Trump’s legal problems

Trump’s fraud trial and coming court trials in 2024

by Dave

Ivanka Trump was the prosecution’s last witness. Legal experts are saying that her testimony allowed prosecutors to introduce important documents into evidence.

The defense is now able to present witnesses to show that the fraud was minor or excusable in some manner. It will be far less dramatic. Trump’s legal defense witnesses will likely show that the bank executives were pleased to make the loans and that they were repaid on time. Some of this may be immaterial. Since the judge has already ruled that fraud was committed, it no longer is a trial about guilt or innocence, but about the extent of the punishment.

It is estimated that the defense will rest on December 15 and closing arguments by Dec 22, 2023. It has been reported that there are Then there are closing arguments in the following week. Prosecutors have asked the judge to exclude some of the witnesses as not relevant to the case, which makes sense as the case is not about whether fraud was committed. The judge has already ruled on this.

I expect the judge to rule in January 2024. There will definitely be an appeal by Trump’s legal team. I guess the big issue is whether the ruling, including the control of assets in New York State, can be stayed (put aside) until the Appellate court rules.

— What’s coming up in 2024?

The team of reporters from the various networks will stick around as more court cases are coming down the road. The civil defamation case by E. Jean Carroll is scheduled to begin January 15, 2024, which is just about adding 10 million dollars to her award.

There are four criminal cases against Trump, all of which could start before election day. The first two cases are the January 6 election obstruction case, March 4, in Washington and the hush money case (also known as the Stormy Daniels case) scheduled to begin March 25 in NYC. The other two cases documents case in Ft. Pierce, FL and GA interference case likely start dates are after May, 2024. Right now, Trump’s lawyers are trying to push back the documents case to a date after the election.

Three other non- Trump trials are set for 2024. The really big court case will be Senator Bob Menendez and his wife Nadine trial on accepting bribes to influence foreign policy, which is scheduled to begin on May 6, 2024. Three other accomplices were charged. For everyone who thought the Justice Department was just targeting corrupt Republicans, this one will clearly show that there are corrupt politicians in both parties. It is certain that pictures of Bob’s stack of gold bars and his Mercedes will be offered into evidence.

On May 28, 2024, Steve Bannon will go on trial for stealing from the “We build the Wall” fund. Steve Bannon was pardon by Trump on federal charges which I found extremely hypocritical. Bannon was stealing from the most ardent Trump supporters, willing to support his “charitable organization” to privately fund the building of a wall between the US and Mexico. So, scamming Trump’s supporters is ok, right? I uploaded a couple posts on Steve Bannon, and his accomplices in this scam. I don’t expect the trial will last long.

Almost I almost forgot Rep. George Santos trial, which in scheduled for September 2024. Santos is accused of stealing people’s identities and making charges on his own donors’ credit cards without their authorization, lying to the FEC and, by extension, the public about the financial state of his campaign. Santos is accused of falsely inflating the campaign’s reported receipts with non-existent loans and contributions. He is so, so guilty, it is laughable to think he is a representative.

A familiar refrain is “I am completely innocent” which then turns into “We will win on appeal.” I know that every defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. But I can express my opinion which is “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.” Well, I think 2024 should be game over for Donald, Steve, Bob, George and assorted accomplices. This is really how you drain the swamp! But things don’t always work out that way.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Cohen v. Trump – Oct 24

by Dave

Michael Cohen will testify for the prosecution of Donald Trump in the civil case on the overvaluation of properties in New York State. I think at this point there is hardly anything that Trump’s defense team doesn’t know. Trump’s Chief Financial Officer, Allen Weisselberg, has already testified that properties were overvalued, followed by an outside appraiser who corroborated this, and provided his involvement in the process.

What Cohen will bring to the table today, is testimony that Donald Trump met with Allen Weisselberg and gave his approval. That connection is essential. The defense will likely attack Michael Cohen’s credibility. Cohen officially surrendered to the FBI on August 21, 2018. That afternoon, Cohen pleaded guilty to eight criminal charges: five counts of tax evasion, one count of making false statements to a financial institution, one count of willfully causing an unlawful corporate contribution, and one count of making an excessive campaign contribution at the request of a candidate (Trump) for the “principal purpose of influencing [the] election”. (Wikipedia, see link at bottom)

Donald Trump is expected to attend. I am sure his defense team wishes he would not. He has been warned to be quiet in the courtroom, and is restricted on what he can say about court employees outside of court. What is motivating Trump, is that he wants to be in front of the cameras and tell his followers that the charges are baseless.

All this political rhetoric is wearing thin. The court already ruled in a summary judgement that there was overvaluation of properties. So, Trump will be found guilty. He will lose control of valuable properties in NY State, and pay millions in fines. Michael Cohen is there to fill in some of the gaps of who was responsible.

So, today’s question is can Trump control himself? If there is an outburst, will the judge jail him, at least for a day? Will his followers continue to buy his story that his is just a witch hunt? We shall see.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Wikipedia Michael Cohen

NY State Fraud Civil Case – The Drama Continues

by Dave

The trial continues, inside and outside the court house. Donald Trump was in court on November 17, even though he is not required. It’s because he is seriously worried about the financial harm to the Trump business. The loss of ownership rights in his New York State properties has been put on hold right now, pending the outcome of the trial. His legal team is very aware that any error made by the judge will be the basis for an appeal. The heat is on.

What drove Trump to return to court, was testimony from outside appraiser Doug Larson and Donna Kidder, Trump’s business accountant. This is a non-jury trial, so it is impossible to say that the manipulated valuations are all too complicated or no one quite remembers. The Trump team would like the judge to believe that exaggerated estimates were given to them by outside appraisers. Larson emphatically state on the stand that just the opposite happened, the inflated estimates came from the Trump organization, namely the Trump controller, Jeffery McConney.

On November 16, It has been reported that Allen Weisselberg’s testimony was cut short, partially through the prosecution’s questioning, possibly because his testimony was contradicting emails not yet part of the record. This raised the speculation of perjury, which is criminal and could send Weisselberg back to prison. Prosecutors now can recall Weisselberg, later in the trial. I think this will help the prosecution.

To me, this is a classic case of cheating. On paper, the fraud started from outside auditors, but this was all a cover-up. Inside the Trump organization, Trump’s accountant Donna Kidder testified that the cheating began with CFO Allen Weisselberg instructing her to assume full occupancy in his Park Avenue and Wall Street holdings.

Link Forbes: Trump’s Longtime CFO Lied, Under Oath, About Trump Tower Penthouse

Note that Forbes requires a subscription after accessing the fourth article. You might try clearing cookies to get around this.

MSNBC Link: Weisselberg’s testimony abruptly ended last week, raising questions

AP News Link: Trump returns to his civil fraud trial, hears an employee and an appraiser testify against him

I’ve seen this kind of intimidation before. Usually, companies have internal safeguards to stop the most egregious forms of fraud. Trump public statements confirm he wanted the highest possible valuations he could get because it would make it easier to get bank and insurers approval.

This is were the idea that no harm was done, really falls apart. It is something everyone who has financed anything knows that the more assets and income one can show, the more likely the banks are offering low interest loans. One restraint is that the banks and insurers can do their own assessments. The second back stop to over valuations are the rules and laws of the state governing fraud.

This is not a federal case, but I am certain the IRS will investigate violations of tax laws. For lending purposes, assets which are overvalued are beneficial, but not for capital gains on federal IRS tax rules.

Michael Cohen’s turn to give damning testimony has been postposed due to illness. I am certain that Cohen’s testimony will further the dots, which go from Trump to Weisselberg to their Controller and accountants to the fraud.

Now, outside the courtroom, Trump re-iterates his disdain for the AG Letitia James and the court system, as follows:

We built a great company — a lot of cash, it’s got a lot of great assets, some of the greatest real estate assets anywhere in the world,” Trump said outside the courtroom. He dismissed the case as “a disgrace,” the legal system as “corrupt” and the Democratic attorney general as a “radical lunatic.”

He is under a partial gag order, which limits his attacks, but I guess calling the AG a lunatic is ok. Attacking court staff and families is off limits and thank God for this ruling.

The AG James also responded to reporters:

“Mr. Trump may lie, but numbers don’t lie,” she said after court. “He can call me names, he can engage in distractions,” she said, but “his entire empire was built on nothing but lies and on sinking sand.”

Boy, that sounds like a closing line. Court experts do not expect Trump to testify unless he totally ignores the advise of counsel.

Obviously, the news media is focused on the war in Israel and the Gaza strip, which can only be described as horrific and tragic. While the trial is not making headline news, the reporters from the Associated Press, Forbes, The Hill and many other media outlets continue to provide the essential details and post to the internet. Nobody should get information from Facebook or conservative social media commentary. Many legal experts feel the NY State case will continue beyond the proposed end date of December 22, 2023.

There are numerous side cases as well. One is the effort to keep Trump off the ballot in selected states, and my prediction is this will fail because it places far too much discretion in the hands of an elected official (Secretary of State). It did temporarily become a distraction. Steve Bannon trial for the Build the Wall fraud begins May 27 in the same courtroom and judge as the Hush Money case.

Reporters will soon be covering the trial of two defendants, Ken Chesebro and Sidney Powell, in the GA, set to begin on October 23. This court case will be televised. It will give an early indication of whether DA Fani Willis can has enough “connective tissue” (I like this expression) to support the charge of an election interference conspiracy, based on the RICO act.

I assume court reporters will be pretty stretched in 2024 among the courthouses in Washington DC (January 6 federal case), Florida (Documents case), Manhattan (Hush Money, E. Jean Carroll civil lawsuit) and the Atlanta, GA Jan 6 conspiracy case. No date set yet for the Georgia case.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Trump’s Legal Problems – October 4, 2023

by Dave

Trump showed up for part of the third day of the New York State civil trial. He is now under a gag order not to make disparaging comments about court employees or their families. I predict two big former employees will be testifying next week, first Allen Weiselberg, who was Trump’s Chief Financial Officer, and Michael Cohen, who was Trump’s attorney.

Trump has blasted the whole case as unfair, to put it mildly, without a jury to evaluate all the facts. However, legal experts have laid the blame, partly on Trump’s lawyers, who did not object a non-jury trial.

See Link: “Mind-blowing”: Legal experts warn that lawyer’s incredible “screw-up” is “very ominous” for Trump

I’m not sure they would have succeeded, because they would have to argue for special circumstances exist to allow for a jury trial.

Trump’s attorney Alina Habba adds a bit of drama, but she is not winning any points with the judge:

You Tube video (4.4 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLS80Vxe59U . Fallon Cousins is not a lawyer, but a progressive commentator.

Will Trump testify? He said he wants to, but his lawyers will likely suggest to him that he has more to lose than gain. If he testifies and makes false statements, he can be charged with perjury.

In January, E. Jean Carroll defamation case II will begin. Carroll is seeking an additional 10 million dollars in her suit.

Now on to the heavy hitters- the criminal cases which are Hush Money, Georgia Conspiracy, Classified Documents and January 6 Federal Case, with prosecutors Bragg, Willis, Smith and Smith, respectively.

Hush Money Case: Trump’s lawyers filed for a motion to dismiss of all charges (summary judgement). The case is scheduled for trial in March 2024 in Manhattan. I believe the motion to dismiss will fail.

Georgia Conspiracy: Recent ruling, favorable to the prosecution, have help this case. Both Sidney Powell and Ken Cheseboro have requested a speedy trial. The judge set their trial to begin on October 23, 2023. What they did not want, was to be tried together, and they lost their bids for separate trials.

Others have tried unsuccessfully to have their cases moved to federal court. It was widely anticipated that Donald Trump would also file for removal to federal court. Trump did not file for removal and decided to remain with the others in Georgia.

Then, prosecutors have accepted a plea deal for Scott Hall, one of the defendants, in exchange for his testimony, which likely will be very damaging to Sidney Powell’s case. Additional defendants might to get similar plea deals, which allow them to avoid jail time. Legal experts consider that AG Willis just has too many defendants to try at the same time, so it is to her advantage to offer plea deals, if the defendants can help her case. So, as I count, the large group of conspirators, is now down to 16, down from 19 before.

Classified Documents: Trial to begin May 2024. Judge will have to make some contentious rulings on rules regarding the inspection of classified documents. With the back and forth of motions, this could impact the trial start date. Trump’s lawyers want this case to be held after the presidential elections, and prosecutors are insisting on the May 2024 start date. At issue are rules established in the Classified Information Procedures Act or CIPA. The judge might just push back the start date.

Federal January 6 Case: Trial date to begin March 4, 2024. Trump lost in a bid to delay until April 2026. Just in case you’ve forgotten the charges: The special counsel indictment explained Trump was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, witness tampering, conspiracy against the rights of citizens, and obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding. This will be televised, and the timing, just before Superbowl couldn’t be worse.

After Trump attacked the courts and prosecutors, Judge Chutkan ordered a partial gag order, limiting what Trump could say about prosecutors, potential witnesses and others. Trump’s lawyers argued against this, and a hearing is set for October 16. Gag orders for both prosecutors and defendants are necessary at times, particularly so jurors and witnesses are not inadvertently intimidated by what is said in public.

That’s a wrap. I forgot Steve Bannon “Build the Wall” fraud case starts in May 28, 2024 in Manhattan, so court reporters will go back to Judge Juan Merchan courtroom, following the Hush Money case. Bannon was pardoned by Trump but they were able to file criminal charges against him under NY State law.

And of course, Rudy Giuliani’s lawsuit against Joe Biden for referring to him as a Russian pawn. Wasn’t Rudy Giuliani practically broke? Don’t think this one has legs.

Stay tuned,

Dave

The New York State Case Begins

by Dave

When something works, there is a tendency to repeat it. It looked to Trump like over valuations really worked. It is a fact that as he was making money, so were his companies and the banks. A win-win.

To Trump, image is everything. “I look better if I’m worth $10 billion than if I’m worth $4 billion,” he once said, disputing his ranking on the Forbes billionaires list. (a quote from the New York Times)

Multiple fraudulent claims extract a heavy penalty in New York State. This is why Trump’s business is in so much trouble.

Donald Trump has already bashed New York Attorney General Letitia James, calling her racist, and Judge Arthur Engoron as deranged. He has referred to the AG as biased and corrupt. This is pare for the course.

See AP ink: Who is Arthur Engoron?

More to come.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Trump’s Seven Springs Property

by Dave

The 213-acre Seven Springs property in Bedford, NY was bought by Donald Trump for 7.5 million dollars, in 1995 and belongs to the Trump Organization. The property lies about one hour drive outside of New York City, in Westchester county, close to Connecticut. This image is from the Trump’s organization website, and the mansion is truly opulent. At 7.5 million dollars, many consider this a real bargain.

See link from the Trump organization website:

https://www.trump.com/estates

The interior of the Seven Springs mansion is also stunning. It is also immaculate because no one lives there. Trump hasn’t visited the property in over four years. I’m certain there is a staff, keeping the place immaculate. He wanted this property as an investment, but every time he tried to develop the property, he ran into opposition.

It was used initially as a family get away location, where Donald and his family could get away during the hot summer months. His sons remember the property as children, where Donald Trump would have them do chores on the property and learn a bit about construction.

Trump wanted to build a golf course at Seven Springs and spent 9 years (I think 2005 to 2013) getting this approved. However, one little problem emerged, namely the golf course lawn would need fertilizer to be kept nice and green for the golfers. And the unspent fertilizer would run off into the Byram Lake, causing pollution. It’s a very common problem, as fertilizer is high in nitrates, and excessive vegetation will starve fish and other marine life of oxygen. The lake is used to supply drinking water to Mount Kisco and so real health issues were involved. So, this might explain why Trump deep down hates environmentalists. They stopped his golf course plans.

The property lies within 3 townships, Bedford, New Castle and North Castle, and residents vigorously protested the golf course on the basis of increased traffic and environmental issues. So by 2013, Trump gave up on the idea of the grand 18-hole golf course, and looked to subdivide the property and build houses on the property. More permits, more protests. Nothing really panned out.

In February 2019, Donald Trump’s lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, testified under oath in the Congressional Oversight Committee, accusing Donald Trump of inflating the value of his properties, to enhance his ability to secure loans. In his testimony, he specifically stated that the Seven Springs property had been valued at a whopping 291 million dollars. In his book in 2020, entitled Disloyal, he named other properties which the Trump organization would double or triple the value, in a very cavalier manner.

In March 2021, the Associated Press published a well researched article on the “sleepy NY estate” like a sleepy dog that you do not dare to disturb. The undevelopable property found a way to make money for Trump anyway, by making an arrangement with the state, not to develop it, and be paid for environmental conservation. Imagine that! The Donald who wanted to become rich by building another golf course, and pollute Lake Byram was now an environmentalist. Well a greedy and dishonest environmentalist who knew how to work the system was what he was.

AP Article: Claimed value of sleepy NY estate could come to haunt Trump

There is more irony to this story. Donald Trump who claims to love his country so much, he wraps himself up in the American flag, was bilking millions from the government (and tax payers) with the conservation payments based on highly exagerrated property evaluation.

Axiom exposed the wide ranging valuation issues in September 2021.

Link: Key takeaways from New York AG’s lawsuit against Trump

It seems Eric Trump was really the one negotiating and approving these deals. The charges against Donald Trump are very long (222 pages). Everything is over appraised, apartment buildings, hotels and golf courses. A total of 23 properties are involved. See links at the end of this posting.

The court case begins on October 2, 2023 and is scheduled to go four months. It is a witch hunt in a sense that the skeletons of the Trump’s shady business deals are coming out of the closet. Actually, there is a warehouse full of skeletons. I pity the jury, who must go through all this, but it will prove again that Donald Trump and his sons have little respect for the law.

I suspect the IRS and the Justice Department will be closely following this case, and they have the authority to bring criminal charges against Donald Trump and likely Eric Trump as well. It still baffles me how Trump receives millions of dollars in contributions to defend his illegal actions, which in this case, hurt the taxpayers. Not the way to make America great.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Summary of Charges

letitia-james-lawsuitDownload

Lawsuit Filed by New York State Attorney General Office

letitia-james-lawsuit-222-pagesDownload

The CREW Disqualification Lawsuit in Colorado

by Dave

Just as I completed the last posting on disqualification, a lawsuit was filed by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) to disqualify Donald Trump from being on the ballot in Colorado. The lawsuit is filed against the Secretary of State of Colorado for accepting Donald Trump as a qualified candidate for the Colorado primary to be held on March 5, 2024.

In the prior posting, both conservative and liberal law professors have concluded that Donald Trump must be disqualified as a candidate because he “engaged in insurrection.” Other very well known law professors have concluded that Donald Trump is eligible to run for president.

The plaintiffs in this case are ordinary voters, who claim they have been harmed, along with the other voters in Colorado, because having an ineligible candidate on the ballot, will diminish the chances that other eligible candidates could win the primary.

See link: https://www.citizensforethics.org/news/press-releases/lawsuit-filed-to-remove-trump-from-ballot-in-co-under-14th-amendment/

Note at the bottom of this webpage, there is a link to the filed lawsuit.

I honestly don’t know if this lawsuit “has legs” meaning can it be accepted by the court as a valid legal challenge. Legal analysis by Northwest University Professor Steven Calabresi suggested that injury or harm could be claimed by one of the other Republican candidates running for president.

Another group called Free Speech for People are allied with Mi Familia Vota Educational Fund, has written letters to the secretaries of state of many states, urging them to invoke Section 3, and disqualify Trump from the ballot.

Professor Calabresi said those administrators must act. “Trump is ineligible to be on the ballot, and each of the 50 state secretaries of state has an obligation to print ballots without his name on them,” he said, adding that they may be sued for refusing to do so.

I would imagine if similar challenges succeeded in several states, the Supreme Court would accept to hear this issue. In this case, they may rule that he is eligible, given the Griffin precedent.

When Democrat secretaries of state disqualifies Donald Trump, making judgements on his actions and using their interpretation of Section 3 and case law, they are passing the will of the electorate in their state.

Professor McConnell writes: “We must not forget that we are talking about empowering partisan politicians such as state Secretaries of State to disqualify their political opponents from the ballot, depriving voters of the ability to elect candidates of their choice. If abused, this is profoundly anti-democratic.”

I agree, but would just say that this will be vehemently considered an abuse of voting rights by about half the country (Republicans), which the secretaries of state are sworn to uphold.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Part II: The legacy of Jair Bolsonaro and Donald Trump

by Dave

This post will be more meaningful if Part 1 is read first.

Ex-President Jair Bolsonaro greatly admired Donald Trump, and his form of right wing populist politics. It was a very passionate love of country and religion, an emotional attachment that voters could easily embrace. Bolsonaro attacked the socialist views of Lula da Silva, comparing him to Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro, who wrecked the economy of Venezuela and Cuba, respectively.

He continued his attack on the Federal Election court and the election in which he lost. While still in power, Bolsonaro met with foreign ambassadors in July 2022, in which he spread false information about Brazil’s electoral system. Thus he was laying the foundation to challenge the entire election process. The meeting was livestreamed by official television channels and on YouTube.

A lawsuit was filed by Brazil’s Demcratic Labor Party. On June 30, 2023, the federal election court barred Jair Bolsonaro from running for president until 2030. Bolsonaro plans to appeal the judgement. Per the CNN link:

Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who presided over the court, cast his vote last. “Let us reaffirm our faith in our democracy and the rule of law,” he said after voting in favor of the guilty verdict. Moraes added that with the vote Brazilian authorities would show they do not tolerate “criminal extremism attacking the powers of the state, fake news, disinformation to try to deceive voters.”

There are many other cases pending against Bolsonaro. Most recently has been the Saudi rolex watch scandal. The accusation is that Bolsonaro gave the watch to an aide to sell and then deposit the money back into his account. It is not a lot of money ($70,000) but the Superior Court has now permitted inspection of Jair Bolsonaro and Lt. Col. Mauro Cid bank accounts in the US on August 18, 2023.

This is a rapidly developing story, as on August 18, 2023, seven high-ranking military police officers were arrested in connection with the Jan. 8 attacks. I suspect more will follow, including possible connections between the violence on January 8, 2022 and ex-president Jair Bolsonaro. Also, there is considerable speculation in the media, that Bolsonaro and his son, Flavio were enriching themselves through government graft. It will be the court that have to decide whether guilt based on facts, not speculation in the media.

Link: ABC News: Brazil’s Bolsonaro accused by ex-aide’s lawyer of ordering sale of jewelry given as official gifts

What if Bolsonaro’s comments were not livestreamed and broadcast, and also captured on You Tube? Perhaps the Superior Court would have acted differently.

There is no equivalent in the US to the 7 member panel overseeing the election and corruption in Brazil. Some may consider it gives too much authority, as only a simple majority can deny a candidate from running for office. Our First Amendment rights are very broad, while a president is in office. However as Donald Trump has discovered, defamation lawsuits against an ex-president can be won as in the E. Jean Carroll lawsuit.

___

Trump at present has four criminal cases against him. The Federal January 6 case and Georgia case involve his direct involvement to interfere with the results of a fair election, before the election and afterwards, leading up to the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. The classified documents case relate to actions after he left office on January 20, 2021. Trump will be formally arrested in the Georgia election interference case on August 24, 2023.

A commonality of the US and Brazilian system is, no matter how high or low a person’s social status, there is equal justice and accountability for all. We have no privilege class. The prisons of our country and Brazil, were not created to house the poor or illiterate, but those found guilty of crimes by a jury in court of law where the rights of the defendant are enforced. A second principle is that the electorate decides who will govern the country in free and fair elections. Every four years, in the US and Brazil, only the electorate who can be their president.

Both Bolsonaro and Trump have legal rights and can petition a higher court to appeal their sentences. This is another example of

I feel no matter, what occurs, their legacy will be that they truly believed that truth did not matter. Everything depended on the dissemination of false information via social media and cable stations to maintain their base.

Trump in particular has portrayed his legal problems on a corrupt legal system, but this is another lie. He is the cause of the four criminal indictments.

Stay tuned,

Dave

What happens to Trump today?

by Dave

Donald Trump and Walt Nauta, his personal assistant, will voluntarily turn themselves in to the federal court in Miami today, June 13. The proceedings begin at 3:00 pm. They are expected to plead not guilty on all charges.

Trump and his associates will enter through an underground garage, so there will be no news coverage of him entering and leaving the building. He will not be required to post bail.

Trump will be accompanied by his lawyer, Todd Blanche. He can not practice law in Florida, but the Judge may allow him to represent Trump during the very brief arraignment. The arraignment will take place in the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. Courthouse.

Also, Trump’s personal assistant, Walt Nauta, will be charged with 6 counts as he helped Trump hide boxes of documents and lied to the FBI. He previously served the US in the Navy. There is considerable speculation that he will flip on Trump, if prosecutors offer him a deal. But, this might not be the case, as the prosecution might not really need his cooperation.

See link for additional information:

Link: https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/13/politics/trump-court-appearance-what-to-watch/index.html

Today’s event is historic. Trump will likely have a press conference tonight and will likely call the arraignment a disgrace, and claim that Biden is trying to lock him up, so he can not run for president. He will claim there is a double standard, and he is being targeted unfairly.

The reason that Attorney General appointed a Special Counsel, is to shield the investigation from politics and go where the evidence leads them.

The indictment clearly shows that he personally was involved in taking top secret documents and later hiding them authorities and even his own lawyer. It is a total contradiction for Trump to claim that he had a clear right to the documents under the law, and then take part in an effort to hide them from everyone.

Stay tuned,

Dave

E. Jean Carroll Lawsuit

by Dave

Donald Trump has been found guilty of sexual abuse and defamation in a civil proceedings in New York City. It is a civil case, so he must pay for the harm he has caused by his actions. The assault is claimed to occurred in 1996, approximately 27 years ago.

He can not be charged with the crime of sexual assault or rape, because of the statute of limitations. A criminal case would have a higher burden of proof. It also has a number of protections for the accused.

Trump’s lawyers are certain to provide numerous reasons why he received an unfair trial in their appeal. Likely they will be explaining these reasons on cable news. One of them is the Adult Survivors Act. The ASA creates a one-year lookback window for sexual assault survivors to pursue civil claims in court for abuse that may have occurred years earlier, as long as they were over 18 at the time. Previously, a person who experienced sexual abuse only had a few years to file a lawsuit in New York before their claim would be time-barred.

Link: Adult Survivors Act

The window is from November 22, 2022 to November 23, 2023. So from now until Nov 23, victims have the right to file civil complaints for claims that may go back 50 years ago or more. They had to be 18 years old at the time. It will be argued in the appeal, that the law did not have sufficient safeguards for the accused.

Statute of limitations help protect people of being accused of a crime that occurred so far in the past, that it would be unreasonable to expect the accused from being able to recall what happened on a particular day and find rebuttal witnesses. But, it can deny victims their day in court. It is especially important in cases where DNA and other evidence has been collected.

I intend to follow this case from a legal perspective. * The appellate court will not determine if Trump received a fair trial, as this is a very open question. What they will rule on is, whether his appeal is valid, based on court records, judge’s decisions, the rules of evidence and his constitutional rights, which are intended to provide the accused with reasonable protections in a civil case. It may be a very long time until this is resolved.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Note: I am not a lawyer. I don’t know if the filings are posted on the internet. Certainly, Trump’s lawyers will come up with a dozen reasons why the case should be overturned. As this is being played out, they will attempt to settle the case with Carroll privately.

Trump – we’ve seen all this before

by Dave

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will soon be able to formally arrest Donald Trump on charges that he misused campaign funds in the hush money to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. The payments were made in 2016, and Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, served time for these payments.

And of course, Trump is pushing back, even though he has not yet been indicted.

Per the link below, Trump accused Bragg — without substantiation or evidence — of being a “George Soros-backed Radical Left Democrat prosecutor” and running a “sham” investigation against him.  Bragg has been very reluctant to bring charges against Trump in the past until he had a sufficiently strong case.

Trump’s response is bat shit crazy. Boy I’ve been wanting to use this phrase, but there just weren’t the right circumstances.

On March 15, 2023, I received a contribution request from Trump’s Save America PAC fund, with the subject as Never Surrender, all in capitals and goes on to state:

“The Left thinks that if they bury me with enough witch hunts and intimidate my family and associates that I’ll eventually throw up my hands and give up on our America First movement.

Let me be as clear as possible: I WILL NEVER SURRENDER.

I walked away from a very nice life where the media never said a single mean thing about me.

I knew the price I’d have to pay for running a campaign that promised to take on the Deep State, the Open Borders Lobby, global special interests, and the Soros Money Machine.”

The Soros Money Machine?? George Soros is a billionaire, who runs the Open Society Foundations. It is an excellent foundation, fighting repression in many ways by autocratic governments. Better education leads to an informed public and puts pressure on government to change and allow dissent. The foundation has been active in Eastern Europe’s refugee crisis. Soros money machine has been put to good use.

Insider, Trump’s Pre-emptive Attack on Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg

Open Source Foundations

Fact check, Reuters, 2020, False claims about George Soros

I don’t think paying a porn star hush money from campaign funds, is related to “Saving America” and will decline the bat shit crazy donation request. Trump says his first love is to his country, but everything else says that his first love is to himself and saving Donald Trump.

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Likely indictment #2 is the Georgia Election Meddling Case. This one will be a bit more complicated and could involve a number of officials including Trump. A “Special Grand Jury” was used to help determine the facts in this case, and this information is then given to a normal Grand Jury, to determine if there was potential violations of the law.

See link: Jury in Georgia Trump Inquiry Recommended Multiple Indictments, Forewoman Says

The indictments could come as early as next week. The judge has sealed the recommendations of the Special Grand Jury.

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Attorney Jack Smith is the Special Counsel appointed by DOJ AG Merrick Garland is leading more criminal investigations and likely to produce more indictments, related to obstruction of justice in relation to the classified documents taken from the White House and the event leading to the Jan 6 attack of the capital.

While Donald Trump will continue to blast the legal system and promote wacko conspiracy theories (deep state, George Soros, etc), some very serious prosecutors are on his case, because no one is above the law.

And Trump will be able to pay for the very best legal defense, but that might not be enough. Besides crazy charges that everyone is colluding to get him, Trump will do what every he can to drag our the proceedings.

The “everyone is out to get me” is not a defense. It is just a marketing ploy to get contributions.

So, everyone deserves their day in court, and Trump will get his and the chance to present his defense against the charges. That’s the way the courts work.

Stay tuned,

Dave

The Crime of the Century – Not!

by Dave

In March 2022, Donald Trump filed a lawsuit against everyone he could think of connected to the DOJ Russian probe, the Clinton campaign and the Steele Dossier for damages under the RICO Act. He asked for at least 24 million dollars. Like so many of his lawsuits, it was dismissed in September with scathing comments from Judge Middlebrooks. So Trump got nothing but legal bills. Plus of course, a lot of free publicity, thanks to appearances of his attorney Alina Habba with Sean Hannity on Fox News. All pretty sad.

The Judge sanctioned Trump for filing a frivolous lawsuit. But the worst was still to come. On January 19, 2023, Trump and his lawyer had to pay Clinton and the other defendants just under one million dollars for their legal expenses.

Judge Middlebrooks let Trump have it by calling it a political manifesto and a shotgun pleading. But, his harsh language came only after he allowed Trump and his attorney, Alina Habba to “cure” obvious problems with the initial filing. Trump decided to double down, and add 80 more pages of unsupported claims.

I am thinking Trump’s big legal bill will be paid for by his “Save America” PAC. So, as usual, it is his biggest fans which Donald Trump is ripping off. The judge in the case got it right, in this lawsuit should never have been filed.

The Judge made it clear there would be no third filing, as the amended complaint was not just inadequate in any respect but was inadequate in all respects. Two strikes and you’re out.

“Here, we are confronted with a lawsuit that should never have been filed, which was completely frivolous, both factually and legally, and which was brought in bad faith for an improper purpose,” he wrote.

As I was completing this blog, I discovered this blog from the Democratic Underground website which really nailed it:

Link: This is priceless! From the Court’s decision in TRUMP v. HILLARY CLINTON

Every quote is accurate. I have posted the orders of Judge Middlebrooks under “Trump’s Lawsuit” and it’s best to download the opinion. Everyone can select their favorite section. Here’s one I like:

“The deliberate use of a shotgun pleading is an abusive litigation tactic which amounts to obstruction of justice.”

Further on, the Judge states:

“I find that the pleadings here were abusive litigation tactics. The Complaint and Amended Complaint were drafted to advance a political narrative; not to address legal harm caused by any Defendant.”

I guess the only last bit I could add, is that two days after this verdict, Trump withdrew the 250 million dollar lawsuit he had filed against New York Attorney General Letitia James. See links below:

Additional links:

ABC News, January 20, 2023: Donald Trump withdraws lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James

New York Times November 11, 2022: Judge Fines Trump Lawyers in Clinton Conspiracy Suit Tossed in September

Newsweek Sept 9, 2022, Judge Threatens Trump Lawyers With Possible Sanctions Over Clinton Lawsuit

Now the gory details

Key dates are March 24, 2022 for the initial filing, June 22, 2022, amended filing, September 8, 2022 for the Order to Dismiss and January 19, 2023 for the Order to Sanction Donald Trump and lead attorney Alina Habbab for 938,000 dollars.

“Plaintiff initiated this lawsuit on March 24, 2022, alleging that “the Defendants, blinded by political ambition, orchestrated a malicious conspiracy to disseminate patently false and injurious information about Donald J. Trump and his campaign, all in the hopes of destroying his life, his political career and rigging the 2016 Presidential Election in favor of Hillary Clinton.”

Page after page, the Judge shows it is Donald Trump, not the defendants who makes incomplete unsubstantiated claims. I have posted the judge’s scathing comments of September 8, 2022 on the Pages section of the website. As I read this, I am sure the judge wanted to do exactly what Speaker Pelosi did Trump’s state of the union address – tear it up.

The Order to Dismiss on September 8, 2022 does not mince words.

“Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint is 193 pages in length, with 819 numbered paragraphs. It contains 14 counts, names 31 defendants, 10 “John Does” described as fictitious and unknown persons, and 10 “ABC Corporations” identified as fictitious and unknown entities. Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint is neither short nor plain, and it certainly does not establish that Plaintiff is entitled to any relief. More troubling, the claims presented in the Amended Complaint are not warranted under existing law.”

When the Judge noted problems with the lawsuit with unsubstantiated claims, he allowed Trump to fix it. The normal way would be to add more evidence or withdraw a particular complaint. Instead, Trump just kept piling in another baseless claim of criminality – wire fraud.

“The Amended Complaint alleges that the Defendants “engaged in a calculated scheme to defraud the news media, law enforcement, and counterintelligence officials for the purpose of proliferating a false narrative of collusion between Trump and Russia.” (Am. Compl. ¶ 577). Not only does Plaintiff lack standing to complain about an alleged scheme to defraud the news media, but his lawyers ignore the Supreme Court’s holdings that the federal wire fraud statute prohibits only deceptive schemes to deprive the victim of money or property.”

Page 4 of Order to Dismiss. So, clearly when told to “cure” the complaint, Trump went in the opposite direction, making more baseless accusations.

In 2019, Attorney General Bill Barr appointed John Durham to head up an investigation of wrong doing in the origins of the Russian probe. It was supposed to find evidence that the Russian investigation was a “Witch Hunt” but has yet to find any serious legal violations. Michael Sussman was indicted for lying to the FBI, but found not guilty by a jury trial. The Judge’s commented:

“Likewise, the Amended Complaint cites copiously to the indictment of Michael Sussmann and a substantial portion of the Amended Complaint contains its allegations. But nowhere does the Amended Complaint mention Mr. Sussmann’s acquittal.” (page 9) Note that Michael Sussman was acquitted on May 31, 2022 and the amended complaint filed on June 22, 2022. For brevity I have not included the 27 citations which reference Michael Sussman.

On page 31, the judge states:

“Perplexingly, Plaintiff appears to argue that the Defendants obstructed investigation Crossfire Hurricane by contributing to the initiation of Crossfire Hurricane. That Defendants could have obstructed a proceeding by initiating it defies logic.”

In the US, anyone can sue anyone in a civil proceedings. But a private citizen needs to sue the agency of the government, not the individual. For this reason, 8 federal employees including former FBI Director, James Comey, Senator Adam Schiff, and former FBI agent, Kevin Clinesmith were removed as defendants, and the United States was added. FBI agent Clinesmith plead guilty to altering evidence in the FBI investigation (a single email) and received a one year probation sentence. I think that’s all the criminality that John Durham has proven to date. All claims of a deep state existing in the Department of Justice has apparently alluded John Durham’s investigation.

The RICO statutes were originally passed so law enforcement could go after organized crime. Later, they were used in numerous drug and financial criminal cases. In the 65 pages on the order to dismiss, Judge Middlebrooks methodically dismembers Trump’s lawsuit, and concludes on pages 63-64:

“It is not simply that I find the Amended Complaint “inadequate in any respect”; it is inadequate in nearly every respect. Defendants presented substantively identical arguments in support of dismissal in the earlier round of briefing on Plaintiff’s original Complaint. (See DEs 52, 124, 139, 141, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 149, 157, 159, 160, 163, 165). But despite this briefing, Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint failed to cure any of the deficiencies. Instead, Plaintiff added eighty new pages of largely irrelevant allegations that did nothing to salvage the legal sufficiency of his claims. The inadequacies with Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint are not “merely issues of technical pleading,” as Plaintiff contends, but fatal substantive defects that preclude Plaintiff from proceeding under any of the theories he has presented. At its core, the problem with Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint is that Plaintiff is not attempting to seek redress for any legal harm; instead, he is seeking to flaunt a two-hundred-page political manifesto outlining his grievances against those that have opposed him, and this Court is not the appropriate forum.”

A political manifesto. Wow. This is how the Order to Dismiss ends.

On January 19, 2023, the judge ruled in favor of defendants on sanctions. There were more choice words for the shotgun pleadings as he termed it. He cites other cases, which used similar strategies. The first two sentences of his order to sanctions are:

This case should never have been brought. Its inadequacy as a legal claim was evident from the start. No reasonable lawyer would have filed it. Intended for a political purpose, none of the counts of the amended complaint stated a cognizable legal claim. Thirty-one individuals and entities were needlessly harmed in order to dishonestly advance a political narrative. A continuing pattern of misuse of the courts by Mr. Trump and his lawyers undermines the rule of law, portrays judges as partisans, and diverts resources from those who have suffered actual legal harm.

In his order, he delves into how the lead attorney, Alina Habba used conservative talk show hosts, NewsMax and Sean Hannity on Fox News to misrepresent the facts in the case.

The judge continues:

Here, we are confronted with a lawsuit that should never have been filed, which was completely frivolous, both factually and legally, and which was brought in bad faith for an improper purpose. Mr. Trump is a prolific and sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries. He is the mastermind of strategic abuse of the
judicial process, and he cannot be seen as a litigant blindly following the advice of a lawyer. He knew full well the impact of his actions. See Byrne, 261 F.3d at 1121. As such, I find that sanctions should be imposed upon Mr. Trump and his lead counsel, Ms. Habba.

As correctly stated from the blogger in the Democratic Underground website, to support their conspiracy theory, they used statements obtained from Russian intelligence as follows:

[From Trump’s complaint] Ratcliff’s letter stated that Clinton and her campaign conceived the false Russia collision [sic] story to protect Clinton’s presidential bid, which was at the time, in trouble because of revelations about her illegally using a private email server to handle classified information. Ratcliff confirmed in the letter that Obama, Comey and Strzok knew about it.

[Judge’s footnote] This provocative allegation stirred my curiosity, so I looked up the Ratcliff letter. The allegation in the Amended Complaint fails to mention that the information came from a Russian intelligence analysis and that Mr. Ratcliffe commented: “The IC (intelligence community) does not know the accuracy of this allegation or the extent to which the Russian intelligence analysis may reflect exaggeration or fabrication.” Letter from John Ratcliff, Dir. of Nat’l Intel., to Sen. Lindsey Graham, U.S. Senate (Sept. 29, 2020) https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/press/rep/releases/chairman-graham-releases-informationfrom-dni-ratcliffe-on-fbis-handling-of-crossfire-hurricane. Mr. Trump’s lawyers saw no professional impediment or irony in relying upon Russian intelligence as the good faith basis for their allegation.

Yes. We can trust Russian intelligence as we attack at least five members of the FBI, US Senator, and a host of other prominent officials.

It is likely there are more appeals before any payment is actually made. Personally, I’d like to have seen the sanctions equal to the 24 million dollars that Trump was asking for. But our legal system doesn’t work this way.

Stay tuned,

Dave

I checked Attorney Alina Habba website. It mentions a number of important cases she has worked on. Trump v. Clinton et al, isn’t one of them.

Trump Finance and Documents Lawsuits

by Dave

This is just a quick update.

Finance Civil Lawsuit, September 21, 2022. NY Attorney General Letitia James filed a civil lawsuit against Donald Trump and his three children (Eric, Ivanka and Donald, Jr) alleging a long series of highly inflated estimates of the asset values of properties owned by the Trump Organization. The inflated estimates were used to in general to obtain loans. Other false estimates were provided to insurance companies to show the Trump organization had sufficient asset to guarantee repayment of the loans. The AG explained the basis of the charges at a press conference on September 21, 2022.

The lawsuit is provided below.

NY AG _Financial ComplaintDownload

As many excellent summaries of the civil lawsuit have been posted on the internet, I will not summarize the complaint, except to say it is 222 pages long, with 838 numbered paragraphs. I note the complaint provided below, is user friendly, as one can click on any of the items in the table of contents, and it will go directly to the specific paragraph. Page 213 is the “Prayer for Relief” which is way the Attorney General would like to rule against defendants. This is all up to the courts.

According to Politico:

“James’ suit relies on a special statute for repeat instances of alleged violations of the law, stemming from real estate transactions. She is also filing a criminal referral to federal prosecutors in Manhattan and a separate tax fraud referral to the IRS for the same underlying allegations.”

See Link: Trump, company and family members sued by New York AG over alleged fraud scheme

The legal pundits have indicated that it may be more than a year before this goes to trial. With so many alleged violations, if this is a trial by jury, it will be a brutal ordeal for jurors. And the criminal investigations will continue, and these can result in jail sentences for Donald Trump and gang.

In the meantime, I wonder if anyone would loan money to Trump?

The Mar-a-Lago Documents case

The Appellate Court moved at lightening speed to allow DOJ access to 100 classified documents. It is likely that Trump’s lawyer will ask the full panel of the Appellate Court to review the decision and stay the decision of the 3-judge panel while under appeal. I think this will happen quickly.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Trump Investigations

by Dave

Just as I completed my list, a couple additional Congressional investigations appear to be starting. Congress can investigate wrong doing, but they can’t prosecute people. They can refer potential criminal actions to the Justice Department for further investigation and determination if a crime has been committed.

The list below does not include the deleted text messages from Secret Service agent’s cell phones on January 6. It does not include a pressure campaign by the Justice Department to go after Trump’s enemies including John Kerry. The allegation is very serious, as the Department of Justice has to be non-partisan in its investigations.

The list is compiled based on several websites. I particularly like a website called grid.news which seems to keep up with events. See link: Trump investigation tracker. To keep this as brief as possible, I have included only a few details and the most recent news on the cases. Please refer to the above link for more information.

Right now the Mar-a-Lago Documents case is getting the most air time. Soon, media attention will focus on the January 6 House Committee investigation, which seems to have many subplots.

Mar-a-Lago Documents case (Criminal). The DOJ has informed the court that one of the possible Special Masters proposed by Trump’s lawyers is acceptable to the DOJ. DOJ asks that only non-classified document be examined. Other issues on the scope and payment of the Special Master remain.

Trump’s tax returns to be submitted to House Ways and Means Committee (Fact Finding). Trump lost in Appellate Court on August 18, 2022 and asked for a review by full court. If this fails, Trump indicated that he will seek a review by the US Supreme Court, In my opinion, the Supreme Court will not take up this case.

NY Attorney General and Manhattan DA Office, Trump’s organization business fraud (Criminal/Civil). This case began as a civil lawsuit, but now criminal charges are likely are likely as well. The matter could go to trial in October. The matter was brought by Attorney General Leititia James and has withstood challenges from Donald Trump.

On May 18, 2021, the NY Attorney General’s spokesperson stated:

“We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the organization is no longer purely civil in nature. We are now actively investigating the Trump Organizations in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA.” So it does sound like two trials, one for civil violations and another for criminal ones. This case is “People v Trump org.”

This is the case which compelled Trump to answer questions, and after losing the appeal, Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment rights 440 times in August 2022:

Trump took Fifth Amendment more than 440 times in refusing to answer New York attorney general’s questions

The case “People v Trump Organization” will hopefully be heard in Court sometime later this year.

Georgia Election Interference Case (Criminal). For those who relish Donald Trump to spend time locked up, this could be the case. Hopefully, the evidence will put Trump at the center of the “Stop the Steal” movement and include the recorded phone call of Trump pressing Georgia officials to find 11,000 votes.

See link: 5 things to know about the special grand jury investigating former President Trump and his allies

January 6 House Committee (Investigative, fact finding). Public hearings to resume in September. Committee can not charge Trump or anyone else with crimes. But, the evidence so far presented is pretty damning that Trump encourage the violence on the Capital, and was very slow to take any action to prevent injury and loss of life to the Capital police.

I am hoping that more attention is put on the massive fund raising rallies Trump organized, to encourage his followers to take action to reject the election results. The submission of “fake electors” is likely to be part of the hearings, but I think the DOJ probe is already covered as a criminal matter.

January 6 Department of Justice Jan 6 investigation (Criminal). AG Merrick Garland has kept a tight lid on this investigation. “We do not comment on ongoing investigations” is often repeated by the Attorney General in response to questions and it is really for good reasons, as he builds a case against those who broke the law. Everything ultimately will be out in the open once charges are brought.

The very latest news is that over 30 subpoena have been issued by the Grand Jury investigating January 6 activities. The CBS report states: “The Justice Department is examining how money was raised and spent on alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election; efforts to submit fake “alternate” electors to Congress from states lost by Trump; and the “Stop The Steal” rally held at the Ellipse, adjacent to White House grounds, on Jan. 6, just before the Capitol riot.”

There are two grand juries hearing evidence from prosecutors. These proceedings are supposed to be secret. So, I suggest it is best to wait for actual indictments at this point. It may be next year before this happens.

Trump’s associates keep on being charged and in some cases, convicted. The former White House Chief Strategist, Steve Bannon was found guilty of refusing to comply with a Congressional subpoena and his conviction is under appeal. Bannon will be back in state court, after being charged with defrauding his contributors in the “Build the Wall” fund, which funneled money to himself. Stay tuned for coming attractions. Trump’s pardon let the federal charges be dropped, but it was refiled as a state fraud case.

Bannon’s spin is the big THEY are trying to shut him up, which now is getting a bit tiring. The idea of Bannon as being a leader against the Washington elites, becomes a bit more absurd when he is arrested on billionaire Guo Wengui yacht in 2020, who has his own series of legal problems. Bannon is an elite spin doctor, always looking to cash in.

CNN Steve Bannon pleads not guilty to NY state charges of money laundering, conspiracy and fraud related to border wall effort

Pete Navarro will be in court in November for refusing to comply with a January 6 congressional subpoena.

Lots of other lawsuits out there, including the Dominion Voting Systems defamation case, whose primary target is not Lou Dobbs, or Sidney Powell, but Fox News. There could be an out of court settlement. After all, it is all about money. Dominion wants 1.6 billion dollars for damage to their reputation.

CNN also tracks investigations against Trump and his organization, and also includes five individual lawsuits, ranging from Mary Trump to the Capital Police Officers. See CNN link.

I guess that’s enough. You can Google Rudy Giuliani John Eastman, Mark Meadows, and a long list of people who worked with Trump. They all have legal problems. So Trump’s lawyers need lawyers.

Trump’s counter attack fails

“A good offense is the best defense” is a good adage, but it hasn’t been particularly successful in Trump’s case. The court recently threw out his lawsuit, (Trump v Clinton) in which was a “shotgun attack” on all the baseless grievances stemming from the Russian investigation. Yes, Trump’s lawyers plan to appeal.

See Link: Trump Suit Against Hillary Clinton Dismissed as ‘Manifesto’

I believe the lawsuit as motivated by (1) Trump’s PAC has lots of money to spend on lawyers and (2) It would be the storyline for another video to be distributed by radical right wing conspiracy theorists, of which there seems to be plenty.

On May 22, 2022, Trump’s lawsuit attempting to stop the Attorney General of New York from investigating his taxes was dismissed. AG Leititia James issued the following statement:

“Time and time again, the courts have made clear that Donald J. Trump’s baseless legal challenges cannot stop our lawful investigation into his and the Trump Organization’s financial dealings,” said Attorney General James. “No one in this country can pick and choose how the law applies to them, and Donald Trump is no exception. As we have said all along, we will continue this investigation undeterred.”

Trump lost again in court on September 12, 2022, in an effort to delay the start of the trial against the Trump organization. Note, this is a criminal trial against the corporation, not Donald Trump. Per Reuters posting, “The Trump Organization, which manages golf clubs, hotels and other real estate around the world, has pleaded not guilty and faces possible fines and other penalties if convicted.”

The trial is scheduled to begin October 24, 2022. It isn’t what Trump wants before the mid-term elections.

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Lots can happen until then. All these lawyers need to be paid, so look forward to more “Save America” rallies, which are fund raisers for Donald Trump and friends, not political candidates. Even Mitch McConnell is complaining that Trump’s PAC does little to contribute to his selected candidates.

The more indictments are brought against Trump and his corporation, we will see more push back from Trump supporters. Conspiracies are elastic beasts, the number of evil conspirators continue to expand. to include more government officials who are doing their job. First, Trump told his followers that election results were rigged and he won by a landslide. So, he had to kick out Attorney Bill Barr, who told him it was bullshit. And, as more investigations occurred, the THEY (enemies of the people) now include President Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Department of Justice, legal system in general, FBI, etc, etc.

I guess, the very best comment came from Trevor Noah, on how active Donald Trump must be, to be involved in so many crimes in so many different areas. When does he find time to golf, organize political rallies, or even just eat and sleep?

Stay tuned,

Dave

Raid on Trump’s home

by Dave

Commentators on Fox News were making all kinds of claims of how outrageous this action is, while other commentators on other cable stations were stressing that Trump often acts in defiance of the law, as if he should be given special privileges.

The Department of Justice does not comment on on-going investigations. Neither does the FBI, which would normally sign off on the search warrant as a necessity for their investigation. If it an unreasonable search, the law is on Trump side. Nothing gathered in an illegal search can used in any court case.

The former president’s protection against unreasonable searches comes from the Fourth Amendment. Prosecutors must convince a judge that the search warrant is justified based on current information. The fact that Trump’s home has been searched does not mean he has violated any law. The AG may find there is insufficient evidence to hold Donald Trump personally responsible for the removal of documents.

The Attorney General does not owe Congress an explanation as to why Trump’s home was searched. I do not believe the AG should testify in front of Congress in either an open hearing or closed session. Important information on the investigation will leak out. The Justice Department should move as quickly as possible to either bring charges or close out the investigation.

Per Bloomberg news: “All of a president’s official papers, no matter how trivial, are considered public property, not his alone, according to the Presidential Records Act of 1978. When the president leaves office, those papers go to the National Archives and later as part of a presidential library.”

Also, the article goes on to state: “Theft or destruction of federal records is a felony punishable by up to three years in prison — and disqualification from federal office. But it’s unlikely that the law applies to the office of president, because those qualifications are set out in the Constitution.”

I also have great trust in FBI Director Christopher Wray, a Trump appointee, and AG Merrick Garland, in following all the rules in obtaining and executing the warrant.

The independence of the Department of Justice and FBI is critical. They did not inform the White House, and that is exactly correct.

Stay tuned,

Dave