Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Breccia]

Even Ramaswamy does not want to contribute to Trump's campaign

Too bad, the party voted that they want to. Oh well. If only you'd seen this coming! Actually, why didn't you?

[Gorsameth]

They see it coming, but decided that saying nothing and waiting for Trumps very inevitable death is easier and safer then risking him sending a lynch mob to their house.

[Rasulis]

Chubb Insurance and Trump have worked together before. Which is interesting, because he lied to them, and it came up in the NY fraud trial. I suppose it's possible, as I blindly guessed earlier, the bond deal (we don't know what it was) includes some extremely favorable, bordering on vindictive, terms to Chubb, along the lines of "if you miss even a single penny, we get Mar-a-Lago and Melania". Quite frankly, nobody should be doing business with Donald Trump without being paid in advance. Bonds like these are secured, meaning, if Trump goes bankrupt Chubb will be first in line. Perhaps they are insurers of his properties and believe they'll lose value when it becomes Carroll Tower. Or, perhaps they're cultists trying to get back into Trump's favor for...no idea why, honestly.

Chubb's CEO, Evan Greenberg, was appointed to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations in 2018 by Trump.

[Breccia]

Chubb's CEO, Evan Greenberg, was appointed to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations in 2018 by Trump.

Oh...nice catch.

- - - Updated - - -

Hey, we haven't heard from Rudi Giuliani in a while. Let's check in.

(30 seconds later)

It's exactly what you expected.

Attorneys for the appointed Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the bankruptcy case on Thursday filed a notice of a hearing to take place before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane at 2 p.m. on April 4 on the committee’s motion to allow discovery demands to be served via subpoena on Giuliani and third parties, like his companies, his legal defense funds, his son Andrew Giuliani (the “designated agent” of the Giuliani Defense legal fund), Maria Ryan, and others.

Yeah...he's not cooperating with his own bankruptcy.

The notice of hearing submitted attorney Philip Dublin of the firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, requiring that “any responses or objections” to the attached motion be “served so as to be actually received by the Court and the Committee no later than March 28, 2024 at 4:00 p.m.,” stated an interest in probing Giuliani’s “assets, liabilities, relevant prepetition conduct and financial position.”

The motion pointed out that Giuliani’s massive defamation judgment came about after his “willful shirking of his discovery obligations” lost him the case by default.

In light of that, the attorneys said, “substantial doubt exists” that Giuliani is willing or able to “comply fully with his disclosure obligations” in the resulting bankruptcy case set in the same jurisdiction where he made his name as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Because the same “concerns” of an uncooperative Giuliani “persist,” and because Giuliani is “currently the subject of at least nine additional pending litigations or outstanding judgments” threatening upwards of $4 billion” in potential damages, a more aggressive approach is “warranted” here, the filing asserted.

“In the Chapter 11 Case, Giuliani has alleged that he has approximately $10.6 million of assets, which amount is dwarfed by nearly $153 million in liabilities,” the motion said. “Given the magnitude of these liabilities—and considering the pending lawsuits against Giuliani and his businesses seek upwards of $4 billion in damages—Giuliani has substantial motivation to continue his historical pattern of financial obfuscation and discovery misconduct.”

Oh, and it somehow manages to get worse.

Urging the judge to be mindful that Giuliani has incentive to “obfuscate assets,” the motion called for further investigation into the “origin” of the Rudy Giuliani Freedom Fund Legal Defense Trust Fund and Giuliani Defense, from which he “received substantial monetary support” over the course of the Freeman and Hunter Biden cases. The committee lawyers want to know if or how those legal defense funds tie into Giuliani’s companies and who the donors are to Giuliani.

“To date, the origin of these funds, the relationships between Giuliani and the donors of those funds, and any historical relationship between those assets and the assets of Giuliani or the Giuliani Businesses have not been sufficiently disclosed,” the motion continued.

Simply put, by filing for bankruptcy and fucking it up, the source/identity of his benefactors might be exposed.

"Well surely they're fine, law-abiding patriots!"

Sure. Name one.

"Um..."

Yeah, I think their names are being withheld for a reason. It could be anything from the cliche "it's Russia" to conflicts of interest to...honestly I don't know what, but it's Giuliani, somehow it's worse than we know. He cannot get anything right.

How do you fuck up your own bankruptcy this badly?

[Edge-]

How do you fuck up your own bankruptcy this badly?

This is the man that booked the Four Seasons...Landscaping parking lot for a major press conference. And he seems to have lost more than a few steps since then, possibly as a result of his apparent and unfortunate alcoholism/fondness for drink.

[Cthulhu 2020]

So one of Trump sycophants put up the 91M for his appeal in the E Jean Carroll case. I don't think he even intends to win the appeal, it looks like Trump's entire strategy is delay delay delay delay delay. If he wins he's going to do his best to make all of his legal troubles disappear. I'm sure that's what they're all banking on, because Trump is going to cost them A LOT of money if they lose.

[postman1782]

So one of Trump sycophants put up the 91M for his appeal in the E Jean Carroll case. I don't think he even intends to win the appeal, it looks like Trump's entire strategy is delay delay delay delay delay. If he wins he's going to do his best to make all of his legal troubles disappear. I'm sure that's what they're all banking on, because Trump is going to cost them A LOT of money if they lose.

I guarantee that when he loses the appeal again, the company just gets screwed and Trump will never pay them.

I mean, he has nothing to appeal on. Everything he has brought up since losing, he either has no evidence of, or has already been debunked.

[Benggaul]

This is the man that booked the Four Seasons...Landscaping parking lot for a major press conference.

My wife still goes into an uncontrollable laughing fit any time this is mentioned. Back when it happened she did not believe me and immediately turned to her computer to look it up for herself and for a hot minute I thought I might need to call emergency services for a rare laughter-induced inability to breathe.

[Cthulhu 2020]

I guarantee that when he loses the appeal again, the company just gets screwed and Trump will never pay them.

I mean, he has nothing to appeal on. Everything he has brought up since losing, he either has no evidence of, or has already been debunked.

Oh look, the common thread pops its head up again, Chubb is a Moscow based insurance company.

https://aebrus.ru/en/about-the-aeb/o...LEMENT_ID=6922

Who could have seen this coming?

Putin really really wants Trump to end the US aid to Ukraine huh.

[Gorsameth]

Wonder if they will also put up the ~500 mil for his other judgement

[PhaelixWW]

Oh look, the common thread pops its head up again, Chubb is a Moscow based insurance company.

https://aebrus.ru/en/about-the-aeb/o...LEMENT_ID=6922

No, they're not.

C'mon now. Lazy research is just lazy.

[Breccia]

Wonder if they will also put up the ~500 mil for his other judgement

Business Insider says they can, but goes into gruesome detail as to how.

On Friday, Trump posted a bond in his E. Jean Carroll defamation case — it's backed by $93 million experts say he most likely pulled out of his own wallet in the form of ready or borrowed cash.

Yeah, Business Insider immediately redirects to this other article.

The bond — totaling $91.63 million to reflect mandatory interest and fees — allows Trump a measure of relief as he appeals the case and continues to pursue the presidency. Without it, Carroll's lawyers could have moved to enforce the judgment and go after Trump's assets following the deadline on Monday next week.

The bond agreement effectively means that Trump offered some form of collateral to the Federal Insurance Co. — commonly known as Chubb — to guarantee the cash would be there if he lost his appeals and the judgment was enforced.

Trump agreed to the terms of the bond with the Federal Insurance Co. on Tuesday, according to documents filed in court Friday.

Details of the deal were not made public in court documents. Chubb has previously declined to speak with Business Insider about underwriting Trump's appeal bond.

Chubb likely charged Trump another $250,000 or more — as much as $1 million — as a premium on the bond, Neil Pedersen, the owner of the Manhattan surety-bond agency Pedersen & Sons, said.

Trump would have shopped around for the lowest premium, and there may have been more than one carrier competing for his business, Pedersen said. Still, because of the size of the bond, and the high publicity surrounding it, "I don't think there were a lot of companies competing to do this," Pedersen said.

And that was for the small one. Back to the first article:

"Grossly excessive," he called the sum in a bulky, 1,794-page appellate filing last week.

"Did he not realize the irony in calling something excessive while filing and entire book? Seriously the J.R.R. Tolkien 4-Book Boxed Set: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Mass Market Paperback on Amazon has fewer pages."

I think he gets the irony, I think the filing is intentionally overinflated on the hope it will slow the judges down. This is a stupid move. I don't think the appeals court will pause their ruling or the 30-day countdown just because Trump padded his book report.

"Why would he file an entire book?"

Trump's "strategy" seems to be to try literally everything. I honestly, non-sarcastically claim without reading it that the literal majority is "this is unfair because I say it is unfair but I have no legal backing to that claim" and that the word "President" appears at least one thousand times.

"Did he really file a 1794 page book about he needs more time?"

Yes. It didn't work.

But despite his protests, a Manhattan appeals court has declined to lessen or delay what Trump must pay, at least for now. So Trump's deadline clock keeps ticking.

Surety experts and professionals say Trump must come up with half-a-billion in cash for a fraud-case appeal bond before that March 25 deadline, or else risk state liens and even the forced seizure and Sheriff's sale of his properties.

"All you have to do is give the judgment to the Sheriff and say, 'Sheriff, Donald Trump owns this. We want you to sell it,'" said Eric Snyder, a bankruptcy attorney and an expert in judgment enforcement.

"It's as easy as that. And the Sheriff will say, 'Sure. Since I get five percent under New York law, I'll be glad to sell it,'" Snyder added. "It happens pretty quickly."

So, yeah, Trump will avoid that if possible. Due to the timing, he might literally rather die, than go into the election appearing to be a poor loser.

So BI goes into what they think is the more likely option(s):

To meet his March 25 deadline, Trump must show the state and his Manhattan fraud case judge, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, that he has set aside the $455 million in cash he now owes from last month's civil fraud judgment.

How does Trump prove he has set the money aside? By posting another appeal bond. Similar to the more familiar jail bond, an appeal bond is a promise of payment that's backed by collateral, meaning cash or property.

bla bla bla skipping ahead a bit

Once the money's parked, Trump's bank or banks would give the bond underwriter — Chubb or any other carrier — what's known as an "irrevocable letter of credit."

That's a guarantee from the bank saying Trump has the judgment money set aside with them, and he can't touch it until the appeal is decided. Whoever wins the appeal gets the cash.

"You want cash, you want an irrevocable letter of credit, you want anything but real estate," when underwriting bonds of this size, said Pedersen.

Because if Trump loses his appeal in the fraud case, he'll have only 10 days to turn the judgment over, in cash, to the state.

"How do you turn real estate into cash in just 10 days?" Pedersen said.

This part is new to me. So...and I'm a little out of my element here, I could be off...Trump is getting cash, from a loan, whose collateral is also cash. I guess the idea is that Chubb (let's just pretend it's Chubb) gets a large portion of the loan paid up front, the percentage based on the percentage risk they think Trump is. So, half? If/when Trump loses, Chubb eats that judgement in 10 days, keeps the collateral they've already taken from Trump, and the contract they signed with Trump would allow Trump to pay the rest of the money over a gentler time period. And, as I keep saying, these terms in that contract would be exceptionally favorable to Chubb and exceptionally strict. [/quote]

Business Insider says Chubb can easily afford Trump's NY fraud bond. They are less energetic about saying they want to. Carroll's judgement being reduced is realistic, Trump Org was basically found guilty on sight and the judgement wasn't even maximum. I think it's highly likely the fraud judgement and damages will stay at least half of their current value, I think Trump will lose all the cash collateral he put up, and I think Chubb will basically have to strangle him to get the rest of what they're owed.

But hey, if you wanted to get paid, you probably wouldn't have agreed to work for Trump. Maybe Chubb knows this and are just fucking with election laws by throwing Trump half a billion dollars as a campaign donation.

[gondrin]

So, when will Trump write his own Mein Kamph but instead of Hitler's vision for Germany, it is just Trump complaining about "How Bigly Unfair everyone is to him!!!".

[Breccia]

So, when will Trump write his own Mein Kamph but instead of Hitler's vision for Germany, it is just Trump complaining about "How Bigly Unfair everyone is to him!!!".

You can't do that in 140 characters. Also, you're assuming his cult both can, and will, read. Intelligent people who follow Trump don't care about his racism and violence, they just want the tax cuts.

[gondrin]

You can't do that in 140 characters. Also, you're assuming his cult both can, and will, read. Intelligent people who follow Trump don't care about his racism and violence, they just want the tax cuts.

I would picture it be the same as this scene from The Simpsons.

[Breccia]

Donald Trump Criminal Trial Taking 'Unusual' Measures: Former Prosecutor

In an order published on Thursday, Judge Juan Merchan granted motions put forward by prosecutors on February 22 to restrict the disclosure of jurors' names to parties involved in the case, and to limit who knew their home or business addresses to either party's lead counsel. In his ruling, he referenced "the likelihood of bribery, jury tampering, or of physical injury or harassment."

Trump's legal team accepted the two motions, on the proviso that the jurors' names could be disclosed to other legal staff and consultants involved in the trial, which is due to start on March 25.

Glenn Kirschner, a former assistant U.S. attorney and frequent Trump critic, took to X, formerly Twitter, on Friday to share a video discussing the ruling that the jury will be anonymous, adding that it is "unusual" considering the defendant is a former president.

"This jury will be anonymous so Donald Trump and the prosecutors will not be permitted to disclose their names, their identities to anyone. That's unusual, not unprecedented. You may have heard me say in the past that in my 30 years as a federal prosecutor I only had two cases with anonymous juries and each one was the RICO prosecution of what was one of the most dangerous criminal organization in Washington D.C.," Kirschner said.

He also stressed that the case he worked on involved a defendant "so dangerous" that it warranted the measure of an anonymous jury.

"They were so dangerous that the judge ordered that those jurors would remain anonymous in those two cases and now those extraordinary juror protection measures have to be put in place for the criminal trial for a former president of the United States," Kirschner added.

Oh good, the man who wanted to be a mob boss is being treated like a mob boss. I hope he's happy.

Oh, and this?

Meanwhile, a third request from prosecutors asked the court "to explicitly provide notice to [the] defendant that any harassing or disruptive conduct that threatens the safety or integrity of the jury may result in forfeiture of the defendant's access to juror names."

Um...what? What fucking sense does that make?

"Mr. Trump, you have ordered your cult followers to hunt down these people and gave them their names. I am now removing your access to their names."
"That's fine, Your Honor, the people making the death threats already have them. Oh, and I still have this piece of paper with them all written down. Restrict away."
@cubby what am I missing here?

[Candiman]

My thoughts would be that in such an important trial there would possibly a second or even third jury sworn in and following the trial from a secure location. Trump's lawyer's will have access to the name of the first jury but not alternate ones should they be needed and these names would be withheld from Trump and his lawyers. I could be wrong though.

[Flarelaine]

I'm a little out of my element here

Not as much as Donnie, though.

[D Luniz]

Oh...nice catch.

- - - Updated - - -

Hey, we haven't heard from Rudi Giuliani in a while. Let's check in.

(30 seconds later)

It's exactly what you expected.



Yeah...he's not cooperating with his own bankruptcy.



Oh, and it somehow manages to get worse.



Simply put, by filing for bankruptcy and fucking it up, the source/identity of his benefactors might be exposed.

"Well surely they're fine, law-abiding patriots!"

Sure. Name one.

"Um..."

Yeah, I think their names are being withheld for a reason. It could be anything from the cliche "it's Russia" to conflicts of interest to...honestly I don't know what, but it's Giuliani, somehow it's worse than we know. He cannot get anything right.

How do you fuck up your own bankruptcy this badly?

didnt he lose the defamation case in the first place for this stupid idea of "well if I just refuse to participate..."

[Gorsameth]

didnt he lose the defamation case in the first place for this stupid idea of "well if I just refuse to participate..."

Yes, he refused to comply with discovery and got slapped with a default judgement. Which is part of the argument they are pointing out now, that he has a history of refusing to comply and that the court should force him to cooperate. (or presumably face contempt of court and potential indefinite incarceration)