Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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The Juggler
Behind that bush over there. Posts: 47,298
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you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,802
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
OpinionNew York judge’s ruling on evidence couldn’t have gone worse for Trump
Four-time indicted former president Donald Trump suffered arguably his worst loss(es) in any criminal matter this week when, in his New York trial for alleged falsification of business records, Judge Juan M. Merchan ruled against him in virtually all of his motions to exclude evidence. By contrast, the judge largely granted Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s motions to exclude evidencefor trial that Trump believed might be exculpatory. That does not bode well for Trump’s chances to avoid conviction when the case goes to trial, likely in a few weeks.
Trump, for example, moved to exclude testimony of former fixer Michael Cohen on the grounds Cohen is “a liar.” The court rebuked this desperate move: “This Court has been unable to locate any treatise, statute, or holding from courts in this jurisdiction, or others, that support Defendant’s rationale that a prosecution witness should be kept off the witness stand because his credibility has been previously called into question.” Trump’s lawyers can cross-examine Cohen at trial.
Trump also tried to keep back evidence of his intent to influence the 2016 election (a material part of Bragg’s case) and his intent to defraud. Having already ruled on these issues, Merchan scolded Trump’s counsel: “Rearguing this Court’s prior rulings in this manner is procedurally and professionally inappropriate and a waste of this Court’s valuable resources.” These motions were denied.
Trump also wanted to exclude evidence regarding a meeting in which Cohen, Trump and David Pecker (onetime head of American Media Inc.) discussed the “catch and kill” scheme to keep evidence of Trump’s sexual transgressions from voters. Since this evidence is directly germane to the issue of Trump’s intent to defraud, this motion also failed.
Merchan rebuffed Trump’s attemptto block the testimony of two people with damaging stories to tell about him. While excluding any of the lurid details of Trump’s interaction with them, Merchan nevertheless found: “The steps taken to secure the stories of [Dino] Sajudin and [Karen] McDougal complete the narrative of the agreement ... stemming the flow of negative information that could circulate about Defendant before it reaches the public eye.” He continued, “Locating and purchasing the information from [Stormy] Daniels not only completes the narrative of events that precipitated the falsification of business records but is also probative of the Defendant’s intent.” Evidence of Daniels’s polygraph test was excluded (although there is no indication Bragg intended to use it).
Likewise, the judge rejected Trump’s effort to exclude evidence including the “Access Hollywood” tape (the scandal that precipitated Trump’s effort to silence other women), Trump’s violation of federal campaign finance law (one rationale for elevating the crimes to felonies), Cohen’s guilty plea (although it cannot be used to prove Trump’s intent) and classification of the hush money as “promotional” expenses for AMI. Merchan also rejected Trump’s attempt to reargue that he and his organization were distinct entities.
Most important, Merchan refused to exclude more than 100 Trump statements since these can be classified as “admissions against interest.” Despite Trump’s plea, he will also allow in Allen Weisselberg’s notes, if the prosecutor shows they are business records.
In sum, the lion’s share of the evidence that Trump views as damaging will be heard by the jury. This underscores the quantity and strength of the facts that implicate Trump. It surely explains why he has been desperate to avoid trial.
Even worse for Trump, the judge granted the prosecutor’s key motions to exclude evidence and arguments that Trump hoped would sway the jury in his favor. Merchan knocked out most of Trump expert Bradley Smith’s potential testimony. “The People’s motion is granted to the extent that Smith may not testify as a lay (fact) witness; offer opinion testimony regarding the interpretation and application of federal campaign finance laws and how they relate to the facts in the instant matter, nor may Smith testify or offer an opinion as to whether the alleged conduct in this case does or does not constitute a violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act.” (He can testify generally about what the law does.)
In addition, Trump will not get to introduce evidence that the Southern District of New York prosecutors and the Federal Election Commission declined to bring charges against him. Nor will he get to air his complaint about “selective prosecution” (a favorite excuse from Trump, who whines he is singled out by left-wing prosecutors). He will be barred from offering hearsay evidence about federal prosecutors’ opinions about Cohen’s credibility and from presenting evidence in support of a “reliance on counsel” (or “presence of counsel”) defense. The judge reserved for later the determination as to whether to admit evidence of Trump’s efforts to intimidate and harass witnesses as “consciousness of guilt.”
It is hard to see how the proceedings could have gone any worse for Trump (although some issues regarding “prior bad acts” were reserved for trial). Although commentators critical of Bragg knocked his case as “novel” or doubted he could introduce evidence of violation of federal campaign, Merchan found otherwise. Merchan’s orders confirm that this in many ways is potentially a traditional white-collar crime, in which falsification in furtherance of other crimes elevates the charges to felonies. The upshot is that Bragg will get to put on his case with evidence he thinks will support a guilty verdict. The jury will not hear some of Trump’s familiar excuses.
Merchan showed himself to be a serious judge who will not indulge Trump’s antics nor allow the trial to devolve into a spectacle. The case will be tried on straightforward law, and on the mound of evidence Bragg has accumulated. Based on these rulings, Trump should be quaking in his boots.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
trump's properties about to get moved on like a bitch.
I wouldn't be so sure of that. I saw a blurb in a suspect news source that POOTWH looks to gain $3.5B from the "Truth" Social acquisition by Digital World Acquisition, which is not required to disclose its investors or the source of its funding.
trump's properties about to get moved on like a bitch.
I wouldn't be so sure of that. I saw a blurb in a suspect news source that POOTWH looks to gain $3.5B from the "Truth" Social acquisition by Digital World Acquisition, which is not required to disclose its investors or the source of its funding.
But hey, have you heard of Hunter's laptop?
Add "weasel" to 45's attributes. Ad nauseam at an all new high.
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
But have you heard about Hunter’s laptop? When’s Brandon’s impeachment vote, anyway?
Trump Media merger wins investor approval, netting Trump potential windfall
Former president will own about 60 percent of Truth Social, which at its current share price would be worth about $3.3 billion. A lockup agreement will prevent him from selling the shares for six months.
Shareholders voted Friday to take former president Donald Trump’s media company public, a long-delayed move that will open the owner of Truth Social to stock-market investors and grant Trump a stake worth billions of dollars he could use to pay down his legal debts.
The vote Friday by investors in Digital World Acquisition authorized the special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, to merge with Trump Media & Technology Group as part of a process that will avoid a more traditional public offering.
Trump will own about 60 percent of the company, which at Digital World’s current share price would be worth about $3.3 billion. He and other investors could earn tens of millions more shares through an “earnout” provision tied to the stock’s performance, Digital World said in an SEC filing.
The merger will net Trump Media $300 million that Digital World initially raised from investors. Trump’s allies and company executives will also be granted bundles of shares in the new company that could be worth millions of dollars. But trading on the stock market will also open the company to more public scrutiny, and any drops in share prices would affect the value of those stakes.
Critics have said Trump Media is a “meme stock” with a more than $6 billion valuation they say is out of sync with its financial outlook. Trump Media lost $49 million in the first nine months of last year and brought in $3.4 million in revenue, Digital World said in an SEC filing.
Digital World’s share price slid roughly 5 percent on the news, to about $40.
A lockup provision in the merger agreement will also prevent Trump and other major investors from selling their shares for six months unless he is granted a waiver by the post-merger company’s board.
That could limit Trump’s ability to use the windfall to help pay off the hundreds of millions of dollars he owes in legal judgments. Trump does not have the cash to secure a bond that would delay enforcement of the $464 million judgment in a New York fraud case, his lawyers said. If he does not post a bond by Monday, the state’s attorney general could move to seize his bank accounts, real estate and other assets.
Any lockup change or waiver will be decided by the post-merger company’s board, which will be stocked with Trump allies, an SEC filing shows. The board’s nominees include Trump’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr.; Trump’s former trade representative, Robert E. Lighthizer; Linda McMahon, who headed the Small Business Administration under Trump; and Kash Patel, who served on Trump’s National Security Council.
Devin Nunes, the former Republican representative, will stay on as Trump Media’s chief executive.
The post-merger company, which will be called Trump Media, could begin trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange as soon as Monday under the ticker symbol of Trump’s initials, DJT. That symbol was also used for Trump’s only other public company, Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts, which collapsed into a penny stock in less than a decadeand filed for bankruptcy in 2004.
Truth Social has become Trump’s main online megaphone and a gathering place for Trump supporters. Though it launched as an alternative to Twitter, the platform retains a small fraction of its online audience. Trump’s Truth Social account has 6.7 million followers, compared to the 88 million he had on Twitter in 2021.
Trump said in a Truth Social poston Thursday before the vote, “TRUTH SOCIAL IS MY VOICE, AND THE REAL VOICE OF AMERICA!!! MAGA2024!!!”
Two former contestants from his reality show “The Apprentice” proposed the idea of a “free speech” media and internet business to Trump after he was kicked from Twitter and other social networks following the U.S. Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021.
Last summer, when the deal’s certainty was in doubt, Trump asked billionaire Elon Muskwhether he wanted to buy Truth Social, two people with knowledge of the conversation told The Washington Post. The proposal went nowhere, though the two men have communicated since.
More recently, the deal has been embroiled in a legal battle royale, with four lawsuits in three states involving Trump Media, Digital World, the co-founders Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss, and Digital World’s former chief executive Patrick Orlando.
Orlando, who was fired as chief last year but remains in control of Digital World’s biggest founding investor Arc Global Investments II, had refused to vote in support of the merger before Friday’s vote, potentially imperiling the deal, attorneys for Trump Media and Digital World said in a lawsuit this week seeking to force his vote. Orlando spoke only briefly on the shareholder call Friday and did not offer further comment on how he voted.
Digital World’s more than 400,000 retail investors included supporters of Trump and speculators hoping to cash in on the deal’s attention. One investor, dressed in a pirate costume and calling himself “Captain DWAC,” live-streamed the shareholder vote on Rumble and played sounds of applause when the successful vote was announced.
“Lots of hugs,” said the investor, Chad Nedohin, a worship leader in Canada. “This has been a long, long fight.”
Can you imagine a president owning a publicly traded company. It just gets worse by the week. But whatabout the Biden crime family and Joe’s supposed conflict of interest?
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,802
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,802
edited March 23
karma. its a motherfucker.
made an observation a while back and I think its true generally, the longer karma takes the harder it comes ..
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,732
I’m reserving skepticism until I see it happen. Having a building repossessed or declaring bankruptcies are both in Trump’s eyes probably non-starters, as they weaken his image. If one of these happens, he might actually be out of life rafts, but he’s surrounded himself with (authentically) rich people his whole life, and his children possess and can likely access more wealth. My guess is that someone helps him out and he pays the bond.
'05 - TO, '06 - TO 1, '08 - NYC 1 & 2, '09 - TO, Chi 1 & 2, '10 - Buffalo, NYC 1 & 2, '11 - TO 1 & 2, Hamilton, '13 - Buffalo, Brooklyn 1 & 2, '15 - Global Citizen, '16 - TO 1 & 2, Chi 2
EV
Toronto Film Festival 9/11/2007, '08 - Toronto 1 & 2, '09 - Albany 1, '11 - Chicago 1
Seeing him play on both sides of the field - I can't afford to pay the bills, and my assets are worth 50-100 times as much as they claim - just feels like Schrodinger's Wealth. He's both wealthy beyond imagination, and piss-poor at the same time - the good news is, like Schrodinger's box, once investigated, one conclusion will be reached.
'05 - TO, '06 - TO 1, '08 - NYC 1 & 2, '09 - TO, Chi 1 & 2, '10 - Buffalo, NYC 1 & 2, '11 - TO 1 & 2, Hamilton, '13 - Buffalo, Brooklyn 1 & 2, '15 - Global Citizen, '16 - TO 1 & 2, Chi 2
EV
Toronto Film Festival 9/11/2007, '08 - Toronto 1 & 2, '09 - Albany 1, '11 - Chicago 1
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brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,732
I’m reserving skepticism until I see it happen. Having a building repossessed or declaring bankruptcies are both in Trump’s eyes probably non-starters, as they weaken his image. If one of these happens, he might actually be out of life rafts, but he’s surrounded himself with (authentically) rich people his whole life, and his children possess and can likely access more wealth. My guess is that someone helps him out and he pays the bond.
I am probably guilty of jumping up and down too quickly for anything that seems hopeful to shut down the orange monster. He is a weaselly bastard, after all.
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,802
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,802
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,802
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,802
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,802
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,802
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,802
Trump's New York hush money case is set for trial April 15
By MICHAEL R. SISAK, JAKE OFFENHARTZ and ERIC TUCKER
Yesterday
NEW YORK (AP) — The first of Donald Trump’s four criminal trials will begin April 15, a Manhattan judge ruled Monday after tearing into the former president’s lawyers for what he said were unfounded claims that the hush-money case had been tainted by prosecutorial misconduct.
Judge Juan M. Merchan scoffed at the defense’s calls to delay the case longer or throw it out entirely because of a last-minute document dump that had bumped the first-ever trial of a former president from its scheduled Monday start. Trump vowed to appeal the ruling.
Barring another delay, the presumptive Republican nominee will be on trial as a criminal defendant in just three weeks — an inauspicious homecoming in the city where he grew up, built a real estate empire and gained wealth and celebrity that propelled him to the White House.
The trial, involving allegations related to hush money paid during Trump’s 2016 campaign to cover up marital infidelity claims, had been in limbo after his lawyers complained about a recent deluge of nearly 200,000 pages of evidence from a previous federal investigation into the matter.
Trump’s lawyers accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office of intentionally failing to pursue evidence from the 2018 federal investigation, which sent Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen to prison. They contended prosecutors working under Bragg, a Democrat, did so to gain an unfair advantage in the case and harm Trump’s election chances. Cohen, now a vocal Trump critic, is poised to be a key prosecution witness against his ex-boss.
Merchan bristled at the defense’s claims at a hearing Monday, saying the DA's office had no duty to collect evidence from the federal investigation, nor was the U.S. attorney’s office required to volunteer the documents. What transpired was a “far cry” from Manhattan prosecutors "injecting themselves in the process and vehemently and aggressively trying to obstruct your ability to get documentation,” the judge said.
“It’s just not what happened,” Merchan said.
Merchan grew impatient, pressing Trump lawyer Todd Blanche to cite even a single legal precedent for his argument.
When the lawyer couldn't, the judge laid into him, saying: “You’re literally accusing the Manhattan DA's office and the people assigned to this case of engaging in prosecutorial misconduct and of trying to make me complicit in it. And you don’t have a single cite to support that position.”
Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo said the number of relevant, usable, new documents in the recently provided evidence “is quite small” — around 300 records or fewer. Trump’s lawyers contend thousands of pages are potentially important and require painstaking review. They argued the delayed disclosures warranted dismissing the case or at least pushing it off three months.
“We are not doing our jobs if we don’t independently look at the new material,” Blanche told the judge. “Every document is important.”
The DA's office denied wrongdoing and blamed Trump’s lawyers for bringing the time crunch upon themselves by waiting until Jan. 18 to subpoena the records from the U.S. attorney’s office — a mere nine weeks before the trial was originally supposed to start. Merchan, who earlier this month postponed the trial until at least mid-April to deal with the evidence issue, told defense lawyers that they should have acted sooner if they believed they didn’t have all the records they wanted.
Trump complained about the ruling outside court, renewing his complaint that the case is “election interference."
“This is a case that could have been brought three and a half years ago. And now they’re fighting over days because they want to try and do it during the election. This is election interference. That’s all it is. Election interference and it’s a disgrace,” the former president said.
The hearing took place the same day a New York appeals court granted Trump a dose of good news by agreeing to hold off collection of his $454 million civil fraud judgment — if he puts up $175 million within 10 days.
The dueling developments underscored New York's place as an epicenter of Trump’s legal peril. Though the hush money case is seen as less consequential than his other prosecutions — which charge him with conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and illegally retaining classified documents — it has taken on added importance given that it’s the only one that appears likely for trial in the coming months.
The trial will begin with jury selection, a potentially arduous task given the publicity surrounding the case and Trump’s wild unpopularity in heavily Democratic Manhattan.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges that he falsified business records, a felony punishable by up to four years in prison, though there is no guarantee a conviction would result in jail time. Manhattan prosecutors say Trump did it as part of an effort to protect his 2016 campaign by burying what he says were false stories of extramarital sex. Trump on Monday repeated to reporters his claims that the case is a “witch hunt” and “hoax.”
Prosecutors allege that Trump falsely logged payments to Cohen, then his personal lawyer, as legal fees in his company’s books when they were for his work covering up stories that might embarrass Trump. That included $130,000 he’d paid porn actor Stormy Daniels on Trump’s behalf, so she wouldn’t publicize her claim of a sexual encounter with him years earlier.
Trump’s lawyers say the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses, not cover-up checks.
Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal campaign finance violations related to the Daniels payoff. He said Trump directed him to arrange it, and federal prosecutors indicated they believed him, but Trump was never charged.
Trump’s lawyers said Bragg’s office turned over just a fraction of materials from that investigation last June. The material hasn’t been made public. But Trump’s lawyers said in a court filing that some of it is “exculpatory and favorable to the defense.” The sharing of evidence, called discovery, is routine in criminal cases and is intended to help ensure a fair trial.
Bragg’s deputies have insisted they “engaged in good-faith and diligent efforts to obtain relevant information” from the federal probe. They argued in court filings that Trump’s lawyers should have spoken up earlier if they believed those efforts were lacking.
Prosecutors maintain that, in any event, the vast majority of what ultimately came is irrelevant, duplicative or backs up existing evidence about Cohen’s well-known federal conviction.
___
Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz, Philip Marcelo and Jill Colvin contributed to this report.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Comments
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Opinion New York judge’s ruling on evidence couldn’t have gone worse for Trump
Trump also tried to keep back evidence of his intent to influence the 2016 election (a material part of Bragg’s case) and his intent to defraud. Having already ruled on these issues, Merchan scolded Trump’s counsel: “Rearguing this Court’s prior rulings in this manner is procedurally and professionally inappropriate and a waste of this Court’s valuable resources.” These motions were denied.
Merchan rebuffed Trump’s attemptto block the testimony of two people with damaging stories to tell about him. While excluding any of the lurid details of Trump’s interaction with them, Merchan nevertheless found: “The steps taken to secure the stories of [Dino] Sajudin and [Karen] McDougal complete the narrative of the agreement ... stemming the flow of negative information that could circulate about Defendant before it reaches the public eye.” He continued, “Locating and purchasing the information from [Stormy] Daniels not only completes the narrative of events that precipitated the falsification of business records but is also probative of the Defendant’s intent.” Evidence of Daniels’s polygraph test was excluded (although there is no indication Bragg intended to use it).
Likewise, the judge rejected Trump’s effort to exclude evidence including the “Access Hollywood” tape (the scandal that precipitated Trump’s effort to silence other women), Trump’s violation of federal campaign finance law (one rationale for elevating the crimes to felonies), Cohen’s guilty plea (although it cannot be used to prove Trump’s intent) and classification of the hush money as “promotional” expenses for AMI. Merchan also rejected Trump’s attempt to reargue that he and his organization were distinct entities.
Most important, Merchan refused to exclude more than 100 Trump statements since these can be classified as “admissions against interest.” Despite Trump’s plea, he will also allow in Allen Weisselberg’s notes, if the prosecutor shows they are business records.
In sum, the lion’s share of the evidence that Trump views as damaging will be heard by the jury. This underscores the quantity and strength of the facts that implicate Trump. It surely explains why he has been desperate to avoid trial.
Even worse for Trump, the judge granted the prosecutor’s key motions to exclude evidence and arguments that Trump hoped would sway the jury in his favor. Merchan knocked out most of Trump expert Bradley Smith’s potential testimony. “The People’s motion is granted to the extent that Smith may not testify as a lay (fact) witness; offer opinion testimony regarding the interpretation and application of federal campaign finance laws and how they relate to the facts in the instant matter, nor may Smith testify or offer an opinion as to whether the alleged conduct in this case does or does not constitute a violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act.” (He can testify generally about what the law does.)
In addition, Trump will not get to introduce evidence that the Southern District of New York prosecutors and the Federal Election Commission declined to bring charges against him. Nor will he get to air his complaint about “selective prosecution” (a favorite excuse from Trump, who whines he is singled out by left-wing prosecutors). He will be barred from offering hearsay evidence about federal prosecutors’ opinions about Cohen’s credibility and from presenting evidence in support of a “reliance on counsel” (or “presence of counsel”) defense. The judge reserved for later the determination as to whether to admit evidence of Trump’s efforts to intimidate and harass witnesses as “consciousness of guilt.”
It is hard to see how the proceedings could have gone any worse for Trump (although some issues regarding “prior bad acts” were reserved for trial). Although commentators critical of Bragg knocked his case as “novel” or doubted he could introduce evidence of violation of federal campaign, Merchan found otherwise. Merchan’s orders confirm that this in many ways is potentially a traditional white-collar crime, in which falsification in furtherance of other crimes elevates the charges to felonies. The upshot is that Bragg will get to put on his case with evidence he thinks will support a guilty verdict. The jury will not hear some of Trump’s familiar excuses.
Merchan showed himself to be a serious judge who will not indulge Trump’s antics nor allow the trial to devolve into a spectacle. The case will be tried on straightforward law, and on the mound of evidence Bragg has accumulated. Based on these rulings, Trump should be quaking in his boots.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/03/21/trump-new-york-trial-evidence-motions-business-merchan/
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
But hey, have you heard of Hunter's laptop?
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Chicago; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
Add "weasel" to 45's attributes. Ad nauseam at an all new high.
Trump Media merger wins investor approval, netting Trump potential windfall
Former president will own about 60 percent of Truth Social, which at its current share price would be worth about $3.3 billion. A lockup agreement will prevent him from selling the shares for six months.
The vote Friday by investors in Digital World Acquisition authorized the special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, to merge with Trump Media & Technology Group as part of a process that will avoid a more traditional public offering.
Trump will own about 60 percent of the company, which at Digital World’s current share price would be worth about $3.3 billion. He and other investors could earn tens of millions more shares through an “earnout” provision tied to the stock’s performance, Digital World said in an SEC filing.
The merger will net Trump Media $300 million that Digital World initially raised from investors. Trump’s allies and company executives will also be granted bundles of shares in the new company that could be worth millions of dollars. But trading on the stock market will also open the company to more public scrutiny, and any drops in share prices would affect the value of those stakes.
Critics have said Trump Media is a “meme stock” with a more than $6 billion valuation they say is out of sync with its financial outlook. Trump Media lost $49 million in the first nine months of last year and brought in $3.4 million in revenue, Digital World said in an SEC filing.
Digital World’s share price slid roughly 5 percent on the news, to about $40.
A lockup provision in the merger agreement will also prevent Trump and other major investors from selling their shares for six months unless he is granted a waiver by the post-merger company’s board.
That could limit Trump’s ability to use the windfall to help pay off the hundreds of millions of dollars he owes in legal judgments. Trump does not have the cash to secure a bond that would delay enforcement of the $464 million judgment in a New York fraud case, his lawyers said. If he does not post a bond by Monday, the state’s attorney general could move to seize his bank accounts, real estate and other assets.
Any lockup change or waiver will be decided by the post-merger company’s board, which will be stocked with Trump allies, an SEC filing shows. The board’s nominees include Trump’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr.; Trump’s former trade representative, Robert E. Lighthizer; Linda McMahon, who headed the Small Business Administration under Trump; and Kash Patel, who served on Trump’s National Security Council.
Devin Nunes, the former Republican representative, will stay on as Trump Media’s chief executive.
The post-merger company, which will be called Trump Media, could begin trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange as soon as Monday under the ticker symbol of Trump’s initials, DJT. That symbol was also used for Trump’s only other public company, Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts, which collapsed into a penny stock in less than a decadeand filed for bankruptcy in 2004.
Truth Social has become Trump’s main online megaphone and a gathering place for Trump supporters. Though it launched as an alternative to Twitter, the platform retains a small fraction of its online audience. Trump’s Truth Social account has 6.7 million followers, compared to the 88 million he had on Twitter in 2021.
Trump said in a Truth Social poston Thursday before the vote, “TRUTH SOCIAL IS MY VOICE, AND THE REAL VOICE OF AMERICA!!! MAGA2024!!!”
Two former contestants from his reality show “The Apprentice” proposed the idea of a “free speech” media and internet business to Trump after he was kicked from Twitter and other social networks following the U.S. Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021.
The company’s merger proposal with Digital World has faced years of hurdles and delays since then due to investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which agreed to an $18 million settlement, and the Justice Department, which has probed insider-trading and money-laundering allegationsinvolving Digital World investors.
Last summer, when the deal’s certainty was in doubt, Trump asked billionaire Elon Muskwhether he wanted to buy Truth Social, two people with knowledge of the conversation told The Washington Post. The proposal went nowhere, though the two men have communicated since.
More recently, the deal has been embroiled in a legal battle royale, with four lawsuits in three states involving Trump Media, Digital World, the co-founders Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss, and Digital World’s former chief executive Patrick Orlando.
Orlando, who was fired as chief last year but remains in control of Digital World’s biggest founding investor Arc Global Investments II, had refused to vote in support of the merger before Friday’s vote, potentially imperiling the deal, attorneys for Trump Media and Digital World said in a lawsuit this week seeking to force his vote. Orlando spoke only briefly on the shareholder call Friday and did not offer further comment on how he voted.
Digital World’s more than 400,000 retail investors included supporters of Trump and speculators hoping to cash in on the deal’s attention. One investor, dressed in a pirate costume and calling himself “Captain DWAC,” live-streamed the shareholder vote on Rumble and played sounds of applause when the successful vote was announced.
“Lots of hugs,” said the investor, Chad Nedohin, a worship leader in Canada. “This has been a long, long fight.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/03/22/trump-mediamerger-vote/
I need a shower.
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
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EV
Toronto Film Festival 9/11/2007, '08 - Toronto 1 & 2, '09 - Albany 1, '11 - Chicago 1
EV
Toronto Film Festival 9/11/2007, '08 - Toronto 1 & 2, '09 - Albany 1, '11 - Chicago 1
I am probably guilty of jumping up and down too quickly for anything that seems hopeful to shut down the orange monster. He is a weaselly bastard, after all.
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you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
NEW YORK (AP) — The first of Donald Trump’s four criminal trials will begin April 15, a Manhattan judge ruled Monday after tearing into the former president’s lawyers for what he said were unfounded claims that the hush-money case had been tainted by prosecutorial misconduct.
Judge Juan M. Merchan scoffed at the defense’s calls to delay the case longer or throw it out entirely because of a last-minute document dump that had bumped the first-ever trial of a former president from its scheduled Monday start. Trump vowed to appeal the ruling.
Barring another delay, the presumptive Republican nominee will be on trial as a criminal defendant in just three weeks — an inauspicious homecoming in the city where he grew up, built a real estate empire and gained wealth and celebrity that propelled him to the White House.
The trial, involving allegations related to hush money paid during Trump’s 2016 campaign to cover up marital infidelity claims, had been in limbo after his lawyers complained about a recent deluge of nearly 200,000 pages of evidence from a previous federal investigation into the matter.
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Trump’s lawyers accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office of intentionally failing to pursue evidence from the 2018 federal investigation, which sent Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen to prison. They contended prosecutors working under Bragg, a Democrat, did so to gain an unfair advantage in the case and harm Trump’s election chances. Cohen, now a vocal Trump critic, is poised to be a key prosecution witness against his ex-boss.
Merchan bristled at the defense’s claims at a hearing Monday, saying the DA's office had no duty to collect evidence from the federal investigation, nor was the U.S. attorney’s office required to volunteer the documents. What transpired was a “far cry” from Manhattan prosecutors "injecting themselves in the process and vehemently and aggressively trying to obstruct your ability to get documentation,” the judge said.
“It’s just not what happened,” Merchan said.
Merchan grew impatient, pressing Trump lawyer Todd Blanche to cite even a single legal precedent for his argument.
When the lawyer couldn't, the judge laid into him, saying: “You’re literally accusing the Manhattan DA's office and the people assigned to this case of engaging in prosecutorial misconduct and of trying to make me complicit in it. And you don’t have a single cite to support that position.”
Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo said the number of relevant, usable, new documents in the recently provided evidence “is quite small” — around 300 records or fewer. Trump’s lawyers contend thousands of pages are potentially important and require painstaking review. They argued the delayed disclosures warranted dismissing the case or at least pushing it off three months.
“We are not doing our jobs if we don’t independently look at the new material,” Blanche told the judge. “Every document is important.”
The DA's office denied wrongdoing and blamed Trump’s lawyers for bringing the time crunch upon themselves by waiting until Jan. 18 to subpoena the records from the U.S. attorney’s office — a mere nine weeks before the trial was originally supposed to start. Merchan, who earlier this month postponed the trial until at least mid-April to deal with the evidence issue, told defense lawyers that they should have acted sooner if they believed they didn’t have all the records they wanted.
Trump complained about the ruling outside court, renewing his complaint that the case is “election interference."
“This is a case that could have been brought three and a half years ago. And now they’re fighting over days because they want to try and do it during the election. This is election interference. That’s all it is. Election interference and it’s a disgrace,” the former president said.
The hearing took place the same day a New York appeals court granted Trump a dose of good news by agreeing to hold off collection of his $454 million civil fraud judgment — if he puts up $175 million within 10 days.
The dueling developments underscored New York's place as an epicenter of Trump’s legal peril. Though the hush money case is seen as less consequential than his other prosecutions — which charge him with conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and illegally retaining classified documents — it has taken on added importance given that it’s the only one that appears likely for trial in the coming months.
The trial will begin with jury selection, a potentially arduous task given the publicity surrounding the case and Trump’s wild unpopularity in heavily Democratic Manhattan.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges that he falsified business records, a felony punishable by up to four years in prison, though there is no guarantee a conviction would result in jail time. Manhattan prosecutors say Trump did it as part of an effort to protect his 2016 campaign by burying what he says were false stories of extramarital sex. Trump on Monday repeated to reporters his claims that the case is a “witch hunt” and “hoax.”
Prosecutors allege that Trump falsely logged payments to Cohen, then his personal lawyer, as legal fees in his company’s books when they were for his work covering up stories that might embarrass Trump. That included $130,000 he’d paid porn actor Stormy Daniels on Trump’s behalf, so she wouldn’t publicize her claim of a sexual encounter with him years earlier.
Trump’s lawyers say the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses, not cover-up checks.
Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal campaign finance violations related to the Daniels payoff. He said Trump directed him to arrange it, and federal prosecutors indicated they believed him, but Trump was never charged.
Trump’s lawyers said Bragg’s office turned over just a fraction of materials from that investigation last June. The material hasn’t been made public. But Trump’s lawyers said in a court filing that some of it is “exculpatory and favorable to the defense.” The sharing of evidence, called discovery, is routine in criminal cases and is intended to help ensure a fair trial.
Bragg’s deputies have insisted they “engaged in good-faith and diligent efforts to obtain relevant information” from the federal probe. They argued in court filings that Trump’s lawyers should have spoken up earlier if they believed those efforts were lacking.
Prosecutors maintain that, in any event, the vast majority of what ultimately came is irrelevant, duplicative or backs up existing evidence about Cohen’s well-known federal conviction.
___
Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz, Philip Marcelo and Jill Colvin contributed to this report.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14