After his disastrous testimony in Manhattan, Michael Cohen lost even hosts and legal analysts at MSNBC and CNN. MSNBC legal correspondent Lisa Rubin described Cohen as a “fabricator, liar or forgetful person.” CNN’s Anderson Cooper discussed how the testimony was “devastating for Michael Cohen’s credibility.” CNN’s legal analyst Elie Honig said that Cohen had his “knees chopped out” by the defense. All of that was before Cohen admitted that he committed grand larceny in stealing tens of thousands from the Trump company. Most analysts honestly expressed disgust at the admission and expressed shock that he was not prosecuted. The question is whether anyone could find a way to excuse grand larceny to spare viewers in the echo chamber. That is when host Lawrence O’Donnell stepped forward.
So to recap. Here is what Cohen said under oath under questioning by Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche:
Blanche: “So you stole from the Trump Organization, right?”
Cohen: “Yes, sir.”
Not much ambiguity but Cohen went on to explain that he intentionally inflated costs to just pocket tens of thousands of dollars. He admitted it was theft, plain and simple.
For O’Donnell, it is not that simple. He rushed outside to assure MSNBC viewers that everything is fine and that this is just a form of what Cohen laughingly called “self-help.”
“Cohen [was trying] to rebalance the bonus he thought he deserved, & it still came out as less than the bonus he thought he deserved & the bonus he had gotten the year before.”
It would have been more convincing if O’Donnell, a self-proclaimed socialist, had just called it a redistribution effort from the super-rich to the rich.
However, there was a sense of desperation in O’Donnell’s interview in offering viewers an assuring alternative explanation. Larceny did not fit with the past coverage lionizing Cohen. For many viewers, O’Donnell’s account relieved them of the need to question the basis for the prosecution of Trump.
We will have to wait to see if O’Donnell’s defense is picked up in the nearby trial of Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.). It appears that taking those gold bars and other gifts may have been just an effort of Menendez to secure a bonus that he believed was warranted from his public service. It would also mean that anyone who was denied a bonus or received less from their employer can simply steal the difference.
There is a serious aspect to the O’Donnell statement. It is not clear if O’Donnell actually believes that Cohen was justified in stealing this money. However, he does show the level of self-delusion or denial that is common with many citizens who cannot see beyond the identity of the defendant. These are the same citizens who elected candidates like Letitia James as state attorney on a pledge to bag Trump for something, for anything. These are the same citizens who voted roughly 90 percent against Trump in Manhattan. These are the same citizens that are likely represented by some on this jury.
That may explain why the Trump team decided to take the risk of a “kill shot” witness like Robert Costello. Some of us believe that this case is already fatally flawed and that no reasonable jury could convict Trump. Indeed, I cannot see how any reasonable judge could deny a directed verdict. However, the Trump team does not want to wait for a long appeal. Costello comes with a risk of opening up issues on cross examination, particularly the involvement of Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
The fact is that the jury has MSNBC viewers and some who likely hold the same bias as O’Donnell. For them, what most of us see unfolding in Manhattan may not be what they see. They may only see one person in the courtroom and it is not any witness.
ROTFLMAO! Lawrence O’Donnell has his Jeffrey Toobin moment in the sun!
Jonathan: Mocking is all the rage these days. You can hardly complain. You mocked Prof. Strings. You have been mocked in the media after DJT claimed you were among the “great legal scholars” who claim there is “no crime”. When you mock you can expect to be mocked. Now you mock Lawrence O’Donnell–claiming he should not be believed because he is a “self-proclaimed socialist”.
I read the 2010 THR interview with O’Donnell. He said he was a “liberal”…”for so long that I still call myself one”. He admitted he was a “socialist” in the European tradition: “A practical European socialist which, as it turns out, we all are, if you know that Social Security…is a socialist program, and that Medicare is a socialist program and that all economies of the world are mixed with some capitalist and some socialism and they just vary in their degrees”. O’Donnell went on to say that “Newt Gingrich preserved the socialist state. He never once introduced a bill to repeal Medicare”.
I suppose, to be honest, we are all “socialists” to some degree. Don’t recall you ever calling for the abolition of SS or Medicare. DJT never did during his four years in office. 85% of Americans support both programs. And an amazing 63% of Americans favor a government funded single payer health care system–similar to the European model. That’s “socialism” in spades! If O’Donnell is a “socialist” he is in the mainstream of public opinion.
The last sentence in your column reflects the problem that DJT is “the one person in the courtroom and it is not any witness”. DJT won’t testify because if he were to take the stand he would lie and be subject to perjury charges. Of course DJT doesn’t have to testify. The burden is on the prosecutors to prove his crimes beyond a reasonable doubt. Justice Merchan will tell the jury that DJT’s failure to testify should not be held against him. But jurors are human beings who inevitably will make reasonable inferences from a defendants failure to testify. The conundrum for DJT is when he does testify he loses. That happened in both the E. Jean Carroll cases. That’s why he won’t testify!
I do not care if O’Donnell is a socialist or not. He is a moron.
That judgement is a judgement of his own remarks and self delusion.
This has gone so badly for the left that much of the MSM is repeating
“there is no crime”
“this has been a disaster”
What is Trump’s “crime” that you seem to believe he is “guilty” of?
Most people with a brain and eyes in their head understand that Trump was being extorted by Stormy and stolen from by Cohen. Bragg is guilty of subornation of perjury. Merchan is guilty of glaring ethical conflicts, illegal and unconstitutional actions, participating in a vast criminal conspiracy, as well as being the head clown in his very own circus show trial.
Is social security and medicare socialism – Absolutely.
Both programs are failures.
Even a minimum wage earner would be better off if they had instead invested social security payments.
Most people do not even get a $1 for the $1 return from Social Security after Government has theoretically invested SS for 40 years.
We have a FAILED program that we are stuck with because of the sunk cost fallacy.
I will be collecting SS soon. But I will never get back the money I put in.
I invested 35K in two rental properties in 2009 – that will produce more retirement income than SS for me.
AND a valuable asset that my children will inherit.
In invested $350/month in whole like starting 40 years ago. That will pay me more than SS – and again will be an asset that my children will inherit.
Social Security not only has cost more than it distributes – it is a NEGATIVE investment, it has reduced our prosperity overall.
The US saw growth rates fo 7% routinely in the 19th century and mild DEFLATION which is good for the working class.
We have not seen sustained growth higher than 3.5% sisnce social security – why ? Because Trillions of dollars are MALINVESTED – those funds are not invested in boosting our prosperity they have been invested in wasteful government.
But we are stuck with Social Security because none of us are prepared to throw away the tiny return we will get on the enormous amount we have invested. Because a bad return is better than no return.
As to Medicare – since it was passed – US healthcare costs have skyrocketed.
Yet over the same period of time – there has been no alteration in long term trends of life expectancy of healthcare.
The FACT – as Keyser determined long ago. Health insurance is a FINANCIAL product, it has absolutely no health benefits.
Over the past nearly 100 years – pretty much everything government has touched – ESPECIALLY these socialist programs we are all stuck with that you foist upon us have made everything cost more.
Medicare drove the cost of healthcare up.
Federal college loaqn programs drove the cost of college up.
None of this should be even a tiny bit surprising The laws of supply and demand dictate that if you increase demand by subsidizing cost, you drive prices up.
Look around – everything that government has touched costs much more.
Everything that it has stayed out of costs less and is now of higher quality and better value.
We are stuck with Obama care now – but can you honestly argue that it delivered ANY benefit ?
It has subsized healthcare to the tune of 2 T/decade. But it has not improved healthcare at all.
There is no difference in healthcare outcomes – Millions did not die without PPACA.
NOTHING changed – except the cost of healthcare.
PPACA drove healthcare consolidation. Small doctors practices have dried up. Doctors are no longer entrepeneurs delivering value to their patients, they are well paid employees in a quasi government run bureacracy where patients are a necescary evil – Welcome to the US version of the NHS.
The only good news is that half hearted socialism is not as bad as socialism, So the US is still ahead of most of the rest of the world.
You speak with admiration of European socialism.
Why is the standard of living in Europe 2/3 that of the US. Even the giants like Germany only manage a standard of living 3/4 of the US
The US has taken in 15% of our population as new immigrants most at poverty levels in my lifetime – and STILL our standard of living is the highest of any nation with a population over 20M and nearly all nations.
In the EU 500M people have a total economy smaller than 350M people in the US.
This country continues to outperform every permutation of socialism that has ever been tried.
The FACT is that given the power to do so, 99% of us do a better job taking care of ourselves, that government can do for us.
That should not be surprising. We are not the same. We do not each want the same things. We know better what we want than others.
And we are each better at looking out for ourselves than others.
If I had the option of having back every penny that I paid in SS to do with as I pleased – I would take that in a second,
As would most anyone else.
You claim that SS and medicare are popular – if that is so – give people the ability to opt out without losing their sunk costs and see if anyone stays.
John Say, as you probably know, our health care costs works out to $12,555 per person. The country with the next highest health care costs is Switzerland at $8049 per person. Every citizen in Switzerland & other socialist countries has health care coverage, but 27 milllion Americans have no health care coverage. The US is the only country is the world where citizens who are injured in an accident or face medical emergencies can go bankrupt if they don’t have enough health care insurance.
It says everything we need to know about our health care system when Trump approved a plan to let Americans buy prescription drugs from Canada. The reason Canada has lower prescription drug prices is because the Canadian government has regulations on how much drug companies can charge for their products. Our free market system allows drug companies to charge as much as they want.
I feel sorry for the millions of Americans who have no health insurance.
“I feel sorry for the millions of Americans who have no health insurance.”
If you want to buy medical insurance for yourself, nobody will stop you.
Just don’t compel me to pay for yours. Or for your student loans, food, housing, internet . . .
*** Most people do not even get a $1 for the $1 return from Social Security after Government has theoretically invested SS for 40 years.***
Your pontificating about SS is absurd. You state that you are not yet on SS, and that is obvious from you rambling diatribe that simply repeats MAGA talking points.
Every thing you claim about SS is FALSE.
I have been collecting SS for 21 months now. I just went into my online account to run the numbers.
The payment I received last week brought my total benefits received up to 51% of the total tax I paid over my lifetime of work.
After another 21 months I will have received back more than I paid in.
After that, it is pure profit.
I am very happy.
SS is far and away the safest, most reliable form of retirement saving, especially for those of lesser means.
There may be other ways of investing for retirement with much greater returns, but NONE of them can match SS for safety.
SS is far and away the safest, most reliable form of retirement saving, especially for those of lesser
means.
We pay close to 15% into SSI medicare. Plug that into a google sheet amortization spread sheet.
You are either stupid or lying
I assume your claim about the money you put into SS ignores the matching amount your employer puts in.
You are also treating the money like cash buried in the back yard. you ignore the return on the SS payments into the program should have made. A minimum of 5% per year.
Double the amount contributed and amortize the interest. Get back to us with reality.
His post was utter BS. Just run the numbers on what he stated, 21 months equates to around $52,500 at $2500/month, 51% is approximately $105,000 total over a 45 year working life? Numbers don’t work, if you’re a low earner the 21 month number is much lower, if you’re an earner over the max $105,000 the total blows up. I think he’s full of Biden!
@Anonymous.
You clearly do not understand what you are talking about.
*** $52,500 at $2500/month, 51% is approximately $105,000 total over a 45 year working life ***
These numbers are fairly typical, and they do indeed “work”
If you are a low earner then you do even better relatively speaking. The SS benefit is progressive and favors low income workers. Relative to the amount they pay in they get proportionally more than a higher earner. The dollar amount is obviously less, but the benefit is proportionally higher, so they will hit the point of 100% return of taxes paid before a high earner.
The SS benefit does not “blow up” for high earners. The SS benefit is capped. For 2024 the maximum benefit is $4.873. No matter how much you pay in over your lifetime the benefit cannot exceed $4,873.
simple math.
$40k per year generates $500 per month in SS deposit @ 5% interest, after 45 years you have $1 million.
Taking only the interest earned out when you retire, you get $4000 per month, and leaves $1 million for your heirs.
Yep SS is tailor made for dopes like you/
Boom
That’s what I was talking about. He pays no attention to the magic of compounding interest and future value of a uniform series of payments for a 30 year period at 5-6%!
5.7% cola all with 9% inflation not counting food and gas increases… oh yes, it’s the best. $2500/mos is not what a low earner would receive more like around $1200 if you’re in the $50K/yr range. Do the math on that, SS is a supplemental and was never intended to be a stand alone retirement fund. I would have rather had my own money to invest, and did there are long term mutual funds paying 20-30%, averages out long term 10-12% or more. Don’t forget, you are still paying income tax on that SS money too.
Oh, where to begin !!!!!
Obviously SS was always meant to be a supplement. But it is a pretty good supplement considering what you put in.
The COLA is directly tied to inflation. In 2023 was 8.7%. In 1980 it was 14.3%.
There are no mutual funds paying 20-30% returns per year. The only funds with this kind of performance are high risk hedge funds where the minimum deposit is usually in the millions of dollars range.
Most people do not pay taxes on their SS. For a single person, if half of your SS benefits plus your other income (if any) exceeds $25,000, then your income may become subject to tax. However, the standard deduction for people over 65 is $16,550 for 2024.
Therefore, assuming you have no other income, you can receive $33,100 from SS before you are liable for tax. You will be taxed only on the amount that exceeds $33,100.
Compare this to private retirement payments. Every dollar over $16,550 is taxable.
The tax advantages of SS are quite significant compared to private retirement.
I don’t why you are bothering to argue with someone who is actually receiving SS, and is quite satisfied.
The only thing I can think of is that you are so deeply immersed in the MAGA cult that you are incapable of rational thought. All you do is spout ridiculous MAGA talking points.
OK, you are obviously not collecting SS, and have no idea what you are talking about.
1. I was self-employed. I paid all my own SS and Medicare taxes.
2. The average cost of living increase for SS payments over the last 25 years is 5.76%. Not great, but not bad. And is guaranteed with zero risk.
Average stock market return is around 7%, with the inherent risk of losses.
The COLA is rarely below 3%. for any given year. Last year it was 8.7%.
We are not “socialist” to some degree. We are stuck with inefficient socialist programs that we were lied to to sell and that we have no way out of without losing our sunk costs.
Trump will not testify for the same reason that despite the fact that they desparately needed to the prosecution did not call Weiselberg.
This is a kangaroo court. Merchan made it clear to Weisleberg that if he did not testify in precisely the way Merchan wanted – Weiselberg would spend the rest of his life in jail.
Prosecutors deparately need WEiselberg to make their case – he is the only person who can say whether Trump had any actual knowledge regarding the allegedly false reporting of these payments.
But Bragg can not put Weiselberg on because imediately after providing his name Weiselberg will plead the fifth.
That is what you do when you are in a court that is intent on jailing you for the rest of your life, if they do not like what you say.
Trump is in a similar position.
I would be shocked if he testifies. Merchan has made clear that taking the stand is an intentional perjury Trap for Trump.
If Merchan does not grant a directed verdict – which is not likely but far more probable than at the start of this,
Trump MIGHT speak to the jury in closing arguments.
Regardless Trump has no reason to testify.
The prosecution witnesses have made his case for him.
Anybody remember this infamous O’D meltdown from 2017? It’s the only thing interesting or memorable about him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_Yw8Uh9Yuk&ab_channel=InsideEdition
Maybe history will repeat itself and he’ll have another one when the verdict comes in. We can only hope!
We should have listened to Tail Gunner Joe McCarthy way back when and then, perhaps, our society wouldn’t, now, be riddled with the stench of communism. If only true Americans had pushed back against the propaganda of Hollywood a, academia, and the media then we could have, effectively, disinfected our nation in time to have prevented this mess we have today. Now, how are we going to inform almost half of this nation that their beliefs are alien and destructive to this Federal Republic of States and they should leave this nation that they hate…we will even pay for a one-way ticket out the door. O’Donnell’s ideology is shared by many and that, there, is our true lethal enemy.
Whimsical: you and the MAGA media that indoctrinate you, do NOT speak of “we” or “us”, meaning MOST Americans. MOST Americans do NOT hate America. MOST Americans see your orange hero for what he is–a flashy, braggadocious, liar, womanizer, serial adulterer, panderer to racism, misogyny, a thief of classified documents, someone who refuses to accept the reality that in 2016 he was rejected by MOST Americans–more of us voted for Hillary, and that he lost by an even greater margin in 2020. ‘We” don’t have a “mess” today. “We” had a mess in January, 2021 when your hero left office–he left Biden with a country shut down due to COVID out of control, with new daily records of infections and deaths, schools closed down, businesses shuttered, restaurants closed and no leisure travel. People were confused because of Trump’s lies about fake cures like Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine, his attacks on scientists and refusal to wear a mask. Now, parents are afraid to vaccinate their children against things like polio, diphtheria and measles, and kids are getting sick–we have Trump and his lying and MAGA media to thank for that.
Trump loves to brag about low interest rates–the Fed was forced to drastically lower interest rates to prevent an all-out depression–Trump left the worst recession since the Great Depression.–but that’s not the economy he was handed. Obama left a booming economy that Trump proceeded to destroy because he is NO leader–he can’t even manage his own finances–multiple failed businesses, 6 bankruptcies. Trump imposed tariffs on China because he couldn’t bully it–the reason is very simple–EVERYTHING is about that ego and getting revenge when he doesn’t get his way. Trump doesn’t understand the basic economic premise that when you increase the cost of goods, the price goes up. So, China increased the prices of goods to cover the Trump tariffs. Higher prices, coupled with unemployment leading to lower demand, resulted in shortages of goods. When Biden turned all of that around, prices went up because supply didn’t catch up with demand. Inflation is coming down and will keep coming down if Biden stays in office.
None of Trump’s promises came true–manufacturing did not return to America–that factory that was going to be the “8th Wonder of the World” never materialized. Tax cuts didn’t pay for themselves, so the government had to borrow money to cover Social Security, Medicare, army pensions, other committed expenditures, and the interest on that increased debt is helping drive inflation. The national debt rose to a new high under Trump. By any logical or reasonable measure, Trump has been the worst President, at lease in modern history.
Then, there’s stealing classified documents, including some of our most-sensitive secrets. He even bragged to an Australian billionaire that he knew all about our nuclear submarine capabilities, and told this man how close our submarines could get to Russian submarines without detection. That’s just one example of Trump’s ego and the damage it could do to our country–one man who knew Trump needed to be reported. How many other incidents of Trump bloviating about our national secrets are there that weren’t reported? What has been disclosed to our enemies?
Biden has done a marvelous job of turning things around–Chips Act, Infrastructure Act, Inflation Reduction Act, and we would have a border security bill except that brown-nosing Republicans killed it based on orders from Trump. He’d rather have a fake issue to attack Biden for than help solve a problem–that ego once again. If Trump got back into office, he’d once again lower taxes for the wealthiest, so the national debt would go back up, and interest on that debt would push inflation. He plans to institute concentration camps for migrants, including those waiting for hearings, and to deport them–what would that cost taxpayers, and who will do the work they’re doing now? He plans to abolish the ACA, leaving millions of Americans without any health coverage. He plans to roll back environmental regulations for clean water and soil–he’ll even let the oil industry write the Executive Order if they give him $1 billion. Anybody with eyes can see that Trump is “our true lethal enemy”.
Gigi, you are delusional.
YOU decided that elections are about the popular vote.
Trump is leading Biden by 7m votes in the popular vote right now.
Is Trump perfect not even close.
But as I have said repeatedly he was the best president of the 21st century.
Biden is the worst president in US history – be has displaced Buchanan.
As to policies – 90% of the republican platform has supremajority support.
On the top 10 issues as decided by voters Republicans and Trump are trusted more than democrats and Biden on nearly all of them.
By your own terms you have failed.
We are discussing the Democrat/Biden lawfare disaster in Manhattan right now because YOU failed.
The same happened in GA, and the same is happening in FL.
The ugly mess of these cases, the corruption and destruction fo the rule of law, the incredible weakness of the cases is YOUR responsibility and YOUR fault.
You have done this to yourself.
You want a better president that Trump – I am all in.
Biden is not even close – nor was Clinton or Obama or Bush.
Nor were any of the 2016 or 2020 democrat contenders.
You and Biden keep saying that things are better than 2020.
NO ONE BELEIVES YOU.
They trust their Mark I eyeballs, they trust the reality they see.
You constantly rant that Trump/Republicans are about the rich.
Yet Inequality diminished under Trump substantially and increased under Biden signifcantly.
The poor and working class were better off under Trump – and they KNOW it.
People do not want an HANDOUT – they want the oportunity to do it on their own.
The left rants about racism, yet nothing could be more racist than telling minorities that they can not compete on a level playing field without government assistance.
Nothing you say is true–nothing. There aren’t any “votes” for anyone right now. Numerous presidential historians have evaluated presidents, and every one I’ve seen says Trump was a diaster–one of the worst in history. What “Republican platform” are you talking about? They don’t have one. Trump bloviates about banning abortions, taking away the ACA, tax cuts for the wealthiest, concentration camps for migrants and then deportation, pulling the US out of NATO, cutting off funds for Ukraine, abolishing the Department of Education and rolling back consumer and environmental protections–even letting oil executives write the Executive Order–for a $1 billion campaign contribution. The majority of Americans OPPOSE each and every one of these things. You are flat-out wrong about income and wealth inequality–it has significantly narrowed under Biden.
If the cases against Trump are not true, then why is there the extensive evidence trail–the checks, the “grossing up” comment by Weisselberg, the Access Hollywood tape, the payoff to Daniels? How about stealing classified documents, lying about returning them, hiding them to prevent recovery, lying about “declassifying” them and trying to erase security footage? How about trying to start an insurrection when Americans put him out of office and his refusal to go, lying about losing, causing Americans to distrust our elections?
You don’t think things are better now than in 2020? Do we set new daily records for COVID deaths and infections, do hospitals have to hire refrigerated trucks to store corpses in, can people take vacations, are businesses and schools shut down, do we have double-digit unemployment? We have the lowest unemployment in 50 years. The ONLY reason interest rates were low when Trump was stinking up the White House is because the fed had to cut rates to the bone to prevent an all-out depression–we still had a recession. Biden turned around all of this. We also now have MAGA media that endlessly lies about things being “bad”, that we are on the verge of collapse–all lies. The stock market hit a new all-time high last week.
LOL Obama left a booming economy…
Obama left more debt than ALL Presidents combined before him. I believe it was reported at $20 Trillion dollars.
Gotta love GEB. This whole thing has been a farce from the beginning. Alvin Bragg RAN on “getting Trump” and the Judge is one-sided against Mr. Trump. The Left-Wing media have been salivating at the prospect of Mr. Trump going to jail for years. They have built up such a stick monster with these 4 different trials, that the thought of him being found innocent shocks them. There will be plenty of “thumb-sucking” once these phony cases are over and Mr. Trump is cleared of any wrong.
It’s baffling why Professor Turley neglects to mention that the Trump Organization gave Cohen $50,000 to pay RedFinch Solutions to rig polls in favor of Trump. In 2019, The Wall Street Journal ran an article “Cohen Hired IT Firm to Rig Early CNBC, Drudge Polls to Favor Trump.” Cohen kept $30,000 of the funds for himself because his Trump Organization Christmas bonus had been cut by two-thirds that year & Trump was upset with RedFinch’s poll rigging results.
Look forward to Trump now suing Cohen for stealing some of the $50,000 Trump paid to rig polls in his favor. That would undoubtedly make Trump look more favorabe to the jurors who watch MSNBC.
Do you think he is the only candidate to pay for a service such as that?
They All Do It, I have no idea how many presidential candidates pay tech companies $50,000 to rig CNBC & Drudge online polls.
Iowan2 is absolutely right that 99% of polls are commissioned to establish a narrative. Shortly after the 2020 election, a polling company which worked with the Trump campaign did a survey about Hunter Biden’s laptop. The polling company was founded by Kellyanne Conway. Their survey claimed that 17% of Biden voters would have changed their vote if they had known more about the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Does anyone seriously believe 13.8 million Biden voters would have changed their vote if they had known about Hunter Biden’s laptop?
I always point out the same facts. 99% of polls are commissioned to establish a narrative.
The only honest ones are the politicians private pollers that are paid to be brutally accurate.
I see James O Keefe doing a little reporting and naming names.
You can be positive, Trump’s professional campaign advisors told him to hire this firm. Because thats the field the game is played on.
These polls are more a form of advertising and fund raising.
Calling them a poll is misrepresentation.
The Red Finch polls were these clickbait internet polls. Everyone does them. Of course they are “rigged”.
They are a form of Push poll. They are perfectly legal. They have little meaning – beyond allowing a candidate to claim something like – 80% of those polled said X.
They are the internet adds that say things like “Do you support Donald Trump’s efforts to help Putin rig the election ? click to Vote Here”
As Turley noted – if you do not like your bonus – you are not free to steal from your employer or clients.
The only fraud in this trial has been Cohen’s and Daniels.
Though Cohen really is in a world of his own.
To the extent this trial has harmed Trump it is because HE hired Cohen.
Cutting his bonus makes clear that Cohen was ALREADY on the outs with Trump.
But Bragg got into bed with Cohen and has presented him as a credible witness – even KNOWING all of this.
John Say, Trump wasn’t just harmed because HE hired Cohen for 10 years. Trump was also harmed because he hired Andrew Weisselberg as his CFO for 23 years. The Trump Corporation was convicted on 17 felonies including tax fraud & falsifying business records while Weisselberg was Trump’s CFO, Weisselberg was convicted on 15 charges of tax fraud & falsifying business records & pleaded guilty to 2 felony perjury charges.
It’s still unclear why Trump paid Cohen $420,000 in 2017.
Weisselberg was supposed to roll on Trump. But Trump is not a criminal. He runs his real estate development business with sharp elbows, but he does not violate the law. The only reason Weisselberg is in jail because he worked for Trump, there is no dirt on Trump to trade (we just heard Cohen declare he had NOTHING to trade for his freedom) and the Corrupt Prosecutors had to convict somebody. If for no other reason that send the message, “work for Trump, you will be hunted down”
Those businesses leaving NYC are, in part because of the lawlessness of the NYC prosecutors. Businesses see that they to are exposed to a head hunting Prosecutor.
iowan2, the reason Weisselberg is in jail is because he pleaded guilty to 2 felony perjury counts & was convicted of tax fraud & falsifyng business records. In the trial where the Trump Org. was charged with tax fraud & falsifying business records, Trump attorney Susan Necheles pinned all the blame on Weisselberg, saying he went rogue.
Necheles: “Why would a corporation whose owner knew nothing about Weisselberg’s personal tax returns be criminally prosecuted for Allen Weisselberg’s personal conduct, for which they had no visibility or oversight?”
iowan2, you didn’t say whether you agree with Necheles blaming Weisselberg for the tax fraud & falsifying business records charges levelled against the Trump Org, but Trump worked closely with Weisselberg for over 20 years. It’s amazing Trump wasn’t more aware of all the grift within his company.
The only reason Cohen pled guilty to Election charges is because he could not afford to defend himself. He did not commit a crime, would have prevailed at trial. (Thats why Bragg refuses to “name” the crime, then it could be dispatched in court)
The Feds squeezed Gen. Flynns son with Prosecution and promised to bankrupt the son. That’s the only reason he pled guilty.
You seem to revel in the corruption of the Justice Dept.
The will come for you. You are not immune. Your leftist bone fides will not protect you.
Ah yes. Nancy boy Larry. To be expected. He holds value in that his lunacy far outweighs anything remotely questionable on the right.
I have doubts about Trump’s use of Costello as a defense witness. First of all, Costello is not a fact witness and has nothing to add about the actual crime, whatever that might be. His usefulness is solely in impeaching the testimony and character of Cohen, the prosecution’s star witness. But this case is not about Cohen but about Trump. Anything that diverts the jury’s attention away from the groundless allegations in the prosecution’s ham sandwich indictment can only harm the defense.
Costello is an impeachment witness. His purpose is to damage another witnesses credibility.
He is their to testify to the FACT that Cohen LIED.
Impeachment witnesses are generally given broad scope. A fact witness lying about anything anywhere that they had a duty to be trustworthy is damning – even if unrelated to the facts of this case.
The FACT that Cohen is a multiply convicted perjurer gets in – even though the perjury was not related to the facts of this case.
Impeaching the credibility of a witness is one of the exceptions to the hearsay rule.
Costello testified to the fact that Cohen told him he had NOTHING on Trump to trade to the SDNY in his cooperation agreement.
That is multiply admissible.
The case is supossed to be about Trump – but the prosecution failed to make that case.
Trump is well served by making this case about Cohen.
The prosecution screwed up – they own this.
I would separately note the most important court in this case is not the one in Manhattan – though that case has gone so well trump might prevail even with a biased jury and a corrupt judge.
But the most important courtrom is the court of public oppinion.
And in that court – Trump is seeking to put Biden and the lawfare plot against him on trial.
And he has been VERY successful at that.
Costello’s testimony before the house was much more important – to the court of public opinion.
But his testimony in Manhattan was more important to the jury.
Further Costello came accross very well before Congress. Merchan and Bragg made a mistake trying to undermine him in court.
People had already heard costello. The efforts to shut him down given that he had ALREADY testified professionally and respectfully in public made Merchan and Brag look bad.
One of the huge problems the prosecution has had, is they forgot this trial is taking place outside the courtroom as well as inside.
Gagging Trump was a mistake.
There is an adage from Nietche – ”
what does not kill me makes me stronger”
Or “If you strike the king you must kill the king”.
or
“If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”
This has been a disaster for the left.
O’Donnell, like Morning Joe, has a tiny little mouth that is proportionally too small for his face.
Tiny Mouth Syndrome.
Never listen to a talking head on TV with skinny lips whose mouth is cartoonishly too small for his face.
this is a criminal trial- many witnesses are criminals- engoron found him credible-your obsequious pandering to the zombie cult is ruining your reputation-inconsistent testimony is not fatal- have you ever actually tried a case? i have, this is sop – be better, or be quiet, your pandering is showing
lol, and you are a lawyer? Most likely a corrupt liberal.
“engoron found him credible”
And now everyone is wondering why
“this is a criminal trial”
Actually this was a campaign strategy.
This lawfare against Trump has ALWAYs been taking place on multiple levels and the most important court has been the court of public oppinion.
This case has been a disaster for the left – because they have confused it with a simple criminal trial.
Blanche Bove and Nechelle have won in the courtroom – and Trump has won outside.
But in truth – those on the left did this to themselves.
It is easy to say that Trump has been lucky – but that is not really true.
The people who have gone after him beleived the ends justify the means.
It has been certain from the start that they would behave corruptly, the only question was whether they would get caught.
Willis imploded in GA. The shrapnel from that impacted ALL the “get Trump”
lawfare.
The 14th amendment case blew up in the supreme court – 9-0.
The supreme court has absolutely rejected the DC circuits immunity decision, the only question is what they will replace it with.
And Jack Smith has been caught violating a long list of ethical requirements in FL.
Each of these failures impacts the others.
People BELEIVE – and I think Rightly, that this is a conspiracy to “get Trump” and that the cases are flimsy, the witnesses crooks.
and the prosecutors and judges corrupt.
And those of you on the left Did that to yourself.
O’Donnell is a joke. Not only the substance, anything anti Trump however absurd leads the narrative, but his halting, breathless delivery. This is the same guy that described Stormy Daniels’ entry into the courtroom in like breathless tones …. Wearing all black, like a nun !! Priceless stuff, really.
Lawrence O’Donnell Has terminal TDS. Very sad.
Seeking Legal Advice
My loan application was rejected. Any chance I can “rebalance” that money from the bank?
To anonymous of 7:34 am. One must wonder if you slipped an Apple Air Tag into the Professors traveling bag in order to comment on his whereabouts. That’s like stalking. Column not written in a lawyerly, legal fashion. Well this is not really a trial. It’s a made-for-tv special, star chamber, putsch, free for all, clown of the day, off the rails attorneys, but it’s certainly not a TRIAL. More like the production of “ Inherit The Wind” and the Scopes Monkey Fiasco.
As far as the “Bonus he thought he deserved”. I think most employers would still call that theft. At my medical group we settled accounts every quarter and bonuses went out to everyone equally (if there was excess cash), no matter what the specialty. I can be absolutely sure they all thought they deserved even bigger bonuses but somehow we decided that individual physicians should NOT get to pick the size of their own bonus. Just did not seem like a good business practice.
Doctors and Lawyers. If not brothers and sisters then they are close cousins but probably not the cousins you like to talk about.
Firstly, you did not read what I said.
Reporter Tyler McBrien was live tweeting from the courtroom.
He noted that Turley was in the room
Secondly, the defense is that Trump simply paid Cohen a monthly fee for nebulous legal fees and that he knew nothing about any payments that Cohen made. If he knew nothing about what the payments then he could not have known about the bonus issue.
The converse is also true.
If he did not know Micheal Cohen was stealing from him.
Then he did not know the details of Cohens work.
To anonymous of 7:34 am.
The trolls are paid by DNC simpáticos to disrupt the blog, provoke chaos, and redirect comments to their daily talking points as provided by their handlers. IOW, they are not genuine discussants. There is a reason why they recently dropped their scores of fake sock puppet accounts and now just post anonymously – less effort, higher volume, same goal
Engage them if you choose but know that doing so just enables their daily purpose: to redirect from Turley’s article to their preferred DNC apologia.
Ive long encouraged folks to ignore the trolls as Turley states in his civility code. But dopamine is potent, so there is that
FYI
There is no possible way that Turley could have written this. Turley was in attendance at the trial yesterday. Tyler McBrien, a reporter live tweeting the event made note of Turley’s presence.
Consequently there is no way that Turley could have seen the interview that O’Donnell did in the lunch break. The only way he could be aware of the content of O’Donnell’s statements would be from a third party. That third party is obviously Fox or the NY Post.
This piece is not written in the style of a legal scholar. It was written by one of Rupert Murdoch’s minions at Fox or the NY Post and published under Turley’s name. It is nothing more than a piece of MAGA propaganda.
Are you seriously denying that O’Donnell said the things Mr Turley has quoted him as saying?
NO. I am not denying that O’Donnell said these things. What I am saying is that Turley cannot have first hand knowledge of the statements by O’Donnell. Pay attention.
Turley was in the courtroom yesterday as noted by a reporter live tweeting the procedures.
O’Donnell’s comments were made in the lunch break.
Turley could not have seen the comments. He could only know about the comments from a third party.
The third party was Fox or NY Post. They almost certainly wrote the piece for Turley.
My cable carrier has the option to tape a program and watch it later. Is it possible that Mr. Turley or someone on his staff taped these comments and showed them to him on a break during the trial, or right after the end of the day?
Why would they be doing that?
How would they know ahead of time that O’Donnell was going to make any comments?
They would have had to be taping everything all day.
And also be monitoring everything all day to catch the few minutes of O’Donnell’s comments.
Realistically the only entity capable of taping everything all day and monitoring it, is Fox.
How can Turley have “staff” if they are not part of Fox or NY Post.
He has not monetized this blog. No subscription. No ads.
How can he afford to have pay “staff”.
The staff would have to be Fox or NY Post.
This can only be a piece generated by Fox or NY Post.
Tom Elliott, founder of Grabien, posted on the X platform at around 1:10 yesterday afternoon the video snippet of O’Donnell excusing Cohen’s embezzlement. Turley obviously only had to open his X account to see it.
Turley has a history of allowing “guest bloggers” to write posts on his blog – under their own name. That he allows someone else to write posts under his name on his own blog is a conspiracy theory. I believe Natacha/Gigi may have been the first to promote here. Unsurprisingly.
There is no evidence to support your conspiracy theories. Nobody rational believes them. You, Natacha/Gigi, Fishwings and pbinca have decided to embrace them. That means you’ve chosen to diminish what little credibility you ever had. So that’s a good thing.
Turley Derangement Syndrome is real.
How do you know Elliot and Turley follow each other.
Just because someone posts something in their account doesn’t mean every X user sees it.
Grasping at straws !!!!!!
It does not matter if they do.
You are making this idiot argument that Turley specifically sought out O’donell.
What is with certainty true is that Turley – or more likely staff or others whose input he values brought this to his attention.
I would bet that Turley or someone assisting him saw every left wing talking pundit that day.
O’Donnel became the goat – because he was the stupidest.
Wjy does he have to know ahead of time ?
I would imagine in his roll that he has staff that gather up interesting videos,
That Turley reviews those and then decides which he wishes to comment on.
Just like DANY had a paralegal monitoring social media.
So Turley muct be physically present to comment on remarks O’Donnell made ?
He can not watch them on Youtube ?
Do you beleive that Turley was present at every left wing riot he has criticised ?
Or physcially present for the remarks of every college president ?
>> It was written by one of Rupert Murdoch’s minions at Fox or the NY Post and published under Turley’s name. <<
The only way you can know that statement is true is:
1) You authored the post yourself.
2) You have somehow reliably confirmed who the author is but failed to disclose either the name of the actual author or how you confirmed the author's identity.
Neither of which seem remotely plausible. You may be suffering from delusions and experiencing a psychotic break. Seek help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2iel7z38Cc
I agree, this was ghost written….it is not even close to JT’s style of thought and prose. It’s more like a reporter from Entertainment Tonight.
I highly doubt that.
But who cares ?
My name is on a paper published in ACM. I did not write all of it. I wrote some of it. The ideas are partly mine and that of my coauthor.
But many others assisted in writing it.
Lets Assume this was NOT written by Turley – but someone who agreed to write it for Turley – they did so either under his direction, or with his approval after they had written and delivered it to him.
It is not plagiarism to direct writing, edit it and publish it under your name.
While I do not think that is what happened. it is still ethical.
What is not ethical is stealling the work of others that you did not commission or participate in and did not credit.
You have heard of youtube and the internet ?
They cannot see anything else except the target of their venom and disgust – Donald J. Trump. I know so many people, including some closest to me, with the same condition. It’s how people were lynched, sent to Guillotines in the French Revolution, crucified.
Braindead O’Donnell wins the Alfred E. Newman Award for Broadcast Journalism. Doesn’t worry about anything.
Lawrence O’Donnell | MSNBC May 20, 2024
‘The big, shocking thing’ that Lawrence O’Donnell says was missing from Trump’s defense
As former President Trump’s New York hush money trial continues, Lawrence O’Donnell describes what he saw inside the Manhattan courthouse, saying Todd Blanche did not ask a single question about the $130,000 that appears on the Allen Weisselberg notes.
By: Chris Jansing Reports – MSNBC ~May 20, 2024
https://prodamdnewsencoding.akamaized.net/NBC_News_Digital/nbcnews/video/2024/05/1716229172397_n_jansing_lawrence_odonnell_trump_cohen_trial_240520_6.mp4
Because it is Weiselberg’s notes. NOT Trump’s.
Bragg did not call Weiselberg.
Blanche is not going to ever ask a single witness about that memo.
It was Bragg’s obligation to tie that memo to Trump.
He FAILED.
No one has testified that Trump knew anything about that note.
Trump is on trial not Weiselberg.
Re Menendez: Should read “It appears that those gold bars and gifts *were**” not *was.**
You was correct
Minor grammatical error in this column