Stormy Daniels

Trump Legal Issues Update including Calendar Wars

by Dave

The big question is what comes after the Hush Money case. I call this “calendar wars.” I really tried to adhere to the axiom, “Everything should be made as simple as possible but not simpler” often attributed to Einstein.

— Calendar Wars

The Hush Money trial starts March 25 and may go through mid-May, which would allow another criminal trial to begin. It is unclear which one – Documents or Jan 6 case. Trump’s team would like both delayed to post-November, but they could opt to accept a pre-election start date for the Documents case so they can push the more damaging Jan 6 case to after the election. For political purposes, always the less embarrassing case goes first. The Jan 6 case could be put on hold by the Supreme Court.

It is also been suggested by commentators that Judge Cannon might be more lenient to Trump’s delaying tactics with frivolous motions than Judge Chutkan. It looks hopeless that the Georgia trial case will start prior to 2025. But, we shall see.

Hush Money Case: There will be a lot of commentary connected with this trial. Republicans will certainly down play this case, claiming it should be a misdemeanor charge, rather than a felony.

Prosecutors have asked Judge Juan Merchan to order a partial gag order barring Trump from making or directing others to make public statements about potential witnesses, prospective jurors and members of the prosecution team and their families other than District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Trump can blast away at DA Bragg all he wants and has already made a lot of false statements. See link below:

CNN Fact check: Trump makes false and evidence-free claims at Manhattan courthouse

DA Alvin Bragg has described the case in terms of 2016 election interference, which I believe is correct. The secret payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal were done, so his election prospects wouldn’t be hurt by knowledge of these affairs. His reported sexual encounter with Stormy Daniels (Stefanie Clifford) was just one time. He suggested to her, that she could be on his show, “Celebrity Apprentice” but this never happened. She claims he tried to keep the affair alive but she rejected this. The affair with Karen McDougal lasted 9 months.

There has been a lot of contentious issues of who should be allowed to testify and what evidence is material to this case. Donald Trump will absolutely appeal any conviction and these pre-trial motions will be a part of his appeal. See link:

Link: Trump seeks to block Stormy Daniels, Michael Cohen from testifying at NY hush money trial

Jan 6 Case: Trump’s ex-presidential immunity case is now pending in the Supreme Court. What his lawyers want, is to put a hold on the start of the January 6 election obstruction trial. The Special Counsel urges the Supreme Court to either allow the Appellate court ruling to stand, and begin trial as soon as possible or to hear the case on a highly expediated schedule.

Most experts predict that Trump is destined to lose the case, so the issue is whether he can delay it to after the election. So far, no decision. Conservatives on the bench can hand Trump a victory, simply by taking up the case, and then pushing it to the next term to be decided. The three liberals probably have heard enough on this subject, and would be ready to rule against Trump immediately.

Documents case: Pre-trial motions keep going back and forth. Judge Cannon ordered documents unsealed so Trump’s team could know potential witnesses that could be called by the prosecution. Smith request a reconsideration of the order, and he may file an appeal if Cannon doesn’t reverse herself. Legal experts have generally sided with the prosecution, as it gives Trump’s team time to find ways of intimidating witnesses. Trump is well known for his attacks on just about everyone involved in a case against him.

Trump also filed a lengthy “motion to dismiss” brief, and Cannon wants separate briefs for each issue. The Rolling Stone’s lyric, “Makes a grown man cry” is probably resonating in the Smith’s office as Judge Cannon seems reluctant to rule against Trump. Presidential immunity is part of the motion to dismiss, and I’m thinking it is the quickest way to put the whole trial on hold. As discussed in “Calendar Wars” a lengthy hold on the Documents case could disadvantage Trump, as the more damaging January 6 case becomes the likely successor to the Hush Money case.

Judge Cannon has scheduled a hearing on March 1 to review delays in the trial date. The Special Counsel would like the trial to begin on May 20, 2024, but legal experts suggest this date is unrealistic.

Link: The Trump Docket: Jack Smith and Mar-a-Lago judge set for major showdown over protecting witnesses in documents case

Georgia Election Interference Case: We will know soon if DA Fani Willis affair with Nathan Wade will end in her disqualification. The entire conspiracy case disappears at this point! Just as I was ready to post this, Judge McAfee ordered Terrence Bradley, who was Nathan Wade’s partner and divorce lawyer, to answer additional questions, ruling that attorney-client privileges do not extend as far as he allowed before in the hearing.

Michael Roman and several other co-defendants in Trump’s election case are seeking Willis’ disqualification from the case on the grounds that she benefited financially from a “personal, romantic relationship” with Wade, who she hired for the case.

Judge has scheduled a hearing on March 1 on the Willis/Wade romance. I am hoping this does not derail the case.

No date has been set for conspiracy trial. It will be televised and a bit of a circus with all the lawyers defending 15 defendants. For this reason, I believe the Jan 6 federal case is, with the sole focus on obstruction of justice and interference in election proceedings by Trump, is still the most damaging. If Trump gets re-elected, the January 6 case will be sure be dismissed but the Georgia case will continue.

This sums up the four criminal cases. In related cases, Trump needs to come up with bond for the civil cases, which have been appealed. This is a very fluid story of what is possible. There’s the Colorado Disqualification case in the Supreme Court, which may rule in Trump’s favor. I would like this, as voters not judges, need to decide elections.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Donald Trump is a Hypocrite on First Amendment Rights

by Dave

Donald Trump is angry as he claims the government has taken away his right to speak. It didn’t. A jury in Manhattan court found Trump guilty of libel in a private civil lawsuit on January 26, 2024. Of course, he will appeal the case. The plaintiff, E. Jean Carroll, will not receive anything until all appeals are exhausted. 

Donald Trump has sued a long list of individuals and organizations for defamation, and has lost just about every case. He knows better than anyone else, how tough it is to win a defamation case. But, he seems to like suing, if for no other reason, as a means of revenge to people who criticize him. Honestly, it seems always to backfire on him!

“We are going to take a strong look at our country’s libel laws, so that when somebody says something that is false and defamatory about someone, that person will have meaningful recourse in our courts,” Mr. Trump said during a public portion of a cabinet meeting in the White House. (New York Times, January 10, 2018)

“We want fairness,” the president said. “Can’t say things that are false, knowingly false, and be able to smile as money pours into your bank account. We are going to take a very, very strong look at that, and I think what the American people want to see is fairness.” 

No legislation was ever proposed.  Any legislation would have been opposed by civil liberties groups. As a plaintiff in these lawsuits, Trump really could not care about civil liberties. It was all about revenge and it failed almost every time.

Trump sued the internet news site, Buzzfeed for publishing the Steele dossier. Trump sued Fusion GPS for paying for the investigation. Trump also sued Hillary Clinton and many others in 2022, alleging “a malicious conspiracy to disseminate patently false and injurious information about Donald J. Trump and his campaign, all in the hope of destroying his life, his political career, and rigging the 2016 Presidential Election in favor of Hillary Clinton.” All these lawsuits were dismissed. The 2022 lawsuit was dismissed and the Judge awarded nearly one million dollars to all the defendants who had to defend themselves against Trump’s political lawsuit.

Trump sued the New York Times and the reporters over a 2018 investigation into his finances and taxes that was based in part on confidential tax records. The Times easily won the case because the information of true. Then on January 12, 2024, the Judge ordered Trump to pay the Times and three of its reporters nearly $400,000 to cover their legal costs.

However, when Trump is sued for the dissemination of false and injurious statements, then he loves the First Amendment. This is why Donald Trump is a hypocrite. You just can’t have it both ways! He lost as a plaintiff attacking the New York Times on January 12, 2024 and then big time loss as Trump was a defendant with a 83.4 million dollar judgement on January 26, 2024.

If you have information that is true, you have a right to say it, and the forum doesn’t matter. That’s freedom of speech. His fraud case is expected to conclude soon, and it is all about Trump’s dishonesty.

In March 2024, Trump will be back in court, with the charge will be that he approved payment to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougall to keep them silent during the 2016 election. He used campaign funds to keep them silent. As the evidence will show, it’s not dirty politics; it is criminal. And it absolutely runs counter to the rights of individuals to speak in public, about what they witnessed and know is true.

Trump can’t blame the government. He did this to himself.

I predict Trump will lose again in March 2024. And he will lose this presidential immunity case, now in the Appellate court. Candidate Trump is both incredibly dishonest and a hypocrite.

Stay tuned,

Dave 

PS: Almost forgot to include Trump’s attack on Marvin Ruffman, in 1990, who correctly predicted the downfall of Trump’s eighth wonder of the world, the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. You can search for this blog. It is a pattern of insults and bullying that goes back decades. 

No one is above the law – Maybe!

by Dave

We live in a free country.  Anyone can sue anyone.  An astonishing number of frivolous claims are made all the time.  I don’t know if the lawsuit by Stormy Daniels has one iota of merit, and I’m certainly not going there.  But Time magazine and others have raised the issue if a president can be sued in civil court.   Trump came to power with a lot of legal actions pending against him.   Can he be dragged into court while president?  The short answer is – it depends on the  case.  And it is a real uphill legal battle if you’re suing a billionaire president.

There exists “Presidential Immunity”  which is based on the separation of  the judicial and executive branches.   Theoretically,  if there was an open door to frivolous  lawsuits against the president,  the president could be so bogged down with having to respond to them, he could not perform his duties.  It would make the executive branch subordinate to the judicial branch, contrary to the separate and equal branches of government per our constitution.

If there is one individual who was responsible for breaking down this wall of presidential  immunity, it was Paula Jones,  or more specifically Paula Jones legal team.   The initial sexual harassment case began when Bill Clinton was the governor of Arkansas.  Paula Jones claimed that in 1991, Clinton propositioned her and exposed himself in the Governor’s mansion.   She filed in 1994, and the judge dismissed this case, on the basis that a sitting president can not be sued while in office.   Her case went all the way to the Supreme Court, and now is considered a landmark case.   The Supreme Court sided with Paula Jones and allowed her sexual harassment case to proceed in court.  Ultimately, the case was dismissed in a summary judgment for  lack of merit.   The decision was appealed and ultimately settled for $850,000. Paula Jones lawyers got $650,000 and she got $200,000.   Clinton through his lawyers has always maintain his innocence.   The Jones case led to the Monica Lewinsky case, and the impeachment of President Clinton, which failed during the Senate  trial phase.

If any of the many litigants are able to get their day in civil  court against President Trump,  they will be citing the Supreme Court landmark case, Clinton v. Jones which gives them the right to sue the president for actions prior to becoming president.   See Wikipedia link.   There are a lot of ironies to all this.  Clinton could have paid Jones, the $700,000 she was asking for in 1994.  Also, if Bill Clinton had settled out of court with Jones, the case would not have ended up in the Supreme Court, and future Presidents could still be claiming immunity.   It was Clinton who appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, after the appellate court ruled against him.

Paula Jones was a strong supporter of Donald Trump, yet she must now be re-thinking her allegiance in light of all the denials by Trump.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Links:

Wikipedia: Donald Trump sexual misconduct allegations

The Trump accuser who refuses to go away (Summer Zervos Case)

Clinton v. Jones (Wikipedia)