Below is my New York Post column on the unseemly scene in the courtroom of Judge Juan Merchan as prosecutors used porn star Stormy Daniels to present lurid details on her alleged tryst with former president Donald Trump. It was a dumpster fire that Judge Merchan watched burn for a full day and then said the jury may have to disregard much of what they saw and heard.
Here is the column:
Before the start of the Manhattan prosecution of former president Donald Trump, I characterized the case of District Attorney Alvin Bragg as based on a type of obscenity standard.
In a 1984 pornography case, Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart wrote “I shall not today attempt further to define [obscenity]. . . . But I know it when I see it.”
Bragg has refused to clearly define the crime that Trump was seeking to conceal when payments for a non-disclosure agreement were listed as a legal expense.
We would just know it when we saw it at trial.
We are still waiting, but this week, Bragg seems to be prosecuting an actual obscenity case.
The prosecution fought with Trump’s defense counsel to not only call porn star Stormy Daniels to the stand, but to ask her for lurid details on her alleged tryst with Trump.
The only assurance that they would make to Judge Juan Merchan was that they would “not go into details of genitalia.”
For Merchan, who has largely ruled against Trump on such motions, that was enough.
He allowed the prosecutors to get into the details of the affair despite the immateriality of the evidence to any criminal theory.
Neither the NDA nor the payment to Daniels is being contested.
It is also uncontested that Trump wanted to pay to get the story (and other stories, including untrue allegations) from being published.
The value of the testimony was entirely sensational and gratuitous, yet Merchan was fine with humiliating Trump.
Daniels’ testimony was a dumpster fire in the courtroom.
The most maddening moment for the defense came at the lunch break when Merchan stated, “I agree that it would have been better if some of these things had been left unsaid.”
He then denied a motion for a mistrial based on the testimony and blamed the defense for not objecting more.
That, of course, ignores the standing objection of the defense to Daniels even appearing, and specific objections to the broad scope allowed by the court.
This is precisely what the defense said would happen when the prosecutors only agreed to avoid “genitalia.”
There was no reason for Daniels to appear at all in the trial.
Even if he was adamant in allowing her, Merchan could have imposed a much more limited scope for her testimony.
He could also have enforced the limits that he did place on the testimony when it was being ignored by both the prosecutors and the witness.
Merchan said that he is considering a limiting instruction for the jury to ignore aspects of the testimony.
But that is little comfort for the defendant.
The court was told that this would happen, it happened, and now the court wants to ask the jury to pretend that it did not happen.
Merchan knows that there is no way for the jury to unhear the testimony.
More importantly, the prosecution knew that from the outset.
Daniels appeared eager to share the stories for the same reason that she was eager to sell her story. While she said that she “hates” Trump and wants him “held accountable,” Daniels is no victim.
She had an alleged tryst with Trump and then sought to cash in on the story.
It is a standard form of extortion of celebrities.
She later sought to cash in on the notoriety by appearing in strip clubs as part of a “Make America Horny Again” tour.
She is in her element in Merchan’s courtroom.
In New York, the relevance or credibility of witnesses like Daniels is largely immaterial.
This is a district that voted against Trump, 84.5% to 14.5%, in the 2020 presidential election.
New Yorkers elected a state attorney general, Letitia James, who ran on the pledge to bag Trump on something — without specifying any crime.
Bragg then indicted Trump without clearly defining any crime — a debate that continues among legal experts after two weeks of testimony.
This is entertainment for many in New York — as is the thrill of the possibility of his going to jail under Merchan’s poorly written and arguably unconstitutional gag order.
When it comes to a thrill kill trial, who better to call than Daniels?
After all, she has been treated as a heroine by many, even being given the key to the city of West Hollywood, California, on “Stormy Daniels Day.”
Well, it was Stormy Daniels Day in Judge Merchan’s courtroom this week, and it is a bit late for the court to express shock over her testimony.
It is not the witness, but the case that seems increasingly obscene.
You have a judge who should have recused himself given his daughter’s major role as a Democratic activist and fundraiser.
You have a gag order that is allowing a New York Supreme Court justice to regulate what the leading candidate for the presidency may say in an election on the weaponization of the legal system.
You have a lead prosecutor, Matthew Colangelo, who not only left the Biden Justice Department to revive this case, but once worked for the Democratic National Committee.
You have a case based on two dead misdemeanors shocked back into life by a still mysterious theory of an undefined crime.
In comparison, Daniels may be the only authentic part of the entire case in New York v. Trump.
Jonathan Turley is an attorney and professor at George Washington University Law School.
“FDR and His Women”
“… she was deeply wounded to discover that Franklin had been having an affair with her secretary, Lucy Mercer.”
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“SLICK WILLY”
“Clinton pays Paula Jones $850,000”
Associated Press
Wed 13 Jan 1999 13.15 EST
“WASHINGTON (AP) – Paula Jones is awaiting the arrival of an $850,000 cheque from President Clinton, bringing an official end to the four-year saga spurred by her allegations of sexual harassment.”
_______________
Bill Clinton as enabled by Hillary Clinton
1. Eileen Wellstone (1969) Allegation: Sexual assault
2. Anonymous female student at Yale University (1972) Allegation: Sexual assault
3. Anonymous female student at the University of Arkansas (1974) Allegation: Sexual assault
4. Anonymous female lawyer (1977) Allegation: Sexual assault
5. Juanita Broaddrick (1978) Allegation: Rape
6. Carolyn Moffet (1979) Allegation: Sexual assault
7. Elizabeth Ward (1983) Allegation: Unclear
8. Sally Perdue (1983) Allegation: Unclear
9. Paula Jones (1991) Allegation: Sexual harassment
10. Sandra Allen James (1991) Allegation: Sexual assault
11. Christy Zercher (1992) Allegation: Sexual assault
12. Kathleen Willey (1993) Allegation: Sexual assault
So Clinton and Trump are rapists, what is your point?
Clinton is a rapist.
Trump is a candidate disproving false claims.
“He then denied a motion for a mistrial based on the testimony and blamed the defense for not objecting more.”
Could Trump’s lawyers have shouted, “Object!” after every single question posed to Stormy?
If so, why didn’t they?
Merchan is allowing this corrupt circus show proceed, so why not push Merchan to say “Overruled” a gazillion times?
Put Merchan on record “I’ll allow” the circus show?
I don’t understand why Trump’s lawyers would not shout “object!” every single minute to draw more attention to Merchan’s extreme bias. I don’t get it.
The judge in My Cousin Vinny was a better judge than this POS commie.
At least Merchan has a certain “look” to him that suggests dignified ‘normalcy.’ But in fact he’s just a corrupt, power-tripping lefty lunatic like the rest of them. NY courts are a sewer of corruption.
Take just one look at the other NY corrupt judge, Engoron, and all one can see is a strange looking character from a bad movie. Engoron looks like a creepy deranged psycho lunatic because he actually is a creepy deranged lunatic.
The cast of characters continue with Tish James. Fani Willis. Fat Alvin. Jack Smith.
Just look at each of them and you first thought has to be: These “officers of the court” all look like bit part character actors in a bad movie.
Point of clarification — they are the ‘bad guys’ in the movie, not the heroes.
This needs to be explained to all you Trump-deranged MSNBC swilling brainwashed idiots.
“Engoron looks like a creepy deranged psycho lunatic because he actually is a creepy deranged lunatic.”
I think you have Engoron and trump mixed up.
Real President Donald J. Trump is the free, patriotic, and successful actual American businessman—the ultimate goal of the American Founders—of whom your debilitating jealousy causes you to covet in colossal fashion.
Clearly, you are a Real President Donald J. Trump WANNABE!
It doesn’t make you a bad person; you are simply misguided.
Let me help you on the issue of why Trump’s lawyers would not object to every question. Juries hate it when lawyers do that. You object enough to let the jury know your position and to make a record for appeal, then you shut up. But interrupting every question/answer when you know you’ll be overruled makes you look obstructionist and wastes the jury’s time,
Thank you for that explanation.
I still think more shouted “objections!” were needed.
Trump’s attorneys exercised restraint, and then Merchan rubbed it in their faces.
“Oops, that was prejudicial — but it’s YOUR fault defense!”
“I did my part, but for YOU failing to object more!”
Merchan allowed it because he obviously WANTED to bring more drama to his circus show.
“Here ya go, I’m tossing you some red meat to smear Trump all over your airwaves, chomp on this media!”
“OK now jurors, you will disregard the salacious shlit show I allowed you to hear today in my Moscow show trial.”
“oh and by the way, it’s YOUR fault this happened Trump counsel!”
Imo, shouting more “Objections your honor!” would have steered jury attention to how IMPROPER the JUDGE was for allowing it. More importantly, it would have pissed off Merchan.
I don’t understand why Trump’s lawyers would not shout “object!” every single minute
According to a Turley interview, the Defense had been reprimanded for objecting to often. The defense objected to Daniels being on the wittness list. Merchan overruled that motion. The Defense object to Daniels yesterday before the Jury entered. The Defense did object to questions, Merchan denied theme. The two pre testimony objections were standing objects, refused by Merchan.
Merchan from the Bench declared some of the testimony he allowed should not have been heard by the Jury. That’s an admission the trial is corrupt and will be overturned on appeal
I think the Defense Council needs to take the gloves off and start putting their objections to the Judges rulings in front of the Jury, and get charged with contempt and keep going until he locks them up.
The Jury needs to see how corrupt the Judge is. The Jury needs to hear the explanation from the Judge why Trumps counsel is not in the Court room.
“I think the Defense Council needs to take the gloves off…”
Yes! Trump’s defense needs to go on OFFENSE. Constraint and restraint have their place, but not in this crooked circus show trial. Merchan just might find that HE is the one going down, not Trump.
Great explanation, thank you.
Trump’s attorney’s Rope-A-Doped Merchan.
Merchan should not have allowed Daniels testimony at all – it is nor relevant to the charges.
Trump’s attorney’s objected numerous times, and begged for sonstraining order – which Merchan refused.
Trump’s attorney’s did object during Daniels testimony – Even MErchan at one point stopped Daniels Sua Sponte.
But for the most part Trump’s lawyers WANTED this.
Daniels was not credible – unless you are a left wing nut loon willing to beleive anything.
She damaged her own credibility, damaged Merchan’s Damaged Bragg’s and does not appear to have gone well with the jury.
Trump COULD spend several days cross examining her and calling rebutal witnesses – but I doubt they will.
Daniels Testimony was good for Daniells and good for Trump, but Bad for Merchan and bad for Bragg.
Her credibility was significant demanged by her own testimony, it was even worse under Cross,
I do not expect Trump’s attorney’s to spend alot of time on her.
They have got what they needed. Merchan has stepped even deeper into the swamp.
They have another large easy apeals issue.
It does not appear the Jury was happy with Daniels, and The prosecution pretty much has proven there is a cottage industry of people like Daniels extorting the rich, celebrities, and politicians.
The core of the Bragg case is that Trump did something UNUSUAL specifically for this campaign. Daniels and the rest of Braggs witnesses have made it clear this is NOT unusual, it happens all the time. The rich, celebrities and politicians are extorted over stories both true and false all the time.
JFK, Monster
By Timothy Noah
“I knew that John F. Kennedy was a compulsive, even pathological adulterer, given to taking outlandish risks after he entered the White House. I knew he treated women like whores. And I knew he had more than a few issues with his father about toughness and manliness and all that. But before I read in the newspaper that Mimi Alford’s just-released memoir, Once Upon A Secret: My Affair With President John F. Kennedy And Its Aftermath, described giving Dave Powers a blow job at JFK’s request and in his presence, I didn’t know that Kennedy had an appetite for subjecting those close to him to extreme humiliation.”
This part of Alford’s story doesn’t really add anything to what we already know about Kennedy. Nor does it really change my opinion of the 35th president. But this part does:
Dave Powers was sitting poolside while the President and I swam lazy circles around each other, splashing playfully. Dave had removed his jacket and loosened his tie in the warm air of the pool, but he was otherwise fully clothed. He was sitting on a towel, with his pants leg rolled up, and his bare feet dangling in the water.
The President swam over and whispered in my ear. “Mr. Powers looks a little tense,” he said. “Would you take care of it?”
It was a dare, but I knew exactly what he meant. This was a challenge to give Dave Powers oral sex. I don’t think the President thought I’d do it, but I’m ashamed to say that I did. It was a pathetic, sordid, scene, and is very hard for me to think about today. Dave was jolly and obedient as I stood in the shallow end of the pool and performed my duties. The President silently watched.
Afterwards, Alford says she was “deeply embarrassed,” and as she climbed out of the pool she “could hear Dave speak in as stern a tone as I ever heard him use with his boss. ‘You shouldn’t have made her do that,’ Dave said. ‘I know, I know,’ I heard the President say. Later, a chastened President Kennedy apologized to us both.” Alford believes that Kennedy showed “his darker side … when we were among men he knew. That’s when he felt a need to display his power over me.” Kennedy didn’t just have a thing for Social Register girls; he had a thing for humiliating Social Register girls. He also had a thing for humiliating his fellow Irishman, Dave Powers.
TARA READE
This is an un-thanks for the description of the genitalia. 🤦♀️
The description was provided – whether true or not – because Alvin Bragg knew that kind of testimony from a whore is what gets cowardly Anonymous Soviet Democrat police state fascists off.
These are, after all, the people who voted for and continue to support Bribery Biden even after they know his daughter wrote in her diary that her “inappropriate showers” with The Big Guy as a teenager might be the reason she also followed the family tradition of being a sexual pervert established by The Big Guy.
When you can’t get sexual gratification the normal way, you get it in the shower with your daughter – or reading the staged testimony of whores whose high point in life was being willing to be videoed giving blowjobs to strange men and getting your muff pounded by multiple men.
The Soviet Democrats know their perverted voters well – just as well as both the Clintons and then the Obamas were willing to allow serial rapist and pedophile Harvey Weinstein on their White House open door policy list during their eight years living there. Despite the fact their FBI close protection details warned both that their BFF Harvey was a serial rapist and pedophile. Good ol’ Harv… BFF – until he became a political liability.
You are correct. Daniels is a whore.
The problem you have is that you seem to think that a degenerate who consorts with a whore while his wife is at home with his 4 month child is suitable material for the office of President.
Another Soviet Democrat Anonymous coward popped up here to pimp for Biden attempted this moral equivalency:
The problem you have is that you seem to think that a degenerate who consorts with a whore while his wife is at home with his 4 month child is suitable material for the office of President.
That would be assuming that whore that attempted to extort Trump (without being charged for THAT crime) isn’t lying… how many times has she changed her story now between saying it didn’t happen to saying it did happen? Same whore whose lawsuit ended with her paying Trump instead of getting a payout? Are Anonymous cowards, liars or not, aware that the standard of proof is much less in those civil trials than criminal trials?
But let’s turn to you cosplaying your supposedly higher moral standards on degenerates and whores.
1. You voted for Bribery Biden, the degenerate who had “inappropriate showers” with his teenage daughter with Dr. Jill right in the same house. The daughter that became not only a drug addict but a sexual pervert like The Big Guy who showed her the family ways.
2. You voted for the degenerate Bribery Biden and will do it again, despite a former intern coming forward – with contemporary witnesses from the day it happened – to tell you Biden voters that he raped her.
3. You voted for the degenerate Bribery Biden who made a point of swimming naked in front of female Secret Service agents. The degenerate Bribery Biden who happily wrote checks to pay for his perverted middle aged son’s underage whores in foreign countries and illegal drugs. Such a great father!
4. You voted for both eight degenerate years of the Clintons and then the Obamas. The Slick Willy White House rapes and “I did not have sex with that woman”, the Bimbo Eruption Squad to silence his victims. Obama allowing Vice President Kiddy Fondler to continue selling the country and SecState Clinton lining her pockets with Putin Cash.
And let’s not forget two eight year periods of degenerate presidents and their wives allowing their fellow degenerate, Harvey Weinstein, to be on the open door guest list for the White House, allowing their BFF Harv to hang around with their daughters. Despite the fact both of them were told by their Secret Service close protection details that their BFF Harv was a serial rapist and pedophile.
YOUR problem is that you were supporting degenerates like that both before Trump ever ran for office – and have continued supporting degenerates and criminal perverts like that during and since Trump left office.
And now you want to tell us that Clintons, Obamas, Biden, etc are what you consider suitable material… but your same standards say Trump isn’t.
Fail.
Has anyone noticed that the non-lawyer pundits on this blog expound at length on increasingly convoluted explanations of the legal basis of these cases.
They claim to know more about the law than the actual lawyers and judges, but they are NEVER, EVER correct.
The cases continue despite their ludicrous howls of protest.
Has anyone noticed that it is almost always feckless cowardly Anonymous Soviet Democrats who both gloat and celebrate that these Lavarentiy Beria style prosecutions by Soviet Democrat prosecutors still continue? By prosecutors who at the same time turn a blind eye to violent criminals in their jurisdictions and at the same time giving Soviet Democrat politicians a pass for doing worse than what they claim Trump did?
Apparently, these cowardly Anonymous Soviet Democrat Marxist Useful Idiots haven’t noticed that this specific column points out just how ludicrous this prosecution is – and the posts here protesting how this is more Soviet than American are not ludicrous at all.
And this is why these cowardly Soviet Democrat police state fascists will only post here using the username ‘Anonymous’.
I’ve certainly noticed. You’d think they’d tire of being so wrong so often. Or that their critical (non) thinking skills would microscopically improve.
Turley is here to prevent that happening though.
I’d add that there a handful of actual lawyers here that seem biased and confused as well…, obviously proving that cognitive dissonance can withstand legal training.
It is actually a typically found phenomenon in the world of the MAGA morons.
They construct a completely bizarre alternate reality for themselves that is completely untethered from any form of rational thought.
It’s really a form of mental masturbation that they engage in, because it feels good.
Alternate reality usually means FALSE. Yet, Time and again it turns out that those “MAGA morons” – those “deplorables” prove right, and those like you prove wrong.
We here constantly about “right wing conspiracy nuts” yet everywhere we turn alleged right wing conspiracies prove to be real,
While unproven left wing conspiracy theories abound.
The FBI is busy chasing “right wing terrorist groups” – yet the violence – often organized all arround us comes from the left.
That is unless you are going to pretend that the pro-hamas fascism is right wing ?
They claim to know more about the law than the actual lawyers and judges, but they are NEVER, EVER correct.
I hear the deafening sound of the dog that did not bark. Arthor Conan Doyle is on the case.
Where oh where are the links to the Laurence Tribe and other leftist legal scholars defending Colangelo, and Braggs woefully inept legal strategy? There are crickets from the left defending the law on display here.
I was traveling Monday and listened to cnn and msnbc, flipping between them and staying of they were covering the trial. Not a single heavy hitter was heard. Some ex prosecutors talked at length pushing the narrative, Long wishcasting about Trumps “intent” soothsaying intent into innocuous actions. Then in the end before hard break to commercial, they quickly said, they knew evidence would soon be presented. Laurence Tribe? Silent.
Where are all the heavy hitters telling us the States could disqualify Presidential candidates from a primary ballot. I surmise that interpreting the Constitution is the nations parlor game. But legal statutes have required elements and even loony Tribe is not stepping on this rake.
There is nothing for Tribe et.al. to defend.
What you are asserting is ludicrous. The Earth is round, the sky is blue, there is no tooth fairy, Santa Claus is not real, the Moon is not made of cheese.
These are things that are not in need of defense except in the delusional minds of those unfortunate enough to live in an alternate reality who may believe them.
Likewise, these legal matters are proceeding in an orderly manner. There is nothing to defend.
Likewise, these legal matters are proceeding in an orderly manner. There is nothing to defend.
Keep walking, keep whistling, nothing spooky in the that grave yard.
“Nothing to defend”. No I guess not. Eventually the Great Oz will deliver this mysterious underlying felony.
Because right now we have a CPA that labeled an invoice from a Lawyer as a legal expense. Whats the sentence on that? Vigorous hair tousle? I’m sure it doesn’t reach the level of wrist slap.
“Likewise, these legal matters are proceeding in an orderly manner. There is nothing to defend.”
ROFL
Among other things, Daniels writes that Trump’s penis is “smaller than average” but “not freakishly small.” She also claims that it is “unusual” in shape and “it has a huge mushroom head” that’s “like a toadstool.”
She also says she found herself not at all enjoying her tryst with Trump, as she said she “lay there, annoyed that I was getting f*cked by a guy with Yeti pubes and a d*ck like the mushroom character in Mario Kart.”
In sum, Daniels describes the encounter as “the least impressive sex I’d ever had, but clearly, he didn’t share that opinion.”
Another Anonymous Soviet Democrat coward here to show his love for this whore. Sure beats discussing The Kiddy Fondler In Chief having “inappropriate showers” with his teenage daughter! Or asking “What kind of father and mother turn out a son and daughter who are both sex perverts, one who has his own porn channel and who daddy funds his hookers – and both are also drug addicts and criminals”?
Normally, when you extort somebody with threats of revealing something if you aren’t paid money, they call that extortion and you’re the one who gets indicted – not whoever it was that a prosecutor claims paid you money to keep quiet about sex, business practices, the rape of an assistant while you were in the White House, etc.
Well, we know Stormy wasn’t going to testify to what she was like if she was indeed in bed with Trump i.e. “After years as an on-screen whore, I’m so wide and sloppy that Trump had to tie a board across his ass so he didn’t fall in and throw in a handful of sand to get a little bit of friction”.
In sum, this prosecutor is given her the chance of making this the high point of her life’s achievements when her prior best accomplishment in life was being willing to be videoed giving multiple men blowjobs and having her pussy pounded by various strange men.
Same prosecutor who WOULDN’T have had to attempt these legal contortions to charge Clinton, Zuckerburg – and Obama – with campaign violations committed in New York in the same election. After all – all three received fines from the FEC but a pass on criminal indictment… same FEC who found nothing criminal in what Trump did in that election even worth a fine.
Odd how Anonymous Soviet Democrat cowards never mention that while drooling they can knit together a campaign crime for Trump by going back to their Lavarentiy Beria model of Soviet Democrat Justice In America.
You are correct. Daniels is a whore.
The problem you have is that you seem to think that a degenerate who consorts with a whore while his wife is at home with his 4 month child is suitable material for the office of President.
You do not seem to grasp that Daniels actually undermined her own claim that this happened.
And you seem to think that a man who showers with his pre-pubescent daughter is material for the office of president.
Or one who has made dozens of Trips to Epstein’s lolita island.
BTW there is no evidence that Daniels is a whore.
She is an erotic dancer, and occasional adult film star, and adult film producer, and an equestrian.
While I do not have problems with prostitution, that is NOT what Daniels does.
Though she SORT of confessed to prostituting herself to get on the Apprentice.
What I care about is that Daniels story is not credible. It is possible that it is true, but not likely.
There is very very little corroboaration – including many claims by Daniels that can be checked – most of which have denied.
But you are free to beleive her if you wish.
It and her entire testimony is not relevant to the trial. She has given Trump a major legal weapon. she has made MErchan look even more biased and foolish, she has made the prosecution look foolish.
All in all a very good day for Trump.
BTW there is no evidence that Daniels is a whore.
When you demand and are paid compensation in exchange for cash, you are a whore. Whether you’re male or female. Whether the sex you engage in is filmed or watched by others who pay for watching you allowing yourself to be used for sex, you are just as much a whore as you are if there are only two involved.
We can engage in the equivalencies of today i.e. where Illegal Aliens become ‘undocumented migrants’. The adult film industry and so on. But there was consideration offered her and paid for providing a service (more accurately, a receptacle) to one or more strange men.
Not being aware of the whores who work in the sex film industry, I am unaware of whether or not Stormy Daniels/Stephanie Clifford is actually a star in that industry prior to the Soviet Democrats making her a star while trying to take out Trump. Pretty much everybody knew who Linda Lovelace was… that’s the name power of stardom in the porn world. The world was completely unaware of Clifford prior to Trump. She seemingly was just barely making a living as a whore and now doesn’t seem to be doing much better now that she’s risen above being a whore to being a stripper.
I don’t have a problem with people choosing to be whores or pay for the services that whores offer, as long as all involved are competent adults not under duress.
What I do have a problem with is extortionists who threatened to tell stories if they were not paid being given a pass.
Ditto for those who perjure themselves under oath to judges – whether they’re Obama Attorney Generals and FBI Directors to FISA judges or Daniels/Clifford to judges in civil and criminal trials.
Gee thats a sad response
Great example of what Colangelo is doing
With zero fact, with zero law, Like Colangelo, you can only participate by being pathetically irrelevant.
Don’t we all love a Caspar Milquetoast judge?
Eisenhower had his fling in England in WW 2, FDR had his in the WH but he just sat there through the event, JFK had his flings (with MM no less), William Jefferson Clinton had his flings in and out of the WH. And though this is not a good picture of morality in America, it is fact. Powerful men push the boundaries of morality and there are many women who seek out those self same men. Trump denies this event and maybe he is telling the truth, even if he had other out of wedlock affairs (which he has admitted to). No real proof here except she said, he said. Lastly it is not germane to the supposed charges, which was are these legal fees (by everything I have ever seen they are legal fees, and listing them as legal fees is appropriate.)
1-Using your own money to suppress bad press is not illegal except in NY when you are a republican.
2-the judge erred in allowing the testimony in the first place, and this has resulted in significant chances of this verdict, if guilty, being overturned. Maybe the judge will even been disciplined.
3-This was a blatant attempt to swing jurors illegally in a case that the prosecution appeared to be losing.
4-Did these “bimbo eruptions” (to coin a phrase) really have any bad effect on the efficiency and prowess of the offending presidents, past or present. I would say no. They are all imperfect men. I’m not sure we want a perfect preacher/minister to be president.
It’s not as if this is unknown all over in America and the world and has been since humanity kept records. Roman writings and graffiti were legion about sex affairs, the Greeks (Helen Of Troy), the English with Their present king, Henry Vlll also, and every other government out there.
This particular trial has been nothing but a smear campaign from the first with no applicability to the law.
If I were living in New York and had a business there, I would leave, now!
Stormy Daniels has already admitted that the “affair” never happened. She is therefore perjuring herself on top of everything else. But since Sludge Merchant’s courtroom resembles a mud-wrestling event more than it does an actual court of law, perjury is not out of place. Since I assume Sludge Merchant may read this column, I would like to point out to him that the court of public opinion may treat him like a hero, but history will not, and I believe he will face legal consequences for his blatant corruption and bias and extremely unprofessional behavior that borders on treason.
Bad guys always believe their reign will last forever, just before it collapses, and this is the case here.
Because if we look at this whole unsavory slop bucket from the vantage point of meaning, the meaning is that Trump, through his personal sacrifice, is pointing out flaws in the system itself. If a defendant feels he is being treated unfairly by the judge, his only recourse is to appeal to that same judge for relief. Obviously, that’s not going to work. Ditto for change of venue. We saw all this go down with Derek Chauvin. Chauvin never had the ghost of a chance of a fair trial in that venue and the judge knew it but was too cowardly, or too corrupt, to allow the change of venue and/or mistrial. For the record, as we all know, the actual autopsy report cleared Chauvin. George Ffloyd died of a drug overdose. And yet Derek Chauvin languishes in jail waiting for the next federal informant to shank him right this time and thereby remove the thorn from the side of those who engineered his public sacrifice.
It is my hope and belief that America will come through this horrible time stronger and leaner and with all the weaknesses in the system fixed. People like Sludge Merchant will go down in history to well-deserved ignominy and shame, if they are remembered at all. For now, Judge Sludge, if you are listening: Shame on you. America sees you. History sees you. And you disgust us all.
Stormy is a 45 year old sex worker. What else could she do for income, work at The View? 🤣
That would give Whoopi and the other presstitutes too much competition
I’m not sure what will be the prize in the end for the left? Or what will the Constitution will look like? Will judges themselves be obsoleted? Perhaps the left will continue to pay no price for their recklessness. Certainly their family members will have less freedom.
Maybe the biggest moment of will be “the juridical one” at the Pearly Gate. The UH OH moment where Jesus says: “I never knew you.”
Btw/ In his “Quinque Via” Aquinas PROVED there is a God using ONLY science and philosophy to make his arguments. He didn’t use the Bible or Religion. Have at it lefties, bet against last night’s box scores.
“Quinque Via”
It’s “Quinque Viae” (as in plural).
And his *five* arguments are not “in” his Quinque Viae. They’re in his “Summa Theologica.”
They’re not scientific arguments. They’re theological ones — ones that were refuted countless times over the succeeding centuries. (And I’m not one of the “lefties.”)
Probably a good idea to remain an “*Anonymous* Scholar.”
Great set of commentors on this blog.
Sam, Thanks for correcting the record. I enjoy a good discussion on faith, But I first have to separate God from the Church. The Church is man made, with all the frailties of man. Churches like man, some are better than others.
Satan agrees with you.
I beleive it was Kierkegard who established that whether god is real or not – humans can not understand god outside their own humanity.
The church is man made and a reflection of man. The gods we worship are necescarily reflections of man.
That neither proves nor disproves the existance of god. Only that we can not know anything of god beyond what we know of ourselves.
More a rant or SLAP BACK than a reply—-
“More recently the prominent Thomistic philosopher Edward Feser has argued in his book Aquinas: A Beginner’s Guide that Richard Dawkins, Hume, Kant, and most modern philosophers do not have a correct understanding of Aquinas at all; that the arguments are often difficult to translate into modern terms.He has defended the arguments in a book at length.”
Don’t be fooled by the quick tawdry comebacks
“. . . the arguments are often difficult to translate into modern terms.”
Hogwash.
Aquinas wrote very clearly. Whatever their failings, those who later responded to him (Descartes, Hume, et al.) were very adept at summarizing his arguments.
In the twentieth century, Frederick Copleston (a Jesuit) and W. T. Jones wrote masterful histories of philosophy that included stunningly clear explanations of Aquinas (ones that are accessible to a layman). Copleston wrote an entire book on Aquinas.
Those sources carry far more weight than does a professor from Pasadena City College, wielding the shop-worn complaint: Nobody before me understood Aquinas.
Trump’s attorneys should call Tara Reade and have her testify about what Pedo Joe Biden did to her in the Senate hallway. Why? Because it doesn’t have anything to do with Bragg’s case, just like Stormy Daniels doesn’t.
Actually it would have more to do with Bragg’s “case.” Remember, right at the beginning Judge Juan Valdez let the Trump Hollywood “when you’re famous in Hollywood you can grab women by the ***** without consequences” transcript be read into the record. Tara Reade can be asked about that, whether famous people can do that with no consequences and if she would know anyone who did that.
If Trump was still a Democrat, or
a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory”
then he never would have been prosecuted at all.
That’s a different case altogether, one with significant issues – e.g., the illegal appointment of Jack Smith, and, maybe worse, the now-admitted tampering with evidence by the Feds so as to render it useless for defense purposes – which are to be reviewed in hearings in June and July by a judge with a backbone and a grounding in law, unlike the NYC judge.
Turley on TV now
Testimony from Daniels yesterday, she admitted on cross examination, of being coached by prosecutors on what to say.
Breaking now, A House Hearing on Anti-Semitism has been canceled due to threats of violence. Strange that Tossing Jan 6 protestors, many never stepping foot into the Capitol have been tossed in prison with long prison terms, was not any deterrent at all to these protestors.
It is proof the Left only uses the law to assault their political adversaries.
At what point does a person whose liberty has been restricted have the right to self-help? Society simply doesn’t have the moral authority to keep Trump from taking matters into his own hands.
moral authority to keep Trump from
Trump was President four amazing years, Peace and prosperity ruled .
Uninformed dolts like you snivel out some imagined evil. Start talking facts. Until then your insignificance grows
I would like to know how much of this prosecutorial impropriety will bear on an eventual appeal to the SCOTUS.
There won’t be an appeal to SCOTUS. The only thing they want is a conviction prior to the election. After the election they will dismiss the case before any appeal can be heard.
This goes to a jury in 3 weeks max. A verdict will be here June 1st. File an appeal with an ask to be expedited. The appeal court will deny, but all the judicial actions only prove President Trumps position that if the courts can do this to a past President, and the Current Candidate running for President, Common citizens are without constitutional protection from govt overreach and abuse of power.
Those facts only come front and center in the campaign.
Bragg has asked for 2-3 ADDITONAL weeks to present his case.
John what do think Bragg is going to do for the next 3 weeks. I haven’t seen the witness list.
Cohen cant have that much.
Someone claimed Trumps team tried to add a retired FEC commissioner to their witness list, and Merchan refused. Can the Prosecution call to the stand legal experts?
Human beings being human may regard non-criminal adult behaviors as nevertheless a reason not to vote for someone. I’m sure that there were voters who (rightly or wrongly) “knew” about Clinton’s bjs in the White House and so voted against him. They “knew” about Obama’s fondness for young men and so voted against him. They “knew” about Hillary’s lesbian affairs and so voted against her. The “knew” about Trump’s cheating on his wife with a professional sex worker and so voted against him.
That’s the politics of sex. What’s it doing in a criminal trial?
I refused to listen to her or pay attention to her testimony. This “trial” is just a sleezy spectacle. Of more concern is the gag order on Trump. Why isn’t it a violation of “Prior Restraint?”
JT: That was an excellent demolition. TY.
Never let the lurid details of a political opponent’s private sexual encounters go to waste.
“The organizers first job is to create the issues or problems, and organizations must be based on many issues. The organizer must first rub raw the resentments of the people of the community; fan the latent hostilities of many of the people to the point of overt expression. He must search out controversy and issues, rather than avoid them, for unless there is controversy people are not concerned enough to act. . . . An organizer must stir up dissatisfaction and discontent.” – Saul Alinsky
“True revolutionaries do not flaunt their radicalism. They cut their hair, put on suits and infiltrate the system from within.” – Saul Alinsky
“Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.)” – Saul Alinsky