Tracking Trump's Criminal Liability Post-Presidency 3

Glenn Kirschner @glennkirschner2 | 10:10 AM · Sep 2, 2022
@NBCNews @MSNBC Legal Analyst; Fmr 30-yr fed prosecutor.

Donald Trump claims he’s providing financial support to the insurrectionists AND pledges to pardon them if he’s elected president. There’s a legal term for that: “giving aid and comfort” to the insurrectionists.
Text of rebellion insurrection law ( https://twitter.com/glennkirschner2/status/1565703646653841411/photo/1 )

Bradley P. Moss @BradMossEsq | 11:26 AM · Sep 2, 2022:
“The most active national security lawyer on Twitter.” - Above the Law

Per government source: if there is an empty folder that was originally used to properly store classified records, there will be documentation indicating who put the records in that folder, why they were placed there, and what the records were.

This needs to be emphasized: the folder itself usually isn’t classified. The documents inside it are classified. If the folder was no longer being used to house classified records, anything could have been put in it.

{should there not also be records of who removed the documents from the folder and where they went (assuming that it was an authorized removal properly executed)?}

if that was done in a proper fashion, yes, but I don't think that occurred. I think they were transported to MAL in those folders.

After Mar-a-Lago search, Meadows turns over more texts and emails to Archives
Jamie Gangel, Kristen Holmes, Jeremy Herb and Evan Perez | September 2, 2022

Within a week of the FBI search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows handed over texts and emails to the National Archives that he had not previously turned over from his time in the administration, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.

Meadows' submission to the Archives was part of a request for all electronic communications covered under the Presidential Records Act. The Archives had become aware earlier this year it did not have everything from Meadows after seeing what he had turned over to the House select committee investigating January 6, 2021. Details of Meadows' submissions to the Archives and the engagement between the two sides have not been previously reported...

The records Meadows turned over to the Archives were not classified...

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/02/politics/mark-meadows-texts-emails-national-archi...

FBI, Homeland Security search alleged properties of Russian oligarch in New York and Florida
Jonathan Dienst and Tom Winter| 1 Sept 2022

...(Thursday am, 1 Sept) Homeland Security Investigations and FBI agents, along with New York City Police Department detectives, were seen carrying boxes during a search on Duck Pond Lane in Southampton, New York, and Park Avenue in Manhattan. Records show those properties are linked to the sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate with interests in the metals, mining and tech industries...

A search is also underway at a property on Miami’s Fisher Island that authorities say was linked to Vekselberg...

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/fbi-nypd-search-alleged-prope...
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Mueller, She Wrote @MuellerSheWrote | 4:50 PM · Sep 2, 2022
Tweets by @allisongill. https://meidastouch.com/partners

THREAD :: NEWS :: FBI and DHS agents were seen searching and removing boxes from the NY and FL residences of Viktor Vekselberg yesterday morning. What investigation is this part of? If that name rings a bell, allow me to refresh your memory. 1/

Mueller arrested him at an airport in 2018. He’s got ties to German Khan - the number 3 guy at Alfa Bank back then and father-in-law of Alex van der Zwaan (indicted by Mueller on FARA charges). Vekselberg was at the Bank of Cyprus when Wilbur Ross ran it. 2/

And not only did Vekselberg attend Donald’s inauguration, he donated $250K to it. His ticket was bought through a straw donor. Remember notes were found on Manafort’s phone saying “use Cyprus as inter” during the June 2016 trump tower meeting. 3/

And remember Cohen’s “access fund” disguised as a consulting firm called “Essential Consulting” (it’s fuckin’ essential)? Vekselberg and his cousin Intrater controlled a company called Columbus Nova that gave Cohen $500K. Both were questioned by Mueller. 4/

Vekselberg is also an associate of Kukes who was in contact with a kremlin official in 2016 while donating to the trump campaign. The donations began 2 weeks after the 2016 trump tower meeting & totaled $273K. He took photos with Giuliani at a fundraiser and sent them to RU 5/

The Suspicious Activity Report with all the Vekselberg money to Cohen in it was leaked by whistleblower Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards, who should have gotten a Medal of Honor but was instead sentenced to 6 months in prison in January. 6/

In fact, Avenatti released video of a meeting between Cohen, Vekselberg, and Intrater meeting at trump tower during the transition. Remember that? 7/

Vekselberg also has ties to Blavatnik, who donated over $7M to Pete Sessions, Scott Walker, Ron DeSantis, Mitch McConnell, and Kevin McCarthy. Mnuchin sold his shares of his movie company to Blavatnik when he became secretary of the treasury. 8/

And Deripaska tried to sue the US Treasury to get the evidence they used to place Vekselberg on the OFEC sanctions list. So what could DHS/FBI be looking for in Vekselberg’s residences? Is it about the inaugural? Is it about the trump documents? 9/

Is it about Rudy? Or some other redacted investigation in Appendix D of the Mueller Report. Whatever it is, Vekselberg has been on my Fantasy Indictment Team for four years. Thanks for sticking with me through this thread! END

https://www.mediaite.com/news/just-in-ex-trump-chief-meadows-turned-in-new-batch....
JUST IN: Ex-Trump Chief Meadows Turned In New Batches of Texts and Emails After FBI Mar-a-Lago Raid

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/defend-him-conservative-media-...
Conservative media figures 'sick of having to defend' Trump, ready to move on

“Part of this is what they’re calling a Trump fatigue, where privately, they’re telling the president, ‘We get it, you’ve been a target since Day One, all you wanted to do was govern the country, we like your policies, we’re with you in spirit, we know you’re getting screwed,’” the operative said. “But it’s a cost-benefit analysis.”

***
The raid for docs was the last straw. Trump's cult followers will not agree with this move. Death is the only thing that will separate a cult follower from a cult leader.

>6 Molly3028: From the The Washington Examiner even!

For those who don't recognize the name: this is an extremely conservative (politically) news source created in 2005 by a billionaire as a counter to the centrist/left-leaning Washington Post.

WaEx isn't known for honestly or accuracy, though. The "operative" cited could be an editor who's about to be fired, or really anyone.

>7 aspirit:

The Washington Examiner article showed up in my favorite and most inclusive news source ~ the SmartNews app. It collects articles from sources on all subjects and all political sides. I highly recommend perusing it on a daily basis.

>8 Molly3028: I regularly peruse a wide variety of news sources with varying perspectives-- despite how WaEx, Fox, and other Trump-loving so-called "news" sources are thrown up every day in internet search results, ads, forums posts, social media, etc. I think I'm good. Thank you, though.

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/just-in-judge-approves-trumps-special-master-request...
JUST IN: Judge Approves Trump’s Special Master Request to Review Docs from Mar-a-Lago Raid

***
No surprises here ~ she is a Trump judge ~ slowing down the DOJ is the name of the game.

"...potentially privileged material subject to claims of...executive privilege..."!!!!

Harry Litman @harrylitman | 11:59 AM · Sep 5, 2022:
LATimes Legal Affairs Columnist. Former US Attorney, DOJ official. Teach con law at UCSD& UCLA.

Katie, bar the door: "The Court hereby authorizes the appointment of a special master to review the seized property for personal items and documents and potentially privileged material subject to claims of attorney- client and/or executive privilege."
Atrocious.

I too was returning here to post about the special master ruling.

Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed to the federal bench by Trump in 2020, wrote in a 24-page order that the U.S. government is “temporarily enjoined from further review and use of any of the materials seized” in the Aug. 8 search “for criminal investigative purposes pending resolution of the special master’s review.”

“The Government may continue to review and use the materials seized for purposes of intelligence classification and national security assessments,” Cannon wrote in her order in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/us-elections-government/ny-trump-speci...

What's unclear to me after skimming several sites, including the pieces on Mediaite, is how much of the investigation is actually curtailed. The FBI, Archives, and other government agencies may continue to go through the recovered documents for security purposes but not for the pursuit of criminal charges until the review for the privilege claims. Correct? But does that actually change much of the investigative work being done at this point?

Seems to me the biggest interference to the investigation is in having to deal with the assignment and inquiries of the special master.

By the way, the candidates must be proposed by this Friday.

Special master ruling~

Where are they going to find someone on this planet with the creds and who hasn't spoken or written anything political to another living person over the last 7 years???

Okay, I'm not the only one asking.

“The Court is mindful that restraints on criminal prosecutions are disfavored, but finds that these unprecedented circumstances call for a brief pause to allow for neutral, third-party review to ensure a just process with adequate safeguards,” Cannon, a Trump appointee, wrote in her 24-page order.

Even so, it is not clear that the decision will have a significant effect on any investigative or charging decisions or the ultimate outcome of the probe. A separate assessment by the U.S. intelligence community of the risk posed by the apparent mishandling of classified records will continue under the judge’s order.

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2022-09-05/judge-grants-trump-bid-for-spe...

The concern that of anyone on Trump's legal team will gain posession of documents recovered from Mar-a-Lago also seems unbased.

This is not the "big win" MAGAts are saying it is for Trump.

>13 Molly3028: Nowhere. The two legal teams will propose candidates they believe represent their respective interests. "Independent" in this case will only mean "bipartisan".

>13 Molly3028: JOINT report due Friday--list of acceptables, duties, timelines, compensation. Trump will drag this out, while he does God-knows-what... DOJ must appeal.

>15 aspirit: and >16 margd:

Judge Cannon's ruling could turn someone's personal life into a living hell. Who is going to want their name on any list connected to this mess???

>17 Molly3028: Someone who's personal life is already hellish, perhaps? I don't know why we as a society keep pretending Trump's presidency and the aftermath didn't create ongoing problems in individual lives that are outside of the latest news spotlight.

I expect there are also still idealists on the investigation team's side who are eager to ensure the special master review is recorded in a way that even Trump-appointed judges will see as solid. The review record could really make a difference in later court cases.

>18 aspirit:

The inches Trump and his cult followers have been gaining are quickly adding up to feet and yards. The goalpost they have been running towards is now reachable in their minds ~ they will not willingly give up ground they have so easily captured. Every win they procure is another loss for America's democracy in the long run.

Jose Pagliery @Jose_Pagliery | 9:39 AM · Sep 6, 2022:
@thedailybeast political investigations reporter

Yesterday, a South Florida federal judge issued a bizarre ruling halting the FBI's investigation of Trump. She went out of her way to help him.

@thedailybeast took a look at how Trump has been trying to get this judge for a while.

Donald Trump Went Judge Shopping and It Paid Off in Mar-a-Lago Case
Trump got the judge he wanted in the Mar-a-Lago case: One he appointed. And she just gave him the first decision he wanted.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-went-judge-shopping-and-it-paid-off-i...

https://news.yahoo.com/document-seized-trump-home-described-001233778.html
Document seized from Trump home described foreign government's nuclear capabilities - Washington Post

Tue, September 6, 2022 at 8:12 PM
In this article:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A document describing a foreign government's military defenses, including its nuclear capabilities, was found in the FBI's search last month of former President Donald Trump's Florida home, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

The Post report, which cited people familiar with the matter, did not identify the foreign government discussed in the document.

***
Why would an ex-prez want this info??????

Carol Leonnig @CarolLeonnig | 8:10 PM · Sep 6, 2022:
WashPost reporter, MSNBC contributor, finder of fact, author "Zero Fail" & "A Very Stable Genius", NYT Bestsellers

NEWWWS -- Details about nuclear capabilities of a foreign government were in records seized at trump's Mar-a-Lago in early August. As well as details of US programs so secret that seniormost natsec officials didn't know they existed.

Material on foreign nation’s nuclear capabilities seized at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago
Some of the documents seized on Aug. 8 detail top-secret U.S. operations so closely guarded that many senior national security officials are kept in the dark about them.
Carol Leonnig and Devlin Barrett
washingtonpost.com
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mike freeman @mikefreemanNFL | 9:16 PM · Sep 6, 2022:
Journalist, USA Today sports race and inequality editor. Fmr. B/R, NYT, Washington Post. Author of nine books.

The former head of the CIA just said the nuke docs found at Trump’s golf course are so secretive they are kept in safe’s inside the SCIF*.
Not just in the SCIF. In a safe inside the SCIF.

Watched him say it on MSNBC.

* A sensitive compartmented information facility, in United States military, national security/national defense and intelligence parlance, is an enclosed area within a building that is used to process sensitive compartmented information types of classified information. Wikipedia

>22 margd: So somehow whoever this Special Master is supposed to be that this more junior Federal judge Cannon wants to be appointed is going to need a security clearance to look over documents that some of the most senior NatSec officials don't even know exist? I kind of question whether there is even such a person in the entirety of United States and its possessions who has the qualifications to be the Special Master for this assignment of hers.

Laurence Tribe tribelaw | 7:01 AM · Sep 7, 2022:
At least the injunction must be appealed and swiftly reversed. Note of caution: The Circuit Justice for the 11th Circuit . . . Wait for it: Justice Clarence Thomas!*

Quote Tweet
Andrew Weissmann 🌻 @AWeissmann_ · 10h
Revised: what DOJ shd do.
Appeal the injunction AND the Special Master review for executive privilege. No need to appeal the att-client review as that can be short and sweet and is less erroneous. Appeal shd explain how ruling interferes with both nat sec review and crim case.
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* Each of the thirteen federal circuit courts is assigned one Supreme Court Justice who then considers certain appeals (e.g., emergency requests and other matters) from his or her assigned circuit while other aspects of the case are still pending. The Chief Justice of the United States is responsible, under 28 U.S.C. 42, for allotting circuit justices “in vacation.” http://myattorneyusa.com/supreme-court-circuit-justice-assignments

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/former-attorney-general-bill-barr-says-doj-is-very-c...
Former Attorney General Bill Barr Says DOJ is ‘Very Close’ to Having Enough Evidence to Indict Trump

On FOX with Hemmer and Perino

.....“As I’ve said all along there are two questions,” Barr said. “Will the government be able to make out a technical case, will they have evidence, by which, that they could indict somebody on, including him? That’s the first question, and I think they are getting very close to that point, frankly.”

Barr said the second question is “Do you indict a former president? What will that do to the country? What kind of precedent will it set? Will the people really understand that this is not failing to return a library book? That this was serious?”......

***
Barr managed to escape the cult in which he was a major participant. Lo and behold, his moral compass is functioning again! Apparently, the needles on moral compasses fail to function in cult arenas.

>25 Molly3028: Speculating about Barr's moral compass is a game of roulette.

...Say Legal Experts
Monday’s ruling may delay the criminal investigation into the ex-president for months, if not years.
Bess Levin | September 6, 2022
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/09/donald-trump-special-master-mar-a-lago-d...

Andrew Weissmann 🌻 @AWeissmann_ | 4:35 PM · Sep 7, 2022:
@NYULAW @MSNBC. 20 years at DOJ; 10 as defense counsel; lifetime as invetrate NYer. NYT bestseller: Where Law Ends: Inside the Mueller Investigation.

Nuclear docs at MAL are causing damage NOW to our national security interests; foreign allies are going to be far less willing to cooperate and share information with us, knowing from one administration to the next, we may not keep their secrets safe and sound. All due to Trump.

LOSS OF INTEL MEANS A RISK OF LOSS OF LIFE. Sharing among intel agencies is vital to protecting Americans here and abroad.
Words from Biden Administration will be important for them to hear, but they will look at actions. Trump's actions. And have second thoughts.

"Getting countries to share info with us involves trust and... continuity... I really can't stress enough that there is actual damage to our national security status and ability to protect the country based on the reporting that we've seen" - @AWeissmann_w/ @NicolleDWallace (MSNBC)

2:20 ( https://twitter.com/tburages/status/1567620690920062978 )

>28 margd: there is no telling anywhere really on any agent or undercover asset. I'm not really a fan of the CIA/NSA or any other of our foreign spy apparatus but Trump has put every bit of that in danger. If we don't know what's been compromised all those people are at risk along potentially with families, friends etc. etc. and who's to know if he hasn't in some cases (like Saudi Arabia where he's been doing business deals with MBS) deliberately handed over or sold information on human intel or let it be copied out. There is still a lot missing. It's really unconscionable and very likely treasonous.

>29 lriley: Trump's docu-drama will be costly. Procedures and even will need to be replaced since "we don't know what's been compromised".

Even if the Russians et al. don't have info in hand, the replacement-costs to us and allies' distrust going forward are all to adversaries' interests.

We may not like all that CIA et al. have done in past, but no denying that knowing what others are capable of surely saves us from mis-steps that cost lives.

https://www.mediaite.com/news/sucker-watch-the-brutal-lincoln-project-ad-that-ma...

‘SUCKER’: Watch the Brutal Lincoln Project Ad That Made Trump So Angry He’s Threatening to Sue Fox News

***
This ad is spot on! AMEN

Neal Katyal @neal_katyal | 5:41 PM · Sep 8, 2022
Supreme Court lawyer;law professor;extremist centrist. Former US Acting Solicitor General.

The DOJ brief criticizing the Special Master ruling is a work of art. I’ve read some great DOJ briefs but this is among the best. Garland brought the A team

(Now admittedly, it was an easy target. But still, just in tone & sophistication &clarity & law)
courtlistener.com

Motion to Stay – #69 in Trump v. United States (S.D. Fla., 9:22-cv-81294) – CourtListener.com
MOTION to Stay Pending Appeal by United States Of America. Responses due by 9/22/2022 (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit)(Gonzalez, Juan) (Entered: 09/08/2022)

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.618763/gov.uscourts.fl...

Federal grand jury probing Trump PAC's formation, fundraising efforts: Sources
The grand jury has subpoenaed several individuals in recent weeks, sources say.
Katherine Faulders and John Santucci | September 8, 2022
https://abcnews.go.com/US/federal-grand-jury-probing-trump-pacs-formation-fundra...

>33 margd: That weblink didn't work for me. Here is what appears to be the current link.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/federal-grand-jury-probing-trump-pacs-formation-fundra...

Similar to regular political action committees, leadership PACs can only accept up to $5,000 per donor, far less than the upwards of $800,000 donations that the Trump campaign and the Republican Party's high-dollar joint fundraising committee, Trump Victory, had previously raised.

Since its inception, Save America PAC has brought in more than $135 million, including transfers from affiliated committees, according to disclosure records. As of the end of July, the PAC reported having just under $100 million in cash on hand.

"Trump has raised millions. He may run in 2024, so where will all that money go?" | NPR.org | Deepa Shivaram
https://www.npr.org/2022/08/24/1118946905/trump-pac-money-fec

Experts say Trump may spends the PAC money while he is not a candidate for president how he wants with almost no restrictions. However, it's supposed to not be used for a presidential campaign.

Will he, anyway? Will the Federal Election Commission (FEC) look away again if he does?

Trump doesn't exactly have a history of following FEC guidelines, and there hasn't been much enforcement despite dozens of campaign finance complaints.

Since 2016, there have been upward of 40 complaints against the former president — the FEC hasn't acted on any of them, including the case of Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen paying off Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election. It's bringing up questions on whether Trump could be held accountable for any potential violations in the future.

According to the news article, the same questions are asked when looking at other agencies that may file criminal charges—most notably the DOJ.

>35 aspirit: Perhaps some of the money will finance literary efforts.

Peter Strzok @petestrzok | 7:58 AM · Sep 10, 2022
26 year FBI and Army veteran. Georgetown School of Foreign Service adjunct professor and alum. NYT/WP bestseller: Compromised

Better check Bedminster…

On May 6, NARA emails Trump to say material is missing and may be at MAL.
https://washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/30/mar-a-lago-timeline-trum...

On May 9, Trump gets on a private plane from Palm Beach to Bedminster. On video, several boxes are seen loaded onto the plane.

https://dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9560663/Melania-Trump-wears-polka-dots-cele...

Photo of plane being loaded ( https://twitter.com/petestrzok/status/1568569527113338882/photo/1 )

Type/brand of box look familiar? (h/t @the_peetape for noting)
Photos of boxes ( https://twitter.com/petestrzok/status/1568569532377186306/photo/1 )

>37 margd: Daily Mail is an atrocious news source, and Bankers Box file storage boxes are widely available to everyone. The same boxes can be purchased at Target and Walmart.

But, yes, Donald Trump moved homes from Florida to a residence in New Jersey earlier this year. If any more federal records are missing, Bedminster is a likely target for investigators.

>36 krolik: removed: off-topic review of marketing material

>35 aspirit: Save America PAC's fundraising relied on the message that Trump and other Republicans had elections "stolen" from them. (In other words, they lost despite gerrymandering, aggressive campaigning, and violent attacks against elections officials.) Where are the funds actually being used for?

"Portraits of Trump, Melania in Smithsonian among latest spending for ex-president's Save America PAC" | USA Today
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/08/22/save-america-smithsonian...

The PAC gave $650,000 to the Smithsonian Institution to pay for portraits of Donald Trump and his current wife. There was only one other donor on record for the couple's portraits.

For comparison, nearly 300 donors contributed a total of $750,000 specifically for portraits of the Obamas. Dozens of donors previously contributed to portraits of the Bushes.

The PAC has also paid $60,000 to a fashion designer for Melania Trump, for whatever reason.

Over 30 Trump associates subpoenaed by grand jury over alleged efforts to influence 2020 election results
Arden Farhi, Fin Gómez, Andres Triay | September 12, 2022

...The subpoenas, many of which were issued last week, mark a significant escalation in the Justice Department's investigation into origins of the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot and other alleged attempts to stop the transfer of power to then-President-elect Joe Biden. One source familiar with the case characterized the investigation as huge.

The Justice Department is examining how money was raised and spent on alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election; efforts to submit fake "alternate" electors to Congress from states lost by Trump; and the "Stop The Steal" rally held at the Ellipse, adjacent to White House grounds, on Jan. 6, just before the Capitol riot.

The Justice Department's inquiry into potential mishandling of presidential and classified records found at Trump's Florida estate is a separate matter.

Those who were served subpoenas included employees and contractors for the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee — including poll watchers — according to two sources familiar with the subpoenas. The sources said the identities of those subpoenaed range from household names {Stephen Miller} to mostly unknown, low-level field staffers...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/30-trump-associates-grand-jury-subpoena-2020-electi...
_____________________________________________

Not necessarily related, but Trump flew unannounced to DC Sunday--in white (golf?) shoes. Met ~8 men on his VA golf club property--no golf clubs in sight.

Andrew Wortman 🏳️‍🌈🇺🇸 @AmoneyResists | 6:27 PM · Sep 12, 2022:
So he’s “golfing” at his Virginia club with no golf clubs. This is what mobsters look like who are terrified of wire taps.

1:30 ( https://twitter.com/AmoneyResists/status/1569452772717924354 )
From Kelly O'Donnell

Acyn @Acyn | 9:06 PM · Sep 12, 2022:
I’m not sure listing all these investigations helps

0:34 Sean Hannity ( https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1569492668756987905 )

>40 margd: https://trumpgolfcount.com/

Donald Trump's daytime visits to golf clubs while he was POTUS: 298

How many visits was there evidence of him playing golf? 150

Almost half the time Trump took one of his incredibly frequent trips to a golf club/course/resort, he didn't appear interested in actual golfing. He also was notorious for disregarding privacy and funding concerns.

That's because previous presidents would usually go to federally owned property to play golf when they could. President Obama for comparison was an avid golfer known to frequent Andrews Air Force Base in Washington, DC. (Andrews is where the presidential planes are kept.) That's considered more secure, as not just anyone may wander around at the same time, and it potentially reduces the cost of presidential security. (Remember: Secret Service follows around each POTUS.)

Trump instead preferred his own privately owned properties in Virginia, Florida, and New Jersey.

>42 aspirit: Yeah, I've been wondering if he's been passing info, etc. all this time while visiting his properties. Can't believe he's still free...

>40 margd: contd.
John W. Dean @JohnWDean | 8:13 PM · Sep 12, 2022:
This is much like a mob meeting, right out of the movies! Golf shirts so no wires. Move around so no unseen electronic fixes. Way out of camera range so no lip reading.

Maybe he going to sell the property or modify it. A friend who understands TFG better than me (once lived in Trump Tower) thinks it was legitimate. See

Trump visits Virginia golf course during ‘working’ trip to DC area
Steven Nelson | September 12, 2022
https://nypost.com/2022/09/12/trump-visits-virginia-golf-course-during-working-t...

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/hannity-reminds-viewers-of-over-30-investigations-in...
Hannity Reminds Viewers of Over 30 Investigations Into Trump While Complaining About Democratic Obsession

***
Proud Trumpers apparently want Americans to believe it is the Dems fault that Trump is a serial criminal and con man. Trump flaunts his criminality on a daily basis ~ he sees it as an MAGA achievement.

Laurence Tribe (Harvard Law) tribelaw | 7:39 AM · Sep 17, 2022:
Months before National Archives officials retrieved hundreds of classified documents in 15 boxes from Mar-a-Lago, {Chief of Staff Mark} Meadows had told Trump’s lawyers to say the boxes just contained “news clippings.” To avoid jail time, Meadows will have to flip on Trump.

Trump team claimed boxes at Mar-a-Lago were only news clippings
The 2021 assertion to the National Archives vastly misrepresented the scale and variety of documents, including classified records, later recovered from Trump’s property.
Jacqueline Alemany, Josh Dawsey and Rosalind S. Helderman | September 16, 2022
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/16/trump-records-archiv...

>45 margd: That's as ridiculous as saying the stolen documents, including the classified files, were all greeting cards from family members. What's scary is that someone believes any ridiculous lie that comes from their "side". (Meanwhile, none of these business men are working for the typical Trump supporter; they're obviously scheming for their own benefit.)

The Government Has Evidence That Trump Ripped Up Classified Docs
Jason Easley | Sep 16th, 2022

...Destroyed documents that were recovered by the FBI that probably have Trump’s DNA on them are powerful pieces of evidence that Donald Trump mishandled classified information. Ripping up classified materials would be a textbook definition of mishandling classified information.

Trump has a habit of ripping up papers and documents after he reads them. Trump’s habit of tearing up documents was so problematic because it violates the Presidential Records Act that staffers had a designated room where they taped documents back together that Trump destroyed...

The DOJ is investigating Trump for mishandling government documents. It doesn’t matter if the information was classified or not. Ripping up documents that belong to the US government is a crime...

https://www.politicususa.com/2022/09/16/trump-ripped-up-classified-docs.html

https://www.mediaite.com/news/calling-his-bluff-latest-filing-shows-trumps-hand-...
‘Calling His Bluff’: Latest Filing Shows Trump’s Hand-Picked Special Master Backfiring Say Twitter Pundits, Journos

In a new filing Monday, former President Donald Trump‘s legal team refused a requirement — set forth in Dearie’s draft plan — that Trump’s team provide details about Trump’s claim to have “declassified” documents that were seized during the FBI in the search of Mar-a-Lago.

***
Did his new lawyer purposely steer Trump in this direction???

This is big for the Trump family as well anyone with ties to them.

"New York AG sues Trump, his children and their company on charges of large-scale business fraud" | NBC News
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/new-york-ag-sues-trump-children-co...

Donald Trump, the three oldest of his children—Donald Junior, Ivana, and Eric—and Trump Organization have been sued for more than 200 alleged instances of business fraud over a decade of dealings inflating the family's financial worth. Attorney General Letitia James says the Trumps owe the state upwards of $250 million in connection to their fraudulent practices. Her office also seeks to bar the four Trumps and their businesses from dealings within the state.

NBC News split the information about the case between their video and article. Here's a more straightforward explanation of the New York / Trump Org fraud case as of today.

"Explainer-What New York's lawsuit means for Trump and his family company" | Reuters by way of MSN (no paywall)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/explainer-what-new-yorks-lawsuit-means-f...

Notes:

• The investigation focused on the company's activities before Trump became president in 2017.

• The AG is specifically seeking to bar Donald, Junior, Ivana, and Eric from serving as directors of companies registered in New York and from commercial dealings in the state for five years.

• The company's portfolio in New York includes 14 residential properties, three commercial properties, two golf courses, and Seven Springs (a large property that is currently one of Donald Trump's "homes").

• This is a civil case, not a criminal one.

• But the AG is referring allegations of criminal fraud to federal prosecutors within New York as well as to the Internal Revenue Service.

• This is a separate case from the ongoing one about criminal tax fraud by the Manhattan District Attorney's office. (The AG is assisting with the DA's case.)

https://abcnews.go.com/US/york-ag-letitia-james-files-250m-lawsuit-trump/story?i...

Among other allegations, the suit claims that the former president's Florida estate and golf resort, Mar-a-Lago, was valued as high as $739 million, but should have been valued at around one-tenth that amount, at $75 million. The suit says that higher valuation was "based on the false premise that it was unrestricted property and could be developed for residential use even though Mr. Trump himself signed deeds donating his residential development rights and sharply restricting changes to the property."

This hasn't been clear in the news, so I'll also note that Mar-a-Lago—a golf resort referred to as Trump's Florida "home" and the site where the FBI retrieved National Archives records—is a business registered with a New York address c/o Trump Organization.

From what I understand if....sounds more like when a judge rules in favor it cuts him off from lenders pretty much everywhere in the United States because practically every lender has links to accredited NYS banks in one way or another. Also for Donald to get his business back at all delaying on this case is not going to do it.....if he's to get revenues from his business again he is going to have to win in court and until then everything is more than less frozen. Also (again) it's more a documentary than a witness case and if somebody says to one entity 'this is the value of this property' while at the same time asserts to another entity a completely different value for the same property (as Trump seems to have done repeatedly for years) to enrich themselves as the NYS AG is saying either for tax breaks or for better loan terms that is illegal. If the documents are as she says I don't think this is winnable case for him. It's also a lower bar as it's the documents and not witnesses that are really what makes or breaks this.

>52 lriley: Ooooh, insightful. I hadn't yet considered how the lawsuit would immediately affect Trump businesses.

I am still thinking these properties are important in the national security investigation, too.

"The properties Trump is accused of overvaluing in alleged fraud scheme" | NY Post
https://nypost.com/2022/09/21/the-properties-trump-is-accused-of-overvaluing-in-...

Here are some of the properties that Trump is accused of drastically inflating according to the NY AG's lawsuit.

‣ Trump Tower Triplex penthouse in Trump Tower, Manhattan, New York, USA
‣ Trump Park Avenue, New York, USA
‣ Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida, USA
‣ Trump Aberdeen, golf course in Aberdeen, Scotland, UK
‣ Trump National Golf Club, Jupiter, Florida, USA

NY Post reported, "The value of three of his clubs — Mar-a-Lago, Trump Aberdeen and Trump National Golf Club — was also listed as one figure on statements of financial condition, which James says was intentional so as not to discern the value of each."

"Trump’s N.J. golf courses were part of alleged fraudulent scheme to inflate worth by billions, suit charges" | NJ.com
https://www.nj.com/politics/2022/09/trumps-nj-golf-courses-were-part-of-alleged-...

NJ.com confirmed, "Trump’s golf properties stretch from Bedminster, Pine Hill in Camden County and Colts Neck, all in New Jersey, to Mar-a-Lago in Florida, and to clubs in New York, Los Angeles, Charlotte, and Scotland. The lawsuit claimed that Trump’s financial statements did not list separate values for each of those facilities."

(Reminder: The golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey, is where Ivanka Trump was buried in what is suspected to be a tax scheme.)

>53 aspirit: I watched Letitia James press conference and she gave several examples of Trump making fraudulent claims. Two of the examples were at the Trump tower in NYC. She cited 12 apartments at that property that were valued at $750 K and that were also rent stabilized at the $750 number and Donald claimed the value of those 12 altogether at $49 million. Donald also claimed that his own apartment at the tower at $327 million with 33,000 square feet of living space and that apartment is less than 11,000 and valued just over $100 million. All this was to get favorable loans and terms from his lenders and then he turns around and cheats on his taxes. She also talked about appraisers who would value his property at one number—Donald would then value at a much higher number and claim/lie that was what the appraisers valued it at. A lot of these high/low numbers for the same property are already documented so there is a paper trail. She also cited that when Donald was called as a witness he invoked his 5th amendment rights something around 500 times.

Apparently the defense for this is going to be ‘everybody does it’.

Might mention that some of his lenders may be thinking seriously about recalling their loans.

Former President Donald Trump said in a broadcast interview Wednesday that he can declassify documents “even by thinking about it.”

“There doesn’t have to be a process, as I understand it,” Trump told Fox News' Sean Hannity, after Hannity pressed him on which process he took to declassify the documents.

He continued, “If you’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying it’s declassified, even by thinking about it.”

(from USA Today)

>55 kiparsky: There's a well-supported rumor that his father bribed Donald Trump's way through school so he would "pass" his classes, from elementary school through university.

I used to think those stories were exaggerated. I don't know why I did. Perhaps I thought too well of schools in the USA.

Trump certainly doesn't acknowledge his "mistakes" (inappropriate actions such as lying, spreading dangerous misinformation, abusing positions of power, and so on). He didn't listen to any good advice when he was caught making horrible remarks while campaigning in 2016, and he doesn't show he's learned anything since.

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/guy-trump-university-shouldn...

Then again, he's old and known for bad health habits. He possibly stopped bothering to learn anything in the 1980s.

(Somehow, millions of people want him to be POTUS again while they call President Biden "slow". Incredible.)

By the way, did Trump University pay the twenty-five million dollars owed to its former "students" (the thousands of scam victims)?

There's news that Trump and his attorneys didn't pay for about a year and a half after agreeing to settle the TU fraud case*, but I'm not finding any confirmation that the money went out.

I think this is relevant to how the current NY AG lawsuit for Trump Org properties will go.

*correction: cases
Two class action lawsuits and a civil complaint by the New York Attorney General (Eric Schneiderman at the time).

Former Republican congressman Denver Riggleman alleges that on January 6, 2021 as the insurrection was going on the White House switchboard registered a call from someone inside to an insurrectionist outside. When asked whether he knew who the two parties were Riggleman says he knows who the insurrectionist recipient was but not who called him from inside the White House.

>58 lriley: Here’s part of the 60 Minutes interview:

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/riggleman-white-house-switchboard-called-a-capitol...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-28/trump-refuses-to-delay-friday...

Mirror: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/trump-refuses-to-delay-florida-deposition-...

"Trump Refuses to Delay Florida Deposition in Phone-Fraud Case Despite Hurricane" by Erik Larson

■ "Former president was set to be deposed at Mar-a-Lago on Friday
■ "Lawyers for both sides accuse the other of storm falsehoods"

Trump, his company and his three oldest children were sued in 2018 by four investors who claim they were duped into paying thousands of dollars to become independent sellers with ACN Opportunity LLC, which sold a doomed videophone device that the Trumps touted as the next big thing but which was rendered obsolete by smartphones.

Trump fought for years to avoid the deposition but ultimately agreed earlier this year to answer questions under oath, after his attempt to dismiss the suit failed. The case is one of the lesser known legal disputes facing the former president as he weighs a possible 2024 run for the White House.

The case is McKoy v. Trump Corp. in US District Court for the Southern District of New York. US Magistrate Judge Sarah Cave is in Manhattan, New York. The reasons the Trumps' attorneys wanted to meet at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, during hurricane season are unclear.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-records-probe-tensions-flare-over-...

As the probe into the presence of top-secret information at Mar-a-Lago continues, barbed comments in recent court filings have laid bare deep disagreements related to the special master's work — not just among lawyers but judges, too. And the filings have made clear that a process the Trump team initially asked for has not consistently played to the ex-president's advantage.

The article linked above looks at who's who and what is happening in the case of the recovered federal documents.

https://www.npr.org/2022/10/17/1129491352/trump-hotels-overcharged-secret-servic...

As POTUS, Donald Trump frequently stayed on his own property (547 times during his term), requiring the federal government to pay Trump businesses for lodging for Secret Service. His unjustified trips to his own, typically-unsecured properties was controversial on its own, but new US Congressional documents show the Trump Organization charged the government "exorbitant" prices.

According to the documents, the Secret Service was charged as much as $1,185 per room per night, nearly five times the government rate, which is set by the General Services Administration.

This is a far cry from what Trump Organization Executive Vice President Eric Trump claimed in 2020 — that rooms were provided "at cost" to the Secret Service.

While the House Oversight Committee continues to investigate the cost of Trump's lodging scheme, both within and outside of the country, it so far calculates the Secret Service payments to Trump's US properties at more than $1.4 million—roughly a thousand dollars a day over four years that went to his private businesses because of choices he made as the country's top government administrator.

This is essentially theft.

It's not clear whether or not Donald Trump's extension of the Secret Service to his adult children calculates within the apparent scheme.

David Frum @davidfrum | 11:30 AM · Oct 21, 2022:

As somebody has said, if a foreign espionage agency doesn’t have at least one spy inside Mar-a-Lago, can they even call themselves an intelligence service at all? Seems like taking candy from a baby, except the baby would notice and Trump wouldn’t

And by the way

Mar-A-Lago Is Looking To Hire 91 Foreign Workers This Year
Zach Everson | Aug 10, 2022
https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacheverson/2022/08/10/mar-a-lago-is-looking-to-hir...

Never mind his lumpy old hide, he wouldn't take classified documents to a country w/o an extradition treaty with the US, would he?

BREAKING: Donald Trump's 757 plane has been spotted on the tarmac in West Palm Beach. It had been undergoing repairs before this.

A 757 has a flight range of over 4400 miles.

- Tristan Snell @TristanSnell | 7:27 PM · Oct 21, 2022.
Lawyer, founder http://MainStreet.law repping small/mid-size businesses, entrepreneurs, creators. Prosecuted Trump University @ NY AG. Commentator MSNBC CNN.

Trump aide Kash Patel ordered to testify to grand jury investigating Mar-a-Lago documents, sources say
Katelyn Polantz and Paula Reid | November 2, 2022

https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/02/politics/kash-patel-testify-mar-a-lago-documents-...

Julia Davis (The Daily Beast) @JuliaDavisNews | 5:17 PM · Nov 17, 2022:

GOP operative found guilty of funneling Russian money to Donald Trump.

Jesse Benton was pardoned by Trump for a different campaign finance crime, months before he was indicted again on 6 counts related to facilitating an illegal foreign campaign donation.

GOP operative found guilty of funneling Russian money to Donald Trump
Rachel Weiner | 17 Nov 2022

A longtime Ron Paul aide helped a Russian businessman get into a Trump fundraiser; Trump later pardoned him for another campaign finance crime...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/11/17/benton-trump-russian-vasilenk...

DOJ announces special counsel for Trump-related Mar-a-Lago and January 6 criminal investigations

...Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday appointed a special counsel to oversee the criminal investigations into the retention of national defense information at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and parts of the January 6, 2021, insurrection.

“Based on recent developments, including the former President’s announcement that he is a candidate for President in the next election, and the sitting President’s stated intention to be a candidate as well, I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint a special counsel” ...

Jack Smith, the former chief prosecutor for the special court in The Hague, where he investigated war crimes in Kosovo, will oversee the investigations.

Smith “has built the reputation as an impartial and determined prosecutor,” Garland said...

https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/18/politics/justice-department-trump-special-counsel...

No jury in this country will ever find Trump guilty of anything. Why? Because a sweet, Christian female juror will most likely explain that she had a conversation with the Lord, and he told her it was her Christian duty to hang the jury.

Christian duty to hang a lot more than that but it's a good start

>69 Kuiperdolin: Who do you reckon Jesus would hang?

"Supreme Court Allows Congress to Finally See Donald Trump’s Tax Returns: The ruling ends a three-year legal battle over the former president’s tax returns." | New Republic (Nov 22) | https://newrepublic.com/post/169106/supreme-court-allows-congress-finally-see-do...

>71 aspirit: I know Trump's adoring crowds have repeatedly made excuses for his extremely suspicious refusal to provide copies of his income tax returns to Congress. So to show contrast: Joe Biden has publicly shared a total of 24 years of his federal income tax returns. The most recent was for tax year 2021. (Source)

>72 aspirit: Yeah, releasing of taxes seems to be a rather arbitrary and not terribly helpful practice of presidential candidates, but it is a sign of obsequence to the general public, and it's a huge warning sign when it's not done.

>73 prosfilaes: Trump has turned this into a ‘fighting the man’ ‘personal freedumbs’ issue and it definitely plays too and gets much support from his base. How important it is to moderates and independents who lean to the right is a question.

"Trump almost ran out the clock on his tax returns. Almost. While Trump’s long legal wrangling delayed the production of documents to House Democrats, it has also created two more perils for the former president." | NBC News

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trumps-tax-returns-case-lost-supreme-court...

First, the updated House request to the Treasury Department in 2021 calls for more recent tax returns, this time for tax years 2015-2020. These returns cover Trump’s entire presidency, meaning that the House will get a full look at whether Trump or his companies may have run afoul of the Emoluments Clause. That's the clause of the Constitution which prohibits federal officeholders from receiving gifts, payments or things of value from leaders or representatives of foreign countries (and because this is a constitutional prohibition, Trump cannot argue that it does not apply to a president).

Second, the opinion from the highly regarded D.C. Court of Appeals has now confirmed that the legal bar that congressional tax committees must clear to access a former president’s (and even a sitting president’s) tax returns is fairly low.

The POTUS is not a regular citizen. The American public should expect higher (not lower!) standards for everyone who serves in that position.

>75 aspirit: Most recent presidents have tried very hard to expand the powers of the presidency while in office. Trump with his nonsensical take that he still has executive privilege is the first president that I know of to try to expand presidential powers into his post presidency......but he is like it or not a regular citizen again and in theory anyway subject to all kinds of civil and criminal liability. Many of us are still waiting for sure for those liabilities to become realities. Unfortunately it's been a very long and frustrating wait.

>76 lriley: Regular citizens aren't assigned Secret Service agents and maintain certain other presidential privileges.

However, I agree he should be liable for civil and criminal charges.

That Trump seems to not understand he's no longer POTUS is a separate (deeply concerning) issue.

"Trump special master overturned by appeals court in Mar-a-Lago documents investigation: The order goes into effect in seven days, absent another legal intervention." | ABC News
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/appeals-court-shuts-special-master-trump-documen...

"The law is clear," the {panel of} judges found. "We cannot write a rule that allows any subject of a search warrant to block government investigations after the execution of the warrant. Nor can we write a rule that allows only former presidents to do so."

The order effectively eliminates what federal authorities had described as a major obstacle in their ongoing criminal investigation into whether Trump illegally retained highly classified records after leaving the presidency and obstructed efforts by the government to recover them.

>77 aspirit:

I expect he fully understands that he is no longer president, but it very much suits his strategy to behave otherwise.

Trump Organization has for the first time been convicted (that is, found guilty) on charges of criminal charges!

https://www.npr.org/2022/12/06/1140756394/former-president-donald-trumps-company...

The jury found it and another corporate entity controlled by the Trump family guilty on 17 counts of criminal tax fraud and falsifying business records. NPR reports that the maximum penalty for this convictions is $1.6 million in payments.

Harry Litman @harrylitman | 5:31 PM · Dec 8, 2022:
LATimes Legal Affairs Columnist. Exec. prod. & host, @talkingfedspod. FCA Lawyer. Teach con law at UCSD& UCLA. Senior Fellow USC. Former US Atty, Dep Assis AG.

"Wow. DOJ wants to hold Trump in contempt for violation of subpoena. A natural outgrowth of the trickling out of documents and failure to comply with subpoena from last May. But quite a strike {shot?} across the bow."

Florida judge fines Trump, lawyer for ‘frivolous’ lawsuit
JILL COLVIN | 20 Jan 2023

A Florida Judge sanctioned former President Donald Trump and one of his attorneys Thursday, ordering them to pay nearly $1 million for filing what he said was a bogus lawsuit against Trump’s 2016 rival Hillary Clinton and others.

In a blistering filing, U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks accused Trump of a “pattern of abuse of the courts” for filing frivolous lawsuits for political purposes, which he said “undermines the rule of law” and “amounts to obstruction of justice...Here, we are confronted with a lawsuit that should never have been filed, which was completely frivolous, both factually and legally, and which was brought in bad faith for an improper purpose”...

(The lawsuit had named as defendants Clinton and some of her top advisers, as well as former FBI Director James Comey and other FBI officials involved in the investigation into whether Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign had coordinated with Russia to sway the outcome of the election.)

Citing Trump’s recent legal action against the Pulitzer Prize board, New York Attorney General Letitia James, big tech companies and CNN, he described Trump as “a prolific and sophisticated litigant” who uses the courts “to seek revenge on political adversaries.”...

https://apnews.com/article/politics-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-florida-new-yor...

Judge Middlebrow was nominated by the defendant's husband, Bill Clinton. Who said judges were ingrates? Not I.

>82 margd: >83 Kuiperdolin: the judge was nominated 25 years ago.

With his experience, Judge Middlebrooks should be more than qualified to recognize misuse of the legal system even when it's not as obvious as it is coming from Trump and the people strange enough to work for him.

On the topic of Trump's legal people...

"Michael Cohen, Trump's former 'fixer,' meets with Manhattan D.A. investigators" by Graham Kates
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/michael-cohen-trump-manhattan-district-attorney-inv...

CBS News says last Tuesday's meeting with Cohen may be a sign that Manhattan District Attorney's Office is "picking up steam" in its years-old investigation into Trump's finances.

In Georgia—partly because of his call to the Office of the Secretary of State two years ago—Donald Trump is expected to be indicted for breaking some or all of the following state laws.

• Solicitation to commit election fraud

• Intentional interference with performance of election duties

• Interference with primaries and elections

• Conspiracy to commit election fraud

• Making false statements

• Improperly influencing witnesses

• Forgery in the first degree

• Criminal solicitation

• False swearing

• Violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act

The formal accusation that he's committed these crimes is expected in February. The report by the special purpose grand jury that was investigating potential criminality is expected to be published around the same time.

Source: "Fani Willis is going to indict Trump soon. Here’s what that looks like" by Brie Sparkman, CREW
https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-reports/fani-willi...

Sounds like a lot of bluster and nothing substantial. Nuisance lawsuit at taxpayers' expenses.

>86 Kuiperdolin: Georgia collected an extreme surplus of taxes last year. State funds maxed out of what they're allowed for this year.

There's so much taxpayer money that the Republican-led government has been struggling to decide what to do with it, while Governor Kemp and his supporters seem to loathe the requests to use it for repairing infrastructure weakened and damaged during Trump's presidency or to otherwise give it back to the people of Georgia.

So, hmm, no, I don't believe financial cost is an issue.

>86 Kuiperdolin:

If somebody, anybody, no matter who they are, is suspected of breaking that long list of laws, don't you think it's the duty of law enforcement officials to investigate, and if the case appears sound, to bring it to a court for judgement? Isn't that how well-ordered law-abiding societies work? And if it is just a "nuisance lawsuit", "bluster" and "nothing substantial" then the court will dismiss it as such, as I believe a court recently dismissed a nuisance lawsuit by ex-President Trump in another matter.

>85 aspirit: Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney in Georgia ruled that the introduction and conclusion of the grand jury report of the Fulton County case be made public tomorrow, according to NBC News.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/georgia-judge-rules-grand-jury-rep...

The article implies that indictments are still likely to occur soon, but the district attorney is not yet ready for them.

There it is.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/read-partial-georgia-grand-jury-re...

In 2016, clueless Americans elected our one, and hopefully only, crime-wave president. Unfortunately, The Founders could not see into the future and protect our democracy from the loathsome, insane man-child who continues to con millions of oblivious American citizens. And the modern-day GOP reps escort him thru all of the law-enforcement barriers!

Whew. Keeping up is more difficult this week, isn't it?

Donald Trump's lawyers tried to delay one of the New York cases against him (who, let's remember, is elderly), his oldest (very much adult) children, and Trump Organization until 2024. A judge denied their request. The trial is scheduled for this upcoming October.

This case for the alleged business fraud, inflating their worth in years of financial statements to banks and insurers involving billions of dollars to cheat their way into loans and property deals.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/written-stone-ny-judge-refuses-del...

There's the talk of a possible indictment of Trump for the case of hush money to a sex worker paid to sleep with him. (Stormy Daniels, the American porn star—not the sex workers in the alleged "pee tape" or the trafficked teens.)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/live-blog/trump-news-grand-jury-in...

There's at least one rape case that's continuing to progress. The trial for E. Jean Carroll is scheduled to start late next month.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-loses-last-bid-keep-key-evid...

I don't know what's happening in Georgia with the election fraud investigation(s). Indictments were expected this month.

ETA: I looked it up. Fulton County, Georgia, prosecutors reportedly reached out to one of Trump's attorneys for an unknown (to the public) reason. Trump's attorneys, meanwhile, continue to try to prevent the release of the full grand jury report that summarized the findings of its earlier investigation. Trump's defense team is attempting to stop the current investigation and the possible indictments by the district attorney.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/fulton-county-prosecutors-now-seek-question-trump-atto...

I actually forgot about his hoarding a library's worth of federal document in the unsecured basement of his Palm Beach tourist resort and then lying to federal agents about it.

Apparently, the court must order his lawyers to provide information on the DOJ case, because his side continues to try to withhold legal documents.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-classified-documents-maralago-justice-departmen...

I'll look up later what's happening with the county charge that the Trumps lied about Mar-a-Lago for residential zoning. That one intersects strangely with the state and federal criminal cases, possibly including the accusation that Trump voted illegally in elections within Florida.

ETA second link

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/its-all-about-the-money-joe-scarborough-hammers-grif...
‘It’s All About the Money’: Joe Scarborough Hammers ‘Grifter’ Trump for Raising $1.5 Million Over Arrest Indictment Blow-Up

***
Only in America! Poor people send their hard-earned money to a billionaire who has gold toilets in his bathrooms. And they wonder why they are destined to spend their lives living in doublewides.

>94 Molly3028: his supporters don't wonder why they are living in double-wides, they aspire to live the same way he does. They think he's 'fighting' for them.

>94 Molly3028: You're deeply misrepresenting how American economic systems work. Living your life in a modular home, especially one at least twice the size of the typical home in a trailer, suggests housing stability. That in turn suggests good fortune: consistent employment, financial gifts or inheritance from other people, social support to make residence wherever you are tolerable, and luck in not being forced out by either a natural disaster, violence, or government deals with wealthy property developers. MIllions of American aren't that lucky.

Trump has supporters among all the social classes because of an American obsession with Calvinistic values and the myth of destined kings. Many of his supporters are caught up in cult worship.

Meanwhile, the wealthiest seem to want him to get away with his scams.. They seem—falsely—to believe that means they'll get away with theirs.

The consequences falling of the people around him doesn't register, do they? Trump's loud ranting distracts from all the investigations, arrests, social isolation, emotional abuse (from him and his miserable friends), non-payments and all the other broken promises, and the rest eventually put on his complicit family members, business partners, employees, friends, fans, etc. when pressure is put on him I don't think there's been nearly enough effort to hold any of those people accountable for crimes over the decades, not only the past several years, which allowed a culture of abuse; but also, the media fails to highlight how Donald Trump selfishly uses everyone. He has no real loyalty to speak of. Possibly, none around him deserve it.

But then, neither does he.

>95 MsMixte: and >96 aspirit:

I imagine some of them believe giving money to the orange Jesus is a religious duty.

>97 Molly3028: yeah. I imagine the same.

>98 aspirit: indeed!

I have read that TFG has been running through various scenarios of how he wants to be indicted. In handcuffs? Cuffs in from, or behind his back?

He never, EVER, wants to look weak, like a loser. It's bad for grifting opportunities.

One thing that will really hurt is that he will be forced to remove his toupee for his mugshot.

I saw a joke on social media about a "buy six, get the seventh criminal case free" without specify which of the more than seven cases the person posting was thinking of. The article linked below was helpful to me in seeing what might be best known.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/notable-investigations-lawsuits-donald-trump-dea...

An incomplete list of personal and business investigations and lawsuits Donald Trump is currently dealing with, in the order provided by ABC News:

1. Stormy Daniels hush money case, involving the Manhattan, New York, district attorney's office

2. US Department of Justice probe of Trump's handling of federal records in Mar-a-Lago, Florida

3. Jan. 6 inquiries by US Congress

4. Trump Organization conviction of 17 tax crimes (from an ongoing Manhattan district attorney investigation)

5. New York state attorney general civil lawsuit for business fraud

6. Georgia criminal investigation into election fraud+

7. E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuits for rape allegation in New York and federal courts

8. Westchester district attorney investigation of Trump golf course in New York

Isn't there also a tenants' class-action suit claiming damages from fraudulent rent increases based on inflated capital costs to buildings owned by the corporation? I haven't heard much about that one since it was launched; if successful, it could turn out to be very expensive.

There have been multiple lawsuits by tenants of Trump properties for fraud or neglect. >101 librorumamans: I think the one you're remembering has been largely ignored other than as blips in the news.

Both The New York Times and Donald Trump's defense team were reported as presenting evidence of a scheme against tenants in an intrafamily lawsuit by his niece Mary Trump.

The tenants saw the evidence from the news investigation. I think that was in 2020. Twenty of the tenants joined to accuse Donald Trump and his siblings of using a cover company called All County Building Supply to commit fraud and racketeering by charging inflated prices for major appliances and other materials to hike up rents at 30 buildings in New York. This scheme by the Trumps allegedly affected several hundred thousand tenants.

The last I'm seeing, the prosecution filed an amended lawsuit with new evidence last year.

The New York Supreme Court, where it was filed, however, has not picked up the case. (That could be in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has impaired many courts around the country. Brooklyn was hit especially hard.)

Sources:
WaPo and Reuters; search engines DuckDuckGo and Startpage used to look for updates.
(I was reintroduced to "Litigation Tracker: Pending Criminal and Civil Cases Against Donald Trump" on JustSecurity.org, which excludes the tenants' class action request.)

>102 aspirit:

Thanks for the update!

How clueless can Trumpers be after all these years. Trump supposedly professed to love Melania and his newborn son when he was scr*wing around with Stormy years ago. His so-called love for America and his cult followers is most likely just as meaningless today. MTG cares more about the fools in the DC jail than Trump ever has or ever will. Melania most likely made sure she received huge payoffs along the way. On the other hand, Trump's cult followers continue to send Trump, the billionaire, their hard-earned money year after year.

>104 Molly3028: My guessing on MTG is she's only interested in the 'fools in the DC jail' to further her own ambitions. She doesn't really care about them at all. MTG would like for Donald actually to name her his running mate for 2024. She'd like to be next in line.

>105 lriley:

I think Kari Lake, the former TV news personality, has the VP spot on a Trump ticket all sewed up. And if clueless Americans give Trump the '47' nod, what is happening in Israel now will be happening here the first year into the new Trump administration.

Trump Indicted

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-indicted-new-york-gran...

A Manhattan grand jury has voted to indict Donald Trump on charges related to the former president’s hush-money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.

>107 2wonderY:
34 counts of business fraud! It appears the jury did a thorough job.

>108 Molly3028: where did you see that number? I'm not finding it.

John Miller on CNN reported that it was 34 counts.

Bill Kristol (Bulwark) @BillKristol | 7:53 PM · Mar 30, 2023:

Understanding this is idiotic performative posturing by DeSantis, I'll still point out that DeSantis's threat "not to assist in an extradition request" from NY shows more contempt for the rule of law in the U.S. than Trump himself does, as he seems to intend to turn himself in.

DeSantis tweet ( https://twitter.com/BillKristol/status/1641589394984300544/photo/1 )
------------------------------------------------------------

stuart stevens (Lincoln Project) @stuartpstevens | 10:20 PM · Mar 30, 2023

.@AsaHutchinson is considering running for Republican nomination. He put out a statement reinforcing rule of law, didn’t attack the prosecutor. It can be done.

Quote Tweet
Gov. Asa Hutchinson @AsaHutchinson · 10h
See my statement on the indictment of former President Trump below👇🏼:

Text ( https://twitter.com/AsaHutchinson/status/1641569124865175553/photo/1 )
--------------------------------------------------------------

nikki mccann ramírez (Rolling Stone) @NikkiMcR | 9:08 PM · Mar 30, 2023:
Mike Pence calls indictment against Trump an "outrage"
0:40 ( https://twitter.com/NikkiMcR/status/1641608276566585347 )

Ben Collins (NBC News) @oneunderscore__ | 6:39 PM · Mar 30, 2023
Trump posts on Truth Social that he has been "INDICATED."

Text Trump truth "indicated" ( https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/status/1641570852381523974/photo/1 )

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rico_v._Branstad is clear; extradition is not optional. Wouldn't mind the FBI taking DeSantis into custody for contempt of court, but it's pure noise.

Trump’s Criminal Charges To Be Overseen By Same Judge Who Sentenced His Company For Tax Fraud—And He’s Not Happy About It
Alison Durkee, Forbes Staff | Mar 31, 2023

Key Facts
Trump’s case will be overseen by acting New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who the ex-president claimed on Truth Social Friday “HATES ME.”

Merchan, who the New York Times notes previously served as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan—the same office that has now indicted Trump—presided over the Manhattan DA’s previous criminal cases against the Trump Organization and Weisselberg, who were charged with tax fraud related to gifts and other “off-the-books” compensation that executives received without the company paying tax on it.

Weisselberg was sentenced to five months in prison after taking a plea deal—versus a possible sentence of up to 15 years if he had pleaded not guilty and was convicted at trial—and the Trump Organization was convicted by a jury and sentenced by Merchan to pay $1.6 million, the maximum penalty for its crimes.

Trump, who has slammed the charges against him as “Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history,” claimed on Truth Social the judge “railroaded” Weisselberg to take a plea deal and claimed Merchan had “treated my companies … VICIOUSLY.”

“APPEALING!” Trump said, though his legal team has so far not appeared to file any official request with the court to appear before a different judge...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2023/03/31/trump-criminal-charges-to-b...

No amount of time will ever erase the fact that three infamous U.S. presidents ~ Hoover, Nixon and Trump ~ will have a capital "R" next to their names for eternity! Their eras all occurred in a span of fewer than 100 years.

It's funny that conservatives like Lindsey Graham or any number of talking heads on Fox News TV had no problem seeing Michael Cohen serve time in part for paying off Ms. Daniels at Donald Trump's behest but they do have a problem with Donald Trump being charged for directing Cohen to do so like the mafia don he sometimes aspires to be. They can also live with old man Weisselberg going to prison for cooking Trump's taxes for years and years while illegally accepting financial gifts from Donald but again Donald is not to be touched. This is a witch-hunt by a democratic state prosecutor.

No it's fucking karma finally catching up to this assclown.

Which, I wonder, will have the larger viewership — the King's coronation next month, or the orange snollygoster's arraignment on Tuesday?

>117 librorumamans: my guess is the coronation (which hasn't happened yet?! Seriously?) will have more viewers of live video. This is assuming the erratic crime boss in the USA won't be trying to flee the country on a sudden "world tour" or anything as attention-grabbing.

Trump will be the word of the day across the internet on Tuesday, though. No doubt.

I'm actually in this thread to drop a note. What's happening with the IRS investigations?

Someone was trying to explain to me earlier today why we rarely hear what the IRS says about the Trumps. I had trouble following everything in that explanation.

What we laypeople know: Trump Organization has been convicted of municipal tax crimes; Donald Trump has been indicted for the Stormy Daniels cover up involving financials; his attorneys and employees have been serving prison sentences for financial crimes connected to him and his family; there are loads of rumors about what he's been doing with campaign, rally, and other types of funds; the people he hires to represent him have proven to either be offensively bad at their jobs or insufficiently capable of preventing him from destroying legal documents that are supposed to be maintained; etc. There's no way everything looks good in all of his IRS records.

I vaguely remember that IRS agents got in trouble for refusing to conduct mandatory audits on Trump when he was coming into the Oval Office and was hanging around his golf courses with a valid presidential seal. I doubt no one at that level went digging afterward. From all of this, I'm estimating something suggesting Trump vs. IRS will rise to the surface of mainstream news within the next year and a half.

>117 librorumamans: snollygoster

Thank you! I love that word!

>120 John5918:

You're welcome! I had long forgotten the word until this weekend, when someone pointed out that it had found its perfect example.

>119 aspirit: So disappointing that the Rs snatched away IRS funding and personnel increase--personnel who could answer questions and audit people who avoid paying their share. Rs will NEVER support IRS--I say nail that "snollygoster".
.
.
.
:D ‘Snollygoster’ (19th-century): one who relentlessly pursues their own agenda at the expense of everyone else.
- Susie Dent

Washington Post: DOJ has new evidence of potential obstruction in Trump Mar-a-Lago documents case
Paul LeBlanc | April 2, 2023

...potential obstruction...

Investigators have information that indicates Trump personally reviewed some of the documents in his Mar-a-Lago home after receiving a subpoena from the Justice Department, people familiar with the investigation told the Post, out of an apparent wish to hold on to some things.

While the former president’s team returned some classified documents following the May 2022 subpoena, the FBI’s August search turned up more that hadn’t been returned.

Additional evidence obtained by investigators suggests that Trump told others to mislead government officials trying to recover documents from his time in the White House before the subpoena last year, which the Post noted could be evidence of his intent.

CNN has confirmed that investigators have emails and text messages from Molly Michael, an assistant to the former president who left her job last year. Those texts and notes, which investigators have had for several months, detail what Trump was doing and who he was meeting with, which could be significant for understanding his whereabouts in relation to the documents...

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/02/politics/donald-trump-mar-a-lago-justice-departme...
____________________________________________

Washington Post article is behind paywall, but reported excerpt: “…after the subpoena was delivered, Trump looked through the contents of some of the boxes of docs in his home, apparently out of a desire to keep certain things in his possession,” report ⁦@DevlinBarrett ⁩ ⁦@jdawsey1 & ⁦@PerryStein
____________________________________________

Katie S. Phang (MSNBC) @KatiePhang | 4:19 PM · Apr 2, 2023:

“Investigators have also amassed evidence indicating that Trump told others to mislead government officials in early 2022, before the subpoena, when NARA was working with DOJ to try to recover a wide range of papers, many of them not classified, from Trump’s time as president.”

“…based on witness statements, security camera footage, and other documentary evidence, that boxes including classified material were moved from a Mar-a-Lago storage area after the subpoena was served, and that Trump personally examined at least some of those boxes.”

Survey of Past Criminal Prosecutions for Covert Payments to Benefit a Political Campaign
Siven Watt and Norman L. Eisen | March 30, 2023

The indictment of former President Donald Trump for conduct involving the alleged concealment of hush money payments to benefit a presidential campaign raises the question whether his case is being treated like other cases. That question is fundamental to ensuring the equal application of the law and protecting free and fair elections. In this essay and accompanying table of cases (the “Table”), we analyze 17 analogous campaign finance and related prosecutions in the State of New York and nationally. Our research shows that third-party payments covertly made to benefit a candidate are routinely and successfully prosecuted as campaign finance violations in New York and elsewhere under a variety of state and federal statutes...

https://www.justsecurity.org/85745/survey-of-prosecutions-for-covert-payments-to...

On Trump being read his Miranda rights:

“Wait till he finds out that all this time he had the right to be silent.” - Jimmy Kimmel

Katie S. Phang (MSNBC) @KatiePhang | 3:44 PM · Apr 4, 2023:

Per @MSNBC: indictment includes $30,000 payment to silence a doorman at one of Trump's buildings who allegedly had information about a child that Trump fathered.

This is bigger than I'd expected.

In addition to the Trump Tower doorman, today's court proceeding involves hush money for extramarital sexual affairs with two women, the often-cited Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Neither appear to be the Tower employee allegedly impregnated by Donald Trump.

The indictment of the former President Trump lists (as CNN earlier reported) 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

AP has a breakdown of the three cases:
https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-stormy-daniels-karen-mcdougal-payoffs-40...

The full indictment is posted for view at NBC News:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-indictment-full-text-read-co...

At least some of this stuff came up in the Michael Cohen trial. The guy running the National Enquirer keeping some of these stories locked away in his safe as a favor to Donald and after that was found out he was turned. There was also an audio tape in which Donald and some of his underlings were discussing in detail how to go about paying off some of these claimants/victims. If I remember Cohen went out of pocket at least once and Donald made it up to him later out of campaign funds......and no doubt wrote it off as campaign expenses which if that's correct is illegal.

Tristan Snell @TristanSnell | 5:08 PM · Apr 3, 2023:
Lawyer, fighter for democracy, advocate for innovators and creators. Prosecuted Trump University @ NY AG. Commentator @ MSNBC CNN.

BREAKING: Trump has lied about being forced to come to NYC for arrest and arraignment. He was offered the chance to be arraigned over Zoom from Mar-a-Lago and refused.

He’s not a martyr. He’s a con man.

TFG took his own videographer with him to record his defiant return to the lion's den, no doubt to be transmogrified into a paean of TFG's strength, courage, and innocence.

Sitting quietly in front of a computer screen, luxuriating in his palatial caretaker's home just wouldn't have the same impact.

Because it is ALWAYS, ALWAYS, about how to milk his followers for more money. They never learn, they just dig deeper into their pockets.

>130 MsMixte: Bragg was smart enough to forego mug shot, prison bars, and handcuffs--but somehow he scheduled TFG in HOLY WEEK??

Holy Week may mean something to many, but there is an ever growing number of people to whom Easter is nothing more than a week to party during spring break.

Donald Trump’s Holy Week Indictment Is an Anti-Christian Parable
James Risen | March 31 2023

Get ready for the MAGA Christian nationalist crowd to make the connection between Donald Trump’s surrender to New York authorities on Tuesday and Holy Week. It’ll be Holy Tuesday, and the parallels will write themselves. Any Christian nationalist minister who fails to draw the comparison should have his Venmo account suspended.

...the generally accepted version of what happened on Holy Tuesday will still fit nicely into the narrative of victimhood and righteousness that Christian nationalists have built around Trump.

After his entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, when the joyful crowd threw palms in front of his donkey to smooth his path, Jesus cleansed the Temple of Jerusalem on Holy Monday, overturning the tables of the moneychangers.

Holy Tuesday was a day of testing for Jesus. As he entered the temple, according to the Gospel of Matthew, “the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’”

Jesus had an answer ready:

“Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes’? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.

“When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.”...

https://theintercept.com/2023/03/31/donald-trump-indictment/

>133 margd: in other words, the vast majority of people will shrug their shoulders and say--"do we suspend indicting criminals the week before Christmas? Do we give criminals the day off for their birthday? No? Then what makes THIS week special?".

People whinging about TFG being indicted yesterday show you who they are. They really are cult followers who worship a false god, having replaced Jesus with TFG.

https://www.mediaite.com/news/cnn-fact-checker-daniel-dale-knocks-down-trumps-po...
CNN Fact-Checker Daniel Dale Knocks Down Trump’s Post-Indictment Speech at Mar-a-Lago: ‘Keeps Being Wrong’

***
Trump and his crowd at Mar-a-Lago was a 'Who's Who' gathering of the most infamous, modern-day GOPers in America. A majority of them should be wearing orange jumpsuits or white straitjackets.

Robert Costa (CBS News) @costareports | 3:56 PM · Apr 5, 2023:
(thread) This Pence development today is significant and potentially historic. A former vice president is now willing, within certain specified constitutional grounds his lawyers fought to arrange, to testify about potential illegal acts by a president.

Trump's lawyers might try to appeal Pence's decision, but they keep losing efforts to assert exec. priv. with this grand jury.

That means Pence could appear before Jan. 6 grand jury in the coming weeks to testify under oath about what exactly Trump did and said in private.

Think about what this means. The special counsel could now get a first-hand account of what Trump specifically said to Pence in Oval Office meetings ahead of Jan. 6, as long as Pence and his lawyers do not consider those conversations related to his specific constitutional role.

Pence has long been reluctant to talk at all, even to confidants, about what Trump has said to him in private. Pence has protected his confidence with Trump for years. But he is also someone who knows a subpoena to testify is what it is: a demand to follow the rule of law.

Pence's spokesman's statement today underscores that he will follow the rule of law. A sign of where he stands, how he'll handle. So as long as special counsel asks questions that are arguably outside realm of "President of Senate" hat Pence wore as VP, testimony seems possible.

Here are some looming questions...

On Jan. 4, 2021, John Eastman pressured you to act, to your face, in the Oval. What did he say? What did Trump say? How did they follow up? Did you take it as a directive or a suggestion on how to handle your job as vice president?

A day later, on Jan. 5, 2021, President Trump called you into the Oval Office to talk, one on one. What exactly did he say to you? What did he say about his desire to stay in power? What did he outline as his hopes for Jan. 6? Did he give you any documents?

Late on Jan. 5, 2021, you return home to dinner. A group dinner, some supporters there. Friends. Did anyone else call you that night? Or reach out to your advisers? The next morning, Jan. 6, you stay home and don't go to the White House. Take me through that decision and moment.

On the morning of Jan. 6, you take a call with Trump. What did you say to him when he berated you for not doing his bidding? Who else did you speak with that morning ahead of issuing your letter and going to the Capitol?

All that is during his time as VP of the United States, not as "president of Senate." But will be up to a judge to ultimately decide, should Pence testify as now expected, about just how far the special counsel can go in terms of the scope of questions on Trump's conduct.

What will matter is whether special counsel can eventually prove criminal intent on Trump's part (or Eastman, Giuliani, etc.) to conspire to block a congressional proceeding... sources tell me that's a key focus in the Jan. 6 probe: How did Trump use his power to block Congress?

This all comes as the special counsel is also, I'm told, digging very deep into whether Trump in any way tried to obstruct the government from securing classified documents, securing testimony from tons of aides, Mar-a-Lago employees and even Trump's own lawyer...

So, yes, yesterday in NYC was historic. A surreal American scene. But the real movement, perhaps, is in Washington. In Jack Smith's special counsel investigations. Fast-moving probes, witnesses being compelled to come in. And a former VP now set to testify under oath. /end

MeidasTouch @MeidasTouch | 2:44 PM · Apr 11, 2023:

BREAKING: Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg just filed a LAWSUIT against Jim Jordan to block his interference and obstruction of the DA's criminal case against Donald Trump.

Image ( https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.597015/gov.uscourts.ny... )

Federal prosecutors involved in the probe of the January 6 event are attempting to question Trump campaign workers and other Republican operatives about fundraising from November 2020 until inauguration day in 2021. They are investigating possible money transfer (wire) fraud.

That suggests that investigators are pursuing a legal theory similar to the one used to charge former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon and others with fraudulent fundraising to build a wall along the southern border, in which Bannon and others were charged with defrauding donors by lying in email pitches. Bannon’s three co-defendants pleaded guilty or were convicted, while Bannon was pardoned by Trump before he faced trial. Bannon now faces similar charges from the Manhattan district attorney and awaits trial.

What does this have to do with Jan. 6?

The special counsel’s increased interest in fundraising follows the December release of the final report of the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack, which concluded that the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee’s joint fundraising operation brought in $250 million between the November election and Jan. 6, sending as many as 25 emails to supporters each day, many claiming that the election had been “rigged” or that Democrats had tried to steal the presidency and urging people to join the “Trump Army.”

from WaPo's "Special counsel focuses on Trump fundraising off false election claims" by Josh Dawsey, Devlin Barrett, Rosalind S. Helderman, and Jacqueline Alemany; https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/04/12/trump-fundraising-fraud-special....

https://www.mediaite.com/news/new-ruling-judge-in-rape-lawsuit-torches-trump-ple...
NEW RULING: Judge In Rape Lawsuit Torches Trump Pleading For Delay In Blistering Court Order

“It does not sit well for Mr. Trump to promote pretrial publicity and then to claim that coverage that he promoted was prejudicial to him and should be taken into account as supporting a further delay,” Kaplan wrote.

The trial will commence on April 25, 2023.

Fox settles with Dominion for $787 million. Fox won't have to admit wrongdoing. Still I'm kind of wondering if Tucker, Laura and Sean's broadcasts are worth that kind of money to the shareholders? Kind of thinking that even making multiple millions as they are it's going to take a bunch of years for their salaries to make up for that. And it's not all over if those shareholders decide to revolt but even if they don't.......Smartmatic is up next.

All this because Fox had to follow Trump and his election lies down the ol' rabbit hole.

>140 lriley:

I believe Roger Ailes is the dude who hired the perps. He nailed the network he ran for Murdoch from the grave. Following Trump down the rabbit hole turned out to be a very costly detour off Reality Road for FOX News. Trump continues to collect millions of dollars from his clueless cult followers, and Murdoch is paying out almost $800 million to Dominion.

Exclusive: Text messages reveal Trump operatives considered using breached voting data to decertify Georgia's Senate runoff in 2021
Zachary Cohen | April 21, 2023

In mid-January 2021, two men hired by former President Donald Trump's legal team {Jim Penrose, a former NSA official working with Trump lawyer Sidney Powell to access voting machines in Georgia and Doug Logan, CEO of Cyber Ninjas, a firm that purports to run audits of voting systems. } discussed over text message what to do with data obtained from a breached voting machine in a rural county in Georgia, including whether to use it as part of an attempt to decertify the state's pending Senate runoff results.

The texts, sent two weeks after operatives breached a voting machine in Coffee County, Georgia, reveal for the first time that Trump allies considered using voting data not only to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, but also in an effort to keep a Republican hold on the US Senate. ..

...Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis...office is weighing a potential racketeering case against multiple defendants and is actively deciding who to bring charges against, sources tell CNN. Willis has subpoenaed a number of individuals involved in the Coffee County breach, including the two men who carried it out who were in touch with Penrose and Logan...

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/04/21/politics/trump-georgia-senate-breached-voting...

Georgia Fake Electors All Turn on Each Other
What appeared to be a united front under the representation of one attorney has now devolved into cascading chaos as the threat of criminal charges looms.
Amee Vanderpool | April 20, 2023

...(Kimberly Bourroughs Debrow) is the current attorney of record for 10 of the fake Georgia electors, all of whom are no longer cooperating with each other in the 26-month investigation into the actions of Trump and several of his allies. (Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis) has called the mass representation an “impracticable and ethical mess” and cited a glaring conflict of interest issue...(asked Georgia Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney to “disqualify Kimberly Bourroughs Debrow in her simultaneous representation of multiple parties in this matter and prohibit her from any further participation in this matter, pursuant to Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct and other relevant law.” )...

https://resolutesquare.com/articles/4fPh3A7P4npQsS6Opd0Ziy/georgia-fake-electors...

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/27/politics/mike-pence-grand-jury-testimony/index.ht...
Former Vice President Pence testifies to federal grand jury investigating Donald Trump and January 6

Pence testified for more than five hours, a source familiar with the matter told CNN, and while adviser Marc Short did not confirm the appearance on Thursday, he addressed the legal back-and-forth over the testimony.

https://www.mediaite.com/news/its-a-big-deal-cnns-chris-wallace-weighs-in-on-pen...
‘It’s a Big Deal!’ CNN’s Chris Wallace Weighs in on Pence Testifying For 5 Hours Against Trump in Criminal Probe

***
Wallace's leaving FOX News in 2021 was a bold and smart leave-before-the-sh*t-hits-the-fan career move. Timing in life is everything!

https://www.mediaite.com/news/judge-quickly-dismisses-trumps-request-for-mistria...
Judge Quickly Dismisses Trump’s Request For Mistrial in E. Jean Carroll Case

***
Tony Tacopina has been shot down again in court.

https://www.mediaite.com/news/just-in-cnn-reports-truly-extraordinary-news-trump...
JUST IN: CNN Reports ‘Truly Extraordinary’ News Trump Prosecutor Jack Smith Personally Watched Pence Testimony Face-To-Face

***
Jack Smith is on the job 24/7.

https://www.mediaite.com/trump/watch-trump-says-hes-returning-to-new-york-to-con...
WATCH: Trump Says He’s Returning to New York to ‘Confront’ Rape Accuser E. Jean Carroll and ‘Extremely Hostile’ Judge

I have to leave Ireland and I have to leave Scotland where I have great properties. I have to leave early. I don’t have to, but I choose to. Will you attend the trial? Mr. President, I’m probably attend and I probably will and i think its a disgrace. It’s a disgrace that it’s allowed to happen against a rich guy or in my case, against a famous, rich and political person that’s leading the polls by 40 points. And I have to go back for a woman that made a false accusation about me, and I have a judge who is extremely hostile and I’m going to go back and I’m going to confront this. But this woman is a disgrace and it shouldn’t be allowed to happen in our country. You go to work.

4 proud boys including Tarrio convicted of seditious conspiracy today. They are still deliberating on the 5th. Tarrio's lawyer fingered Trump today as the one responsible for setting the January 6 attempted coup into motion. They're all looking at 20 years. The same has already happened to a number of Oathkeepers leaders. At least so far it is other people who pay for supporting/defending Trump's election lies. Even FOX news pays $787.5 million to settle out of court with Dominion.

https://www.mediaite.com/trump/watch-trump-deposition-video-in-e-jean-carroll-ra...
WATCH: Full Video of Trump’s Deposition in E. Jean Carroll Rape Trial

***
The creep who lurks beneath the TV personality facade is even worse than I ever imagined. He made my skin crawl. This poor excuse for a human being actually resided in the White House for four years ~ an era of shame for America.

https://www.mediaite.com/trump/trump-lawyer-joe-tacopina-throws-own-client-under...
Trump Lawyer Joe Tacopina Throws Own Client Under the Bus to Judge: ‘You Understand What I’m Dealing With Here’

At issue are comments made by a vexed Trump who told assembled reporters on Thursday that he had to leave Ireland and Scotland early to return to New York to “confront” Carroll, who he called a “disgrace,” and Judge Kaplan, who he called “extremely hostile.”

“I know you understand what I am dealing with,” Trump’s attorney Joe Tacopina told Senior U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan during a sidebar conference on Thursday.

***
UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE DECADE

Check.

Katie S. (💙-check) Phang (MSNBC) @KatiePhang | 5:48 PM · May 8, 2023
NEW: Judge in Bragg prosecution of Trump for hush-money payments enters order prohibiting Trump from being able to post discovery materials to social media without getting permission from the Court.

https://www.mediaite.com/trump/breaking-jury-finds-trump-liable-for-sexual-abuse...
BREAKING: Jury Finds Trump Liable For Sexual Abuse of E Jean. Carroll, Orders Him to Pay $5 Million in Damages

***
A woman finally nailed the life-long con!

Guilty by a jury of mostly men of sexual assault, battery (which is a for of illegal touching of another person), and defamation. I saw on a live news cast that this was the first sexual assault case that against Donald Trump with a full court appearance.

It's unclear if any of the other two dozen women who have formerly accused him of sexual abuse will be able to push their cases to courts following this verdict.

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-crimes-2659997755/
Trump gave prosecutors new evidence for all three ongoing criminal cases: experts

***
CNN gave Trump's investigators the opportunity to secure the legal net around him. It also gave viewers an up-close-and-personal look at some of his zombie cult followers.

Continued in thread #4.