Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Rasulis]

The is a first.

https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000...e-fd7e8f970000

To Whom It May Concern,

As we all know, dollars raised online will play a pivotal role in helping Republicans win this cycle.

With the RNC now joining President Trump's campaign in a joint fundraising committee, we're
issuing new guidelines for candidates and committees who choose to use President Trump's
name, image, and likeness in fundraising solicitations.

Beginning tomorrow, we ask that all candidates and committees who choose to use President
Trump's name, image, and likeness split a minimum of 5% of all fundraising solicitations to
Trump National Committee JFC. This includes but is not limited to sending to the house file,
prospecting vendors, and advertising

He wants a 5% cut from any GOP candidates that use his image or name for fund raising.

[Edge-]

The is a first.

https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000...e-fd7e8f970000



He wants a 5% cut from any GOP candidates that use his image or name for fund raising.

So not only is he taking the RNC funding that would normally go to downballot races to use for his legal fees, but he's also taking a cut of downballot fundraising if they use his likeness in any way. Oh and will absolutely make note of people who donate more which is totally not a very obvious and open declaration that yes Donald's favor can be purchased for money if you're gullible enough to actually believe he will deliver on his word.

[Shadowferal]

[The Stormbringer]

https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/1-xhAkpAw/768x402/donald-trump-courtroom-sketch-1713370461450.jpg

They say a picture is worth a thousand words... but damn the subject of this picture is ugly.

[Dontrike]

Again I fail to comprehend the drive to disqualify everyone who has sufficient background knowledge to make a reasoned, informed judgement from the process.

Trump would go through the entirety of Manhattan just to keep this trying going as long as possible.

[gondrin]

They say a picture is worth a thousand words... but damn the subject of this picture is ugly.

If you put a couple of bolts on his neck, he could be a stand in for an orange Monster of Frankenstein.

- - - Updated - - -

So, the Orange Buffoon doesn't know how jury selection works. I mean, his lawyers should have known that the prosecution and defense can only strike 10 jurors each in the state of NY. The judge can dismiss as many as necessary.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...2e0987e5&ei=11

"Deliberately ignorant" Trump misleads followers on jury rules in latest Truth Social rage post

Donald Trump, once more enraged and online, has implausibly claimed that his legal team was blindsided by court staff saying that they could only strike up to 10 jurors from the docket and no more.

"I thought STRIKES were supposed to be 'unlimited' when we were picking our jury?" he wrote Wednesday on Truth Social. "I was then told we only had 10, not nearly enough when we were purposely given the 2nd Worst Venue in the Country. Don’t worry, we have the First Worst also, as the Witch Hunt continues! ELECTION INTERFERENCE!"

What the post misses is that the number "10" is baked into New York state criminal law, information that Trump's legal team should have known about even if the court staff didn't remind them before the trial. Prosecutors can also strike any 10 jurors from the pool, although each side is prohibited from striking them based solely on factors such as race. Jurors can also be struck for cause, such as openly expressing bias during the selection process, which does not count against either side's allotment.

Law professor and for U.S. attorney Joyce Vance wrote on X that the rule is common knowledge in legal circles. "The number of peremptory strikes are set by NY law," she noted. "For cause challenges are unlimited, but the judge rules on them. Again, Trump is either deliberately ignorant or lying."

Trump has displayed a bitter and defiant attitude throughout first couple days of the trial: that is now landing him in some trouble. On Tuesday, Judge Juan Merchan had to admonish Trump for gesturing and speaking in the direction of a potential juror.

The jury that takes shape will decide whether or not Trump is guilty of 34 felony counts, all related to accusations that he falsified business records to hide hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels, who claims they had an extramarital affair.

[Breccia]

He wants a 5% cut from any GOP candidates that use his image or name for fund raising.

Or...what, exactly? Fucking bring it, fatty, sink your party, fucking go for it.

So, the Orange Buffoon doesn't know how jury selection works.

I can't think of a single reason he would post that, if his lawyers had told him and he remembered. Oddly enough, "I thought STRIKES were supposed to be 'unlimited' when we were picking our jury?" is not a lie.

[Azadina]

Or...what, exactly? Fucking bring it, fatty, sink your party, fucking go for it.

"it would be a shame if something happened to your lovely house". The mafia circle is full. Tributes and everything.

[Poopymonster]

If you put a couple of bolts on his neck, he could be a stand in for an orange Monster of Frankenstein.

- - - Updated - - -

So, the Orange Buffoon doesn't know how jury selection works. I mean, his lawyers should have known that the prosecution and defense can only strike 10 jurors each in the state of NY. The judge can dismiss as many as necessary.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...2e0987e5&ei=11

His lawyers know.
They are powerless to do anything with their client. SAD!

[Breccia]

His lawyers know.

Citation needed. We have seen little to no evidence that Trump has effective counsel.

[gondrin]

Citation needed. We have seen little to no evidence that Trump has effective counsel.

Oh, his counsel is effective. It is effective at making things worse.

[arandomuser]

average voter logic'
" man i hate joe brandon for inflation"
" im going to vote trump so we can stop getting cheap labor from china and southeast asia and make everything union made in america with large tarriffss on foreign imports and somehow reduce the prices of everything while also getting rid of the deficit by removing the income tax and adding a 23% sales tax"


i understand wanting to decouple with china on national security grounds its 1 issue where he did change the overton window for the positive ( until recently when jeff yass gave him a huge cash infusion) but your avg voter legitimiately thinks those things are consistent with stopping inflation lol

[Kaleredar]

average voter logic'
" man i hate joe brandon for inflation"
" im going to vote trump so we can stop getting cheap labor from china and southeast asia and make everything union made in america with large tarriffss on foreign imports and somehow reduce the prices of everything while also getting rid of the deficit by removing the income tax and adding a 23% sales tax"


i understand wanting to decouple with china on national security grounds its 1 issue where he did change the overton window for the positive ( until recently when jeff yass gave him a huge cash infusion) but your avg voter legitimiately thinks those things are consistent with stopping inflation lol

The problem with Trump’s “problem” with China is that it’s entirely a matter of economic dick-waving, and has nothing to do with actual security concerns, government actions of China, or overall global geopolitics.


And with Trump all China would have to do is say a nice thing about him and rent a floor of his building somewhere and suddenly he’s singing their praises.

[Edge-]

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile...-get-involved/

A federal watchdog group has sued former President Donald Trump, asking that the FBI and the Department of Justice investigate whether he knowingly and criminally made “material false statements” about a $50 million loan which “may have never existed at all.”

“The actions taken by Mr. Trump to misrepresent his loan obligations go well-beyond actions by other government employees who have fallen afoul of 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a) in recent years. His reporting of a non-existent loan dwarfs portrayals by other government employees, who have been prosecuted for failing to disclose far lesser amounts of their debt obligations,” Noah Bookbinder, president of the watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, wrote in the nascent complaint.

According to CREW, Trump may have made false statements by reporting over $50 million owed to Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC as a liability on at least nine public financial disclosure reports. Those reports were submitted to the Federal Election Commission as well as the Office of Government Ethics. This allegedly occurred from 2015 to 2023 and, as Bookbinder noted, “even though the loan appears to have never existed.”

“It is not clear why Mr. Trump would report a non-existent loan, but the law must be vigorously enforced against office holders and candidates who flout the disclosure process through repeated false statements. Failure to do so not only renders the system meaningless, but, more importantly, undermines the work of ethics officials who must ensure that financial disclosures are accurate so that potential conflicts of interest that present national security risks can be brought to light,” Bookbinder said.

These alleged discrepancies appear likely to be part of a tax avoidance scheme known as “debt parking” or, as the watchdog group claimed, Trump is attempting to hide “hidden debt” from someone — or something — else. Thursday’s lawsuit was first reported by the Daily Beast,

CREW is not alleging outright that Trump engaged in a tax scam but the formal complaint nonetheless asks both the head of the FBI Christopher Wray — who Trump appointed to run the FBI in 2017 after the ex-president fired James Comey — and the head of the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Unit Corey Amundson to probe the complex goings-on behind several of Trump’s public financial disclosures reports.

The now-defunct online news outlet The Messenger first reported in January that the existence of the mystery $50 million debt was detailed by Trump’s court-appointed monitor Barbara Jones — a former federal judge herself — inside of a footnote contained in a letter she sent to the judge presiding over Trump’s civil fraud case in New York, Justice Arthur Engoron.

Ruh roh.

Donald may have done a lot more of the financial fraud over the past 8 years. Including during the time he was POTUS, apparently. May have. Probably did based on other available evidence and behavior.

[Shadowferal]

Trump's not leaving the courtroom scene anytime soon, unless it's in prison orange.

[Breccia]

“It is not clear why Mr. Trump would report a non-existent loan"

I have a theory, one based on factual evidence. The loan is to himself. He could deduct the interest -- hold onto that, we'll come back for it -- and could loophole his way out of certain legal issues. You know how when you go bankrupt, people with secured loans are paid off first? I think Trump could have engineered a load to himself with a building as collateral, so if he declared bankruptcy a seventh time, he would be forced by the court to pay himself back first.

If that sounds fishy, bear in mind, he's done this kind of legal bullshit in Chicago. He defaulted on a loan, sued the bank, got a lot of the loan forgiven, and didn't take the value of the forgiveness as income on his taxes.

Bear in mind, we already know Trump owns Chicago Unit Acquisitions LLC and we've known that for years.

Here’s where things get really complicated. The creditor on the second loan was a company called Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC. Elsewhere in the disclosure report, Trump noted that he owned Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC. So in other words, one of his companies was apparently lending money to another one of his companies. Since the value of the debt was listed at over $50 million, it would make sense if Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC, the creditor on the liability, was in turn worth more than $50 million. But instead, Trump listed the value of the asset at just $1,001 to $15,000. Every year since, the president has recorded the value on his financial disclosures as nothing at all. “There should be an offsetting entry somewhere,” said Harvard real estate professor Richard Peiser. “I can’t explain that.”

Trump offered a partial explanation in a 2016 interview with the New York Times. “Mr. Trump said he bought this particular loan back from a group of banks several years ago,” the newspaper wrote. “Instead of retiring it, he decided to keep it outstanding, and he pays interest on it to himself.”

But financial disclosure reports show no income for Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC, suggesting Trump does not actually pay interest on the loan to himself. And in the same interview with the New York Times, Trump offered a perplexing explanation of why he lists no value for the LLC. “We don’t assess any value to it because we don’t care,” he said. “I have the mortgage. That is all there is. Very simple. I am the bank.”

If Trump were like other banks, however, he would theoretically list the loan as an asset. There are other inconsistencies. Documents filed in the United Kingdom last year show that Trump also loaned about $200 million to two of his overseas golf resorts, but those debts—unlike the Chicago loan—have never showed up on Trump’s financial disclosure reports. Determined to unravel the riddle, Forbes spent months digging into all of this in 2018, reaching out to more than 200 people and interviewing over 50. Ultimately, none of them could provide a definitive answer.

Some clever, witty, and handsome asshole posted the loan in 2016 at prime plus five percent. Trump could, at any time, demand he pay himself back, and dance around declaring the income while taking tax deductions for the interest he pays himself.

We knew about it in 2016. Almost half the country voted for him anyway.

We knew about it in 2020. Almost half the country voted for him anyway.

Yes, this should be a crime. A loan that has no official legal record should not have any official legal meaning. If I met up with Skroe in person and he agreed to loan me $10 verbally, if I don't pay him back, with no record of the loan existing, he's out of luck. If I agreed here, where there was a written record, he'd have a much better shot. Bare minimum, Trump should be forced to show the contract he signed to himself with the terms of the loan he's now put on federal forms for three federal elections, probably his taxes too. If no such contract exists, then yes, it should be whatever form of perjury lying on fiscal disclosure forms is, tax evasion, and most importantly, the fictional loan would be unenforceable when either Carroll or NYState takes the building from him.

[rayvio]

Trump's not leaving the courtroom scene anytime soon, unless it's in prison orange.

the danger of that is that it's his skin tone, so may traumatised people

[Benggaul]

Well they finally managed to select a jury...but not without setbacks.

Trump juror quits over fear of being outed after Fox News host says she should scare Trump

By the end of Tuesday, seven jurors had been selected to determine whether Donald Trump should be the first president ever convicted of a crime. By Thursday morning, when the Manhattan trial resumed, there were just six.

According to Judge Juan Merchan, the juror was excused after later expressing doubt that she could remain fair and impartial. In particular, she said that friends and family had already reached out to ask if she was serving on the jury.

Those calls came after numerous media outlets reported potentially identifying biographical information about the woman, including her job and the neighborhood she called home. Fox News Jesse Watters highlighted the juror's details while reading through public pool notes about the selected members. "This nurse scares me if I'm Trump," Watters said.

Other outlets including NBC News, CNN, CBS News, and ABC News also publicized details about the juror, including additional identifying information.

Watters has alleged without evidence that "liberal activists" are lying to get on the jury, a claim that Trump himself has repeated on Truth Social, potentially violating a gag order.

Jury selection is continuing Thursday. Trump is facing charges that he falsified business records to cover up a hush payment and affair with Stormy Daniels to unlawfully influence the 2016 election. He has pleaded not guilty.

Judge Merchan implored journalists to be more careful going forward, asking that they exercise "common sense" before reporting jurors' biographical information, NBC News reported.

"Jurors are real people with families, lives, and jobs," tweeted former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti. "If one juror came forward and vocally expressed concern about her safety, that concern is likely in the mind of the *other* jurors. Their safety must be ensured in order for our legal system to work."

No surprise at all that the media can't be trusted to not fuck this up. Doubly unsurprising is that FOX is pushing conspiracy theories that get amplified by Trump and the rest of the MAGA dumpster cult.

And the coup de grace is Watters claiming the left are lying to get on the jury--so of course we know what this means: MAGA cultists are lying to get on the jury, because every accusation is an admission.

In any case, fuck the MSM for not using "common sense" and likely giving Trump yet another series of lifelines to get out of the consequences for his actions.

[postman1782]

12 jurors selected, think they need the 6 alternates still.

[Edge-]

And the coup de grace is Watters claiming the left are lying to get on the jury--so of course we know what this means: MAGA cultists are lying to get on the jury, because every accusation is an admission.

Honestly the fact that he's still hosting O'Reilly's old spot is an indictment on just how shallow the talent bench has become at Fox, and also how dangerous their hosts continue to be.

It'd be wonderful if she could anonymously sue the pants off of him and the show for putting her in danger by making shit up about her like her being a secret liberal activist.