Trump Leaving Office Poll (Part 2)

[KingRoyal]

I mean, getting fined $7500 in addition to unwittingly working pro-bono has probably gotta sting for any lawyer

[Thad]

Oh, Trump's lawyers have learned to get their money upfront by now. That's what his campaign donations are for.

[Grath]

I wonder if the lock on Cell 181 at Alcatraz still works...

[Mongrel]

Speaking to my mom today, which is always fun since a significant part of her mind is and will forever remain a small, easily-frightened little girl in 1960's Iran. Sometimes cringeworthingly ignorant and other times simply naive, but I will say that at least she's never been fooled by a Tory or Republican or any of their ilk.

Anyway, she briefly mentioned Trump as a throwaway example of evil today and stopped to ask me a Very Important Question:

"Did you know Trump's mouth looks exactly like a chicken's asshole? When he speaks it looks like he's about to lay an egg!"

And now I'm left wondering what other farm-raised folks would think of her... evaluation.

[Destynova]

Give her a hug for me, please. That is awesome mom putdown.

[nosimpleway]

Donald Trump is Birdo, confirmed

[Büge]

ugggggh no

get lost with that

Birdo is a Transfem icon

[Thad]

New York judge issues limited gag order after Trump makes disparaging post about court clerk

As for the gag order, without naming Trump, Engoron said that a defendant in the case “posted to a social media account a disparaging, untrue and personally identifying post about a member of my staff.” He added that “personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, not appropriate” and not tolerated

Trump had already deleted the post. Engoron said he ordered it gone.

[KingRoyal]

Powell pleads guilty day before Georgia trial starts

Six years probation and will testify in all future trials

[Thad]

And the next domino: Chesebro has taken a plea deal too. Not seeing any details yet but presumably it's similar to Powell's.

ETA: Laffy quoting Hallerman:

Chesebro will be pleading guilty to Count 15 in the indictment: conspiracy to commit filing false documents.

Chesebro agrees to: 5 years probation, $5,000 restitution, 100 hours community service, write an apology letter to citizens of Georgia, testify truthfully, no communication with media, witnesses and co-defendants, recorded proffer with prosecutors, provide documents and evidence

ETA: Washington Post story: Trump co-defendant Kenneth Chesebro pleads guilty in Georgia election case

[Crick]

Feels like a net closing in to me.

[Thad]

The law-talkin' folks seem to think that they wouldn't be getting deals this good if Willis didn't think she was getting something really good in return.

They're not reliable witnesses, but you can still get good evidence out of an unreliable witness. You can't believe anything Sidney Powell says, but she could have e-mails or other hard evidence.

[Crick]

That's sorta what I was thinking. Feels like a visible laying of groundwork. Hard to claim ignorance when a bunch of people who've plead guilty are saying you were a part of it.

There's been a smattering of normal conservative voices-- fox news, etc-- seemingly floating anti-Trump rhetoric. Saying he's slurring his speech, that he seems confused. Wonder if they're testing the waters to see if they can easily offload him if stuff like this sticks.

[Thad]

There's been a smattering of normal conservative voices-- fox news, etc-- seemingly floating anti-Trump rhetoric. Saying he's slurring his speech, that he seems confused. Wonder if they're testing the waters to see if they can easily offload him if stuff like this sticks.

They're sure trying. Remember how hard they were pushing DeSantis a few months ago?

Doesn't seem to be working, though. Trump's the guy the primary voters want. I don't see that changing unless he dies.

[Thad]

Trump fined $5,000 after failing to remove post related to New York fraud trial

I think this is a correct response at this stage in the trial. He doesn't let Trump off the hook and he says outright that we're "way beyond the warning stage", but he chooses a by-the-book punishment for a first offense.

I'd love to see Trump held in contempt and thrown in jail as much as the next guy, but I'd rather see him get a punishment that sticks, and the more the judge adheres to norms the less likely his ruling will be overturned on appeal.

And his ruling was already financially devastating to Trump before the trial even started. In the long run, this is going to cost him a lot more than $5,000.

[Thad]

Today's domino: Former Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis pleads guilty in Georgia case

[Mongrel]

Considering how litigious Trump has historically been, I wonder how many former lawyers he has.

[Thad]

Trump fined $5,000 after failing to remove post related to New York fraud trial

I think this is a correct response at this stage in the trial. He doesn't let Trump off the hook and he says outright that we're "way beyond the warning stage", but he chooses a by-the-book punishment for a first offense.

I'd love to see Trump held in contempt and thrown in jail as much as the next guy, but I'd rather see him get a punishment that sticks, and the more the judge adheres to norms the less likely his ruling will be overturned on appeal.

And his ruling was already financially devastating to Trump before the trial even started. In the long run, this is going to cost him a lot more than $5,000.

Another $10,000 today. Trump talked more shit about the clerk, then claimed he was talking about Cohen.

Another Laffy thread, quoting various other posters (I've added a couple line breaks to make it clearer):

Via Orden:

Judge: To whom were you referring when you said the person sitting alongside?

Trump: You and Cohen.

Judge: "As the trier of fact, I find the witness is not credible."

[...]

Angry Staffer:

I would argue that it’s not the amount that matters, but the escalation of accountability.

Last time: $5,000 fine

This time: Trump *called to the stand*, called a liar by the Judge, and fined $10,000.

I don’t think the judge will tolerate a strike 3.


Via Alexander:

The judge says he is reconsidering. Then he makes what appears to be his final determination: “I’ve reconsidered—the ruling stands,” the judge says, adding, “Don’t do it again, or it will be worse.”

[Thad]

In the context of the DOJ giving Meadows immunity, Teri Kanefield explains what that means. You may be shocked to learn that in real life, immunity does not actually work the way it does on TV.

Meadows did not agree to a deal.

His testimony is coerced.

He had no choice.

If the DOJ gives him use immunity he has to testify truthfully because what he says cannot be used against him, so he cannot stand on the fifth.

However, anything he says to his compelled testimony cannot be used against him.

This doesn't mean he cannot be prosecuted. It means that anything he says to questions after being immunized cannot be used against him.

This means he hasn't made any deals.

To put it another way: thinking of immunity as a deal, as something they offered and he accepted, is a category error. They're effectively forcing him to testify, whether he wants to or not.

It doesn't mean he's immune from prosecution, it just means that none of the testimony he provides under immunity can be used against him later.

To prevent this from being a problem they likely question him on a narrow topic that has nothing to do with his own criminal liability.

It is bad for Trump because obviously, they are forcing him to say something he doesn't want to say.

It is good for the DOJ because they get the info they want.

It is unlikely to be good for Meadows.

[Thad]

Laffy thread on Trump's testimony today.

The highlight is when, after a series of rambling non-answers, the judge turned to Trump's attorney and said "I beseech you to control him. If you can’t, I will. I will excuse him and draw every negative inference."

He seemed to back off the threat afterward, and left it up to the AG's discretion whether to let Trump keep talking or not. The AG opted to keep him on the stand, and through the endless screams and inane babble, they managed to pick out several useful confessions.

During the lunch break, a colleague less steeped in the minutia of this case asked me whether the AG’s team is scoring any points, given how often Trump has digressed or ranted. Indeed, they have.

They have shown, for example, that despite having no memory of telling a Wall Street Journal reporter that a particular building was valued at $600 million, a contemporaneous email from his son showed he, in fact, did exactly that.

The AG's team has shown that despite much lower, and sometimes even negative net revenue from leasing that same building, Trump told a Forbes reporter — on tape — that that building “threw off” between $50-60 million per year, another conversation Trump did not recall.

They have shown that Trump’s financial statements dating back nearly a decade valued his Aberdeen property in Scotland as if he could sell thousands of homes tomorrow, when Trump admitted that he still has not used that property for anything but building a second golf course while holding onto 1,000 acres on which those residences were supposed to be built.

And perhaps most damning of all, they exposed that despite signing promises to the Town of Palm Beach and the National Trust for Historic Preservation that he would never use or develop Mar-a-Lago as anything but a private membership club, Trump valued Mar-a-Lago on his financial statements as a private residence, as if those contractual agreements were as disposable as Kleenex.