---President Elect Musk and Convicted Felon Donald J Trump---

mickeyrat

pjhawks said:

How much dirt and how much did Trump have to blackmail these congressman to get them to come to his trial and spew his bs messages?  How little spine do these republicans have? 

its not fuckstick. its the base. they want to keep they seat the occupy.

Merkin Baller

pjhawks said:

How much dirt and how much did Trump have to blackmail these congressman to get them to come to his trial and spew his bs messages?  How little spine do these republicans have? 

You're giving them way too much credit... they don't need to be blackmailed into acting like this. 

Retaining power is all that matters. 

The Juggler

2023

Merkin Baller said:

pjhawks said:

How much dirt and how much did Trump have to blackmail these congressman to get them to come to his trial and spew his bs messages?  How little spine do these republicans have? 

You're giving them way too much credit... they don't need to be blackmailed into acting like this. 

Retaining power is all that matters. 

Most of them are auditioning to be his VP.

God help us.

pjhawks

Merkin Baller said:

pjhawks said:

How much dirt and how much did Trump have to blackmail these congressman to get them to come to his trial and spew his bs messages?  How little spine do these republicans have? 

You're giving them way too much credit... they don't need to be blackmailed into acting like this. 

Retaining power is all that matters. 

Disagree.  All of a sudden they are showing up a few weeks into the trial?  he's threatening them with something. that's his MO.  No one stands with him on his merit.   I think it also shows the orange one is scared of a conviction.  

Could be a fun Memorial Day Weekend.  Think the trial wraps up before then.

mrussel1

Merkin Baller said:

pjhawks said:

How much dirt and how much did Trump have to blackmail these congressman to get them to come to his trial and spew his bs messages?  How little spine do these republicans have? 

You're giving them way too much credit... they don't need to be blackmailed into acting like this. 

Retaining power is all that matters. 

I'm pretty sure Johnson cut a deal or otherwise committed to debasing himself in NY, in exchange for cover on the bills he moved through the House. 

Merkin Baller

pjhawks said:

Merkin Baller said:

pjhawks said:

How much dirt and how much did Trump have to blackmail these congressman to get them to come to his trial and spew his bs messages?  How little spine do these republicans have? 

You're giving them way too much credit... they don't need to be blackmailed into acting like this. 

Retaining power is all that matters. 

Disagree.  All of a sudden they are showing up a few weeks into the trial?  he's threatening them with something. that's his MO.  No one stands with him on his merit.   I think it also shows the orange one is scared of a conviction.  

Could be a fun Memorial Day Weekend.  Think the trial wraps up before then.

I agree on the boldfaced part... I think a lot of this bloviating is trying to get in front of a conviction in terms of public opinion. 

I maintain that the prospect of an R in the white house is all they care about... Party over country, blackmail isn't needed. 

The Juggler

2023

Merkin Baller said:

pjhawks said:

Merkin Baller said:

pjhawks said:

How much dirt and how much did Trump have to blackmail these congressman to get them to come to his trial and spew his bs messages?  How little spine do these republicans have? 

You're giving them way too much credit... they don't need to be blackmailed into acting like this. 

Retaining power is all that matters. 

Disagree.  All of a sudden they are showing up a few weeks into the trial?  he's threatening them with something. that's his MO.  No one stands with him on his merit.   I think it also shows the orange one is scared of a conviction.  

Could be a fun Memorial Day Weekend.  Think the trial wraps up before then.

I agree on the boldfaced part... I think a lot of this bloviating is trying to get in front of a conviction in terms of public opinion. 

I maintain that the prospect of an R in the white house is all they care about... Party over country, blackmail isn't needed. 

I think those clowns were there this week specifically to try and drown out Cohen's testimony to the right wing echo chamber consumers. 

Unfortunately, since the other trials are delayed, a lot hinges on Michael Cohen this week. That is fucking crazy to think about. 

Merkin Baller

The Juggler said:

Merkin Baller said:

pjhawks said:

Merkin Baller said:

pjhawks said:

How much dirt and how much did Trump have to blackmail these congressman to get them to come to his trial and spew his bs messages?  How little spine do these republicans have? 

You're giving them way too much credit... they don't need to be blackmailed into acting like this. 

Retaining power is all that matters. 

Disagree.  All of a sudden they are showing up a few weeks into the trial?  he's threatening them with something. that's his MO.  No one stands with him on his merit.   I think it also shows the orange one is scared of a conviction.  

Could be a fun Memorial Day Weekend.  Think the trial wraps up before then.

I agree on the boldfaced part... I think a lot of this bloviating is trying to get in front of a conviction in terms of public opinion. 

I maintain that the prospect of an R in the white house is all they care about... Party over country, blackmail isn't needed. 

I think those clowns were there this week specifically to try and drown out Cohen's testimony to the right wing echo chamber consumers. 

Unfortunately, since the other trials are delayed, a lot hinges on Michael Cohen this week. That is fucking crazy to think about. 

The full court press is on from the GOP to undermine the United States justice system. 

mickeyrat

coach dipshit.....

https://www.threads.net/@aaron.rupar/post/C69oX0Ug94q/?xmt=AQGz-DYyzFU2nbyYGtogVhrnKPoXMFEDTyOTTl_tbRMWPw

mickeyrat

its always a call to action.

https://www.threads.net/@gtconway3/post/C6-CEDCMG5T/?xmt=AQGzjjRaW056mUFrTI0HUIGFtsmdwgE27uv-T-vzWuhO9g

mickeyrat

sounds lije sonething I would say too...

https://www.threads.net/@katiephang/post/C69ibyGvPmL/?xmt=AQGzbDwjukoZ6oEU0FBfYFxjAq2dYlzSHYUxMGI5TAIpJQ

Halifax2TheMax

2023

But would you wear a suit like this? Does the Michelin man live inside that thing? Jebus Christmas POOTWH must fall down and go boom a lot because how else do you explain all that padding? Hamburders? Suckers.m

The Juggler

2023

So Cohen screwed the pooch yesterday, huh? 

mickeyrat

The Juggler said:

So Cohen screwed the pooch yesterday, huh? 

gift article...

https://wapo.st/3UOgdtL 

  Did Trump’s lawyers catch Michael Cohen in a ‘lie?’ Let’s take a look.
By Aaron Blake
May 17, 2024 at 11:15 ET
Prosecutors took care to emphasize at the start of former president Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial last month that their credibility-challenged witness Michael Cohen’s testimony would be corroborated by evidence. The message: You don’t have to take his word for it.
But on some key aspects of the case, they’ve still been forced to rely on Cohen’s say-so. That made the cross-examination of Cohen this week the most high-stakes moment of the trial.
On Thursday, after extensive grilling of Cohen, Trump’s lawyers finally drew blood.
But how much did it undermine Cohen’s credibility — and potentially the prosecution itself?
Trump’s lawyer adamantly claimed he had caught Cohen in a lie from just days earlier. That’s not quite so clear, but there is no question that what transpired Thursday could cause jurors to second-guess key claims from Cohen, a witness they’ll be well aware has admitted to lying in proceedings before (on Trump’s behalf).
Given the importance of the exchange, it’s worth a parsing.
The focal point of the dispute is an 8:02 p.m. phone call on Oct. 24, 2016, during which Cohen discussed the Stormy Daniels hush money payment with Trump, he testified.
Prosecutors briefly broached the 8:02 p.m. call Monday during Cohen’s first day of testimony. Cohen said he had reached out to Trump’s bodyguard, Keith Schiller, “to discuss the Stormy Daniels matter and the resolution of it.”
The prosecutor asked whether the conversation included having “resolved that you were moving forward to fund the deal.”
Cohen replied: “Yes.”
But Trump’s lawyers suggested Thursday that this never happened. And they presented evidence that would suggest that the purpose of the call was entirely different.
Trump lawyer Todd Blanche noted that, shortly before the phone call, Cohen had been texting with Schiller about another matter: harassing phone calls he had been receiving, including from a phone whose user identified themselves as 14 years old.
Here’s the timeline:
7:48 p.m. Oct. 24: Cohen texts Schiller, “Who can I speak to regarding harassing calls to myself and office, the dope forgot to block his call on one of them.”

8:01 p.m.: Schiller leaves Cohen a voice mail.

8:02 p.m.: Schiller texts Cohen, “Call me.”

8:02 p.m.: Cohen calls Schiller. The call lasts 1 minute 36 seconds.

8:04 p.m.: Cohen texts Schiller the 14-year-old’s number.

7:58 a.m. Oct. 25: Cohen texts Schiller, asking if Schiller reached the family.

continues.....

Lerxst1992

Many years and multiple threads about trump getting j ducted, and almost no comments regarding his likely only trial before Election Day?

Not sure the prosecution proved that trump knew his CFO classified the payments to cohen falsely as legal fees.

gimmesometruth27

2023

Lerxst1992 said:

Many years and multiple threads about trump getting j ducted, and almost no comments regarding his likely only trial before Election Day?

Not sure the prosecution proved that trump knew his CFO classified the payments to cohen falsely as legal fees.

were you in the courtroom? if not, how would you know? it wasn't televised, except for his daily post court whine sessions, which you should know by now is all bs.

Halifax2TheMax

2023

Lerxst1992 said:

Many years and multiple threads about trump getting j ducted, and almost no comments regarding his likely only trial before Election Day?

Not sure the prosecution proved that trump knew his CFO classified the payments to cohen falsely as legal fees.

Hmmmmmm, sure.

mickeyrat

https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-hush-money-michael-cohen-363a86879b97d2367831b1392f42689d   Judge in Trump's hush money trial threatened to remove witness from court for behavior on stand

 

NY State Wire NYC State Wire

Judge in Trump's hush money trial threatened to remove witness from court for behavior on stand

By MICHAEL R. SISAK, JENNIFER PELTZ, JAKE OFFENHARTZ and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER

Yesterday

NEW YORK (AP) — The judge in Donald Trump's hush money trial cleared the courtroom of reporters Monday and then threatened to remove the defense's witness from the trial altogether because of his behavior on the stand, which included making comments under his breath and rolling his eyes, a court transcript showed.

Judge Juan M. Merchan told Robert Costello, a former federal prosecutor, that his conduct during testimony was contemptuous. Costello aggravated Merchan repeatedly in part by continuing to speak after objections were sustained — a signal to witnesses to stop talking. At one point, Costello remarked “jeez” when he was cut off by an objection. He also called the whole exercise “ridiculous.”

The exchange came toward the end of a heated day that included the prosecution’s star witness admitting to stealing tens of thousands of dollars from Trump’s company. Trump’s lawyers also pressed Merchan to dismiss the case after prosecutors concluded their presentation of evidence. The judge didn’t immediately rule on that request.

---

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But the most tense moments happened with Costello on the witness stand. Merchan first sent the jury out of the courtroom to discuss proper decorum. He chided Costello for remarking “jeez” when he was cut off by a sustained objection and, at another point, “strike it." Merchan told him: "I’m the only one that can strike testimony in the courtroom. Do you understand that?”

“And then if you don’t like my ruling, you don’t give me side eye and you don’t roll your eyes.”

Merchan was about to bring the jury back in when he asked Costello, “Are you staring me down right now?” and then kicked out the press to further admonish him.

“I’m putting you on notice that your conduct is contemptuous," Merchan said, according to the transcript of the conversation that occurred when the press was out of the room. ”If you try to stare me down one more time, I will remove you from the stand."

Costello didn’t return a message seeking comment Monday night.

When Merchan brought the press back in, Costello's testimony continued and it will resume Tuesday. The defense is using him in an effort to attack the credibility of Trump attorney-turned-adversary, Michael Cohen.

After jurors left for the day, defense attorney Todd Blanche told the judge that prosecutors failed to prove their case and that it should be thrown out immediately. Blanche beseeched the judge to “not let this case go to the jury relying on Mr. Cohen’s testimony.”

The judge appeared unmoved by the argument, asking the defense attorney whether he believed that “as a matter of law, this person’s so not worthy of belief that it shouldn’t even be considered by the jury?”

“You said his lies are irrefutable,” the judge replied. “But you think he’s going to fool 12 New Yorkers into believing this lie?”

Cohen was the last witness — at least for now — for prosecutors, who are trying to prove that Trump sought to bury unflattering stories about himself and then falsified internal business records to cover it up as part of a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election. The defense has painted Cohen as a media-obsessed liar who is on a revenge mission aimed at taking down Trump.

The defense called Costello because of his role as a Cohen antagonist and critic in the years since their professional relationship splintered in spectacular fashion.

Costello had offered to represent Cohen soon after the lawyer’s hotel room, office and home were raided and as Cohen faced a decision about whether to remain defiant in the face of a criminal investigation or to cooperate with authorities in hopes of securing more lenient treatment.

Costello testified that Cohen told him Trump “knew nothing” about the $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels that's at the center of the case.

“Michael Cohen said numerous times that President Trump knew nothing about those payments, that he did this on his own, and he repeated that numerous times,” Costello told jurors.

Trump lawyer Emil Bove told the judge that the defense does not plan to call any other witnesses after Costello, though they may still call campaign-finance expert Bradley A. Smith for limited testimony. They have not said definitively that Trump won’t testify, but that’s the clearest indication yet that he will waive his right to take the stand in his own defense.

Back on the witness stand for a fourth day, Cohen told jurors earlier Monday that he stole from the Trump Organization after his 2016 holiday bonus was slashed to $50,000 from the $150,000 he usually received.

Cohen claimed to have paid $50,000 to a technology firm for its work artificially boosting Trump's standing in a CNBC online poll about famous businessmen. Cohen said he gave the firm only $20,000 in cash in a brown paper bag, but he sought reimbursement from Trump for the full amount, pocketing the difference.

Cohen said he never paid the Trump Organization back. Cohen has never been charged with stealing from Trump’s company.

Cohen is a key witness but also a complicated one. He admitted on the witness stand to a number of past lies, many of which he claims were meant to protect Trump. Cohen also served prison time after pleading guilty to various federal charges, including lying to Congress and a bank and engaging in campaign-finance violations related to the hush money scheme.

But when pushed by Blanche, Cohen stood by his recollection of conversations with Trump about the hush money payment to Daniels. Cohen testified that he spoke with Trump more than 20 times about the matter in October 2016.

“No doubt in your mind?” Blanche asked about whether Cohen specifically recalled having conversations with Trump about the Daniels matter. No doubt, Cohen said.

After more than four weeks of testimony, jurors could begin deliberating as soon as next week to decide whether Trump is guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president.

The charges stem from internal Trump Organization records where payments to Cohen were marked as legal expenses. Prosecutors say they were really reimbursements for the payment to Daniels to keep her from going public before the 2016 election with claims of a sexual encounter with Trump. Trump says nothing sexual happened between them.

Trump has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers say there was nothing criminal about the Daniels deal or the way Cohen was paid.

"There’s no crime," Trump told reporters after arriving at the courthouse Monday. “We paid a legal expense. You know what it’s marked down as? A legal expense."

Prosecutors will have have an opportunity to call rebuttal witnesses once Trump's witnesses are done. The judge, citing scheduling issues, said he expects closing arguments to happen May 28, the Tuesday after Memorial Day.

____

Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Jill Colvin and Michelle Price in New York; Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina; and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.

mickeyrat

https://apnews.com/article/trump-election-2024-rhetoric-germany-antisemitism-31002afb91b642c0314223d19e51f427   Trump's social media account shares a campaign video with a headline about a 'unified Reich'

 

Trump's social media account shares a campaign video with a headline about a 'unified Reich'

By MICHELLE L. PRICE

Yesterday

NEW YORK (AP) — A video posted to Donald Trump's account on his social media network Monday included references to a “unified Reich” among hypothetical news headlines if he wins the election in November.

The headline appears among messages flashing across the screen such as “Trump wins!!” and “Economy booms!” Other headlines appear to be references to World War I.

The word “Reich” is often largely associated with Nazi Germany’s Third Reich, though the references in the video Trump shared appear to be a reference to the formation of the modern pan-German nation, unifying smaller states into a single Reich, or empire, in 1871.

The 30-second video appeared on Trump's account at a time when the presumptive Republican nominee for president, while seeking to portray President Joe Biden as soft on antisemitism, has himself repeatedly faced criticism for using language and rhetoric associated with Nazi Germany.

---

DONALD TRUMP

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AP Explains: The latest updates on Trump's hush money trial

It was posted and shared on the former president's Truth Social account while he was on a lunch break from his Manhattan hush money trial.

“This was not a campaign video, it was created by a random account online and reposted by a staffer who clearly did not see the word, while the President was in court," Karoline Leavitt, the campaign press secretary, said in a statement.

Earlier this month, Trump said at a fundraiser that Biden is running a “Gestapo administration,” referring to the secret Nazi police force.

Trump previously used rhetoric echoing Adolf Hitler when he said immigrants entering the U.S. illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country,” and called his opponents “vermin.”

The former president has also drawn wide backlash for having dined with a Holocaust-denying white nationalist in 2022 and for downplaying the 2017 rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where white nationalists chanted “Jews will not replace us!”

At least one of the headlines flashing in the video appears to be text that is copied verbatim from a Wikipedia entry on World War I: “German industrial strength and production had significantly increased after 1871, driven by the creation of a unified Reich.”

In one image, the headlines “Border Is Closed” and “15 Million Illegal Aliens Deported” appear above smaller text with the start and end dates of World War I.

mickeyrat

tax dodge.....

https://apnews.com/article/trump-media-earnings-0ee9a4598f7da6c217720445605dfbdd   Trump Media and Technology Group posts more than $300 million net loss in first public quarter

 

Mergers and acquisitions FL State Wire

Trump Media and Technology Group posts more than $300 million net loss in first public quarter

Yesterday

SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — Trump Media and Technology Group, the owner of former President Donald Trump's social networking site Truth Social, lost more than $300 million last quarter, according to its first earnings report as a publicly traded company.

For the three-month period that ended March 31, the company posted a loss of $327.6 million, which it said included $311 million in non-cash expenses related to its merger with a company called Digital World Acquisition Corp., which was essentially a pile of cash looking for a target to merge with. It’s an example of what’s called a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, which can give young companies quicker and easier routes to getting their shares trading publicly.

A year earlier, Trump Media posted a loss of $210,300.

Trump Media said collected $770,500 in revenue in the first quarter, largely from its “nascent advertising initiative." That was down from $1.1 million a year earlier.

---

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Trump's social media account shares a campaign video with a headline about a 'unified Reich'

“At this early stage in the Company’s development, TMTG remains focused on long-term product development, rather than quarterly revenue,” Trump Media said in its earnings news release.

Earlier this month, the company fired an auditor that federal regulators recently charged with “massive fraud.” The former president’s media company dismissed BF Borgers as its independent public accounting firm on May 3, delaying the filing of the quarterly earnings report, according to a securities filings.

Trump Media had previously cycled through at least two other auditors — one that resigned in July 2023, and another that was terminated its the board in March, just as it was re-hiring BF Borgers.

Shares of Trump Media climbed 36 cents to $48.74 in after-hours trading. The stock, which trades under the ticker symbol “DJT,” began trading on Nasdaq in March and peaked at nearly $80 in late March.