Below is my column in the Hill on the most compelling grounds for an appeal in the Trump case after his conviction on 34 counts in Manhattan. There has been considerable criticism of the defense team and its strategy in the case, including some moves that may undermine appellate issues. However, after the instructions became public, I wrote a column that I thought the case was nearly un-winnable, even for those of us who previously saw a chance for a hung jury. Clarence Darrow would likely have lost with those instructions after the errors in the case by Judge Juan Merchan. At that point, it became a legal canned hunt. So the attention will now shift to the appellate courts. While it may be tough going initially in the New York court system for the former president, this case could well end up in the federal system and the United States Supreme Court. The thrill kill environment of last week may then dissipate as these glaring errors are presented in higher courts.
Here is the column:
The conviction of former President Donald Trump in Manhattan of 34 felonies produced citywide celebrations. This thrill-kill environment extended to the media, where former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace that it was “majestic day” and “a day to celebrate.” When I left the courthouse after watching the verdict come in, I was floored by the celebrations outside by both the public and some of the media.
The celebrants would be wise to think twice before mounting this trophy kill on the political wall. The Trump trial is a target-rich environment for an appeal, with multiple layers of reversible error, in my view.
I am less convinced by suggestions that the case could be challenged on the inability of Trump receiving a fair trial in a district that voted roughly 90 percent against him. The problem was not the jury, but the prosecutors and the judge.
Some of the most compelling problems can be divided into four groups.
The Judge
Acting Supreme Court justice Juan Merchan was handpicked for this case rather than randomly selected. This is only the latest in a litany of Trump cases where Merchan has meted out tough rulings against Trump and his organization. With any other defendant, there would likely be outrage over his selection. Merchan donated to President Biden. Even though the state bar cleared that violation based on the small size of the contribution, it later stressed that no such contributions were appropriate for a judge. We learned later that Merchan has contributed to a group to stop the GOP and Trump. Merchan’s daughter is also a Democratic organizer who has helped raise millions against Trump and the GOP and for the Democrats.
To his credit, CNN legal analyst Elie Honig has previously said that this case was legally dubious, uniquely targeted Trump and could not succeed outside of an anti-Trump district. On the judge, he recently challenged critics on the fairness of assigning a Biden donor who has earmarked donations for “resisting the Republican Party and Donald Trump’s radical right-wing legacy.” He asked “Would folks have been just fine with the judge staying on the case if he had donated a couple bucks to “Re-elect Donald Trump, MAGA forever!”? “Absolutely not.”
What is equally disturbing is the failure of Merchan to protect the rights of the defendant and what even critics admit were distinctly pro-prosecution rulings in the trial. It is not just the appearance of a conflict with Judge Merchan but a record of highly biased decisions. In watching Merchan in the courtroom, I was shocked by his rulings as at times incomprehensible and conflicted.
The Charges
A leading threshold issue will be the decision to allow Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to effectively try Trump for violations of federal law. The Justice Department declined any criminal charges against Trump under federal election law over the alleged “hush money” payments. The Federal Election Commission likewise found no basis for a civil fine. With no federal prosecution, Bragg decided to use an unprecedented criminal theory not only to zap a dead misdemeanor into life (after the expiration of the statute of limitation) but to allow him to try violations of not only federal election law but also federal taxation violations. In other words, the Justice Department would not prosecute federal violations, so Bragg effectively did it in state court.
Even when closing arguments were given, analysts on various networks admitted that they were unclear about what Bragg was alleging. The indictment claimed a violation under New York’s election law 17-152 that the falsification of business records were committed to further another crime as an unlawful means to influence the election. However, in a maddeningly circular theory, that other crime could be the falsification of business records. It could also be violations of federal election and taxation laws, which Trump was never charged with, let alone convicted of.
The Evidence
Judge Merchan allowed a torrent of immaterial and prejudicial evidence to be introduced into the trial by the prosecution. That included testimony from porn actress Stormy Daniels that went into details about having sex with Trump. She included a clear suggestion that Trump raped her. After this utterly disgraceful testimony, Merchan expressed regret but actually blamed the defense counsel, despite their prior objections to the testimony. He had previously chastised counsel for making continued objections, but now he criticized them for not continuing to make objections.
Merchan was equally conflicted in his other orders. For example, he allowed the prosecutors to introduce the plea agreement of Michael Cohen to federal election violations as well as the non-prosecution agreement of David Pecker on such violations. However, it was allowed only for the purposes of credibility and context. He issued an instruction that the jury could not consider the plea or the agreement to establish or impute the guilt of Trump.
The prosecutors then proceeded to expressly state that it was “a fact” that federal election violations occurred in this case and that Trump ordered those violations. They also solicited such statements from witnesses like Cohen. Merchan overruled the objections that the prosecutors were eviscerating his instruction. Merchan also barred the use of a legal expert, former FEC Chair Brad Smith, who was prepared to testify that such payments cannot be viewed as federal election violations and would not affect the election even if they were considered contributions, since they would not even have had to be reported until after the election.
Merchan is likely to be upheld in denying the expert, since the court retains the authority to state what the law is to the jury. The problem is that Merchan failed to do so. Worse still, he allowed the jury to hear the opposite in the repeated false claim that these payments were campaign contributions.
The Instructions
Even with all of the reversible errors, some of us held out hope that there might be a hung jury. That hope was largely smashed by Merchan in his instructions to the jury. The court largely used standard instructions in a case that was anything but standard. However, the instruction also allowed for doubt as to what the jury would ultimately find. When the verdict came in, we were still unsure what Trump was convicted of.
Merchan allowed the jury to find that the secondary offense was any of the three vaguely defined options. Even on the jury form, they did not have to specify which of the crimes were found. Under Merchan’s instruction, the jury could have split 4-4-4 on what occurred in the case. They could have seen a conspiracy to conceal a federal election violation, falsification of business records or taxation violations. We will never know. Worse yet, Trump will never know.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly emphasized that the requirement of unanimity in criminal convictions is sacrosanct in our system. While there was unanimity that the business records were falsified to hide or further a second crime, there was no express finding of what that crime may have been. In some ways, Trump may have been fortunate by Merchan’s cavalier approach. Given that the jury convicted Trump across the board, they might have found all of three secondary crimes. The verdict form never asked for such specificity.
These are just a few of the appellate issues. There are other challenges, including but not limited to due process violations on the lack of specificity in the indictment, vagueness of the underlying state law and the lack of evidentiary foundation for key defenses like “the legitimate press function.” They are the reason why many of us view this case is likely to be reversed in either the state or federal systems. None of that is likely to dampen the thrill in this kill in Manhattan.
But if Biden wins the election before this conviction is overturned, history’s judgment will be deafening.
Jonathan Turley is the J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at the George Washington University Law School.
According to the legal code, a stay of proceedings can be issued in a case “brought in any of the courts of the United States upon any issue referable to arbitration under an agreement in writing for such arbitration” when the ruling on the case is pending, can be stayed “until such arbitration has been had in accordance with the terms of the agreement, providing the applicant for the stay is not in default in proceeding with such arbitration”.
“The standard for stay determinations ostensibly includes four factors:
(1) the likelihood of success on appeal;
(2) the likelihood of irreparable harm pending appeal;
(3) the balance of the hardships; and
(4) the public interest.”
[Link] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stay_of_proceedings#United_States
—
How Supreme Court Justices Can Act Alone
(Interesting Article – Read)
Today, the Circuit Justices (that is, Supreme Court justices who are assigned to supervise a certain circuit) “no longer sit as judges on appellate panels…[instead], acting alone, [they] have the power to grant stays or injunctions in both civil and criminal cases, to arrange bail before and after conviction, and to provide other ancillary relief, such as extensions of time for various filings and other procedural variances.” …
https://www.pulj.org/the-roundtable/-riding-circuit-how-supreme-court-justices-can-act-alone
—
Circuit Assignments:
It is ordered that the following allotment be made of The Chief Justice and the Associate Justices of this Court among the circuits, pursuant to Title 28, United States Code, Section 42 and that such allotment be entered of record, effective September 28, 2022.
For the District of Columbia Circuit – John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice
For the First Circuit – Ketanji Brown Jackson, Associate Justice (Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island)
For the Second Circuit – Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice (Connecticut, New York, Vermont)
For the Third Circuit – Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Associate Justice (Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virgin Islands)
For the Fourth Circuit – John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice (Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia)
For the Fifth Circuit – Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Associate Justice (Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas)
For the Sixth Circuit – Brett M. Kavanaugh, Associate Justice (Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee)
For the Seventh Circuit – Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice (Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin)
For the Eighth Circuit – Brett M. Kavanaugh, Associate Justice (Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota)
For the Ninth Circuit – Elena Kagan, Associate Justice (Alaska, Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Nevada, Northern Mariana Islands, Washington)
For the Tenth Circuit – Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice (Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, Wyoming)
For the Eleventh Circuit – Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice (Alabama, Florida, Georgia)
For the Federal Circuit – John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice.
[Link] supremecourt.gov/about/circuitassignments.aspx
—
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit [John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice]
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is a federal appellate court with appellate jurisdiction. It hears appeals based on subject matter and its rulings may be appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States.
The Federal Circuit is the only one of the thirteen federal appeals courts whose jurisdiction is determined entirely on the subject of the lawsuit it hears, rather than on the geographical location from which the appeal originated. It has national jurisdiction over subjects including international trade, government contracts, patents, trademarks, federal personnel, veterans’ benefits, and public safety officers’ benefits claims. Appeals of rulings by the Federal Circuit are petitioned to the Supreme Court of the United States. Chief Justice John Roberts is the circuit justice for the Federal Circuit. …
[Link] ballotpedia.org/United_States_Court_of_Appeals_for_the_Federal_Circuit
—
Trump’s Attorney’s options for filing a ‘Stay of Proceedings’.
With the:
1. The Trial Court – Justice Jaun Merchan ~ probably will not happen.
2. New York State Court of Appeals – First Department
[Link] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_State_Supreme_Court,_Appellate_Division,_First_Department
3. Appelate Court – United States Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit
[Link] ca2.uscourts.gov/
4. Supreme Court Assoc. Justice Sonia Sotomayor – 2nd Circuit (Directly)
[Link] supremecourthistory.org/supreme-court-justices/associate-justice-sonia-sotomayor/
5. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. – Federal Circuit (Directly)
[Link] supremecourthistory.org/supreme-court-justices/chief-justice-john-g-roberts-jr/
It is unlikely this gets to federal courts quickly.
But that does not mean it has no effect.
This case has damaged the trust and credibility of the courts.
SCOTUS warned against this nonsense in the A14S3 case.
That warning was not taken.
We have yet to hear the supreme court decision on 18US1512c.
That is a oportunity for SCOTUS to atleast indirectly weigh in.
WE also have not heard on the presidential immunity case.
It is 100% certain that SCOTUS will throw out the DC courts determination.
They have 3 choices right now.
Kick this decision into the next terms. I think that is highly likely.
That effectively kills the last hope of more lawfare in DC.
Rule that presidents can only be prosecuted for acts while president after impeachment and removal.
While this is the correct decision – it was not argued by either side. I think this is slightly more likely as a result of the Manhattan lawlessness.
Provide an explicit procedural process and standards for overcoming claims of presidential immunity.
Depending on how this is done – that would vacate the manhattan case.
As an example SCOTUS could require an immunity hearing in Federal Court prior to indictment of a former president.
The other means this gets to the federal courts and possibly the supreme court quickly – is if Merchan tries to jail Trump.
Doing so triggers Habeaus and other federal remedies. This is the only reason that I do not think that Merchan will jail Trump.
I would further note that restrictions on Trump while this case is being appeals – may ALSO trigger federal appeals.
Merchan must drop the gag order shortly. There is no basis for it at all anymore and Merchan will lose jurisdiction the moment the case goes on appeal.
A ‘Stay’ is a quick option – It does depend on the Defense (Trump) strategy.
That strategy may be a multi-prong through the available jurisdiction options.
At any rate, the Supreme Court will be out on Summer Vacation soon a Stay would bode well with them, So the likely hood is high that this will happen. Making decisions post-election would likely be the reasonable thinking for Justices in the matters of Trump. Unless of course they are politically motivated.
For a few – It’s almost like you don’t want Then to Stay the Case.
See below for another installment of Gigi’s Reality
Welcome to Gigi’s reality
In her world the inflation rate was 8% whenTrump left office
In her world, the 12th Amendment prohibits the prez and VP from being from the same state.
In her world, more people died of Covid under Trump than Biden
In her world, Texas makes electricity from crude oil
In her world, the President can ban all abortions.
In her world, unemployment isnt essentially the same as it was before Covid
In her world, the President creates jobs
In her world, the Biden planned tax rollbacks wont cost families making less than 250k, teo grand a year
In her world, real mean wages have not gone down under Biden
In her world, printing $6T dollars doesnt cause inflation, tariffs do (but not bidens tariffs)
In her world, the average cost for financing a new home has not QUADRUPLED under Biden
In her world, Section 1182(f) does not exist.
In her world, Trump emboldened Putin but he waited until Trump was gone to act on it.
In her world, the US doesnt have the 60th ranked GDP growth rate
i reject your reality and substitute my own
——-Gigi the Pathological Liar
Say says: “This case has damaged the trust and credibility of the courts.” Nope. Republicans, MAGA media and pundits like Turley have damaged the trust and credibility of the courts, with their endless harping about unfairness, corrupness of the judge, etc.. None of them have addressed the actual evidence, like the testimonies of Hicks and Pecker, and the “grossed up” comment written by Weisselberg, much less Trump’s own admission that he “reimbursed” Cohen. Some of them keep trying to instigate violence, too. Trump is hoping that one of his more-unhinged minions will attack the Judge, the prosecutor and/or witnesses–all to intimidate future juries and judges in his remaining criminal cases. Just look at the comments by MAGA enablers–the gist of their complaints is that, somehow, Trump is or should be above the law. Such rhetoric is antithetical to democracy, and preaching disrespect for the courts and rules of law is un-American, especially for someone who purports to be a professor of law.
“If you import the Third World, you get Third World justice.”
Welcome to Gigi’s reality
In her world the inflation rate was 8% whenTrump left office
In her world, the 12th Amendment prohibits the prez and VP from being from the same state.
In her world, more people died of Covid under Trump than Biden
In her world, Texas makes electricity from crude oil
In her world, the President can ban all abortions.
In her world, unemployment isnt essentially the same as it was before Covid
In her world, the President creates jobs
In her world, the Biden planned tax rollbacks wont cost families making less than 250k, teo grand a year
In her world, real mean wages have not gone down under Biden
In her world, printing $6T dollars doesnt cause inflation, tariffs do (but not bidens tariffs)
In her world, the average cost for financing a new home has not QUADRUPLED under Biden
In her world, Section 1182(f) does not exist.
In her world, Trump emboldened Putin but he waited until Trump was gone to act on it.
In her world, the US doesnt have the 60th ranked GDP growth rate
i reject your reality and substitute my own
——-Gigi the Pathological Liar
John Say,
“ This case has damaged the trust and credibility of the courts.”
No, it has not. Trump’s base never had any trust in anything that is contrary to Trump. Fortunately his base is not as large as most people think. Ignorance and willful denial are exclusive to Trump’s supporters. That does not encompass the vast majority of the U.S. public.
SCOTUS will not intervene. It’s a state matter and SCOTUS made it clear that federal courts may not interfere with state law. Perhaps you should look into the abstention doctrine.
The abstention doctrine instructs federal courts to abstain from exercising jurisdiction if applicable state law, which would be dispositive to the controversy, is unclear and a state court’s interpretation of the state law might make resolving a federal constitutional issue unnecessary.
There are no constitutional issues in the hush money case despite your claims. Out seems a federal judge will not be ruling on the merits of the Trump case any time soon.
Here is super idiot George using the term “willful denial” again.
He has yet to explain how that differs from denial, despite being asked 3 times.
Like Joe, he apparently enjoys looking stupid.
Your idiotic doctrine referral does not bind the SCOTUS from anything.
Trump has every right to appeal directly to SCOTUS and there is NOTHiNG that prohibits SCOTUS from taking up the case.
That does not speak to the probability that they would, given that it is a case of national importance and that time is of the essence in the event he is to be incarcerated. But your bull shit use of the word “can’t” is just that.
Whats funny is that if you and your fellow libtards really believed that SCOTUS was a bunch of right wing sycophants and in the tank for Trump, you would be convinced that they WILL take it up.
Bwahahahahaha douche.
Anonymous,
“This case of national importance”….LOL!! It’s just a regular state case against a cooked businessman who is running for office.
Trump can’t appeal directly to SCOTUS. He has to go through the motions first. Appeal to the NY court of appeals first and that’s going to take a looonng time. Trump is not special, he’s just an idiot who just got convicted of 34 felonies.
You really have no idea what you’re talking about. The only thing you’re good at is insulting others because you can’t produce anything of value.
Please cite the law/statute/regulation that prohibits Trump from appealing directly to the Supreme Court.
I have shown why you dont know what you are talking about. In response you just shout out “you dont know what you are talking about”.
Earlier i gave u the clinical definition of a pathological liar and numerous examples as evidence that Joe is one. You ran off like a little girl to your next lie.
Question:
What were Bush and Gore in 2000, when SCOTUS took up that case?
Shit in your world may happen in a vacuum, but it doesnt in the real world.
Trump is the presumptive Republican candidate for President. That may mean nothing to you, but i assure you it means something to the supreme court, or any other person with half a brain.
Again, whether you think its likely they would take it up, you double down on your ignorance that he cant appeal directly to scotus.
And i am good at insulting you because you make it easy and you are a panty waisted douchebag.
And again, please explain the difference between denial and willful denial?
I ask because u are ostensibly using that term repeatedly to insult “trump supporters”, which by your own admission is “because you have nothing else”
Tell ya what, little girl. You stop insulting other groups of people, and i will stop insulting you. This is the nature of shitty little twat passive aggressives such as yourself. You reserve the right to insult others while whining about it when it happens to you.
Judge Merchan is not an ‘acting Supreme Court Justice’. Jonathan Turley’s piece goes downhill from there, in my opinion.
New York County Supreme Court 1st Judicial District – Justice Juan Merchan
Juan Merchan is an acting justice for the New York County Supreme Court, Criminal Term in the 1st Judicial District of New York. He was appointed to this position in 2009 by Chief Administrative Judge Ann T. Pfau. He has also served on the New York Court of Claims since 2009 and on the Bronx County Family Court since 2006.
https://ballotpedia.org/Juan_Merchan
David Benson is a fvcking idiot that doesnt know that the Manhattan court is called the Supreme Court and that in New York, lower court judges are called justices.
LMAO at this booger eating troll who is too stupid to know what he doesnt know.
It’s an easy mistake to make if you don’t know that the trial court of general jurisdiction in New York is called the supreme court instead of superior court or circuit court as is commonly done. Probably unwise to criticize Turley for getting it right though.
It does make me think of the phenomena of people who are expert in a field and nearly always right somehow erroneously retain that confidence that they are always right when they venture into minefields where they are no more likely to be right than anyone else and it is often embarrassing. Hoist [blown up] by one’s own petard comes to mind,
“Probably unwise to criticize Turley for getting it right though.”
Ya think?
Only if you mind being called a fvcking idiot.
I am sure David Benson is used to it. This was just one example.
Just like George, he runs that big mouth without knowing what he is talking about.
DBB NYS has an unusual naming convention for its courts.
The correct title for Merchan is “Acting Supreme Court Justice”. But all that means is that he is a trial court judge in Manhattan.
In NYS the “supreme court” is the equivalent of the commonwealth court in my state – an ordinary local trial court.
The Highest court in NYS is the NY Court of Appeals.
Merchan is indeed an acting justice of the New York State Supreme Court. Turley presumably takes for granted that we all probably know that.
Ron A. Hoffman, even I know that New York State does not have a supreme court. New York County does, I am now informed. Around here that is called superior court.
Well, maybe rather than running your big mouth like an idiot, and attempting to call out Turley, you should STFU and listen more. This court has been referred to as the Supreme Court here and elsewhere for 6 weeks ad nauseum.
Its not that you made a simple mistake, its that you tried to discredit the remainder of the article by wrongly implying that Turley didnt even know how to refer to the judge.
Like all of your libtard friends here, you have a conclusion and search for confirmation.
This is the month that right-wingers like to swap videos and pics of scantily-clad gay people back and forth with each other while using the cover story that it’s about fighting “wokeness.”
Fighting the woke mind virus is not a seasonal thing.
It is not like you are more afflicted by the inability to think straight in June.
Got any?
Out of respect for the office, I will refer to him as ‘Convicted Felon & Former President Donald Trump’ whenever space permits.
Just trying to be fair.
And what will you do when the conviction is overturned ? Will you go back and correct all your idiot posts ?
What will he do once Trump is elected?
President elect and convicted felon
And when he is sworn in, what will the douchebag call him then?
Convicted Felon President Trump.
Very simple !!!!!
Good boy!! Have another booger.
That is IF the conviction is overturned. There’s no certainty that he will any time soon.
So he will be referred to as convicted felon Trump. He is after all a convicted felon.
As opposed to an “unconvicted felon”?
Fvcking morons again using terms that have no meaning, but showing out like the little parakeets that they are.
Please explain the difference between denial and willful denial, your other favorite, George the Moron.
“That is IF the conviction is overturned. ”
Not if, only when.
“There’s no certainty that he will any time soon.”
Correct – which is the proof this is lawless political weaponization.
I and many others have demonstrated to you – dozens of different ways this conviction is lawless, unconstitutional, immoral, and dangerous.
I will give you another – it violates Kant’s categorical imperative.
“Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.”
Or more simply – don’t b e a hypocrite.
If you are defending the lawless political weaponization of the courts – you are immoral and you are dangerous.
I have noted the constitutional problems with this case and your arguments.
You keep skirting the FACT that if a federal law is unconstitutional – a similarly flawed state law is also unconstitutional.
Please cite any instance in which SCOTUS has found that a State can violate a persons individual and civil rights, but the federal government can not.
Highly disturbing is that you are not merely failing legally and constitutionally – you are failing the very principles that make self govenrment – all goverment possible.
Fundamental to the social contract – to the ability of people to govern themselves – or even be governed as a shared understanding of right and wrong, of morality.
Are you so mentally handicapped that you can not grasp that any arbitrary system of laws is NOT going to work ?
If what is illegal is broad and arbitrary – everyone is a criminal.
I used murder as an example because most of us CLEARLY understand WHY murder is a crime.
“So he will be referred to as convicted felon Trump. He is after all a convicted felon.”
Correct, and by doing so lawlessly you have 1984 newspeak style destroyed the meaning of the words “convicted felon”.
Each day we get your two minutes – if not far more, of hate are you “Emmanuel Goldstein”
1984 was meant to be a warning not a how to manual.
George, again please
What is an unconvicted felon?
Does anyone else know that “Trump supporters (roughly have the nation) are up in the hills somewhere preparing for a civil war if Biden is re-elected?” It doesn’t matter whether anyone else does or not for it’s enough that Maxine and a few of her hyperbolic friends, i.e., Robert De Niro, Lawrence O’Donnell, Rachael Maddow, and Joe Scarborough know. And because Maxine is the one who can spend some time with criminal justice system to tell us what is going on we all can breathe a sigh of relief knowing the DOJ will have the hills cleared of all those who poll for Trump.
https://x.com/i/status/1797438425106157714
Ron A. Hoffman,
Technically, I live up in the hills.
Last weekend we saw a bunch of trucks going back and forth. But that just turned out to be people on the road for Memorial Day weekend.
Went to a neighbors yesterday for a cookout.
We nor they have not seen these supposedly Trump supporters preparing for a civil war.
If the Supreme Court of 1860 had simply declared secession constitutional, none of Lincoln’s crimes would have been committed.
If the Supreme Court of 2024 had simply declared Biden/Garland/Colangelo/Bragg’s conspiratorial acts illegal and unconstitutional, whatever was about to ensue would not have.
“While there was unanimity that the business records were falsified to hide or further a second crime, there was no express finding of what that crime may have been.” FALSE CONCLUSION! HOW ELSE DOES A CORPORATION, ETC. CLASSIFY AN ATTORNEY’S LEGAL EXPENSE REIMBURSEMENT BILLING?!
Chopper: for what I hope if the last time–TRUMP REIMBURSED COHEN FOR THE PAYOFF–the money paid NOT A “legal fee” because it was not payment for his services as an attorney–it was reimbursement. Cohen took out a home equity line of credit to get the money, to prevent a paper trail leading directly back to Trump, and Trump misrepresented the reimbursement as “attorney fees’, which they weren’t. It was reimbursement. Trump admitted this. Weisselberg’s notes admit that the $130,000 was “grossed up” to cover Cohen’s tax liability. Whatever MAGA media outlet keeps arguing that a hush money payoff is the same as attorney fees is LYING to you.
Is a payoff illegal?
Gigi – for the last time, both the FEC, and the former head of the FEC, confirmed there was no federal crime committed, and that this was not election interference.
Michael Cohen’s own clandestine recordings of Trump showed that the latter had no idea what was going on. Michael Cohen was Trump’s attorney, and Trump did what his attorney advised. Trump is not his own lawyer, and would have no idea what would be required.
Michael Cohen is a multi-time perjurer. You want him to be telling the truth, because it’s convenient to your bias against Trump. Cohen admitted on the stand to embezzling from Donald Trump, and for being out to get him because Trump did not give him a cabinet position.
Cohen is a proven liar.
So is Stormy Daniels, whose salacious story about a one night stand with Donald Trump has materially changed over the years. Now, once a man commits adultery once, he loses credibility when denying future accusations of adultery. It’s certainly possible that he had a one night stand with a porn star. That’s not a crime. NDAs are not a crime.
If an NDA regarding a one night stand with a porn star in 2006 is worthy of life in prison, then so is Joe Biden paying to bury Hunter Biden’s laptop story, outlining Joe Biden’s corruption. Joe Biden also colluded with members in the intelligence community and the media to deny the laptop story that they knew at the time was true. Any dime Bien paid to bury that story was “hush money.”
The same law must apply equally. If we’re going to resurrect dead misdemeanors, raise them to felonies, and find someone guilty of a second unspecified felony, then Joe Biden must be held to the same standard.
Karen S: please stop regurgitating your MAGA media rhetoric. The feds backed down because Bill Barr, Trump’s minion AG, TOLD them to–not because there was no merit to the charges.
From NPR, May 21, 2018:
“President Trump admitted Thursday to reimbursing his lawyer for a $130,000 payment made on the eve of the 2016 election to porn actress Stormy Daniels as part of a settlement about her alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump.
Trump, however, denied any sexual encounter and claims the payment was in no way connected with the campaign — despite the timing.” Trump signed the payoff checks, and there was extensive testimony about what a cheapskate he was–that he watched every penny. Are we supposed to believe that he somehow paid over $260,000 for no attorney work?
Cohen testified that Trump dumped him after he cheated his way into office–just like he craps on everyone else who no longer have any value to him–so he gave himself the bonus he felt he had earned. Trump was unindicted co-conspirator “Individual 1” in Cohen’s criminal case. Cohen’s testimony was fully backed up by documentary evidence. Cohen went to prison–why shouldn’t Trump? Cohen doesn’t have enough years of remaining life to catch up to Trump’s extensive pattern of lying. And, unlike Trump, Cohen DOES care about his wife and family–he testified that agreed to a plea because there was a threat to charge his wife, too.
The issue is not an NDA, whether an NDA is legal or even whether Trump actually nailed Stormy–the issue is misrepresenting the payoff as fees for attorney work to cover up the fact that Trump bagged a porn star–something, BTW, he bragged about to other golfers at the time. Hicks testified that Trump admitted that the Access Hollywood tape hurt his chances among women voters and another salacious sex story coming right before the election might doom his candidacy, especially since his wife had just given birth to Barron. Pecker testified that he engaged in a “catch and kill” scheme to help Trump’s chances of winning the election. Pecker paid $150,000 to Karen McDougal, which was an in-kind campaign contribution that exceeded the maximum limit of $12,000–which is a violation of campaign finance law. MAGA media has nothng to say about this evidence.
Despite all of their committee hearings and rhetoric, Republicans have yet to come up with anything credible with which to accuse Joe Biden.
The Feds did not charge a crime – because there is not one.
This has ALWAYS been a stupid argument – if the FECA barred “hush money payments” – but a candidate then the FECA would be unconstitutional.
Blanche asked for and Merchan refused to include in his jury instructions regarding Federal Election law, That Candates can contribute as much of their own money to their election as they wish.
That is based on DECADES old SCOTUS case law driven by the first amendment.
If you proved beyond anydoubt at all that Trump personally paid Daniels for the purpose of influencing the 2016 election.
THAT WOULD BE PERFECTLY LEGAL.
Pecker’s $150,000 payment to “catch and kill” Karen McDougal’s story about her 10-month affair with Trump exceeded the $12,000 campaign donation limit. This payment was an in-kind donation that was illegal, and that’s why Pecker was given a non-prosecution agreement to avoid his taking the Fifth Amendment.
The issue isn’t whether Trump can donate to his campaign–the issue is that he falsified business records to cover up a payoff to a porn star FOR THE PURPOSE of helping his campaign, which had taken a hit following the Access Hollywood tape–so testified Hope Hicks. You are misrepresenting the issue–he FALSIFIED business records for the purpose of influencing the 2016 election. Cohen paid taxes on the “grossed up” reimbursement of $260,000.
According to “The Daily Beast”, May 30, 2024:
WASHINGTON, DC: According to a famous athlete who participated in a golf event in 2006, Donald Trump boasted about having sex with adult film star Stormy Daniels, the Daily Beast wrote.
The athlete also told The Daily Beast that, a decade later, during the run-up to the 2016 election, he received anonymous calls from strangers asking what he remembered about that weekend.
Daniels claims that she frequently recounted her story to confidantes after having sex with Trump at the time. Trump has consistently denied having sex with Daniels.
Donald Trump (right) declined the chance to deny having sex with Stormy Daniels while testifying (Getty Images)
Trump declined the opportunity to deny having sex with Daniels while testifying. The prosecution and the former president’s attorneys presented their final arguments on Tuesday, May 28.
If found guilty, Trump, the first former president to face legal charges, could be sentenced to prison.
The famous athlete mentioned being in close proximity to Trump and Daniels while they socialized at the 2006 American Century Championship celebrity golf event on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe.
Speaking to The Daily Beast, he requested anonymity out of concern for potential harassment or reprisal.
The athlete clarified that even though Trump occasionally made veiled references to Daniels as a ‘porn star’, the golfers who overheard the claims knew that Trump was claiming to have slept with Daniels. The athlete clarified that while Trump occasionally made veiled references to Daniels as a “porn star,” the golfers who overheard understood that Trump, then best known as the host of the reality TV program ‘The Apprentice,’ was claiming to have slept with Daniels.
Furthermore, the athlete mentioned that Trump encouraged other celebrities to attempt to have sex with Daniels, a behavior he described as “crass,” “gross,” and “stupid.”
The athlete stated, “It was clear to me and everyone who heard him that he was talking about Stormy. He’d say all these things like, ‘You’ve gotta bang a porn star, it’s incredible,’ and, ‘It added 20 yards to my drive today.'”
The athlete added that prosecutors never reached out to him, and he hasn’t widely shared his account. His testimony appears to be the first public description of Trump telling others he had sex with Daniels during the time that Daniels claims it occurred.
With respect to your Daily Beast story –
“The athlete added that prosecutors never reached out to him, and he hasn’t widely shared his account. His testimony appears to be the first public description of Trump telling others he had sex with Daniels during the time that Daniels claims it occurred.”
So an anonymous story that no one has corroborated is evidence ?
This is irrelevant as Daniels never should have testified, the allegations of sex and the NDA were not relevant evidence in this trial.
Regardless, this person did not TESTIFY, he spoke anonymously to a DB reporter.
I would further note that DJT’s performance at the 2006 golf tournament was mediocre at best.
Only left wing nuts would concoct a story that has Trump bragging that his performance had been enhanced when it clearly had not.
Is that proof that the anonymous source is lying ?
No, but it is proof that those of you on the left will beleive anything.
Did you miss this: “he requested anonymity out of concern for potential harassment or reprisal.”? Seeing what MAGA morons are capable of, and considering his career and the abuse after MAGA media would attack him, who can blame him?
“Pecker’s $150,000 payment to “catch and kill” Karen McDougal’s story about her 10-month affair with Trump exceeded the $12,000 campaign donation limit. This payment was an in-kind donation that was illegal, and that’s why Pecker was given a non-prosecution agreement to avoid his taking the Fifth Amendment.”
Has nothing to do with this case. Zero. Zilch.
Also
And you are as full of shit as a well fed goose.
In federal election law, the state cannot grant immunity.
If he violated new york campaign law, the SOL had passed.
Idiot
“Pecker’s $150,000 payment to “catch and kill” Karen McDougal’s story about her 10-month affair with Trump exceeded the $12,000 campaign donation limit. This payment was an in-kind donation that was illegal, and that’s why Pecker was given a non-prosecution agreement to avoid his taking the Fifth Amendment.”
The FECA explicitly does not apply to media. Otherwise Rachel Maddow would be in jail.
Pecker and his lawyers negotiated a non-prosecution aggreement with Mueller.
This is common when you target someone, but you want them to cooperate.
The 5th amendment precludes the government from forcing you to testify against yourself – about ANYTHING
If Mueller wanted Pecker to talk to him, he had three choices.
Persuasion,
a plea deal
a non-prosecution agreement.
The existence of a non-prosecution agreement means the prosecutor does not have anything to charge you with or they would do so and negotiate a plea deal.
One of MErchans other reversable errors is the ommission of a missing prosecution witness jury instruction.
By law Cohen’s accomplice testimony does not meet the beyond a reasonable doubt standard.
One of the prosecutions claimed key bits of evidence is Weiselberg’s notes. As well as Cohen’s claimed meeting with Trump and Weisleberg.
Weiselberg could have testified about each of these.
But Bragg did not call him.
Bragg could have offered him immunity
He did not.
The Jury is legally REQUIRED to presume that Weiselberg would have contradicted the prosecutions claim.
Welcome to Gigi’s reality.
Come for the laugh, stay for the insanity
In her world the inflation rate was 8% whenTrump left office
In her world, the 12th Amendment prohibits the prez and VP from being from the same state.
In her world, more people died of Covid under Trump than Biden
In her world, Texas makes electricity from crude oil
In her world, the President can ban all abortions.
In her world, unemployment isnt essentially the same as it was before Covid
In her world, the President creates jobs
In her world, the Biden planned tax rollbacks wont cost families making less than 250k, teo grand a year
In her world, real mean wages have not gone down under Biden
In her world, printing $6T dollars doesnt cause inflation, tariffs do (but not bidens tariffs)
In her world, the average cost for financing a new home has not QUADRUPLED under Biden
In her world, Section 1182(f) does not exist.
In her world, Trump emboldened Putin but he waited until Trump was gone to act on it.
In her world, the US doesnt have the 60th ranked GDP growth rate
i reject your reality and substitute my own
——-Gigi the Pathological Liar
So, just like Trump and MAGA media, you believe repeating the same lies over and over again makes the lies true? That’s the best you can do?
Those were your lies fool. Which you have repeated over and over again with that cut and paste rant you like to post. Which of them is true?
The best we can do is prove beyond any doubt that you are wrong.
Using the fundimental requirements for self government,
using the constitution
using the law.
We have done that – repeatedly and yet you are still spouting the same fraudulent nonsense.
Can we jail you for that fraud ?
If not, why not ?
John Say,
“ Can we jail you for that fraud ?
Depends. Which state will I be tried? Because it is different in every state.
Good thing you haven’t proven beyond any doubt that I am wrong.
Its not different in new york. Thats your problem fool.
There is no “general intent to defraud” in new york, or anywhere. Defraud is defined in the New York statute and it is specific intent, not general intent. Merchan made up that term on the fly.
“The issue is not an NDA, whether an NDA is legal or even whether Trump actually nailed Stormy–the issue is misrepresenting the payoff as fees for attorney work to cover up the fact that Trump bagged a porn star”
Still NOT a crime. You do not seem to grasp that Bragg’s case is nonsense.
1). An NDA is legal.
2). Banging a porn star is legal.
3). Covering up that you are banging a porn star is legal – see 1.
You are literally arguing that you can legally pay someone for their silence about a legal act, but that you are obligated to disclose everything in your private financial records
This should be obvious. Daniels received the payment – she ALSO had to report it on her taxes.
Do you think she reported it as” payment for sex” ?
For the last time: FALSIFYING BUSINESS RECORDS IS NOT LEGAL. And, when it is done for the purpose of influencing an election–it is a felony. Business financial records are not private because income, deductions, charitable donations, etc, have tax implications and are reported to state and federal tax authorities. Payments for attorney fees are reportable to the federal and state taxing authorities–and Cohen paid federal, state and local taxes on the “grossed up” amount that was misrepresented as payment for attorney services. Whether payment for an NDA is taxable is not simple–generally, if the payment represents compensation for sickess or physical or mental anguish, it’s not taxable. If a payment is replacement for income wrongfully lost, it might be because the income would have been taxable–for instance, if someone claims they were wrongfully fired. There are ways to word an NDA to avoid tax problems–and that might have happened here. Daniels wasn’t paid for “sex”–she was paid to prevent her story from becoming public to prevent Trump’s reputation from taking another hit. In fact, Trump paid her, but still denies that he had sex–although it bragged about it to other golfers at the tournament when he met Stormy. There really isn’t any dispute about the fact that Trump reimbursed Cohen–he admitted it–so the payment was not for attorney fees but was misrepresented as such, which is a felony. I don’t know whether she reported it, but her lawyer got part of it for his services, as I recall.
“For the last time: FALSIFYING BUSINESS RECORDS IS NOT LEGAL.”
Of course it is. They are private records. They are like your diary.
What you can not do is USE false records to say – avoid taxes.
SCOTUS – none other than RBG has already ruled on this.
“And, when it is done for the purpose of influencing an election–it is a felony.”
False, influencing an election is perfectly legal. Joe Biden has lied about things that effect elections all the time.
So do you. You have parrotted his blatantly false claims about his performance as president and Trumps.
Are you a felon ? Of course not. Neither is Trump.
“Business financial records are not private because income, deductions, charitable donations, etc, have tax implications and are reported to state and federal tax authorities.”
False. Business records ARE private. You MIGHT use them to establish your taxes, or you might not.
Many people do. They are still private records – exactly like your diary.
Unless you are dealing with a publicly traded corporation business records are private.
They can not be obtained without a warrant or a subpeona.
” Payments for attorney fees are reportable to the federal and state taxing authorities”
Correct, and how you go about reporting them is your business – THOSE reports must be True – to the extent that they correctly state your tax liability. They do NOT have to be accurate regarding the labels given to various expenses.
“and Cohen paid federal, state and local taxes on the “grossed up” amount that was misrepresented as payment for attorney services. ” False, and irrelevant. Your Argument is that Trump and Cohen conspired to pay MORE taxes than they were obligated to.
“Whether payment for an NDA is taxable is not simple”
Actually it is incredibly simple.
The payment to Daniels is inarguably Taxable to Daniels. She received income in return for the rights to her story.
With respect to Cohen there are two TAX scenarios – both of which are SIMPLE.
The first – which matches the FACTS, is that The NDA is between Cohen and Clifford – that Cohen owns it, and if Clifford violates it – Cohen is owed 1.6M/violation. In that Scenario Cohen would owe income taxes on any money Clifford paid him for violating the NDA, the payments for the NDA would be tax deductions – not Income, Though Cohen would likely have to treat them as a capital expense – the acquisition of an asset, rather than an ordinary expense. Regardless in that instance Cohens Taxes are simple.
In a SEPARATE transaction Trump paid Cohen for the SERVICE of getting the NDA – it is unarguably a SERVICE – because Trump does not own the NDA – Cohen does. Payments for Services are Tax deductible expenses for the payor (Trump). They are taxable income for the payee(Cohen). Cohen required that the payment for his Services covers all his costs – including taxes and produces a profit.
The alternate scenario – which is inconsistent with facts – but STILL results in no crime.
Is that Cohen – at Trump’s direction purchased the NDA from Daniels for Trump. In that instance, the money to Daniels is STILL income. The NDA then is an asset of Trump – still a deductible expense but likely being treated as a capitol expense not an ordinary expense. But in this scenario the Payment from Trump to Cohen of 130K is a reimbursement and not taxable to Cohen and as I noted Tax deductible for Trump. However the additional money to Cohen is a SERVICE, and a legal expense. It is an ordinary deduction for Trump and Income for Cohen.
Only the first scenario is consistent with the facts – including Weiselberg’s “Grossing up” remarks.
However NEITHER scenario is a crime.
Further in NEITHER scenarion are Trump’s business records misrepresented.
In every single scenarion Trump’s payments to Cohen are an EXPENSE, and tax deductible.
“generally, if the payment represents compensation for sickess or physical or mental anguish, it’s not taxable. If a payment is replacement for income wrongfully lost, it might be because the income would have been taxable–for instance, if someone claims they were wrongfully fired. ”
All of the above is both irrelevant and wrong.
Payments to people in return for the rights to their story are EXPENSES to the person paying for them, and INCOME for the person receiving payment. The EXCEPTION would be where there is a “middle man”, who made a straw purchase. Payment to the middle man for the asset that was transferred would NOT be taxable, But the cost of his services WOULD be taxable income.
I would separately note that while you keep trying to complicate what is actually a quite simple tax scenario, all of that is entirely irrelevant. There is NO SCENARIO in which this is not an expense for Trump. There is no scenario in which Trump owes or even can owe taxes. Tax Fraud by Trump in ALL cases is impossible. Tax Fraud by Cohen or Daniels is possible. They are the ones who recieved taxable income.
“There are ways to word an NDA to avoid tax problems–and that might have happened here. Daniels wasn’t paid for “sex”–she was paid to prevent her story from becoming public to prevent Trump’s reputation from taking another hit. In fact, Trump paid her, but still denies that he had sex–although it bragged about it to other golfers at the tournament when he met Stormy. There really isn’t any dispute about the fact that Trump reimbursed Cohen–he admitted it–so the payment was not for attorney fees but was misrepresented as such, which is a felony. I don’t know whether she reported it, but her lawyer got part of it for his services, as I recall.”
You have many of the facts losely correct, but you keep mischaracterizing them.
In various records t this was reported as reimbursement, legal fees and retainer.
What you seem to fail to grasp is that ALL of those are correct with respect to Trump.
There is little doubt that Cohen lied on his invoices – he was stealing from Trump, the invoices are part of that theft and therefore fraudulent. But Trump had nothing to do with that fraud. Further the Fraud is NOT in the description of services, but in the AMOUNT. If you get reimbursed for 50K for something that cost you 20K without an agreement for the additional 30K – that is fraud on YOUR part against me.
Oh, and there are no ways to “word an NDA to avoid tax problems” A payment is taxable or not depending on whether it is a reimbursement for an expense or a payment for a service or acquiring an asset.
You can not change the nature of the payment, by changing the words of the contract.
Trump didnt pay her. You are a liar. Cohen did.
Trump did not sign the NDA. Was not a party to the NDA. Cohen was.
Costello testified that Cohen said Trump knew nothing of it until later. Even Cohen testified that he called Trump to tell him what he had done (which was also shown to be a lie).
John Say,
The crime was not the NDA or banging a porn star.
It was FALSIFYING BUSINESS RECORDS.
That you’re stuck on the NDA and the other things not associated with the charges shows you are in full denial of reality.
Here George recklessly impugns the integrity of the courts decision in allowing testimony regarding the NDA, which is “not associated with the charges”. Reversible error.
Biden says talk like that is dangerous and irresponsible.
And we have a new one now….total denial. Does that replace willful denial?
Again the FECA does not apply to the NewsMedia – or it would be unconstitutional. Another improper jury instruction by Merchan.
Hillary planted the story that Joe and Hunter were engaged in illegal conduct in Ukraine in 2015.
NYT ran the story and Joe decided not to run in 2016. Unarguably that was worth far more than 12,000 to the Clinton campaign.
It was legal because the press is not covered by FECA.
It is also legal because even ignoring the the Press, if the FECA conflicts with Free Speech, it is unconstitutional.
You have accepted that you can pay for an NDA – that is perfectly legal.
NDA’s are about speech – protected by the first amendment. Speech is a right, and you can pay another person as a means to control their exercise of their rights – so long as that is a free choice.
Daniels accepted 130K for her silence. It does not matter if that was 5K or 500K – if the FECA actually applied – it would be an unconstitutional infringement on free speech.
Y
John Say,
This has nothing to do with the NDA or FECA. None.
The charges are for falsifying business records in the first degree. You keep deflecting to an issue that has zero relevance to the case.
Daniels acceptance of the money is not relevant. It provides context on the scheme that LED to the falsifying of the records. Trump was found guilty of falsifying business records. Not paying Daniels, or the NDA.
“The charges are for falsifying business records in the first degree.”
Correct – which is only a crime when used to cover up another crime. You keep ignoring the fact that there MUST be another crime.
NDA’s are NOT a crime.
There is no FECA crime – you seem to be agreeing with that.
Except that is NOT even the end of it – just finding another Crime is insufficient. This is a Fraud allegation.
There is no such thing as a crime of something merely being FALSE. Otherwise all democrats and most republicans would be in jail.
As SCOTUS has REPEATEDLY found – Fraud is a PROPERTY Crime.
You have nothing in this entire mess that ties to anything Tangible – you have no crime. PERIOD.
“You keep deflecting to an issue that has zero relevance to the case.”
Most of the arguments I make are driven by the idiotic left wing nut claims that you and your compatriots are mading.
You are correct – the NDA is irrelevant. That eliminates nearly all the testimony in the trial.
You are right FECA is irrelevant – that gets rid of much of the he rest.
“Daniels acceptance of the money is not relevant. ”
Correct.
“It provides context on the scheme that LED to the falsifying of the records.”
Not at all.
There is no such crime as covering up legal activities.
That is a part of Why SCOTUS has – following hundreds of years of common law – which the constitution binds the states to,
found that Fraud is a PROPERTY CRIME.
Those of you on the left constantly want to pretend that the law is a giant word game.
It is not. Fundamentally crimes are acts of FORCE or FRAUD that cause TANGIBLE harm to others.
You can look up the defintion in Black’s.
You can also look up the defintion of Fraud in blacks.
Lies are not crimes – the crime of lying is FRAUD. The legal requirements of Fraud are more than a lie.
Hunter Biden is about to go to Trial for falsified documents in DE.
First – the document in question is a federal form required fo the purchase of a firearm.
When you fill that form you SWEAR under penalty of law you are telling the truth.
This was a sworn public record, not a private business diary.
Hunter Biden’s private records – the content of his laptop, and public statements will be used as evidence to prove he committed a crime. But they are not themselves the crime. It was not a crime for Hunter to record and preserve his life.
It is not a crime to lie about it.
The crime Hunter is being tried for is a slightly lessor form of Perjury. Sworn falsification.
By law drug addicts may not purchase firearms. The Supreme court – consistent with hundreds of years of legal tradition in this country has found that barring drug addicts from purchasing firearms does not violate the 2nd amendment.
“Trump was found guilty of falsifying business records.”
For the purpose of covering up another crime – WHAT CRIME ?
Without that – this is a misdemeanor that long ago expired, and frankly an unconstitutional misdemeanor.
I would refer you to the Jury instructions – as flawed as those are, Merchan still correctly noted that it was NOT sifficient for the records to be false. The jury HAD to find there was a predicate crime.
John Say,
“ Correct – which is only a crime when used to cover up another crime. ”
And that was explained in court and to the jury. Multiple times. That you cannot grasp it or understand why it’s because you’re stuck on the notion that the federal definition of fraud overrides any state definition. That’s not true. SCOTUS made this clear.
States have their own definitions of what constitutes fraud and because “fraud” is difficult to define as narrowly as you want SCOTUS defers to states how they define it within their legal frameworks for charges related to STATE crimes. The definition you cite applies to FEDERAL charges. Not state charges.
You keep getting hung up on the notion that federal definitions override state definitions. In the case of “fraud” it does not work that way. That’s why you’re wrong.
This case is really simple – there are no crimes.
Your arguments and Braggs, and the courts are PROOF there are no crimes.
If I shoot you in the head that is murder.
If I pay for the steel that is used to make the gun that is sold to a store that sells you the gun that you used to shoot someone in the head – NY actions are legal.
When the prosecutors theory of a crime is convoluted – there is no crime.
Real crimes are not something you commit accidentally.
They are also not something that you do intentionally to hide an embarrassing Truth.
If you lie about your weight – that is not a crime.
As I have noted before SCOTUS has already ruled – 2 decades ago – Ruth Bader Ginsburg writing the oppinion of a unanimous court in another prosecution for political fraud,
That Fraud is a PROPERTY Crime. It requires a lie to someone you ow a duty to, that causes them tangible harm.
As you allege it – if lying to win an election is a crime – or every democrats would be in federal prison.
Biden has publicly claimed that he had no knowledge of his sons business – that is a lie. He has said it many times.
There are photos and emails and even voicemails and witness testimony proving Joe was involved in Hunter’s business.
Joe must have said that hundreds of Times – can TX AG Paxton indict Joe for Election fraud for lying ?
John Say, it’s clear you don’t get it or you’re intentionally being disingenuous.
There was indeed a crime. The crimes, 34 in total, were falsification of business records in the first degree. The crimes were PROVEN in court. That’s why Trump was found guilty. You’re hanging on the stupid argument Turley pushed about there being no crime when it’s spelled out directly on the indictment and the charges read out to the jury.
“ That Fraud is a PROPERTY Crime. It requires a lie to someone you ow a duty to, that causes them tangible harm.”
Your stupid argument relies on a federal law that applies to federal charges. NOT state law. States have their own definitions of what constitutes “fraud”. The Supreme Court has already stated. That federal definitions are not applicable to state laws when they are state charges. Murder is murder correct. But the definition of fraud is much more broad and hard to define with a bright line. States have different definitions of what they consider fraud and this is supporters by Supreme Court opinion and state case law.
Merchan made this point during jury instructions. You’re still wrong no matter how you parse it.
.
“But the definition of fraud is much more broad and hard to define with a bright line. States have different definitions of what they consider fraud and this is supporters by Supreme Court opinion and state case law.”
George repeated the same repeatedly proven false claims just makes you look stupid.
If as you claim the definition of fraud is not clear – then the statute is unconstitutionally vague.
If as you claim the definition of fraud is broad – then the statute is unconstitutionally broad.
These are among the most common reasons that laws are struck down.
This case is the perfect example of why.
Whether you like it or not – describing the payments as reimbursement, legal expense, or retainer are all correct.
IF NY law actually required what is unattainable and subjective precision in private writings (or even public ones).
You would be able to convict anyone.
Many people here have posted examples of lies and business records Biden and Clinton – even MErchan and Bragg
that would constitute false records for political purposes. Yet none of these are being prosecuted.
At the same time there are many legal scholars on the right saying F$%K it – lets prosecute Democrats in Red jurisdictions using the same lawless nonsense.
I have already pointed out to george that there is NO SUCH THING as “general intent to defraud”. Merchan made that term up, just like you did with “willful denial” and the DNC did with “convicted felon”.
Defraud requires specific intent. Arson, DUI, reckless driving are crimes that can have “general intent”. Defraud cannot. It is by definition IN NEW YORK and everywhere else, specific intent. And there MUST BE specific victim(s) or intended victim(s). Even if its the State, that intent has to be specific and charged, spelled out, litigated, and proven to the Unanimous agreement of the jury beyond a reasonable doubt, according to the constitution and SCOTUS.
Scotus is going to slap this judgement back to the stone age.
“Your stupid argument relies on a federal law that applies to federal charges.”
Nope it relies on the constitution. Which applies to the state and federal government.
You also ignore the fact that one of the cases cited specifically involved Lousiana STATE law.
It was a federal case – but the relevant law was STATE LAW.
“States have their own definitions of what constitutes “fraud”.”
Really pretty much no. State criminal laws sometimes define crimes using different words.
Pick up two different dictionaries – do they use exactly the same words to define something ?
Nope. Are the things being defined diofferent because the words in the defintions are different ? No.
You are making errors that are Meta constitutional. As some have noted – aspects of this case run afoul of the magna carte.
Blacks law dictionary is not the inerrant word of god. But it is universally recognized in the western world as defining the meaning of terms that state legislatures then use to construct statutes.
Black’s defines fraud. NY Statutes then USE the word fraud, and it is presumptive that the meaning is the same as blacks.
But you are atleast partially correct – NY can explicitly use a different definition of Fraud.
But if they do – then it is a completely different beast.
Fraud as used by states in conformance with Blacks is presumptively constitutional – it has been tested by the courts for more than 200 years.
The cases I cited to you are instances – exactly like NYS where the government attempted to use an alternative defintiion of Fraud and SCOTUS shot them down. Not because they used an alternative defintion – they are entitled to do that.
But because they used one that made legal conduct a crime.
Which is EXACTLY what we have here.
“Merchan made this point during jury instructions.”
Merchan mistated the law all over the place.
“You’re still wrong no matter how you parse it.”
I am not the one engaged in parsing.
This is really simple – if the law is what you claim it is – we slowly (or possibly rapidly) devolve into anarchy and chaos.
If the law is as you claim – TX AG Paxton will charge MErchan and Bragg with election fraud tomorow, They will be Tried in TX, convicted and sentence and SCOTUS will not do anything about it.
Other Read state AG’s will follow suit, and soon pretty much everyone will be in jail.
Outside of theory of law classes – much of what I debate with left wing nuts never comes up.
Why ? Because the principles in the MAgna Carte, Blacks law dictionary, the Social contract, the constitution, the categorical imperative or even such simple things as – That can not work. Very rarely come up in normal law – because they are all understood, or presumed before the start.
Is it that difficult for you to understand that absent foundations in concepts of morality that are near universally shared – that arbitrary legal systems MUST fail. It does not matter whether they are ideologically left or right.
Lincoln said a house divided against itself can not stand – a legal system that is arbitrary can not work.
SCOTUS did not find that Fraud was a property crime out of thin air.
They did so because most everyone is certain they know what is true, and most everyone is wrong.
WE can not criminalize mere falsity. We can not expect a judge or jury to get questions of truth and falsity without connection to the real world correct.
Biden thinks that inflation was 9% when he took office – that is false – can we jail him for that ?
Can Kansas pass a criminal law that makes it a felony for the president to misstate economic facts ?
Of course not, You can not make a country a government a society work if 12 people can jail a 13th because they beleive something he has said is incorrect or even an outright lie.
Is that difficult for you to understand ?
Every other argument I have made, rests on that foundation.
When SCOTUS says Fraud is a property crime – they are relying on the constitution, which relies on blacks which relies on the magna carte and all that relies on legal systems with moral foundations.
No he didnt make that point. He made up a term “general intent to defraud”. He then vaguely and incorrectly defined that term.
Would you like to define that term, George?
You can start with the definition of the legal term “general intent”.
You still
Dont know what that means, do you george?
Obviously, Trump would have paid the NDA, and obviously, it’s not connected to his presidential campaign. He’s used NDAs for various purposes for many years.
A presidential campaign is not legally required to disclose all dirty laundry. If it were, then Hillary Clinton would have been required to disclose the illegal server in her bathroom, and that she wiped it with Bleachbit, not “with a cloth”, and Joe Biden would have been required to admit the Hunter Biden laptop story was accurate, and that he did, in fact, sell political favors to foreign nationals through his son, Hunter, while serving as Senator and VP.
NDAs are legal, whether or not someone is running for political office. NDAs have not been considered part of a campaign expense.
There is no limit on campaign donations to oneself. Democrats can’t have it both ways. Either the NDAs were not campaign contributions, in which case there was no falsification of business records, or they were campaign contributions to his own campaign, in which case there are no limits. Campaign finance limits apply to outside donors. A candidate may fund his or her entire campaign if they wish.
Catch and kill attempts are also not illegal. If they were, then Joe Biden would be facing life in prison for burying the Hunter Biden laptop story, as would Hillary Clinton for fabricating the Russian collusion story (which you clung to longer than most) in order to deflect attention from her own scandal involving the mishandling of classified information.
You keep bringing up alleged mistresses. Affairs are not illegal. Donald Trump has been divorced twice due to infidelity. He admitted on camera to loving how groupies allow him to do anything he wanted. Voters already knew this about his character.
The classification of the NDA would have no affect on the election, because the reporting of campaign finance was due after the election.
If you think no one has come up with anything credible to accuse Joe Biden, perhaps you should actually read Jonathan Turley’s blog posts on the subject.
In the US, men don’t receive life in prison for allegedly having a one night stand with a porn star, and then having her sign an NDA 10 years later when she threatened to blackmail him. Unless you’re Trump, and Democrats have weaponized the justice system in Putin fashion.
Democrats also seek to strip Trump of Secret Service protection, in order to facilitate his assassination. Again, like Putin.
Welcome to Gigi’s reality
Watch as she begs someone not to speak their mind, as she vomits Rachel Maddows talking points again
In her world the inflation rate was 8% whenTrump left office
In her world, the 12th Amendment prohibits the prez and VP from being from the same state.
In her world, more people died of Covid under Trump than Biden
In her world, Texas makes electricity from crude oil
In her world, the President can ban all abortions.
In her world, unemployment isnt essentially the same as it was before Covid
In her world, the President creates jobs
In her world, the Biden planned tax rollbacks wont cost families making less than 250k, teo grand a year
In her world, real mean wages have not gone down under Biden
In her world, printing $6T dollars doesnt cause inflation, tariffs do (but not bidens tariffs)
In her world, the average cost for financing a new home has not QUADRUPLED under Biden
In her world, Section 1182(f) does not exist.
In her world, Trump emboldened Putin but he waited until Trump was gone to act on it.
In her world, the US doesnt have the 60th ranked GDP growth rate
i reject your reality and substitute my own
——-Gigi the Pathological Liar
Gigi, absent the spin – under the PROSECUTIONS theory – Trump reimbursed Cohen for the cost of securing a Contract – that is a LEGAL EXPENSE.
But reality – as opposed to left wing nut alternate reality is against you and Bragg and the judge and this Jury.
There is a real NDA here. An NDA is a contract. Contracts are assets – Property, posessions. Wall Street litterally buys and sells a wide variety of contracts.
Micheal Cohen is the OWNER of the Clifford NDA. Clifford agreed in return for 130K from Micheal Cohen to refrain from speaking about her alleged affair with Trump in 2006. If Clifford violated the argreement with Cohen – she would owe Cohen 1.6M for each violation.
All of the above is irrefuatable FACT. The NDA was between Cohn and Clifford. Trump was not a party.
You can argue – persuasively that Trump paid Cohen because getting that NDA was valuable to him.
But that does not change the FACT that it is a legal expense.
You can use the coloquial term “payoff” if that makes you happy. But the correct legal term is a payment as part of a contractual settlement.
Again a legal expense.
You are just plain wrong. Attorney fees are paid to an attorney for the value of services rendered. Funds paid as consideration for a contract (like an NDA) or to settle a claim are different. They are reported differently for tax purposes. Attorney fees are taxable as ordinary income to an attorney, and Cohen DID pay taxes on the $260,000, “grossed up” to cover his state, federal, local and country tax liability–even though the payment was NOT for services. Trump ADMITTED that this money was “reimbursement”. The $130,000 was consideration for the nondisclosure agreement and was paid to Daniels–it was not compensation for work performed by Cohen. It’s not that difficult, really. “Legal expenses” are things like filing fees, costs for deposition, fees for process servers, fees for legal research, such as Westlaw, mileage, parking fees, and other out-of-pocket payments made on a client’s behalf. They are deducted as the cost of doing business.
Every “attorney fee” aside from their profit is offset by an expense. An LLC’s profit and loss ledger is NOT part of their tax filings. Therefore, it is NOT handled differently for tax purposes.
Cohen paid 130k. He was paid 130k. Net zero taxes. The “gross up” for his taxes has nothing to do with a net zero tax liability. How could it???
Do you get how stupid that makes you sound?
It was some portion of the rest of the money, for which Cohen had no offsetting expense, that the gross up was for.
Incidentally, there is no tax line for the “cost of doing business”. Just makin’ shit up again.
I can see you hire someone to do your taxes for your “2 maids and a mop” business.
“Attorney fees are paid to an attorney for the value of services rendered.”
False – this is the labor theory of value – communism and it is a fraud that does not work.
In a free market the buyer and seller determine what is being bough and sold, and what the value is.
A McD’s burger can be bought for $2. The local resturaunt charges $18. The difference is explicitly because
there is no universal intrinsice value to anything.
Value is subjective.
“Funds paid as consideration for a contract (like an NDA) or to settle a claim are different. ”
Nope.
“They are reported differently for tax purposes.”
Tax reporting is done on your tax return – not your business documsnts, not your invoices, not your checks.
Further Contra your claim – Tax reporting is radically different from business accounting and serves a different purpose.
For taxes there are only a FEW “catagories” – Assets, liabilities and Capital have almost no place in a tax return.
That is why you will never be able to tell how wealthy Trump is from his tax return.
Tax reports are almost entirely Income and expenses
The purchase of an asset is almost never a taxable event (except for sales tax).
Again for Tax purposes almost everything is either income or an expense.
Retainers are an expense.
Reimbursements are an expense.
legal services are an expense. Retainers and reimbursements can be legal expenses.
Websters estimates that there are about 1 Million english words.
The average english speaking adult knows about 15,000 words.
You are literally trying to argue that NY law requires that people have a vocabulary of atleast 100,000 words, because otherwise they can not accurately report their taxes and they are criminals.
In reality tax law treats expenditures simply.
A payment either acquires and asset or pays for an expense.
You can not deduct the cost of an asset from your taxable income immediately, but you can deduct the cost over the life of the asset.
Expenses can be deducted immediately.
Again for tax purposes – expenses divide up into two clear categories and one muddier one.
Expenses are either tax deductible, or not. A small number of expenses are partially deductible.
With the exception of a very few unusual tax situations that have no application to this case.
The above is ALL you need to know about payment classification to correctly fill out your taxes.
It does not matter whether a payment is a retainer, a legal fee, a reimbursement, or a payment for an NDA.
Whatever label you choose your taxes will not change.
Therefore there can be no fraud.
“Attorney fees are taxable as ordinary income to an attorney”
Rembursement for expenses are also taxable as ordinary income – but the payment for the item being reimbursed is a deduction,
so an actual reimbursement results in zero tax liability. Regardless getting that straight is entirely the attorney’s responsibility not the clients.
Retainers are also ordinary income to an attorney.
You can change the labels all you want it does not change the taxes – therefor no fraud.
“and Cohen DID pay taxes on the $260,000, “grossed up” to cover his state, federal, local and country tax liability–even though the payment was NOT for services.”
I have no idea if Cohen paid his taxes. That was not an issue for this trial.
Regardless, Why Trump paid a specific amount is not relevant to whether it is taxable.
Hush money payments, NDA’s retainers, Reimbursements, legal fees, legal expenses are ALL tax deductable.
You can classify one as the other at whim with no tax implications.
“Trump ADMITTED that this money was “reimbursement”.”
So ? Reimbursement is a very broad term. Hush money payments, NDA’s retainers, legal fees, legal expenses are ALL reimbursable.
“The $130,000 was consideration for the nondisclosure agreement and was paid to Daniels” by Cohen.
Absolutely Cohen bough the NDA – inarguably with his own money.
“it was not compensation for work performed by Cohen.”
False but also irrelevant.
Again the NDA is an asset(contracts generally are assets). It was bought by Cohen with his own money. Cohen never transfered or sold that assets. To transfer a contract – either the contract must have provisions allowing one perty to transfer it, or the other party must consent to the transfer. Neither are true. None of this is relevant – because if Trump bough the NDA – nothing would change.
But the FACT is that he did not.
And I would expect jurrors and judges in manhattan to grasp that.
“Legal expenses” are things like filing fees, costs for deposition, fees for process servers, fees for legal research, such as Westlaw, mileage, parking fees, and other out-of-pocket payments made on a client’s behalf. They are deducted as the cost of doing business.
False. You are making aribtrary determinations all over the place.
First Cohen’s bills to Trump are not unusual.
I perform embedded software development services. My expenses are heat, light, power, computers, equipment I buy, internet services, phone services, …..
I do NOT bill any of these to my clients.
I bill an hourly rate for my services – that is my revenue
and I pay all my expenses from that revenue.
If there is anything left – that is my income.
OFTEN I demand an upfront payment – a retainer. That retainer can be for my time, it can be for any other expenses incurred.
It can be a minimum fee. I may or may not have to return unused portions of the retainer.
Regardless a payment can be a retainer and a reimbursement and hourly billing and ……
On RARE occasions I bill clients for something other than my hourly rate.
If I have to pay for an expensive peice of equipment or if I have to pay a consultant or if I have to bu something else.
I SOMETIMES bill for that. When I do – sometimes it is itemized, often it is not.
My clients receive my bills – invariably they charge them as “software expense”
The first huge problem you have is that the consumer and the producer need not and rarely do call a payment the same thing.
But lets try a hypothetical.
I have a neighbor that I want to move.
So I hire you, to make them an offer on their house.
You make the offer.
You buy the house with your own money.
You have title to the house.
But you come to me and say – I bought this because you wanted me to.
Will you pay me enough to cover the purchase price of the house and taxes ?
I say yes, and I pay you the cost of the house “grossed up”
plus some more for you personally.
How would you label the expense on MY books for tax purposes ?
You could call it a reimbursement – I am paying you back what you paid for the house.
But the house is not being transferred to me – you still own it.
The payment I am making to you is 100% taxable to YOU – less the expense YOU incurred of purchasing the house.
That is why I had to “Gross up” the payment.
Regardless, because no ownership transfered to me – this is an EXPENSE for me.
If you are a lawyer – it is a “legal expense”.
If a lawyer bills you for a retainer – that is a legal expense.
If they bill you for their time – that is a legal expense.
If they bill you for westlaw – that is a legal expense to you, it is a services expense to them.
If they bill you for paperclips – that is a legal expense to you, it is an office expense to them.
I
Taking it a step further- a paycheck is a reimbursement for labor
Interesting how Michael Cohen’s payoff equalled the same salary he was paid for years.
What happened to his regular salary?
Welcome to Gigi’s reality one more time
In her world the inflation rate was 8% whenTrump left office
In her world, the 12th Amendment prohibits the prez and VP from being from the same state.
In her world, more people died of Covid under Trump than Biden
In her world, Texas makes electricity from crude oil
In her world, the President can ban all abortions.
In her world, unemployment isnt essentially the same as it was before Covid
In her world, the President creates jobs
In her world, the Biden planned tax rollbacks wont cost families making less than 250k, teo grand a year
In her world, real mean wages have not gone down under Biden
In her world, printing $6T dollars doesnt cause inflation, tariffs do (but not bidens tariffs)
In her world, the average cost for financing a new home has not QUADRUPLED under Biden
In her world, Section 1182(f) does not exist.
In her world, Trump emboldened Putin but he waited until Trump was gone to act on it.
In her world, the US doesnt have the 60th ranked GDP growth rate
i reject your reality and substitute my own
——-Gigi the Pathological Liar
Gigi- Lawyers are entitled to reimbursement for expenses they incur in performing assignments. I see no reason it cannot be denominated as a “legal expense”. (You should want the old Perry Mason shows. He was paying off, or intimidating, blackmailers about half the time.)
Edward: I actually DO watch Perry Mason–the old TV series–and here’s a plug–MeTV runs the episodes at 9:00 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. every week day and evening. (BTW: they also run “Highway Patrol” at 5:00 a.m. and “Dragnet” at 5:30 and 6:00 a.m. every week day–and both are based on real cases). In addition to the stories, I truly enjoy seeing the old cars, scenes from L.A. and rural California that are now long-gone and 1950s and 1960s fashions. Perry never paid off, intimidated or blackmailed anyone.
Welcome to Gigi’s reality again
In her world the inflation rate was 8% whenTrump left office
In her world, the 12th Amendment prohibits the prez and VP from being from the same state.
In her world, more people died of Covid under Trump than Biden
In her world, Texas makes electricity from crude oil
In her world, the President can ban all abortions.
In her world, unemployment isnt essentially the same as it was before Covid
In her world, the President creates jobs
In her world, the Biden planned tax rollbacks wont cost families making less than 250k, teo grand a year
In her world, real mean wages have not gone down under Biden
In her world, printing $6T dollars doesnt cause inflation, tariffs do (but not bidens tariffs)
In her world, the average cost for financing a new home has not QUADRUPLED under Biden
In her world, Section 1182(f) does not exist.
In her world, Trump emboldened Putin but he waited until Trump was gone to act on it.
In her world, the US doesnt have the 60th ranked GDP growth rate
i reject your reality and substitute my own
——-Gigi the Pathological Liar
Wrong, Gigi. I remember an early episode where he was hired to get back an incriminating tape recording. He led the blackmailer to believe he would be paid off if he allowed Parry to examine the tape. Perry was allowed to unwind the tape. He used a magnet hidden in his cigarette lighterto erase the tape. He then refused to pay because the tape was blank. The blackmailer is a common character type in the Perry Mason shows, and probably books.
Perry frequently used subterfuge to help his client. I do recall that episode, although I don’t know the name of it, (there is actually an excellent blog about the show that gives you all kinds of details, including all of the bit players) but he just misled the blackmailer into believing he’d pay so as to get the chance to erase the tape. He also used subterfuge to confuse witnesses–like the episode where he paid a female detective who looked and dressed like his client to hire a taxi to go on the same trip so as to confuse the driver as to the identity of the woman he picked up when he was called to testify. Some of this was ethically questionable–but it was just fiction after all.
Well, now the secret is out on Gigi and her experience as an “attorney”.
She has watched every Perry Mason episode 10 times.
Now it all makes sense.
Gigi. Your “restatement” of Edwards remarks is both an inaccurate restatement – i.e. it is a “false record”, and it is inaccurate as a matter of Fact. Mason Constantly used the law and the facts as a weapon to intimidate others.
Gigi, it is YOU that is lying.
If this case hinges as you are claiming on YOUR preference for the language used to describe Trump’s payment to Cohen – it FAILS.
Most people are smart enough to know that the difference between a legal act and an illegal one does not hinge on the words used.
If you say Bodega and I say corner grocery store – one of us is not a criminal.
People speak for a reason.
What was the reason for ANY entries in a bookkeeping system of on checks or on invoice ?
The purpose to assist int he management of the business – that is the primary function of these records and is entirely private – it is NOT the business of the govenrment at all.
The labeling of expenses for the purpose of managing your own affairs can not ever be a crime.
I would note that the invoices, checks and financial records in question were all obtained as a result of subpoenas.
These are not records the govenrment is entitled to by right. These are not records that are prepared for government review.
More simply you are not illegally hiding something in a records you have no expectation will ever be made public.
It is a crime to lie under oath.
It is a crime to lie about the taxes you owe.
It is not a crime to lie to yourself in your diary.
Hunter Biden is facing criminal tax prosecutions in CA – not because he mislabeled payments to hookers.
But because payments for drugs, alcohol and hookers are not tax deductible, and Hunter deducted those from his taxes.
It does not matter what name Hunter gave to those expenses.
What matters is that he failed to pay taxes on them – and that he did so knowingly and deliberately.
The claim that these were misrepresented is absurd. It is also stupid and irrelevant.
Even if you require everyone to call them “hush money payoff’s” they remain not only legal, but LEGAL EXPENSES.
as to “Grossed up” – so what ? What does that change ?
I would note that while I suspect that Cohen initiated the “Grossed up” decision – as he wanted more money and as Cohen likely expeted to be able to shelter the “grossed up” amount from taxes – and thus pocket the entire 430K.
All that “Grossing up” the payment does it make clear that it is NOT a straight reimbursement – that Trump did NOT purchase an asset,
but rather a service. That the payment to Cohen was NOT reimburdement – which would not be taxable to either Cohen or Trump, but payment for a SERIVE – that REQUIRES Trump to 1099 Cohen – which was done, and REQUIRES Cohen to list it as INCOME, not reimbursement.
Reimbursements are not services and not income and not taxable.
“Hush money payoffs” are taxable income to Clifford, but are an expense to Cohen. And an expense to Trump if as you claim Trump ultimately pays Cohen for the NDA.
The only reason for “Grossing up” the payment to cohen is because it was for a taxable legal service, not a untaxable expense.
For the 100th time
Welcome to Gigi’s reality
In her world the inflation rate was 8% whenTrump left office
In her world, the 12th Amendment prohibits the prez and VP from being from the same state.
In her world, more people died of Covid under Trump than Biden
In her world, Texas makes electricity from crude oil
In her world, the President can ban all abortions.
In her world, unemployment isnt essentially the same as it was before Covid
In her world, the President creates jobs
In her world, the Biden planned tax rollbacks wont cost families making less than 250k, teo grand a year
In her world, real mean wages have not gone down under Biden
In her world, printing $6T dollars doesnt cause inflation, tariffs do (but not bidens tariffs)
In her world, the average cost for financing a new home has not QUADRUPLED under Biden
In her world, Section 1182(f) does not exist.
In her world, Trump emboldened Putin but he waited until Trump was gone to act on it.
In her world, the US doesnt have the 60th ranked GDP growth rate
i reject your reality and substitute my own
——-Gigi the Pathological Liar
While you have absolutely failed to support any of your claims – part of the reason this is not negatively impacting Trump as you hoped,
more importantly – even if you take EVERYTHING as you claim – you STILL have no crime.
“hush money payoffs” are legal – choosing to call them something else is not a crime.
Normally I don’t bother to read Gigi or Dennis (and I always skip over Fishguts), but this time I quickly noticed that Gigi made an error of fact. On the payments ledger of the Trump Org the entry was not “Legal Fee”. It was “Legal Expense”. In addition to “fees” for services rendered, law firms routinely pass along expenses to the client, such as filing fees paid, transportation, business meals, expert witness payments, consultants, copy charges, etc., etc. In other words, any out-of-pocket expense incurred by the law firm ancillary to the client work performed. These are all “reimbursements”. Sometimes these are broken out by the law firm (if the client requests) sometimes not. Many law firms tack on a “Service Charge” as a % or those expenses to reflect that by paying these expenses the law firm was actually extending a short-term loan to the client rather than making the client pay for those expenses as they were incurred. I never did that but many lawyers did. At the end of the Invoice there is only a number (“Amount Due”) since the number refers to the sum total of all fees and expenses. How the client characterizes that number in its books when paying the invoice is up to the client and its accounting software and to identify the amount paid to the lawyer as a “Legal Expense” is entirely correct, grammatically, ethically and legally. There was no “fraudulent entry”.
Thank u sir. I have been trying to tell that dumb beotch that for weeks. But it seems that her “vast attorney experience” didnt include matters of accounting, or of law for that matter.
And when a lawyer or any LLC does their taxes, it does not matter how it is accounted for in Terms of tax liability or fraudulent filing. You pay out, you collect. Doesnt matter if its toilet paper or hush money to the irs (save for the requisite 1099, if applicable) The difference is what you are taxed on. Period.
She should be smart enough to grasp that, but TDS is a powerful dopamine stimulant, and reasoning suffers substantially.
Cohen said he paid taxes for $260,000 “ grossed up “ to cover his tax liability as reimbursement for the payment he made to Stormy on Trump’s behalf. So that means that $260,000 was misrepresented to tax authorities as attorney fees. The reason for misrepresenting the nature of the payment was to conceal the truth of Trump’s extramarital affair with Daniels after the revelation of the Access Hollywood tape.
A lawyer cannot lump together fees and out of pocket expenses because the Rules For Professional Conduct require an attorney to account for work done and time spent (unless there is a set fee, but even then the fee must still be reasonable). An attorney cannot charge interest on fees or expenses unless there is a provision in the retainer agreement. I don’t know of any lawyer who does this and I’m not sure it’s ethical.
Anyway, the issue is dead— Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records, so you Trump fans can keep trying to equate reimbursement for a payoff to a porn actress with attorney fees, or try to argue that it’s just an accounting issue, but you’re just plain wrong. Trump knew women would be offended by a second sexual scandal, so he brought off Daniels and misrepresented the payoff to Daniels as attorney fees. He intended to mislead the public. Pecker bought off McDougal to help Trump and his payment exceeded the maximum campaign contribution limit, which is illegal.
Another lie from the pathological liar
Welcome to Gigi’s reality
In her world the inflation rate was 8% whenTrump left office
In her world, the 12th Amendment prohibits the prez and VP from being from the same state.
In her world, more people died of Covid under Trump than Biden
In her world, Texas makes electricity from crude oil
In her world, the President can ban all abortions.
In her world, unemployment isnt essentially the same as it was before Covid
In her world, the President creates jobs
In her world, the Biden planned tax rollbacks wont cost families making less than 250k, teo grand a year
In her world, real mean wages have not gone down under Biden
In her world, printing $6T dollars doesnt cause inflation, tariffs do (but not bidens tariffs)
In her world, the average cost for financing a new home has not QUADRUPLED under Biden
In her world, Section 1182(f) does not exist.
In her world, Trump emboldened Putin but he waited until Trump was gone to act on it.
In her world, the US doesnt have the 60th ranked GDP growth rate
i reject your reality and substitute my own
——-Gigi the Pathological Liar
MAGA MEDIA: Keep repeating lies until they become fact.
MAGA MEDIARachel Maddow: Keep repeating lies until they become fact.IT’S ALL THE SAME COUP D’ETAT IN AMERICA
John Durham says FBI should have never conducted Crossfire Hurricane; that “Russia, Russia, Russia” was totally fake and, therefore, criminal.
John Durham says [Al Bragg should have never indicted trump on federal election charges from his state office; that Bragg’s claim that Trump interfered with an election was totally fake and, therefore, criminal].
RNC Chair, Lara Trump tells Republicans not to vote for their party’s nominee for the U.S. Senate in MD, Larry Hogan.
Things are going well. Maybe, just maybe, Trump worship is all that matters to these people.
I have to agree with the Chair of the RNC. Republicans should definitely not vote for Larry Hogan or donate to his campaign. MAGA!
Republicans need his vote in the Senate. He is certainly better than the Democrat. The Trumps are hurting the party by maiking everything personal. Trump has already cost us two seats in Georgia.
MAGA cultists who feel victimized by DEI are afraid to fly with black pilots and think black doctors are unqualified but are certain that black people are going to vote for Trump now because he’s a convicted felon.
Two weeks ago, Trump thought he would also try and relate to black voters by saying he was going to get a set of gold teeth.
Do you think that people are persuaded by idiotic and juvenile nonsense ?
Trump has been appealing to minority voters for atleast 8 years. He is not doing so by fake fawning to their culture.
He is doing so by arguing persuasively that his MAGA policies are good for everyone – including them.
He is succeeding with Minority voters because that is true.
Democrats have promised to improve the lives of minorities – and specifically blacks for decades.
They
Trump has said that free market policies that were good for everyone are also good for minorities.
Then he proved it.
The Minority vote is moving MAGA in their own self interest.
It’s funny how black people like good jobs. No wonder they like Trump.
According to Fox, black people are going to vote for Trump because they like felons and sneakers.
Blacks are not going to to anything, they already ARE moving to Trump.
They are not doing so because of sneakers.
They are doing so because the spendable income of the average american family increased by 4500/year under Trump.
It has declined by 3500/year under Biden.
They are voting for Trump because it is in their self interest.
You do realize YOU are insulting blacks ?
Minority voters know they are being courted by Trump.
And they know that Trump is not plying them with platitudes or shallow cultural appropriations.
He is appealing to their self interest.
@ John Say
***You do realize YOU are insulting blacks ?***
I am BLACK !!!!!
Idiot !!!
You presume that everyone here is a lily white MAGA cultist.
Your condescending presumptions are the PROBLEM with this cult madness.
Why would John Say be an idiot for not knowing the race of an anonymous poster online?
Black people who are changing their vote to Trump do so because of the cost of groceries, utilities, and crime under Joe Biden. They have statistically voted Democrat for decades, and are statistically worse off. Black single motherhood used to be lower than white single motherhood. Now it’s over 80% in some communities. Black people arguably made larger gains under Republican policies. Under Donald Trump, there was record low black unemployment.
Democrats keep telling black communities to vote Democrat, and all their problems were solved. I don’t know if you’ve strolled in Compton, Watts, or Chicago recently, but I don’t see any solved problems. Only worse ones. At some point, people have to wonder why a Democrat supermajority for decades hasn’t, in fact, solved their problems as promised.
@ Karen S
Do you realize that you sound like a Southern plantation owner telling the uppity n*g***s what’s good for them !!!!!
Absolutely no self awareness !!!
Absolutely condescending !!!
Absolutely typical MAGA cult madness !!!
@Karen S
If you have any sense of honor or dignity you would apologize.
But I know you won’t.
Honor and dignity are totally foreign concepts to MAGA cultists.
What the fvck are you talking about Gigi the coward, who wont put her name to her lie this time??
Not one word of what she said is racist, you douche.
Sounds to me like you are the only one who has practiced that repugnant line.
“@ Karen S
Do you realize that you sound like a Southern plantation owner telling the uppity n*g***s what’s good for them !!!!!”
Pretty sure she is not aware of that – because it is false.
Your the one who has been spewing racist stereotypes.
You are the one who claims Blacks are so stupid that they are responding to ignorant pandering over sneakers and gold teeth.
The FACT is that minority voters – including black voters, and especially under 50 black males, are moving towards Trump and republicans.
100% of blacks ? No. The majority of blacks ? Not so far, but if current trends continue that WILL happen.
There are only TWO possibilities.
YOUR claim – that many blacks are voting for Trump because of racial and cultural pandering.
That claim REQUIRES that those black voters are STUPID and that claim is RACIST.
Or the alternative that black voters are moving to Trump because they see it as in their interests.
That they grasp that Trump increased the family income of working class families including blacks,
and that Biden decreased the family income of working class families including blacks.
Karen is not the racist – you are.
The unproveable possibility that you are black is entirely irrelevant.
You are the one parroting the “southern plantition owner” nonsense that blacks are unable to make choices based on their own actual interests, and can be deceived by shiny things.
“Absolutely no self awareness !!!”
Correct – you have no self awareness.
“Absolutely condescending !!!”
No, Worse – racist. You are a racist.
If you are actually black you clearly have a low opinion of other blacks.
@ John Say
****You are the one who claims Blacks are so stupid that they are responding to ignorant pandering over sneakers and gold teeth.****
How the hell do you get that interpretation from what I said ????
I am saying that Trump is so stupid and ignorant that he thinks we will respond to his disgusting racial stereotypes.
We are not the stupid ones.
Trump is displaying his stupidity, ignorance and racial discrimination.
We have not, and will not respond to this disgusting man.
You got the credit for it because you for some strange reason posted these insults and lies without your name attached, GIGI
It was an anonymous poster who posted what john quoted . And he did it for the same cowardly ass reasons that you just did it.
For deniability.
Coward
Karen – while there are many good reasons for minorities to consider voting republican, and lots of people have enumerated many of them.
My attack on ATS was specifically because he made a stupid insulting and false claim that Trump was meaninglessly pandering to black voters over a small subset of black cultural issues such as gold teeth and sneakers.
If blacks were so stupid that their votes could be won that easily – Democrats would have done so decades ago.
The stupidity lies with Trump for saying these things in the belief that it would endear him to Blacks.
I am saying that we are not that stupid.
If anyone is espousing racial stereotypes and insults it is YOU.
So ? You are still insulting blacks.
Or are you so stupid as to believe that it is not possible for blacks to insult blacks ?
You made a false claim regarding Trump that insulted the intelligence of blacks.
That is YOUR problem – not mine.
I do not give a schiff if you are a martian.
You are still insulting the intelligence of blacks and you are still a racist.
***You made a false claim regarding Trump that insulted the intelligence of blacks.***
I made no such claim.
I was insulting the intelligence of Trump for thinking that gold sneakers, being a felon and getting gold teeth would persuade Blacks to vote for him.
John Say, you need to get some kind of a grip on reality !!
Your ridiculous interpretations call into question your mental health, much like your cult leader.
“I am BLACK !!!!!”
No you are anonymous – that literally means that you post without any identity at all.
That you have give up the right to claim your own posts.
You are free to post anonymously. It is a right.
You are not free to require the rest of the world to engage in mind bending and recreate your identity after you have deliberately expunged it.
Sounds right
It’s funny how leftists never change. They used the charge of mental instability to undermine Barry Goldwater’s candidacy in 1964. Then the Soviet Union started sending dissedents to mental institutions. Then they said that “the Bernie Bros.”were unstable. Now they are calling Trump supporters “cultists”. To a leftist, it is imposslble for rational people to their opinions unless they are insane. Or at least that is the pose.
Stupid comment. All Republicans, including MAGA, believe in meritocracy, not the color of one’s skin (MLK). Democrats believe in the plantation mentality, where they and government must discriminate on their behalf (Black Americans) because they are unable to succeed on their own, creating a second class of citizens.
The Constitution is victimized by unconstitutional DEI.
Perhaps you would care to take the time to provide a citation and legal basis for DEI.
What you are quoting or supporting is the “dictatorship of the proletariat [hired help]” of the diametrically opposed and wholly unconstitutional Communist Manifesto.
Ordinary people want the BEST Pilot and the BEST Doctor – or atleast a qualified one.
People do not think black doctors are unqualified.
They KNOW that doctors who are evaluated and advanced based on criteria having nothing to do with medicine are not qualified.
AS to Trump – he has not changed. His conduct has not changed.
What has occured is a failure of our justice system.
Those of you who support this lawlessness – are dangerous. You have proven that you will abuse power for political gain.
You are immoral, and worse still willing to use the force of government as a weapon against political enemies.
Stormy Daniels has changed her story materially, repeatedly, over the years. First, she presented a signed affidavit that no sexual encounter occurred. Next, she claimed that she initiated a one night stand, in the hopes of parlaying it into a mainstream tv career. When that went nowhere, she became angry, and her description of the encounter gradually morphed from a consensual, fun one night stand, to the rape she described on the witness stand, where she claimed she passed out from terror.
The Google search algorithm has buried those original accounts.
Stormy Daniels should be prosecuted for perjury.
Karen – Daniels is not the problem.
Yes she has changed her story. And is near certain guilty of perjury.
But Daniels is not and never was the problem.
The Real problem is that the left is so nuts that they are willing to criminally convict people over political differences.
Turley has noted that even after the verdict – we STILL do not know what Crime trump has committed.
Sex with a porn star is not a crime.
Winning an election is not a crime.
NDA’s are not a crime.
Preserving your own privacy is not a crime.
Republicans have been ineffective when faced with Democrat abuse of power. All they’ve done is complain bitterly. Nothing changes.
The takeover of the public education system by Democrats happened gradually. K-grad school is now essentially a Democrat system of madrassas.
Republicans are shocked, shocked I tell you, that Democrats keep bringing either spurious charges against Trump, or a double standard not applied to Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton.
Democrats don’t care what Republicans think about their Fascist techniques. All they care about is if they can get away with it. Clearly, Democrat voters don’t care about abuse of power or the targeting of political opponents as long as it serves their interests.
And there was no fraudulent bookkeeping entry.
Trump’s VP refuses to vote for him, his wife won’t appear in public with him, he has 34 convictions & 3 indictments, 30+ ex-Cabinet officials won’t support him, he tried to overturn an election & send a mob to beat up cops & storm the Capitol, but let’s make him president again.
What part of “make your opinions peacefully known” equated to sending a mob to beat up cops and storm the Capitol? You’re confusing him with Maxine Waters, who urged her followers to “make a crowd, and make them know they aren’t welcome anywhere, anymore.” Or Kamala Harris, who told rioters they “will continue, and should continue,” as well as personally funding the bailing out of rioters from jail.
When listing Trump’s 34 convictions, you should also reference Turley’s analysis of the utter lawlessness of the charges. It’s Stalinesque. An NDA is entered as a legal fee, and is not a campaign contribution.
If it were, then Biden should face life in prison for every dime he spent burying the Hunter Biden laptop story, which wasn’t billed as a campaign contribution to himself.
Democrats have gone even further, trying to strip Trump of Secret Service protection, so that he can be assassinated in prison. That’s how Putin got rid of Navalny.
This is fascist.
Karen S: you annoy me every time you learn a new word and then spout it off repeatedly. Do you even have a clue as to the meaning of “Stalinesque”–I know you don’t, but the referensce is to the confessions to crimes by Stalin’s opponents, exacted after extensive torture, that lead to their executions. There is no comparison here whatsoever. Despite the lies you believe from MAGA media, Joe Biden had nothing whatsoever to do with the indictment or conviction of Trump, who was tried by a jury of his peers in his former home state. There was no torture, coerced confessions or executions. Stop repeating “Stalineque”.
You don’t know what “fascist” means either–Here’s how Merriam-Webster defines it:
“often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition”
We don’t have a centralized autocratic government–the State of New York prosecuted Trump, not the federal government. There is no “forcible suppression of opposition” either.
Bennie Thompson explained that the reason behind the bill he proposed to remove Secret Service protection from convicted felons is to prevent conflicts between prison officials and the Secret Service:
“A so-called “fact sheet” accompanying Thompson’s statement notes that Trump is facing an “unprecedented 91 felony charges in federal and state courts” which have “created a new exigency that Congress must address to ensure Secret Service protection does not interfere with the criminal judicial process and the administration of justice.”
The one-page document also states that the bill would apply to former President Trump should he be convicted of a felony, as well as to all Secret Service protectees convicted and sentenced under felony charges.
It notes that current law does not contemplate how Secret Service security would be administered to a protectee serving jail time and it therefore may pose logistical difficulties for both the Secret Service and prison authorities.”
Your hero is aligned politically with Putin, eager to do his bidding, like pulling aid from Ukraine to thank him for helping him cheat in 2016, and doesn’t care that Putin assassinated Navalny as well as others–it is indeed ironic that you would cite this.
Gigi hates Karen because she represents all the gorgeous conservative women out there and Gigi is a solid 3.
I will be back shortly to post this hags numerous lies again.
as promised
Welcome to Gigi’s reality
In her world the inflation rate was 8% whenTrump left office
In her world, the 12th Amendment prohibits the prez and VP from being from the same state.
In her world, more people died of Covid under Trump than Biden
In her world, Texas makes electricity from crude oil
In her world, the President can ban all abortions.
In her world, unemployment isnt essentially the same as it was before Covid
In her world, the President creates jobs
In her world, the Biden planned tax rollbacks wont cost families making less than 250k, teo grand a year
In her world, real mean wages have not gone down under Biden
In her world, printing $6T dollars doesnt cause inflation, tariffs do (but not bidens tariffs)
In her world, the average cost for financing a new home has not QUADRUPLED under Biden
In her world, Section 1182(f) does not exist.
In her world, Trump emboldened Putin but he waited until Trump was gone to act on it.
In her world, the US doesnt have the 60th ranked GDP growth rate
i reject your reality and substitute my own
——-Gigi the Pathological Liar
Karen S,
Well said.
Troll!
Will do!!!
The Democrat Party doesn’t care if the conviction is overturned on appeal. The goal was to fatally damage his presidential campaign. Donald Trump was ahead of Joe Biden in many polls, especially in critical swing states.
The goal was to interfere in the 2024 election, to help Joe Biden. That’s been accomplished, though I don’t know if it is enough to help Biden win.
We have observed Democrats abuse positions of power to meddle in the 2024 election, including trying to strike Donald Trump from state ballots, and convict him of a felony for bookkeeping entries where an NDA was classified correctly as a legal fee. DA Alvin Bragg decided to skip the legislative process, the IRS, and Congress, and declare that an NDA with anyone running for office must be stated as a campaign contribution to oneself.
If this was anyone other than Donald Trump, he would never have been charged at all.
With election interference more usual in Russia, we are expected to believe that concerns over election interference in 2020 are treason, but declaring the 2016 election result was due to interference was patriotic.
Democrats have seized control of all the three letter government agencies, the public education system from K-grad school, most of the media, and Hollywood. They control what children learn, much of the news we can access on tv or via a Google search, and they have weaponized the government against political opponents.
It’s going to be fun watching bumbles decompose in front of the camera as Sonny Boy goes to trial.
Apparently Trump wants the Supreme Court to step in to do their first sentencing in history, or just toss a state trial conviction before then for the first time ever. Because the law that applies to everyone else can’t possibly apply to him.
SCOTUS justices went from wives helping to organize Stop the Steal and flying a flag upside down to protest Trump losing, to tying up the J6 case by entertaining a ridiculous immunity appeal, then sitting on it as long as possible. Pretty bad when SCOTUS obstructs justice.
Didnt you hear Biden?? That kinda talk is dangerous and irresponsible.
You are a threat to democracy and a child.
Do you remember the hearings around Kavanaugh? Do you remember that psycho they brought out claiming sexual assault in a HS gangbang from 30years ago? The SC justices have been on the receiving end of the Democrats smear machine. They know it is a malicious prosecution as well as most living American citizens, the ones that votes are real!
ATS – SCOTUS will get the final word on this – absent NY coming to its senses first.
They will do so, because this type of weaponiazed political lawfare is corrosive to society and if allowed to continue will lead to disaster.
But the most important court has already spoken.
You were under the delusion that Trump was on trial by a jury in Manhattan.
In reality YOU were on trial before the american people, and your failed.
The short term effect on the polls has been tiny and indeterminate – with lots of evidence of a growing backlash.
Several Democratic Senators are now in trouble for endorsing this, Worse they have no where to go.
If they back away they lose the support of the far left. If they stick with lawless democrats, they alienate the center.
The Supreme Court can review state criminal cases even before a verdict is reached, if a federal claim is involved; but the Court has strictly limited these interventions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Younger_v._Harris But in a case where a leading Presidential candidate is being muzzled, confined, bankrupted, and generally harassed, the Court might find that there is a very serious federal issue involved. The Court might even enjoin these cases until the election is held.
It seems a bit inconsistent for Republicans to contend that presidents have blanket immunity for all crimes while also calling for Biden to be prosecuted.
Republicans object to laws being twisted to apply only to Republican political opponents.
The FEC stated there was no crime. A Democrat prosecutor declared that an NDA, all of a sudden, should no longer be entered as a legal expense, but rather a campaign contribution, which is not a law anywhere. Then he retroactively applied it to Donald Trump in 2016, which would have been a misdemeanor that expired in 2017. He resurrected that dead misdemeanor, and raised it to a felony, by declaring it was done to commit a second felony, but Bragg never specified what felony. The US criminal justice system has devolved to the point that someone could face life in prison for committing an UNSPECIFIED felony. Democrat Judge Merchan then instructed the jury that they didn’t actually have to agree on the felony. The judge gave them 3 felony options, and said that as long as they thought some felony had occurred, then the result would be deemed unanimous. This was after the judge prevented the defense from bringing an expert in federal election law who would have explained to the jury that no felony occurred. The judge also allowed Michal Cohen, disgraced perjurer, to tell the jury that a violation of election law occurred as fact.
Democrats now try to strip Trump of Secret Service protection, so he can be assassinated in prison.
What we witnessed was behavior by Democrats in power that would have been right at home in Putin’s Russia.
This trial was a violation of Trump’s civil liberties.
Democrats have consistently twisted the law against Trump, while refusing to hold themselves to the same standard. Joe Biden stole classified information for decades, as senator and VP, gave that information to his drug addict son, his ghost writer, and the Chinese-funded Penn-Biden Center. He stored it in boxes in his unsecured garage. No charges. Hillary Clinton used an illegal server in her bathroom to circumvent communication tracking by the State Department. She uploaded classified information to the Cloud, and people without any clearance at all had access to that server. While under subpoena, she wiped the server with BleachBit, then lied about it. No charges. Trump, who as president could declassify any document, consulted with the FBI on proper security for storing documents in his possession. Like previous presidents, his lawyers were going through proper legal channels to dispute with the NA on what he was required to give to them. Biden sent armed FBI agents authorized to use deadly force to raid Mar-a-Lago, and he’s facing criminal charges. Joe Biden paid to bury the truthful Hunter Biden laptop story that outlined Biden’s corruption. No charges. Trump is facing life in prison for signing an NDA in 2016, regarding an alleged one night stand with a porn star in 2006, and for a data entry person entering that as a legal expense rather than the absurd campaign contribution to himself.
This is Democrat abuse of power, and a double standard.
Karen S,
Another excellent summary of the reality of the situation.
x100
Karen S” here’s what “Politifact” says:
“The Federal Election Commission’s general counsel recommended commissioners find wrongdoing by then-President Donald Trump, but the case died after commissioners split on their vote along party lines.
U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman of New York’s southern district wrote in his book, “Holding the Line,” that the Trump administration interfered in political prosecutions.
The case faced numerous delays, including a legal challenge that went to the Supreme Court, before going to trial in an election year.
So, no, the FEC didn’t rule that Trump did not commit a crime. Everything else you wrote is wrong, and has been corrected repeatedly, but you are fact-immune.
“Karen S” here’s what “Politifact” says:”
Such a reliable source.
“The Federal Election Commission’s general counsel recommended commissioners find wrongdoing by then-President Donald Trump, but the case died after commissioners split on their vote along party lines.”
Typical left wing nonsense
The counsel can not recommend a finding of wrongdoing.
He is an advisor. It is his job to provide advice.
To make actual decisions – he would have to be appointed by the president.
The case did not die, it was REJECTED. That is what being voted down means.
NY Times v Sullivan was DECIDED 5:4.
“U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman of New York’s southern district wrote in his book, “Holding the Line,” that the Trump administration interfered in political prosecutions.”
Yes, they did not allow Berman to engage in political prosecutions.
Regardless, books are opinions.
“So, no, the FEC didn’t rule that Trump did not commit a crime. ”
Correct they rules that Trump did not violate election law. Not a crime, not a misdemeanor, not even a violation of a minor regulation.
You say the decision was partisan. Possibly, So what. When two people with the authority to do so disagree that is reasonable doubt.
Finally – as I noted at the start – this argument si typical of the left.
an “I get my way if ANYONE anywhere agrees with me”.
No you do not. That is not how the rule of law works.
The fact that democrats on the FEC voted against Trump is a demonstration of their partisanship.
There is no limit to an individuals personal contributions to their own campaign.
And contra to Merchans misstatement of election law – and alleged in kind contribution must be SOLELY for the campaign to be reportable.
The FECA would be unconstitutional otherwise.
The fact that Politifact found a small collection of people who could not follow the law, does not change not only what the law is, but that it would be unconstitutional otherwise.
Finally – even if there were no constitutional issues.
The FEC decision is FINAL. There was no appeal.
The decision is BINDING on the courts – including Merchan.
There is no – keep trying to get Trump for the same thing every possible place we can until we can persuade somebody somewhere to go along with us. That is called double jeophardy.
Maybe Berman could have gone after Trump – but he would have had to timely appeal the FEC decision first.
Merchan and brag have no jurisdiction. The only federal election evidence allowable is that the FED found the expenditure legitimate. Further neither Bragg nor the judge has jurisdiction to even suggest to a jury that they can do different.
You can not keep trying to get Trump for the same thing over and over in multiple different places until you finally get lucky.
It might seem that way to an idiot.
Bidens alleged crimes occurred before he was POTUS. No one has argued immunity for that
Have you always been this stupid, or is it just the TDS talking?
Hunter Biden’s trial begins today in the two-tiered system of justice that only persecutes Republicans.
I’m sorry, is Hunter Biden a politician?
Have you always been this stupid, or is it just the TDS again?
FBI agents and employees walk in Gay Pride parade in West Hollywood. Not a surprise. Checking the ‘Gay’ box may be a requirement for employment in that agency. Wouldn’t surprise me to see them goose stepping in a Free Palestine parade. But why do we never see FBI agents marching in patriotic or pro-American festivals [except for those undercover to cause trouble] and what would happen to them at work if they did?
Trump Campaign Week in Review:
MON: GOLF
TUES: COURT
WED: COURT
THUR: 34 FELONY CONVICTIONS
FRI: GOLF
SAT: GOLF, UFC FIGHT
SUN: GOLF
What !!!!
No church on Sunday.
I find that hard to believe !!!
Here, anonymous transparently replies to his own fvcktard post again.
Correction: UFC fight that turned into a spontaneous Trump rally.
Bwahahahahaha
Joes schedule this week
Beach
Beach
Eat mashed bananas
Nap
Beach
Beach
Mumble a few unintelligible words
In bed by 5
You forget diaper changes and icecream time!
Thanks Traveler. I stand corrected.
But ice cream time was cancelled because he called on a reporter without permission.
One things for sure. Don’t cross Macon County Line.
The Sheriff doesn’t like snoopy outsiders coming around. Just give the Sheriff $30 or spend some time in the Hoosegow with a bigger fine.
President Donald J. Trump receives standing ovations wherever he goes!
Tara Reade rapist, Joke Buydone, won’t go out in public without his handlers and a teleprompter.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Former President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican Party raised $52.8 million in the last 24 hours, the campaign said Friday, a staggering total that represents more than half of what they raised in the entire month of April.
– CBS News