihood that biden/harris will grant Cohen a presidential pardon following his testimony in this criminal case … a criminal proceeding concocted by the D sycophants on bragg’s staff and elsewhere and tried by a faithful D judge?
The media lies and brainwashing is strong in those who defend this case and treat this as anything BUT the obvious: election interference & the railroading of Donald Trump by corrupt partisan activists.
Where is the NY LEGAL COMMUNITY that is supposed to police corrupt judges and prosecutors? Their silence is a disgrace. Where is their outcry and outrage? This case should NOT wait for the appeals process. The miscarriage of justice is happening RIGHT NOW.
Trump is being railroaded before the entire world by a CORRUPT judge who should have recused himself by LAW.
Trump is being railroaded by this Commie judge Merchan who should have dismissed the case.
Instead Merchan refuses to do the right thing UNDER LAW.
HE is ABUSING his power, ABUSING the system, ABUSING a defendant.
Merchan does NOT CARE that he is railroading Trump.
Merchan does NOT care that this is OBVIOUS ELECTION INTERFERENCE.
Merchan does NOT care that his daughter is profiting massively off this trial.
Merchan is doing the one thing his political party wants from him: A FELONY conviction hung around Donald Trump’s neck going in to the election. That’s it. This is Merchan’s mission.
Merchan is COLLUDING with the Democrats and Biden’s DOJ in order to influence the presidential eleciton.
Why is NO ONE from the NY legal community SHOUTING FROM THE ROOFTOPS?
The entire reputation of the “justice” system is being destroyed before the world.
Merchan is a disgrace to the “profession.”
Merchan should be summarily discharged from his duties, defrocked of his black robe, and DISBARRED.
This is NOT how the American so-called “justice system” works.
Merchan is a commie activist judge doing the dirty work of his political party leaders.
For shame.
Or whatever it is you do to ROGUE, lawless, CORRUPT judges.
Engoron too.
In fact, the entire corrupt NY court system should be fumigated from top to bottom, end to end.
DC judges and courts also.
What a disgrace.
Merchan is New York’s version of Roland Freisler.
“This is a criminal conspiracy under federal law. It is also violates the rights of citizens in all other states to a free & fair election. Conservative states should sue NY for fabricating a wholly nonexistent crime in order to hijack the ‘24 election & subvert federal supremacy. @StephenM”
What is brilliant about this legal circus is that it’s a distraction from all the Joe and Jill Biden’s shell companies and kickback evidence, including large transfers of money that have never even been attempted to be explained by ANYONE on the Biden team. Well done Dems, the complicit media, and corrupted govt agencies!
Exactly! Election interference.
The media has spent exactly ZERO time on talking about Biden’s scandals, Biden’s corruption, Biden’s lawlessness.
The media spends ALL its time painting Trump as a monster, as a criminal, as a rapist. As literally Hitler himself.
They are FAKE NEWS.
Propaganda delivered to the masses all day every day…
from 60 Minutes to PBS to NPR it is all propaganda. STATE TV.
Turley is absolutely right that after the 2016 election, Trump paid $135k to a disbarred, serial perjurer who Trump employed as his attorney for 12 years. Trump also generously rewarded his company’s Chief Financial Officer, Allen Weisselberg, who plead guilty to falsifying business records, criminal tax fraud, grand larceny & 2 counts of perjury after working with Trump & his father Fred since 1973.
Trump clearly surrounds himself with the best & the brightest.
Daniels was paid 130K. Cohen was paid about 430K.
What was self evident from the Trial is that Coehn is one of an army of “entertainment lawyers” that play both sides of this racket extorting celebrities, the weatlhy and politicians, and Trump is merely another of their prey.
If Trump had not hired Cohen it would have been someone like him. Those are the people who do this.
Weisleberg is another victim of the lefts lawfare.
In your zeal to “get Trump” you will destroy innocent people in the hopes of turning them.
Problem is that you can turn anyone you want, but that only helps if there is an actual crime for them to expose.
Otherwise you just keep sending innocent people to jail for the crime of not being able to frame your intended victim even if they wanted.
OT
John Say,
You and your league of deniers are outvoted, 98% to 2%. The Constitution requires the president to be a natural born citizen. Readers of that section must obtain a definition of the phrase. That definition exists only in the Law of Nations. All presidents, 44 of 45, with the sole exception of Obama, adhered to Vattel, or the only definition of natural born citizen.
The Constitution requires that the president be a “natural born citizen” without defining the phrase. Every birth is natural. The Constitution does not require that the president be a natural born subject, and no definition of natural born subject bears on this issue. The sole and only scholarly or legal reference to, and definition of, natural born citizen exists in the Law of Nations and in no other locus or publication. For 235 years, 45 of 46, or 98% of presidents, have strictly adhered to Vattel’s definition of “natural born citizen” in the Law of Nations, enjoying two parents and a father who were citizens at the time of birth of the candidate. The intent of John Jay and George Washington was to “provide a strong check to the admission of Foreigners into the administration of our national Government, and to declare expressly that the Command in chief of the american army shall not be given to, nor devolved on, any but a natural born Citizen.” Vattel’s definition of natural born citizen in the Law of Nations definitively constituted the “strong[est] check to the admission of Foreigners” and foreign interference in American affairs.
It ought to stand out on fair and impartial jurors that when the prosecution’s main witness is a compulsive liar that there is something deeply wrong with the prosecution’s case. The case has now become more about the worthiness of the jury than the lack of facts it has been presented.
@Ron A. Hoffman,
Don’t overlook the fact that Trump is also deemed a compulsive liar. That would also stand out to the jury. Also Trump hired Cohen precisely because he’s good at lying. He has a very long history of using lawyers to do what he wants them to do. Not because he values their advice.
“Don’t overlook the fact that Trump is also deemed a compulsive liar.”
Only by left wing nuts. By a substantial portion of the electorate he is the only president any of them have ever known to attempt to keep all his campaign promises and actually keep most of them.
The fact is that in reality – Trump’s real reputation is for integrity.
That should not be surprising.
You do not succeed in as many different things as Trump has without being trustworthy.
You may not like Trump, but you can bank on his word.
“That would also stand out to the jury.”
This jury is irrelevant.
What matters is voters.
“Also Trump hired Cohen precisely because he’s good at lying.”
Trump hired Cohen – because Cohen is another of the many sleazy Entertainment lawyers that are part of this scam, bilking celebritiues, the wealthy and politicians to kill embarassing stories – both true and false.
What has been clear in this trial is that while Cohen is scum – all of those preying off of this stuff are. Clifford, MacDougal, Pecker, the assorted lawyers here, AMI, National Enquirer and other tabloids have a booming business. Either you pay them off or they run garbage stories and they could care less if they are true.
@john say,
Every president attempts to keep their promises. Not just Trump. That doesn’t absolve him of the multitudes of lies he’s told.
His lawyers are or have been in jail for perjury or have been sanctioned for lying in court. Trump surrounds himself with these people because he values lying to protect himself.
Not the Trump lawyers nonsense.
Trump’s lawyers in GA have made fools of Willis and her cabal.
Jack Smith is on his back foot in Florida.
With the jury and judge in his pocket – Bragg is still being outlawyered right and left in this trial.
Nearly everyone expect that EnMoron and Carrol Verdicts to be overturned. Will you still be ranting about Trump’s lawyers then ?
The 14th amendment nonsense went down in flames.
Trump’s lawyers were great. Democrat lawfare lawyers sucked.
But not having a case helped.
It is clear from the scotus immunity hearings that Smith will lose.
Trump may not get the resounding victory that should occur.
Regardless, Again Trump’s lawyers excellent – those on the left – pretty bad.
Republicans are also far more legally engaged in the 2024 election thatn in 2020.
And are racking up victories.
Of course part of that was because 2020 was a massive embarrassment for the courts and it is easier to get it right long BEFORE the election than to haver to cover corruption after.
Further Trump is leading in the polls – and though that is not supposed to matter – it absolutely effected the courts in 2020, and it is effecting them now.
Regardless, Democrats have made it clear that they will go far outside the norms in lawfare.
Republicans are taking that seriously.
One of the reasons that Trump’s GOP support is so strong is that there is no other republicans that could stand up to the legal onslaught of the left. But every other Republican could face it.
Regardless, people see through this.
Don’t overlook the fact that Trump is also deemed a compulsive liar.
That is some suffering gobbeldy gook. Meaningless to the Max. But I can see that is your level of understanding how the law works.
@iowan2,
What does the law have to do with Trump being deemed a compulsive liar?
Didn’t say anything about the law.
Attorneys routinely advise innocent clients to plead guilty rather than risk trial, so I ask Mr. Turley to explain why it is perjury for Cohen to do so for himself. Thank you.
I think lawyers do that when they suspect that their client is guilty and/or the evidence is such that they don’t stand much of a chance at trial. What usually does not occur is for the client to then admit to perjury at a later point in time. It’s perjury for Cohen because under oath he admitted to having lied previously while under oath. Or was he telling the truth before and is ‘now’ committing perjury? Kind of the problem with liars…. when can you believe them?
Jeff mocks Mr. Turley in his opening line. However, these “convictions” were politically motivated, as anyone with a brain that thinks, could see. It will not be long before Jeff, and his fellow left leaning liberals, will fall from their high horse. Mr. Trump will emerge unscathed and will enter the White House in January 2025 after a resounding win in November.
A few inconvenient facts that Turley inexplicably fails to mention.
In the Cohen indictment Trump was Individual 1, an unindicted co-conspirator in the crimes for which Cohen was convicted.
Geoffrey Berman, appointed by Trump as USDA at SDNY, convicted Cohen but was unable to indict Trump because he was still President.
Berman continued to investigate Trump with a view to indict him when he left office.
The provably corrupt Attorney General Barr attempted to block Berman’s investigation by ordering his investigators to get his explicit approval for any investigative activities.
Berman resisted and Barr then announced that Berman had resigned.
Berman publicly stated that Barr was lying and he had no intention of resigning, and that Barr would have to fire him.
The corrupt Bill Barr then fired Berman and ended the investigation of Trump as a conspirator in the same crimes for which Cohen was convicted.
Trump is now on trial for essentially the same crimes committed by Cohen. Cohen may be a liar, but no more so than Trump. At least Cohen is not an adjudicated rapist and serial adulterer.
The Trump family business is essentially an organized crime operation. This trial simply follows a pattern that NY prosecutors are all to familiar with when it comes to organized crime families. First nail the underlings, then turn them against the boss. They are all liars and criminals, but eventually the truth always comes out.
What crime was Trump supposed to have committed?
THE GRAND JURY OF THE COUNTY OF NEW YORK, by this indictment, accuses the defendant of the crime of FALSIFYING BUSINESS RECORDS IN THE FIRST DEGREE, in violation of Penal Law §175.10, committed as follows:
The defendant, in the County of New York and elsewhere, on or about February 14, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof, made and caused a false entry in the business records of an enterprise, to wit, an invoice from Michael Cohen dated February 14, 2017, marked as a record of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, and kept and maintained by the Trump Organization.
34 counts of the above.
Falsifying business records by calling payment of a lawyer’s bills “legal expenses”. What insane asylum are we in?
It is a crime to claim personal expenses (payments to Daniels) as legal expenses related to one’s business. This is not a debatable point. This crime is one of the most commonly prosecuted offenses.
Hope Hicks has already testified that she was in the room when Trump discussed how these payments should be falsely recorded as legal expenses.
How is it related to Trump’s business? He paid by personal checks.
He recorded the payments as a business expense. Jeff McConney, Trump’s Senior Vice President for accounting, just testified to that this morning.
It does not matter which bank account was used. The payment was falsely recorded as a business expense.
That is a crime.
Again false. The Trump Trust is NOT a business.
And it DOES matter what bank account is used.
And No it is not a crime to record an expense in a way that you do not like.
It is a crime to FRAUDULENTLY record a business record.
Fraud is NOT a synonym for false – this nonsense is one of the reasons that is the case.
The idiotic nonsense that this is not a legal expense makes that self evident.
If this is not a legal expense – what is ?
Every single thing that you pay a lawyer for is to accomplish something beyond “the law”.
If you pay a lawyer to negotiate a contract to build a building – the purpose of the contract is to build a building.
Both of the laws you cite require Fraud.
Fraud is
an intentionally false statement
that you have a duty to be truthful about
That others rely on,
that results in their harm.
You do not have a single required element for fraud.
@John Say,
Trump DID fraudulently record a business record. Multiple times. Filing a business record is the act of recording it. They contained false information and that is a crime according to you.
No, it does not matter what account was used. The issue is the use of the records to make a false claim intentionally. Cohen already testified it was Trump’s intent to falsify the reason for the expense.
“ Both of the laws you cite require Fraud.
Fraud is
an intentionally false statement
that you have a duty to be truthful about
That others rely on,
that results in their harm.”
Trump did commit fraud intentionally. He was aware of Cohen’s intent and that is conspiracy to commit fraud. Trump was NOT being truthful when he filed those records. That’s the whole point of the case. Filing the documents and submitting them is recording the transaction as lawful according to NY law. The documents had false information that was known to Trump and Cohen.
@John Say,
“ Fraud is NOT a synonym for false – this nonsense is one of the reasons that is the case.”
Yes it is.
There are 34 synonyms for fraud. False IS one of them.
The Trump Trust is simply the beneficial owner of the Trump LLC.
A trust is not permitted to CONDUCT business.
The underlying business (Trump LLC) is required to keep accurate business records.
Cohen has already been convicted of presenting false invoices for legal work that was never provided.
Trump falsely recorded the falsified invoices as business expenses.
These are ordinary, everyday, run-of-mill business record crimes that are easily proven by the paper records and the testimony already presented at trial.
SO if Cohen provided false business records to Trump business, then Cohen committed fraud on Trump
And why can’t a business man and media personality not be concerned about his PUBLIC reputation?
What has this got to do with anything!!!!!
Are you saying that business men and media personalities are free to commit crimes to protect their reputation.
You and this case is saying that the crime is protecting their reputation.
What is the Crime here ?
As Turley and others have pointed out out the original indictment is defective on its face.
Only recently has Bragg introduced this NY election law nonsense – but violation of that law is neither indicted, nor charged.
If you beleive Trump has violated that NY election law – then you must indict a violation of that law.
But even that is not enough – THAT law requires a violation of some other law. Again not indicted and not charged.
And the NY supreme court has just tossed Harvey Weinsteins conviction – because the judge allowed evidence of crimes that Weinstein was not charged with into the trial.
What testimoney so far has had anything to do with the actual crimes Trump is charged with ?
And where is the charge for the crime that these 34 counts are purportedly covering up ?
What you have is a corrupt prosecutor, a corrupt judge, and a biased jury engaged in election interferance.
You do understand that the NY Election crime that Brag has not charged but is magically prosecuting – also applies to Bragg and Merchan ?
[It is a crime to claim personal expense payments to Daniels) as legal expenses related to one’s business.
You have claimed its a person expense. Same sentence you claim its a business expense
Todays prosecution witness is clear that these payments came from personal accounts. The prosecution witness, also categorized the personal expense paying the bill from an attorney as a legal expense.
already known fact that the payments included Execution of an NDA.
All of this is personal spending tending to personal expenses.
What is the fraud. Who suffered from the fraud?
You are very confused about my statements (perhaps deliberately)
The payments were a personal expense. Trump falsely recorded them as a business expense for legal services. That is a crime.
Cohen has already been convicted of submitting false invoices for legal services he did not provide. This is the “other side” of the crime.
The invoices were falsely presented and Trump falsely characterized the payments. This has already been the subject of testimony from Hope Hicks and Jeff McConney.
” Trump falsely recorded them as a business expense for legal services. That is a crime.”
Not true and not a crime even if True.
As you have said – the money came from personal bank accounts – that is quite literally the end of it.,
The sole reason this case is so convoluted – is because your legal theory is so absurd.
If Trump improperly reported these as a business expense – there would be a charge of tax fraud.
There is not.
That means one of three things.
The money never came from a business – and the case is dead.
Payments for NDA’s are properly classified as legal expenses – and the case is dead.
There was no change in a tax liability – and the case is dead.
The state of NY does not have the right to demand that you tell it how you spend YOUR money.
It does not even have the right to demand that your business tells it how you spend its money.
The State has the the authority to verify that taxes owed to it were correctly paid.
That is all.
You constantly claim that Trump is a fascist – but here you are arguing that Trump has not complied with your claims regarding the law that are only true of Fascist states.
“Cohen has already been convicted of submitting false invoices for legal services he did not provide. This is the “other side” of the crime.”
False, Cohen Plead guilty to paying Daniels in violation of federal election law. That is the ONLY part of Cohen’s guilty plea that involves Trump.
But lets accept your claim as True – “Cohen submitting false invoices for legal services he did not provide” is ONLY a crime if:
The client – Trump is defrauded,
or
The state is defrauded of taxes.
If neither of those are true – there is no Crime.
If I tell you to invoice me for legal services that you did not perform, and then I pay you – knowing no legal services were performed, and all taxes are properly paid – there is no crime.
Whether you left wing nuts like it or not people may give money to others for any reason or none at all, so long as they are not evading taxes in doing so.
“The invoices were falsely presented and Trump falsely characterized the payments.”
If that were actually true – then there is no crime.
“This has already been the subject of testimony from Hope Hicks and Jeff McConney.”
FALSE.
Again the transcripts are public. Please cite them. Hick’s testimoney was last week, those are publicly available.
@John Say,
“ The invoices were falsely presented and Trump falsely characterized the payments.”
If that were actually true – then there is no crime.”
That is literally true. That is exactly what is being presented to the jury. It is a crime in NY. The statue that is being used applies. Falsely presenting the invoices as something other than what they were IS the crime. It’s falsifying documents. How is this difficult to grasp?
This is a very simple case.
The source of the payments is completely irrelevant.
The payments were recorded as a business expense. THAT is the crime being charged. Business records were falsified, plain and simple. Nothing more, nothing less.
If Trump wrote a check for a new set of golf clubs for his son Barron and recorded it as a business expense, it would be the same crime.
It really is very simple.
You have no concept of accounting.
NO CPA, commingles business and personal monies. I have never seen such a thing. Personal monies are always using a bank independent of anything that touches a business entity.
The extreme leftist are buying what Colangelo is selling the jury.
A simple lie. But the entire case is nothing but lies. The lies have been presented to Merchan, he is ignoring the clear meaning of the laws being used, and is going to get a jury conviction. Merchan will be overturned.
Trump falsely recorded them as a business expense for legal services
And I’ll repeat. Testimony today stated the checks were written on personal accounts. That’s another reason the charges are bogus. Personally nothing has to be catagorized. But pay lawyer and calling it personal legal expense is not hiding anything.
Sorry John, didn’t see you already set out the facts
Making the payments is not the crime being charged.
WHY CAN’T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT??????
The crimes are falsification of business records. The actual payments and the source of the money is completely irrelevant!!!!!
The crime occurred when Trump falsely accounted for the payments as a business expense.
Trump made some of the payments from a personal account. Fine. That is not a crime. It is not what he is charged with.
Trump committed the crime when he falsely characterized the payments as a business expense.
THAT IS THE CRIME HE IS CHARGED WITH!!!!!!
This is a very simple and straightforward crime, that is easily proven.
Wrong again. It’s hard being an idiot brainwashed Democrat isn’t it?
“It is a crime to claim personal expenses (payments to Daniels) as legal expenses related to one’s business. This is not a debatable point. This crime is one of the most commonly prosecuted offenses.”
It is NOT a crime and THAT is not debatable.
Payments for NDA’s ARE legal expenses. You claim this is related to Trump’s business – the Trust is NOT a business, it is personal.
Further these are not tax records, they are not even records that are reported to government.
You are claiming that Trump lied to himself to coverup an unspecified crime.
There is no tax liability regarding this so there is no fraud.
Even by Bragg’s absurd theory that representing these as legal expenses is error.
Fraud requires Actual harm to others. There is no possibility of actual harm.
I would further note that ALL Criminal law to be legitimate REQUIRES at-least the potential of actual harm to others.
The State of NY can not pass a law that says “whistling in your shower is a felony punishable by 10 years in prison”
“Hope Hicks has already testified that she was in the room when Trump discussed how these payments should be falsely recorded as legal expenses.”
The transcripts are publicly available – cite them.
Regardless, this is a stupid claim. Hicks testified that she had nothing to do with payments, and wanted little to do with Cohen as he was a disaster.
It is further stupid because Trump wrote the checks. He did NOT record them ad legal expenses. That did not occur until late 2017 and had nothing to do with those involved in the campaign.
You can not seem to get any of the facts straight.
There would be no crime if Bragg/Colangelo’s “theory” of this case were true.
But this is going so badly that pretty much every element of THEIR theory has been obliterated.
This is most definitely not a case of fraud. There are no allegations of fraud or harm to individuals.
The crimes are falsifying business records. These are crimes in and of themselves for a very simple reason.
When you are granted an LLC business license in New York (or any other state) you enter into an agreement that you will abide by all the laws regarding accurate business records. The reason for this is very simple. When you operate a business through an LLC, you cannot be held personally responsible for the debts of the corporation. If the corporation goes bankrupt you can simply walk away with no personal liability, as Trump has repeatedly done in the past.
In return for this protection from personal liability the State requires that you keep accurate business records so that other entities can reasonably assume that you are conducting a legitimate business and it is safe to do business with you knowing that you are not personally liable. The laws regarding business records of an LLC are put in place to protect other businesses from shady operators.
When there is clear cut evidence that a business is falsifying its records the State is obliged to step in to prosecute the offender so that the laws regarding LLC’s have some meaning. Otherwise there is no reason for a business to trust any other business in the State.
@anonymnous,
“ In return for this protection from personal liability the State requires that you keep accurate business records so that other entities can reasonably assume that you are conducting a legitimate business and it is safe to do business with you knowing that you are not personally liable. The laws regarding business records of an LLC are put in place to protect other businesses from shady operators.”
That’s a great point. Kudos.
When there is clear cut evidence that a business is falsifying its records the State is obliged to step in to prosecute the offender
None of this touches a NY corporation. Its personal money
You are right, the payments came from Trump’s personal account, but that is not relevant to the charges.
The source of the funds is irrelevant to the charge of falsification of business records. Trump falsely characterized the payments as business expenses.
THE FALSIFICATION IS THE CRIME.
The state has a strong interest in enforcing these business record laws. When a person does business as an LLC, the State protects that person from personal liability if the business fails (the LL stands for limited liability). Trump has taken advantage of this protection numerous times when he walked away from failed businesses with no personal liability, leaving his creditors to take the loss.
In return for that protection the State requires businesses to keep accurate business records to protect OTHER businesses from rogue operators. If there was no requirement to maintain accurate records, then no business could be certain that other businesses with whom they deal were sound businesses that could be trusted.
The whole point of business record laws is to give a degree of certainty to the business world.
It is really that simple.
You say that it is a “crime” to claim personal expenses as legal expenses related to someone’s business. I would like to know the statute that says that someone who conflates personal and business expenses has committed a crime. Please cite the statute. I can see that the IRS may have a problem with a possible mischaracterization between business and personal expenses, which might affect someone’s tax laiblilty, but there can be an honest debate as to “personal” vs “business” expenses. This case is one example. Buying the silence of Ms. Stormey, the blackmailer, has business, personal and political facets.
Commingling happens all the time when people have small businesses, LLC’s and S corps, we treat the business income as personal income and expense the business expenses as personal.
The law you cite, REQUIRES the commission of another crime. Yet there is no other crime.
None has been charged – which is actually required by NY law – and the federal constitution.
The question most everyone has todate is why is this at trial ?
There is no There There.
Why? Because commie judge Merchan is COLLUDING with the Democrat Party, the Biden White House, and the Fake News media to railroad Trump, interfere in the election and hang a felony conviction around Trump’s neck before the election, so the Fake News media can continually refer to Trump as a convicted felon. That’s it. That’s the WHY. Commie judge Merchan is doing their bidding.
EVERYONE in the World knows it.
But little commie Merchan does NOT care about appearance of impropriety, ethics, or fairness.
Nor does Merchan give a shIt about the LAW or the rights of the defendant before him. OBVIOUSLY.
Merchan has ONE job he is doing for The Democrat Party, with two major goals he intends to accomplish via his Stalinist Show Trial for the Good of Dear Commie Party Leadership:
Goal 1 = interfere in and influence the election to benefit Biden.
Goal 2 = make Trump a felon.
“. . . intent to commit another crime . . .”
What, precisely, is that “another crime?”
You know, that unnamed “crime” that magically transformed dead misdemeanors into alive felonies.
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The provably corrupt Attorney General Barr attempted to block Berman’s investigation by ordering his investigators to get his explicit approval for any investigative activities.
Prosecutorial discretion is now a crime?
It is not even prosecutorial discretion.
There is no crime.
Those on the left actually know this.
They may or may not get a conviction by a manhattan jury in a farce of a trial, that Trump is still winning amazingly.
So much for the nonsense that Trump has bad lawyers.
As we saw in GA – but not quite so bad – these “top” democrat prosecutors are incredibly bad.
Even with Judge Merchan’s assistance – they are losing badly.
The only hope for this case is that the jury will convict regardless.
There are so many different ways this case will be tossed on apeall – should it get that far.
But the goal is NOT to incarcerate Trump for a crime.
It is to by whatever means acheive a conviction so that the press can label Trump convicted Felon for the next 6 months.
A few inconvenient facts that ATS mucks up.
“In the Cohen indictment Trump was Individual 1” correct.
“an unindicted co-conspirator in the crimes for which Cohen was convicted.”
Incorrect and actually impossible, which is part of the problem with this case.
“Geoffrey Berman, appointed by Trump as USDA at SDNY, convicted Cohen but was unable to indict Trump because he was still President.”
a view to indict him when he left office.”
All your Berman nonsense does is prove that Berman – not Bar was corrupt – and that YOU are an idiot.
Any instance where there is only ONE US Attorney ever who MIGHT be willing to prosecute is pretty much by defintion garbage.
Berman is gone. Barr is gone. Trump is Gone. SDNY has still not prosecuted.
Because there is no crime. You want to rant about this – but Turley covered the testimony of all the witnesses that Berman or any other US attorney would have had to have called – They have been testifying – Bragg is litterally trying to make the SDNY case which he has no jurisdiction over and SDNY has continued to refuse to prosecute, and Bragg is failing.
If Bragg’s witness actually said everything that Bragg and the left had told us they would – there would still be NO CRIME.
A candidate in an election can spend as much of their own money on their own election as they please, for any purpose, and they can do so without reporting it. If they could not do so the Federal Election laws would be unconstitutional. This was determined decades ago.
But it is worse than that. The FEC has consistently held that campaign money spent for “hush payments” is perfectly legal.
Everything Trump has alleged to have done – Clinton did on steriods in 1992. Worse still One of Clinton’s “Fixers” – is George Stephaopolis – who now pretends to be a reputable journalist. Even Micheal Cohen did not Defame McDougal and Clifford – the way that Stephanopolis did to the women attacked by Clinton’s campaign as “Bimbo eruptions”. Many of these women – and there were MANY did not come forward on their own. They did NOT seek out publicity. Some like Daniels had NDA’s concocted by the Clinton campaign. Most just did not want in the public eye. But Clinton’s campign brought the attention of the press to Clinton’s predatory sexual conduct. Conduct that unlike Trump appears to continue to this day. There was little connection between Trump and Epstein – despite both floating in the same wealthy circles in NYC. While Clinton was a frequent flier on the Lolita express – until Epstein got caught.
Nor is Clinton the only other prominent political figure to have bought the silence of unfavorable stories by other women. Bragg circus exposed Schwarzenager, and Democrat Rahm Emanual. Then we have the i9ncredibly egregious story of Johnathon Edwards – who none other than Jack Smith prosecuted over substantial “hush money” payments by a wealthy donor, to a pregnant staffer while Edwards wife was in the hospital dying of cancer, and against the advice of the FEC which has consistently held for decades that such payments do not violate federal Election law. Edwards lost. Nor are these the only examples.
I would further note that while not PROVING these stories are false, the Bragg trial is actually undermining even the claim that these stories are Trump. A significant portion of the witnesses have been engaged profitably in finding, and killing stories like this for wealthy people, celebrities and politiciains for decades. There is a strong suggestion in the testimony that it did not matter if the stories were true. Nor does it appear this was unique to the National Enquirer.
What is coming out at Trial is a cottage industry of essentially extortionaists – the National Enquirer, Pecker, AMI, an assortment of attorney’s.
Who Go LOOKING for and possibly manufacturing stories that would embarass the wealthy, celebrities and political candidates and then “negotiating” deals to kill those stories for money with the implied threat that absent payment Tabloids would run those stories.
Not testified but well known was that Clifford discussed her story with Slate and Slate badly wanted to run the story – but was unwilling to pay Clifford for the story. Unanswered is why Slate or other outlets or even the Clinton campaign did not buy the story. One explanation is that Clifford (and MacDougal) and their attorneys stuck to the tabloids – because those outlets did not care whether the stories were true.
Clifford and MacDougal were able to get a bit over 100K because of a threat to publish in a tabloid that did not care if the story was true.
This Trial has already established that Trump paid 30K for the story of a Doorman who claimed Trump had an illegitimate love child with a hispanic maid – a false story. If a 3rd party story with no substance is worth 40K – then a first person false story from Clifford and MacDougal would likely be worth 100K. Approximately what was paid.
Clinton paid over a million for the Steele Dossier hoax. If the Clifford and MacDougal stories are so credible – why didn’t Hillary buy them and feed them to the press. She has done exactly that in the past. Clinton’s aparatich Sydney blumenthal is the source for the Obama Birther story and the first Ukraine stories that kept Biden out of the 2016 race.
Regardless, Everything about this is falling apart.
You rant Berman, Berman, Berman, and yet, Berman would have had all the same problems that Bragg is having now, but with less corrupt judges and less biased Juries.
Much of the prosecution case is over. There still is no crime. Trump looks better by the day. Pretty much all the Prosecution witnesses have turned into defense witnesses. Pretty much all of them have painted Cohen badly. Pretty much all of them have painted this as litterally driven by Cohen for his own profit.
Increasingly what we are seeing is not Cohen furiously buying up stories harmful to Trump. But Cohen looking for stories – true or not, so that he could personally profit. Nor was he alone.
Why didn’t Berman prosecute ? Why did Barr allegedly stop Berman ? Why was Berman fired ? Why wasn’t this prosecuted under Biden ?
We are seeing that right now in court. Because there is NO CRIME, just lots of disreputable people engaged in petty extortion of Trump.
“Trump is now on trial for essentially the same crimes committed by Cohen.”
False. Cohen plead guilty of a series of crimes – save the FEC violation none had anything to do with Trump.
The FEC violation was just an add on that had no effect on Cohen’s sentence, that was an SDNY effort to buy another anti-Trump news cycle.
It had no merit whatsoever. For all Cohen’s false claims, the one that is true is that he did not violate federal campaign finance laws.
Just as the Clinton campaign and donors did not, and the edwards campaign and donors did not.
But even pretending that he did – Cohen’s guilty plea actually precludes Trump’s guilt. Cohen plead guilty to illegally donating his own money to buy Clifford’s silence. If as Bragg alleges, Trump actually paid for that – there is no crime.
” Cohen may be a liar, but no more so than Trump.”
Of course he is much more of a liar than you allege against Trump – Cohen has perjured himself pretty much every time he has testified.
Trump has not. Clinton however has and was impeached, sanctioned by a judge and disbarred for multiple counts of perjury.
” At least Cohen is not an adjudicated rapist and serial adulterer.” That appears to be correct. The serial rapist and adulterer is Bill Clinton”.
And No Trump was not adjudicated as a rapist. Get your facts straight.
A jury that most of the country does not beleive in a sham Trial found it more likely than not that Trump “grabbed E. Jean Carroll’s Pxxxy”
at some time in the distant past that she can not recall wearing a dress that was not made until years later.
“The Trump family business is essentially an organized crime operation.”
How so ?
The Trump’s are involved in many businesses. Residential real estate, commerical real estate, Cassino’s, Golf Courses, Condominums, Entertainment, Beauty Pagents, global real estate, …..
While it is certain that the Trump’s had to deal with many disreputable people – the evidence – including from this trial so far is they were PREY for disreputable people.
“This trial simply follows a pattern that NY prosecutors are all to familiar with when it comes to organized crime families.”
Except that is does not in pretty much anyway.
This is an embarrassment to the Manhattan DA’s office.
All these efforts to “Get Trump” have severely damaged the reputation of NY and NYC and are increasing capitol flight from the state and the city.
” First nail the underlings, then turn them against the boss.”
That has been the MO of all the Trump prosecutions – and they have all failed in the same way.
Nobody has “turned” on Trump. One of the reasons they have not – which you left wing nuts fail to consider is that you can not flip an underling, unless that underling has evidence of an actual crime to give.
The left has weaponized lawfare against everyone close to Trump. It has gone after little guys for incredibly petty violations. Often for sliping up on details while being grilled by the FBI – which is Never a crime unless there is an underlying crime being covered up.
You have a long list of underlings that you have manufactured petty crimes against, and jailed for a few months.
None have “flipped” – not because they are loyal, but because there is no grand criminal enterprise for them to provide evidence against.
Cohen litterally wept in front of congress about how much he now hated Trump but he told congress he could not give them the dirt they wanted – because it did not exist.
“They are all liars and criminals, but eventually the truth always comes out.”
And yet after 8 years of this nonsense, what comes out over anf over and over again is that those of you on the left are the real tinfoil hat conspiracy nuts.
TOO long; can’t read that long!
The Dems have shown they’re OK with lying as long as it’s against the other team.
Selectively portraying and believing the ‘truth’ is one of the biggest games around.
No time to worry about ‘integrity’ while ‘saving democracy’. The election is in six months.
While lying to their own side most of all.
My good friend claims, when Michael Cohen lived in So. Florida, he accepted a retainer and never did anything on the case, forcing him to hire another Attorney. Allegedly he’s a notorious scammer. You can’t make this stuff up???
We are in Alice’s Wonderland. We have lost our moorings in this Sargasso sea of circular logic. It is time to step up and take back control or submit to this pernicious push to destroy our nation. We are out of time for dithering and placating. This won’t stop even if we win Congress and the White House. We need to administer generational change over decades to undo what prog/left fanaticism has done.