Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Breccia]

Judge Merchan says Trump won't testify.

After hearing arguments Friday, Judge Juan Merchan ruled that prosecutors can cross-examine Trump about six of the 13 prior court determinations they requested to raise in their efforts to impugn Trump’s credibility in front of jurors.

Merchan ruled that prosecutors are permitted to question Trump about two rulings — one by a judge, the other by a jury — finding that Trump defamed advice columnist E. Jean Carroll by denying her claims of sexual assault.

The judge said prosecutors can also raise the decision in Trump’s civil fraud trial finding that he fraudulently manipulated property values as well as rulings finding that Trump violated the gag order in that case. Trump can also face questioning about a 2018 ruling in a lawsuit against his foundation.

But Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) cannot bring up sanctions imposed against Trump in a lawsuit he filed against Hillary Clinton in Florida, the judge ruled, as well as several other “bad acts” prosecutors desired to cross-examine Trump about.

Merchan’s ruling is designed to give Trump’s legal team an informed view as it mulls whether the former president should take the stand in his defense.

"What about that says Trump can't testify?"

I didn't say can't. I said won't. If Trump takes the stand, his proven frauds will be shoved in the jury's collective faces. Considering these are specific findings of guilt in court, they're objectively evidence of his past criminal actions. I think the ones disallowed were disallowed because they reflect more on the lawyers than on Trump himself. Trump ran a fraud, but his lawyers attacking Clinton crossed the line on Trump's behalf.

[Gigantique]

Trump, 10am today (April 22)

We all know that notepad will, at most, be used to scribble his draft of his next Truth rant about how Soros funded this forum reply and Biden directed it BIGLY.

Man what a defeated-looking bunch of losers.

[Breccia]

Trump, 10am today (April 22)

New York Times reporter Susanne Craig wrote on the paper’s liveblog of the trial at around 10am local time (3pm UK time): “Trump is struggling to stay awake.

All that staying up late raging about the courts is really helping, huh?

Who am I kidding. Trump could not usefully contribute to his defense in court. He's honestly better off asleep...well, until sleeping in court counts as contempt.

- - - Updated - - -

As mostly expected, the $175 million bond was accepted by the court. Despite it being illegal on its face Engoron allowed it, most likely in the continuing bucket of "giving them every possible leniency to remove even the whiff of bias" which is still fucking stupid, because Trump will continue to scream BIAS! into his phone and at his rallies.

There was no reasonable reason to do this.

At the bare minimum, some conditions have been set.

While Engoron allowed the bond to stand, Trump and Knight Specialty Insurance Company agreed to meet several new requirements, per a spokesperson from the New York State Attorney General's office.

• Knight Specialty Insurance Company will retain "exclusive control" of the $175 million account, and the company and Trump will provide a monthly account statement certifying that there are sufficient cash funds for the bond.
• Knight Specialty Insurance Company has agreed to designate an agent of process in New York.
• The agreement between the company and Trump also can't be amended without court approval.

I am sick and tired of Trump being given all these advantages that nobody else has. The rule of law means nothing if some people don't have to follow it. At least this issue won't be appealed...why would it, Trump won every exchange.

At the very minimum "prove you have enough cash" is settled, now. They have to keep showing account balances. I'm a little mystified why the contract between KSIF and Trump can't change. That doesn't seem like something that should be allowed to happen under any circumstances. Who tells their bail bondsman "I've changed my mind, I've decided not to pay you"?

[Edge-]

As mostly expected, the $175 million bond was accepted by the court. Despite it being illegal on its face Engoron allowed it, most likely in the continuing bucket of "giving them every possible leniency to remove even the whiff of bias" which is still fucking stupid, because Trump will continue to scream BIAS! into his phone and at his rallies.

I hope Engoron enjoys being a spinless fuck living in fear for the rest of his life.

Gosh, are there just any fucking consequences for literally anything Donald does, ever? Seems like not, and seems like everyone should make mockeries of our judicial system and then just point to shit like Donald and for why nobody else should ever suffer consequences for repeatedly ignoring court orders.

I guess if I ever need to get a bond I can go with a company that's neither licensed to operate in the state and also has failed to provide proof that they have the liquid assets to cover the bond. And if the judge gets all uppity about it I'll point to that time Donald did the same thing and it was totes fine, he even had the bond amount reduced by more than half! I should tell them I'm too rich to pay!

Fucking joke.

[Breccia]

I hope Engoron enjoys being a spineless fuck living in fear for the rest of his life.

Again, I hope it's less "spineless" and more "I don't want any possibility of any mild issue from getting in the way". But the end result is still the same. Trump not only got an extension, not only got a lower bond, but got a blatantly illegal one because nobody valid wants to touch this case.

I am really quite curious what deal KSIC/Trump signed that can no longer be changed is. KSIC has to know that the judgement is far higher than the $175 million they barely have. The amount could be reduced on appeal, and they'd still be out the whole thing.

[Edge-]

A witness who spoke to federal investigators in their probe of how documents with classification markings ended up at former president Donald Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida home long after the end of his term in office was so afraid of repercussions for cooperating with the FBI that he asked agents not to record his voluntary interview.

According to a heavily-redacted copy of an FD-302 — an FBI form memorialising the contents of a witness interview — the witness, a former Trump White House official, spoke to investigators on 2 November 2022.

The investigators, including Department of Justice attorneys Jay Bratt and Julie Edelstein, advised the witness — referred to as “Person 16” in the redacted document — that it is unlawful to lie to federal investigators.

The FD-302 form states that after he acknowledged the warning, the witness “refused recording of the interview” even though he was told such behaviour would be “anomalous” because other witnesses had consented to being recorded.

But the witness told investigators he “accepted ‘that risk’” because having his interview with FBI agents recorded would be “a far bigger risk to him in the Trump world”.

https://archive.is/LGDli

Now, is this a discussion about a mob boss? Or a former president who is currently the de-facto head of and party nominee for a major political party?

[Zaydin]

If you want some schadenfreude, Trump was on Lies Social whining that his cultists aren't loyal enough to show up in numbers protesting outside the courthouse in Manhattan.

It started as a rant about the protests at Columbia University and took a sudden swerve declaring that Republicans had a right to protest in front of the Courthouse.

[cubby]

Trump, 10am today (April 22)

OMG I am LOVING this. Donald slap-them-in-the-pussy Trump having to sit still all day during his criminal trial. Being told what and when to do it. While a minute penalty to all the hate and harm he's done to this world, it's still very good to see.

[Shadowferal]

Prosecutors say Trump violated his gag order 10 times. The judge is finally set to weigh in.

The prosecutors say Trump has repeatedly violated a gag order that prohibits him from attacking witnesses, jurors and others involved in the case. Justice Juan Merchan has scheduled a Tuesday morning hearing, outside the presence of the jury, to consider the prosecutors’ arguments.

If Merchan agrees that Trump has defied the gag order, he’ll then face the thorny question of what to do about it. His options range from a sternly worded warning to a modest fine to a short stint in jail.

Several former prosecutors said they expect Merchan to be lenient. But they also noted that the situation is fluid, unpredictable, and — it goes without saying — unprecedented.

“Judge Merchan is going to do everything possible to give him as much leeway as possible to cure the situation and be a better defendant,” said Diana Florence, a former Manhattan prosecutor.

But Trump has shown little willingness to curb his public rhetoric, prosecutors say. On April 15, the first day of the trial, prosecutors cited three alleged violations of the gag order, including an April 13 post on Truth Social in which Trump called Michael Cohen, a star witness for the prosecution, a “disgraced attorney and felon.”

A bit of back and forth here.. but I think Merchan let the rope play out long enough. It's time to hang Trump with some jail time. (Merchan has a temper. He may do it.)

[Karreck]

A bit of back and forth here.. but I think Merchan let the rope play out long enough. It's time to hang Trump with some jail time. (Merchan has a temper. He may do it.)

I think fines will come first. Jail time will be a last resort.

[Edge-]

His options range from a sternly worded warning

Come on now, if it's literally anything other than this I think the health care system might buckle because so many people will need medical attention for the level of shock simultaneously experienced.

[Slirith]

Come on now, if it's literally anything other than this I think the health care system might buckle because so many people will need medical attention for the level of shock simultaneously experienced.

Right? The finger will just wag a bit more and no major consequences will come for Dump.

[Edge-]

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile...nnounced-raid/

When the FBI searched Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property on Aug. 8, 2022, what followed were incessant criticisms of an “unannounced raid” and “siege,” a search of the former president’s Florida home his allies also called “unprecedented” and “unconstitutional.” Trump’s defense, however, is now arguing as part of a bid to compel discovery in the Espionage Act case that the FBI’s search didn’t go far enough.

In a supplemental filing to their duel with special counsel Jack Smith, the defense for co-defendant Walt Nauta reiterated their demand, on behalf of Trump and Carlos De Oliveira as well, for “records concerning the FBI’s apparent failure to search several areas of President Trump’s residence during their execution of a search warrant on Mar-a-Lago.”

“That such information would be discoverable is beyond dispute,” the defense asserted, before explaining their theory is that Trump and his co-defendants could hardly be persuasively accused of concealing boxes of classified documents from Trump Attorney 1, namely Evan Corcoran, and a grand jury when there’s “unequivocally material” evidence that may undermine the prosecution’s case.

Calling Smith’s allegations a “conspiracy theory,” the defense first assigned blame to Corcoran and then said the FBI failed to search a “‘hidden room’ behind a bureau in President Trump’s bedroom” and a locked closet.

Damn, I guess there might be more classified documents in secret rooms the FBI apparently didn't search? It would be a shame if they rolled back to maralago and tore the place apart looking for them in response to this filing.

This is a really stupid argument.

[Shadowferal]

It sounds like Merchan's losing patience with Trump's lawyer;

The ensuing back-and-forth between Blanche and Merchan continued to a roiling boil until Blanche suddenly claimed that the violations at hand—which involve Trump “reposting an article from a news site” or a “news program”—don’t actually violate the order. Still, Blanche had no precedent or case law to support such a claim.

“I don’t have any case law,” Blanche said, instead calling it “common sense” and doubling down that Trump had been “very careful to comply” with the order.

That was, apparently, the straw that broke the camel’s back, after which Merchan dropped that the attorney had gone too far.

Mr. Blanche, you are losing all credibility with the court,” Merchan said, according to LawFare’s Anna Bower.

“You say the posts are ambiguous, you say he didn’t know, but you’re not offering me anything to support your argument. You’re not giving me anything to hang my hat on,” Merchan continued.

[Edge-]

I mean, the fact that his legal team has any credibility with the court at all at this point, even Juan's court, is kinda a joke to begin with. What have his attorney's ever done in any of these cases to warrant a belief they are acting in good faith or for a court to give them the benefit of the doubt?

[Kaleredar]

It sounds like Merchan's losing patience with Trump's lawyer;

The ensuing back-and-forth between Blanche and Merchan continued to a roiling boil until Blanche suddenly claimed that the violations at hand—which involve Trump “reposting an article from a news site” or a “news program”—don’t actually violate the order. Still, Blanche had no precedent or case law to support such a claim.

“I don’t have any case law,” Blanche said, instead calling it “common sense” and doubling down that Trump had been “very careful to comply” with the order.

That was, apparently, the straw that broke the camel’s back, after which Merchan dropped that the attorney had gone too far.

Mr. Blanche, you are losing all credibility with the court,” Merchan said, according to LawFare’s Anna Bower.

“You say the posts are ambiguous, you say he didn’t know, but you’re not offering me anything to support your argument. You’re not giving me anything to hang my hat on,” Merchan continued.

As an aside… is this all happening in front of the jury?

That can’t look good for team trump.

[Breccia]

“I don’t have any case law,”

A Trump lawyer, you say?

Checking the rolling trackers, I don't see a ruling on the gag order yet, but I do see prosecution seem to want Cohen, Hope Hicks, and Steve Bannon as witnesses. This is a real who's who of "people Trump intentionally hired and worked with turning against him for being a horrible person". I'm struggling to name an ally Trump hasn't lost yet. Nunes, maybe.

- - - Updated - - -

As an aside… is this all happening in front of the jury?

Near as I can tell, yes. There's a note about the jury being tucked away for a sidebar, but that was later.

Worth noting: Blanche apparently offered that Trump would take down any post the judge ruled was against the gag order. Meaning, of course, Trump could post whatever he wanted, wait until the next day in court, wait until a special hearing about that post, wait until the ruling, then take it down. Yeah, no. That's not a gag order. That's the kind of thread moderation people complain about.

- - - Updated - - -

The Mar-a-Lago case seems to be stronger than we knew.

The witness, identified only at Person 16 in the documents, told Trump he should cooperate with federal investigators looking for classified documents, saying doing so could prevent him from being indicted.

“Whatever you have, give everything back. Let them come here and get everything,” the witness said they told Trump. “Don’t give them a noble reason to indict you, because they will.”

But Trump seemed unphased, according to the witness, who said Trump gave a “weird ‘you’re the man’ type of response” to the warnings.

The witness refused to have their conversation with the FBI recorded out of fear of reprisal. The summary of the interview describes them as someone with a security clearance and daily access to the Oval Office.

The interview counters a defense from Trump that there was a standard order to declassify anything Trump had, with the witness saying they heard that for the first time only after Trump was facing charges.

The witness said they urged Trump multiple times to return the records being sought then by the National Archives, telling Trump something to the effect of it “was not worth all that aggravation.”

The witness also said they had urged Trump’s children to give him the same warning, noting that Trump “sometimes needed to be messaged the same thing from multiple people close to him.”

“There are issues with the boxes. They belong to the government, talk to your dad and about giving them back” the witness said he had told Trump’s children.

The witness also addressed conversations with Trump’s valet, Walt Nauta, who has since been charged with aiding Trump in moving boxes as well as for lying to investigators.

The witness said Nauta was told by those close to Trump that the documents case was politically motivated and “much ado about nothing” and that even if he faced charges for lying to the bureau, Trump would pardon him in 2024.

The filings offer up other details about the investigation, including that it was code-named Plasmic Echo.

The witness also stated that Trump only hired attorney James Trusty after seeing him on TV.

The court documents were released by prosecutors to answer claims from Trump that he is facing a political prosecution and thus needs access to communications from special counsel Jack Smith’s team.

The filing says prosecutors must “clear the air on those issues … because the defendants’ misstatements, if unanswered, leave a highly misleading impression.”

“Their apparent aim is to cast a cloud of suspicion over responsible actions by government officials diligently doing their jobs. The defendants’ insinuations have scant factual or legal relevance to their discovery requests, but they should not stand uncorrected,” prosecutors wrote.

“Put simply, the Government here confronted an extraordinary situation: a former President engaging in calculated and persistent obstruction of the collection of Presidential records, which, as a matter of law, belong to the United States.”

Part of the continuing trend. Prosecution having a mountain of evidence that Trump broke the law, Team Trump's only response is "nuh uh".

[The Stormbringer]

The Mar-a-Lago case seems to be stronger than we knew.

Part of the continuing trend. Prosecution having a mountain of evidence that Trump broke the law, Team Trump's only response is "nuh uh".

My primary concern is that the judge currently on the case, the one that's already gone to bat for him repeatedly and he put in that position, will find some way to shut the whole thing down, or stall and stall and stall (as we've been seeing) until it's too late.

[Breccia]

My primary concern is that the judge currently on the case, the one that's already gone to bat for him repeatedly and he put in that position, will find some way to shut the whole thing down, or stall and stall and stall (as we've been seeing) until it's too late.

I agree this is a concern. This evidence was filed publicly on purpose. I think prosecution sees the same risk and is intentionally taking steps to make sure the public, including other judges, sees the case for what it is -- objective and airtight.

Stalling remains something that can be done indefinitely, but everything else can be appealed.

- - - Updated - - -

I think it’s a disgrace. It’s totally unconstitutional. I don’t believe it’s, not to this extent, ever happened before. I’m not allowed to talk but people are allowed to say whatever they want about me. Very unfair

Trump seems again to be pushing that the gag order is against the law -- something you'd think his lawyers would have motioned in court. "This breaks the Constitution" seems pretty obvious, if true. The rest is the usual "this is the first time it's ever happened" which, considering we know what a gag order is, is just objectively false.

Hmm. @BlackDruid96 perhaps you missed my last mention, but it's high time we got people like yourself, honest genuine posters who engage in the spirit of free and fair debate, involved, I know you're an active poster, I know you regard things Trump says positively, and this is a fast-moving thread. I'd like to hear what you, an honest and genuine poster, have to say in regards to "the gag order is unConstitutional". Surely you have an opinion? Possibly even one backed by evidence? One you could find in, say, 24 hours?

[gondrin]

So, how much does Trump love America? So much so that he is blaming Biden for the dollar being strong compared to other currencies. Who would have thought that a strong dollar was a bad thing and not a sign that the US has a lot of purchasing power in the world? According to Trump, it is a bad thing.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/mark...d0989192&ei=44

Trump Blames Biden For Strong Dollar—As US Currency Reaches New High Against Japanese Yen

Former President Trump called the U.S. dollar’s new 34-year high against the yen a “disaster” on Tuesday, claiming it would harm U.S. manufacturers and force them to relocate plants overseas—echoing protectionist sentiments after reportedly exploring ideas about devaluing the dollar if he returns to the White House

In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday morning, Trump said the dollar’s new peak would be a “disaster for our manufacturers and others,” claiming it would make them “unable to compete and will be forced to either lose lots of business, or build plants, or whatever, in the ‘smart’ Countries.”

The dollar hit a 34-year high against the yen on Monday, rising to 154.85 yen versus one dollar—and is at 154.86 on Tuesday.
The former president blamed the White House for the strong dollar, claiming President Biden weakened his trade policies against China and Japan—who he said will now “pick apart the U.S.”

However, experts believe the dollar’s strength is likely related to the success of the U.S. economy compared to other nations, as well as rising inflation and the Federal Reserve’s call to delay interest rate cuts, Bloomberg reported.

Trump is exploring options to devalue the dollar if he returns to office in November in order to address the U.S. trade deficit with countries like China and Japan, Politico reported—a move widely criticized by experts who say this could also contribute to inflation and raise prices for American consumers.

The former president claimed he enforced “limits” on China and Japan with trade policy. “When I was President, I spent a good deal of time telling Japan and China, in particular, you can’t do that,” Trump said on Monday. In 2017, Trump accused Japan of manipulating the value of the yen to hurt the U.S. economy. “They play the money market, they play the devaluation market and we sit there like a bunch of dummies,” Trump said. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, who is now Japan’s prime minister, called Trump’s accusation “totally inaccurate.” During his presidency, Trump also engaged in a prolonged trade war with China by enacting a 25% tariff on Chinese imports of steel, aluminum, and manufactured goods like televisions and solar panels. China responded by enacting their own 25% tariff on American goods. The trade war was eventually settled in 2020 after both sides signed a bilateral agreement, but not before it cost U.S. companies an estimated $1.7 trillion in stock prices, one study found.

Trump is meeting with former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso Tuesday after his criminal trial ends for the day at 2 p.m., Reuters reported. Aso, who currently serves as the vice president of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party, was the country’s deputy prime minister from 2012 through 2021. Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said Aso’s visit was “personal activity” and not related to his government role. This is the second time Trump has hosted a world leader at Trump Tower since his hush money trial began. He hosted Polish President Andrzej Duda at the Fifth Avenue skyscraper last Wednesday. He also hosted British Foreign Secretary and former Prime Minister David Cameron at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida shortly before the trial began.