Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Corvus]

More ramblings by Trump over on his cut-price twitter, saying in light of the nord stream sabotage there needs to be a negotiated settlement over Ukraine and offering to lead it.

https://mobile.twitter.com/joshrogin...0hGa9qdfgbzDlA

[gondrin]

More ramblings by Trump over on his cut-price twitter, saying in light of the nord stream sabotage there needs to be a negotiated settlement over Ukraine and offering to lead it.

https://mobile.twitter.com/joshrogin...0hGa9qdfgbzDlA

"I'll trade you Ukraine for a couple of big macs and a diet coke. Also, for my alleged pee tapes."

[postman1782]

And just the faux Christians and pro-life/pro-family party takes a blow today when Perry Greene, Marjorie Taylor Greene's husband, filed for divorce from batshit qtard Marjorie Taylor Greene.

https://www.floydcourts.com/WebCaseM.../mainpage.aspx
Go to Civil Search, type in Greene in name, type today's date September 28th, and bam, there is the court filing.

[Ripster42]

And just the faux Christians and pro-life/pro-family party takes a blow today when Perry Greene, Marjorie Taylor Greene's husband, filed for divorce from batshit qtard Marjorie Taylor Greene.

https://www.floydcourts.com/WebCaseM.../mainpage.aspx
Go to Civil Search, type in Greene in name, type today's date September 28th, and bam, there is the court filing.

Link doesn't work, but you can get to the right page eventually if you elide everything after .com.

[postman1782]

Link doesn't work, but you can get to the right page eventually if you elide everything after .com.

Ok, go to floydcourts.com, click Case Search at the top, click civil search on that new screen, Type in Greene in name, and click today's date, September 28th, and you get the case.

[Breccia]

offering to lead it.

Um, Logan Act?

[Masark]

Guy looks like the ship captain on a cruise ship.

That is an actual uniformed services uniform.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United...issioned_Corps

Though he's only in said corps because he was specifically appointed to such by trump.

[Dontrike]

More ramblings by Trump over on his cut-price twitter, saying in light of the nord stream sabotage there needs to be a negotiated settlement over Ukraine and offering to lead it.

https://mobile.twitter.com/joshrogin...0hGa9qdfgbzDlA

Someone wants to talk in Russia, just in case he needs to stay there if the law catches up to him.

- - - Updated - - -

And just the faux Christians and pro-life/pro-family party takes a blow today when Perry Greene, Marjorie Taylor Greene's husband, filed for divorce from batshit qtard Marjorie Taylor Greene.

https://www.floydcourts.com/WebCaseM.../mainpage.aspx
Go to Civil Search, type in Greene in name, type today's date September 28th, and bam, there is the court filing.

I'm amazed anyone was willing to marry that dumber than dirt woman, let alone be married to her for a couple decades.

[Kaleredar]

And just the faux Christians and pro-life/pro-family party takes a blow today when Perry Greene, Marjorie Taylor Greene's husband, filed for divorce from batshit qtard Marjorie Taylor Greene.

https://www.floydcourts.com/WebCaseM.../mainpage.aspx
Go to Civil Search, type in Greene in name, type today's date September 28th, and bam, there is the court filing.

It's interesting to see if this affects her chances going forwards. Conservatives certainly don't care about the number of times their boy Trump has been married/divorced...

But of course, he's a man. They expect him to be doing manly things like "keeping mistresses" or "ditching nagging wives," because that's what a successful manly man does. But they probably look upon a woman who's been divorced as being "washed up," "impious," or "unattractive."

[Beefhammer]

Seizing documents only implies they were not already in the possession of the people doing the seizing. It doesn't make a property allegation. Just look at civil asset forfeiture cases if you need examples.

Words have meanings. If you don't know what they mean, maybe you should stop using some. Clearly you don't know what seize or seizing means.

[Paranoid Android]

Sometimes Trump the news about Trump and his documents gets too tiresome people. Let's keep it petty.

NEW: Remember when Trump took a trip to Japan back in 2019 and reports surfaced that the WH requested the move the USS John McCain out of view so it wouldn't upset Trump?

Well, I FOIA'd the military for docs about this & 3 yrs later they just arrived

"This just makes me sad"



Another image in link. Two separate documents confirming the story.

While not the most serious story of all, if we can remember back when this was a story and of course the White House denied it. I think they might have eventually admitted it(?). We now have confirmation it seems with documents that Trump had to be this petty to block out McCain's name. Anyone in the military who follows this guy, idk why.

[Breccia]

They were filed under seal, but after checking a few sources, it seems pretty clear what they probably are, based on what the DOJ is saying and of course their current most prominent obstacles.

UPDATE: Most of this is now confirmed due to now-public filings, including the document scanning companies thing. So the experts were right.

We also have some new information. Team Trump is refusing to certify the DOJ's evidence list, and refusing to declare which items have what kind of privilege, because the "special master" lacks the authority to ask.

And the DOJ is basically just leaning against the wall making sarcastic comments, because they know how this is going to play out. Dearie has asked the plaintiffs who requested him to explain why he should even be there in the first place. They're refusing. So, Dearie will just declare everything the DOJ said to be correct, that nothing is Executive Privileged, and leave. Team Trump might appeal, but the 11th is sitting there with dirty looks and baseball bats, so they probably won't. As mentioned before, this could be a mix of "please don't make us contradict our four-year-old client in public" and stalling. I don't think Dearie is interested in either motive. I think he means business, something Trump is proven to be horrible at.

Now, maybe Team Trump has a legally-sound point regarding the FBI planting evidence, in that the "special master" was not called to handle that exactly. But, the "special master" was asked to review the evidence collected, and Team Trump is refusing to say what that is.

The Special Master needs to know that that he is reviewing all of the materials seized from Mara-Lago on August 8, 2022 – and no additional materials – before he categorizes the seized documents and adjudicates privilege claims.

Plaintiff brought this civil, equitable proceeding. He bears the burden of proof. If he wants the Special Master to make recommendations as to whether he is entitled to the relief he seeks, plaintiff will need to participate in the process.

-- the DOJ response to Team Trump's "defense"

See what I meant by sarcastic? Hey, check it out, they used the word "seized"! I wonder if the dang poster who brought that up will be triggered¹.

This leads again to "why would you call a special master then refuse to let them do the job that you specifically asked for?" followed by Team Trump losing that, too.

No wonder Kise wanted off that ship.

---

¹ I wonder if you're allowed to put a list of known grammar Nazis at the end of your posts? We could call it a "sig feil".

[SoulForge]

Sometimes Trump the news about Trump and his documents gets too tiresome people. Let's keep it petty.

NEW: Remember when Trump took a trip to Japan back in 2019 and reports surfaced that the WH requested the move the USS John McCain out of view so it wouldn't upset Trump?

Well, I FOIA'd the military for docs about this & 3 yrs later they just arrived

"This just makes me sad"



Another image in link. Two separate documents confirming the story.

While not the most serious story of all, if we can remember back when this was a story and of course the White House denied it. I think they might have eventually admitted it(?). We now have confirmation it seems with documents that Trump had to be this petty to block out McCain's name. Anyone in the military who follows this guy, idk why.

The only thing about that story that shocked me when it came out was he didn't try to force a rename on the ship.

[Breccia]

Trump had to be this petty to block out McCain's name

Trump admitted this story was true in 2019.

“I don’t know what happened. I was not involved. I would not have done that,” Trump told reporters when asked about reports that someone at the White House had asked the Navy to obscure the warship.

Trump, however, suggested that his disdain for the late senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) is well-known and that it was understandable that someone would try to keep a warship originally named for McCain’s father and grandfather, both Navy admirals, from his view.

“I was not a big fan of John McCain in any shape or form,” Trump said. “Now, somebody did it because they thought I didn’t like him, okay? And they were well-meaning.”

Personally, I find the funny part that the order asks for Trump to have a shorter walk from the HEAVY LIFT helo.

[Edge-]

And just the faux Christians and pro-life/pro-family party takes a blow today when Perry Greene, Marjorie Taylor Greene's husband, filed for divorce from batshit qtard Marjorie Taylor Greene.

https://www.floydcourts.com/WebCaseM.../mainpage.aspx
Go to Civil Search, type in Greene in name, type today's date September 28th, and bam, there is the court filing.

Let's give her the same privacy and respect she gave the teenage survivor of a mass shooting at a school. In that I wouldn't feel bad at all if people followed her around DC harassing her for her failed marriage and why she's directly attacking the nuclear family.

[Breccia]

Let's give her the same privacy and respect she gave the teenage survivor of a mass shooting at a school.

I actually read a few articles on this, now that it's public. The husband is claiming it's an equitable end of a separated marriage, and for now, I'm willing to accept that.

*ahem*

But.

Remember Kellyanne Conway? Remember George Conway? They're still married. Which means the issue that made the Greene's split must be worse.

Ouch.

[cubby]

And just the faux Christians and pro-life/pro-family party takes a blow today when Perry Greene, Marjorie Taylor Greene's husband, filed for divorce from batshit qtard Marjorie Taylor Greene.

https://www.floydcourts.com/WebCaseM.../mainpage.aspx
Go to Civil Search, type in Greene in name, type today's date September 28th, and bam, there is the court filing.

Will be interesting to see how this plays out, given other conservative couples haven't actually split once the cards were on the table.

[Edge-]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...uptcy-vendors/

Stop me if you've heard this one regarding Trump or a company associated with Trump -

it has failed to pay its bills

Sound familiar? Welp...

A company that organized a lucrative series of post-White House paid speeches for former president Donald Trump is now struggling to pay vendors, investors and employees, angering Trump allies who supported the effort.

The American Freedom Tour, which struck a multimillion-dollar deal with Trump after he left office, has lost two top executives and canceled events in a number of locations as it has failed to pay its bills, according to people familiar with the activities and documents obtained by The Washington Post. Its founder and owner, who has a history of bankruptcy filings, recently sought bankruptcy protection again.

The group has promised events in a number of locales but canceled them before they began and appears to be banking on a large event at Mar-a-Lago in December to turn its financial position around.

With speakers, affiliates and investors all clamoring for their money, one of the people involved who did get paid was Trump, people close to the former president say. Some Trump advisers have warned against doing future events, though Trump has expressed interest.

It’s not clear what that means for the tour’s advertised upcoming black-tie gala at Mar-a-Lago, with tickets starting at $10,000 a couple to spend time with Trump. The event includes a poolside reception and a formal ballroom dinner. Dinner and a photo with Trump costs $40,000, and a private library meeting with Trump is so pricey that it’s only listed as: “INQUIRE BELOW.” The company declined to say how much Trump is being paid for the event.

The company’s CEO, Brian J. Forte, declined to be interviewed for this article. A Trump spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.

“The tour did have some unexpected scheduling issues over the summer that slowed things down, but we are working through it,” said Larry Ward, a spokesman for the company. “We are positioning the tour for greater strength and success going forward.”

The American Freedom Tour started last October, staging glitzy events around the country that resemble Trump rallies but sell tickets ranging from $55 to more than $4,000. In addition to Trump, the shows featured right-wing celebrities such as Candace Owens and Kimberly Guilfoyle, as well as motivational speakers offering personal finance courses.

Essentially, it was a place where Trump supporters could buy a chance to see him and other conservative luminaries — or pay more for special access — with the money not going to a political campaign, but a for-profit company and Trump himself. It was founded by Forte, a motivational-speaker promoter with a long trail of bankruptcy filings and business disputes across the country.

The tour has had a slate of problems, including angry investors, speakers and vendors who have not been paid, according to people familiar with the situation, who like some others spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal internal details.

Trump joined the group with little vetting, advisers say, and some of his team was not aware of Forte’s business history when told by The Post.

Some unpaid investors are preparing possible legal action, demanding full payment plus interest, according to a demand letter obtained by The Post. If the company doesn’t pay, the group wants Forte to step aside and give them control of the company, according to the letter. Otherwise, they said they will sue.

“Vendors, speakers and other unpaid participants are lining up to collect,” a lawyer working for the investors said in an email to the group. “The intention is still to put a board of governance in place.”

Forte’s spokesman said he didn’t receive a demand letter. “The tour has a solid relationship with its investors,” Ward said.

Ward said the tour was attempting to pay both investors and speakers. “Unforeseen scheduling issues for the programs caused a delay and we asked a limited number of investors if their payment could be delayed until November,” Ward said.

Several speakers other than Trump have not been paid, including prominent Trump allies, a person with direct knowledge of the tour’s finances said.

“We are working very hard to make them whole, and we are confident they will be made whole very soon,” Ward said.

In July the company missed payroll, according to a note to staff from Forte. “We are experiencing some growing pains and all will be OK,” he said in the internal message reviewed by The Post. The spokesman said the company is currently paying its employees.

Forte recently sought personal bankruptcy protection for a fifth time this summer, according to court filings, saying that he owned 100 percent of the American Freedom Tour, earned $19,900 a month, but owed more than $3 million. In a response seeking to dismiss the case, the Justice Department accused Forte of abusing the bankruptcy system to try to thwart foreclosure proceedings and criticized him for traveling to Puerto Rico rather than “making this fifth bankruptcy case a priority.” The government later withdrew its motion at a hearing.

“The bankruptcy filings were over a dispute with a mortgage company,” Ward said, adding: “Mr. Forte visits Puerto Rico frequently but is a legal resident of Florida.”

The financial pressures at the American Freedom Tour led to business practices that some employees found objectionable. In July, the company canceled a planned event in Milwaukee but continued selling tickets online, according to two people familiar with the matter. At times, the company has continued to sell tickets online for events that organizers knew were unlikely to happen, according to two people familiar with the matter.

When another show was canceled in North Carolina, the company initially said it would honor tickets for a future event before agreeing to issue refunds. “We give the option of refunds or rain checks for postponed or canceled events,” Ward said.

The tour’s website currently lists no upcoming events. A planned show in Birmingham, Ala., was also canceled earlier this year.

To promote the events, the company offered a 25 percent commission for ads and social media posts resulting in sales, according to its website. But a Republican Party county chapter in Texas that helped sign up attendees for an event there went unpaid for at least two months, messages show.

“We are awaiting payment and now four months overdue,” Matt Mackowiak, a Republican consultant who leads the local Republican Party in Austin, wrote in an email on Sept. 7. “I will get loud and litigious if not paid by end of week.”

“As you know from reaching out a few weeks ago looking for your payment, I resigned from the American freedom tour on August 3rd,” Chris Widener, the company’s former president and emcee who quit in August, responded. “You are definitely owed the money and should be paid promptly.”

Widener confirmed his resignation in an email but declined to comment on the exchange with Mackowiak, who said he was paid last Friday afternoon “once The Washington Post sought comment.”

Mackowiak said he vetted the company before entering into an agreement with it and heard from others that while it often was slow to make payments, it eventually did. He said he demanded a written contract, “which took more than a month even though it was a simple document,” according to Mackowiak.

“I hope anyone that is owed money uses every legal channel available,” Mackowiak said. A spokesman for the company said they were sorry Mackowiak’s payment was late.

The company also recently lost its chief financial officer, Dale Ainge. In an interview, Ainge said he left the company in June due to a health issue and wished the company well. He said the company had defaulted on two of its loans before he left, and some vendors were complaining they had not been paid.

“They had to cancel a couple events, which caused some financial issues,” he said. “They were behind on things. They were behind on payments. So for me to say, what kind of financial position they’re in? They were a little bit behind in a couple of the notes. There were a couple accounts payable that were past 60 days.”

Ainge said he was paid by the company and that he believed it would turn its fortunes around when he left in June. Ainge said he was approached by Forte to plan events around Trump and conservative speakers, similar to events he held for a company called Get Motivated.

He said some of the events had made money, but others had not and some were canceled even after expensive marketing. “It’s a start-up,” he said. “There are always challenges.”

When the tour was starting, investors were promised to earn 20 percent on their money in six months, according to loan documentation obtained by The Post. But internal emails show that when the money came due, the company failed to pay.

“We needed a little more time,” Forte assured investors in March. “The investment is intact. Please bear with us a couple of weeks.”

By August, Forte still hadn’t provided the money, the emails show. In one email, Forte explained that he was trying to raise more money domestically and overseas and confirm future event dates with Trump. He offered to pay $5,000 in a week while the company closed other deals to be able to pay in full by November.

One person familiar with Forte’s actions said he was constantly trying to hold off speakers, investors and others who were seeking money — “putting the biggest fire out and holding on.”

“You have been an INCREDIBLE supporter of President Trump and the events we are doing,” Forte told an investor in an email. “We would love if you could attend the Gala” at Mar-a-Lago in December. “We would like to honor you there if you are able to make it,” he wrote.

Ainge said Trump was the highest paid speaker but declined to say how much, citing a confidentiality agreement. “It’s in line with the speaking fee of past presidents,” he said.

He said that Trump was the group’s biggest seller, and many supporters wanted to meet him backstage and were willing to pay “thousands and thousands of dollars to do it.” Trump, he said, was freewheeling and congenial to the guests.

Ward, the spokesman for the tour, said Trump had expressed no reservations about participating going forward.

“President Trump has been fantastic to work with,” Ward said. “He has opened Mar-a-Lago to the American Freedom Tour for a gala December 1st. I’m sure he wouldn’t do that if he had reservations about the tour. President Trump loves speaking on the American Freedom Tour. He wants to do more programs.”

So the company running Trump's speaking gigs, and those of other conservative "luminaries", seems to be yet another low-effort, failing grift.

Why does it seem that organizations run by Trump or that Trump works with all end up falling apart as lazy grifts or scams?

[DarkTZeratul]

Remember Kellyanne Conway? Remember George Conway? They're still married. Which means the issue that made the Greene's split must be worse.

That's not fair. Kellyanne and George Conway clearly get off on being fucking awful to each other in public.

[Breccia]

That's not fair. Kellyanne and George Conway clearly get off on being fucking awful to each other in public.

Huh. Well, to each their own, I guess?

‘Giant Backfire’: Trump’s Demand for Special Master Is Looking Like a Mistake

"Starting"?

Now most of this 24-hour-old article is stuff we already know. But one passage looks useful right now:

For example, the judge has ordered Mr. Trump to submit by Friday a declaration or affidavit verifying the inventory or listing any items on it “that plaintiff asserts were not seized” in the search.

But if Mr. Trump acknowledges that the F.B.I. took any documents marked as classified from his personal office and a storage room at Mar-a-Lago, as the inventory says, that would become evidence that could be used against him if he were later charged with defying a subpoena.

Requiring Mr. Trump’s lawyers to verify or object to the inventory also effectively means making them either affirm in court or disavow a claim Mr. Trump has made in public: his accusation that the F.B.I. planted fake evidence. While it is not a crime to lie to Fox News viewers or on social media, there are consequences to lying to a court.

“They thought it was a win to win the first battle, but they didn’t think through what winning that battle would mean with any reputable judge who is appointed as special master,” Julie O’Sullivan, a Georgetown University professor of white-collar law, said. “They can’t anticipate that every judge will give them a complete pass despite the law. It was a political or a public relations strategy, not a legal one.”

So we see here the motivation to not certify the FBI's list. But

"Because it's damaging to my case!"

is not legal grounds for an objection.

The NYTimes goes on to say

Judge Dearie has said they must categorize each document Mr. Trump claims is subject to privilege. They are to say whether they mean attorney-client or executive privilege. And if they claim executive privilege, then they must also distinguish between records that are merely shielded from disclosure to people outside the executive branch and those the executive branch itself supposedly cannot review. They must also explain why each document qualifies for such status.

"You can't have this" is also not a legal defense. "You can't have this because XXX" can be, depending. If Team Trump refuses to give a reason it's inadmissible, it's admissible. Or at least that's my admittedly nonexpert take on the results so far.