I've seen a lot of commentary about the Trump trial vaguely suggesting that it popped up out of nowhere from a partisan DA with an axe to grind and a dubious legal theory he invented just for the occasion. This is not true.
It is true that the legal theory behind Trump's prosecution was novel, but that's because no one had ever before done what Trump did. Nor was it invented especially by Alvin Bragg. The prospect of prosecuting Trump for falsifying business records to conceal criminal conduct has been repeatedly discussed since shortly after the day federal prosecutors first revealed that Trump's hush money payments were fraudulently booked as legal expenses. That was nearly five years ago.
Since then, the hush money case has been under continual investigation by US Attorneys, the Federal Election Commission, the New York State attorney general, and the Manhattan district attorney. It was slowed down by federal prosecutors, Trump appeals, and a changing of the guard in the Manhattan DA's office. But it never went away.
To refresh your memory about how long and continuously this case has been in the news, here's a brief timeline.
November 2016: The Wall Street Journal reports that the National Enquirer paid Karen McDougal, a Playboy model, $150,000 to buy her silence about an affair with Donald Trump.
January 2018: The Journal reports that Trump fixer Michael Cohen paid hush money directly to porn star Stormy Daniels for the same reason. Trump denies everything.
July 2018: CNN releases audiotape of Trump discussing hush money payments with Cohen.
August 2018: Federal prosecutors reveal that Cohen's reimbursements were booked as legal expenses by The Trump Organization.
August 2018: The Manhattan DA, Cyrus Vance, considers opening an investigation into the hush money case. Federal prosecutors will later ask him to pause his investigation until theirs is finished.
November 2018: The Journal confirms that Trump was personally involved with both hush money payments.
December 2018: Federal prosecutors make public a non-prosecution agreement signed with AMI, the parent company of the National Enquirer. It states that the hush money payments were intended to prevent damage to Trump's 2016 campaign.
July 2019: Federal prosecutors conclude their hush money investigation without charges. Federal rules prevent prosecution of a sitting president.
August 2019: With the federal investigation over, Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance re-opens his investigation and subpoenas Trump for hush money documents.
May 2021: After an investigation, the Federal Election Commission concludes that AMI violated campaign finance laws by secretly paying McDougal.
November 2021: Vance convenes grand jury to hear evidence against Trump.
January 2022: Alvin Bragg takes office as new Manhattan DA.
February 2022: Two prosecutors leave DA's office over disappointment that Bragg didn't immediately bring charges against Trump.
December 2022: Bragg hires a former DOJ attorney who worked the federal investigation of Trump.
April 2023: Bragg indicts Trump for falsifying business records in order to conceal damaging information during the 2016 election.
May 2024: Trump is convicted on all counts.
How does it go? If the facts are on your side, pound the facts. (They're really totally not.) If the law is on your side, pound the law. (They're trying, but also not.) And if neither is on your side, pound the table. (THIS they're doing.)
Gives Trump an excuse to whine, and keeps the story alive another day for the media. Good enough, I guess.
Their very lives depend on these clicks. Why begrudge a poor wordsmith a few crumbs?
(｡•̀ᴗ-)
"July 2019: Federal prosecutors conclude their hush money investigation without charges. Federal rules prevent prosecution of a sitting president."
So, we can't prosecute a sitting president?
Then this happens:
January 2022: Alvin Bragg takes office as new Manhattan DA.
February 2022: Two prosecutors leave DA's office over disappointment that Bragg didn't immediately bring charges against Trump.
December 2022: Bragg hires a former DOJ attorney who worked the federal investigation of Trump.
April 2023: Bragg indicts Trump for falsifying business records in order to conceal damaging information during the 2016 election.
Sounds like the FEDs could have prosecuted Trump but because of a legal quirk they were unable to
Now that Trump is no longer Prez he was then subject to prosecution
And Bragg hired the guys who had experience with the federal investigation. All the while Trump was stonewalling and story telling
Now he is convicted of NY crimes
I may change my mind about Trump never going to jail............
You need to listen to his press conference today, it's so hilariously bizarre. He's gone scatterbrained you know. It seems Alvin Bragg has broken Trump's brain and now it forgets what was said 5 minutes ago. If you turned his press conference into a drinking game everyone would die from alcohol poisoning 3x over.
I'm relishing all the pundits and so-called legal experts who claimed Bragg's case was weak and this case should not have been the first to be tried. It's broken Trump's spirit and now he's lost the sarcastic tone to his insults, left with just angry, worn-down white man vibes.
Final point: He again made the claim that the campaign raised $39M dollars from this conviction, so please, please, please remember to check the monthly FEC filing at the next of May so that we can all mock his campaign again.
Too many Trump supporters near me are expressing their belief that the jurors were biased. They seem to think the jury was selected by anti Trump lawyers in a vacuum.
Of course I remind them of the enormous size of the jury pool to begin with and that BOTH SIDES questioned each prospective juror. Of course I got the standard "Well it just seems as though they were biased" argument. To them Trump can/could do no wrong
But, I will say this - the ardor of their arguments supporting Trump seems diminished somewhat. I can't exactly put my finger on it but the wind seems to have taken out of their sails a bit
Why the hell didn’t he testify like he said he would. Kind of looks like he was afraid to face cross under oath. What is it that chickens say: “buck-buck-buck”.
do they actually think he is innocent? I haven't heard anyone claim he didn't do what he did.
They think [mumble] [throat clearing] [more mumble] Travesty!
I suspect his deluded deplorable minions believe both that
(1) Oh, he definitely porked a playboy supermodel and a porn star, because of his vast manly virility
and
(2) He never did, and that lying hussy needs to have some kind of violence inflicted upon her!
random
They don't want to believe he's guilty
This is a HUGE change from "he's above the law"
They just don't want to THINK that 12 people could UNANYMOUSLY vote for a guilty verdict
Trumps arrogance level has taken a HUGE hit from this conviction
The typical pattern (for anything Trump did) is:
1) he didn’t do it
2) Ok he did it, but is not illegal
3) Ok it’s illegal, but not serious, like a speeding ticket
4) Ok it’s Illegal and it’s serious, but Democrats did worse
Wow, what’s your example of Democrats doing worse?
Bargle, bargle, Hillary, email, Steele, Hunter Biden, Ukraine, bargle bargle.
Wow, so when the Republicans investigated all that stuff for months why didn’t they find anything to charge Democrats with?
Crickets.
The obvious conclusion the draw is that the defense attorneys are part of the Deep State!!!!!
"Trump Rants Incoherently, Makes Ominous Threats" is pretty much a dog-bites-man story for most of the media these days, despite the fact that the son of a bitch is the Republican nominee for President and leads in a number of polls.
of the alleged $39 million raised, my thoughts exactly. you can go broke, you can go to jail, you can look like a fool taking trump at his word. most people you believe until proven to be a liar. trump broke that threshold with his first public utterances five decades ago.
The delays after Trump left office are unforgiveable. The entire US justice system seems to be moribund. If "justice delayed is justice denied", there's a hell of a lot of denied justice in America.
I tend to agree with you, but there is always
“ the wheels of justice may turn slowly, but they turn…”
The wheels of justice turn just barely for Trump and minions like Bannon, Navarro, and Giuliani. For anyone else, they turn fairly rapidly.
navarro is in jail; rudy is broke; the only thing that might keep him out of an orange jumpsuit is his age. otoh sleaze bag steve bannon is inexplicably free.
come to think of it. the wheels of justice can grind incredibly slowly if you're poor and can't make bond. 90 percent of the inmates at rikers island are being held pre-trial, most waiting more nearly four months before facing judgment. god help you if you get lost in the system.
“Welcome to the party, pal!”
Pretty sure the concept of delayed and denied justice is well known to many Americans.
You need to listen to Marcy Wheelers weekly podcasts In the latest, she explains how this delay was largely due to manipulations by Bill Barr. (Note that the investigation started under donnie)
You are leaving out one very big and very basic fact: The ENTIRE RepubliQan Party is running interference on Trump's behalf. They don't care about justice as they scream that Trump is getting prosecuted for nothing but politics. They have stonewalled, delayed, and abetted in every way possible.
Add in the RepubliQan judges who have postponed for any excuse. And now "The Filthy Six" on the Supreme Court have delayed more by taking up the "is the president a king" bullshit, setting the hearing on the last possible day, and now delaying a "ruling" on whether Trump is a citizen or a king.
You and your facts! Fooey!
Mike Johnson, he of the divine appointment, has as startling a misunderstanding of the role of the Supreme Court as he does of his own leadership skills, of trump's rights (& wrongs):
https://www.axios.com/2024/05/31/mike-johnson-trump-supreme-court
All we need is a SCOTUS directed by the Speaker to take the initiative to overturn the decision of twelve jurors in NY state case!
These "Republicans" know no limits to their partisanship & disregard for facts, laws, the Constitution...or even the ten commandments they supposedly honor as part of their Christian beliefs. They are shameless, but we knew that already.
Speaker Mike has a startling misunderstanding of Christianity. Instead of "love your neighbor," he interprets Christianity as telling Republicans to hate their Democrat neighbors. He would have understood Christianity if he had been raised like Speaker Pelosi.
Ref: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvZei-Qbmjk
Only republicans would claim that the jury selected from trump’s hometown was biased against him.
Without bad faith…
Republicans would have no arguments at all
Just had to verify for myself that all of the hush money payments were made during the election campaign. They were:
Karen McDougal was paid in August 2016; the doorman was paid "eight months earlier;" Stormy Daniels was paid just before Election Day 2016.
Regarding comments about the court system and the Supreme Court, following a friend's recent court experiences, I think the rot and corruption at the Supreme Court is notable just for its prominence; there seem to be plenty of judges of lower federal courts who are even worse than Alito, but they never make headlines.
Federal judges are appointed for life, and it takes a formal impeachment by Congress to remove one from office. It has happened, but generally only for things that a competent law school student would know to avoid.
It's like Al Capone. If you can't get him for the substantive crimes of violence, gross transgression and mayhem, you get him for financial crimes. You'd wish for the former, but the latter are real and will have to do.
Yeah people always say “they got Capone for tax evasion” like it was some minor thing and they only prosecuted it because he was Capone, the reality was Capone committed massive tax evasion, it’s not like they trumped up some BS charge to get him.
No protests yet. I’m on the lookout for trump flags so I can name, shame, and harass my neighbors! ????
Idiot. Just a flipping idiot.
Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) said a Trump conviction only helps his campaign.
“Donald Trump is a serial liar, cheater, and philanderer, a six-time declarer of corporate bankruptcy, an instigator of insurrection, and a convicted felon who thrives on portraying himself as a victim. @GovKathyHochul should pardon him for the good of the country,” Phillips declared in a X post Friday.
"Pardon him for the good of the country"
... because it worked so well with Dick Nixon. And established the principle of never prosecuting current or former Republican presidents!
This is the one goon who merits the least consideration and the least pardon of anyone alive.
His bad example is something we'll have to be dealing with for generations.
Dear Abby: You always talked about the need to forgive and forget. It's not about letting wrong-doers off easy, but about healing ourselves. In case you haven't heard, we had ourselves a bad president, a man who did everything he could to divide this country, and who now wants to be president again. This week a jury found him guilty on 34 felony counts. I think the president ought to pardon him for the good of the country. What do you think? --Losing My Mind in Minnesota, Your Grandson, Dean
Dear Losing Your Mind: Forgive and forget? It sounds like you had a lobotomy. That's the only way anybody could "forget" Donald Trump. I wouldn't forgive a man like him until he apologized for all the evil and all the sorrow he caused in his life. When he finally promised to go away and never hurt anyone again, then begged for a pardon, I'd laugh in his face and say, "Sorry, sucker. You're out of luck. Maybe in another lifetime." Now, Dean, it's time to grow up and grow some cojones. I've seen who's on St. Peter's list, and fools and cowards are not getting in. --Your Grandma, Dear Abby
"You should forgive your enemies, but not before they're hanged."
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them;
I did not turn back till they were destroyed.
38 I crushed them so that they could not rise;
they fell beneath my feet.
39 You armed me with strength for battle;
you humbled my adversaries before me.
40 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight,
and I destroyed my foes.
41 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them— to the Lord, but he did not answer.
42 I beat them as fine as windblown dust;
I trampled them like mud in the streets.
Beat trump to dust!
don't ya just love that bible?
Such enlightened passages! Doubtless this passage was written by a Canonized Saint.
"February 2022: Two prosecutors leave DA's office over disappointment that Bragg didn't immediately bring charges against Trump" conflates two entirely separate issues. The prosecutors quit because Bragg decided not to pursue criminal charges of fraud relating to Trump's property valuations, the same issue for which the State of New York now has a $450 million civil judgment against him. The business records charges are entirely different.
+1
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-1
if 1% of trump's claims about a political hit job were true he'd be sitting in a cell right now
of course you'll never hear anyone at the nytimes point this out
A cell in Guantánamo
So three years and eight months between the start of the investigation and the indictment, and the Manhattan DA wasn’t starting from scratch because they had the Federal investigation to build on. That seems like an awefully slow investigation to me. In fairness, it was a difficult case to build because they needed to assemble evidence to corroborate Cohen’s testimony.
Science finally identifies one of my wingnut cousins,
Misinformation works, and a handful of social 'supersharers' sent 80% of it in 2020,
https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/30/misinformation-works-and-a-handful-of-social-supersharers-sent-80-of-it-in-2020/
"...hush money payments were fraudulently booked as legal expenses" How should they have been booked? What was the advantage of booking them as legal expenses?
From what I read, the reason that the hush money was being paid was to prevent information to come out that might damage TFG's campaign. That, in itself would not, as I understand it, be illegal. But it WOULD be considered a reportable campaign contribution - causing the $150K and $130K to show up like a stinking fish without further perjury...
Misreporting it as some other kind of non-campaign related legal service FOR TFG turns it illegal, I would assume.
Thanks for this. I know next to nothing about it but I know that double-entry bookkeeping is a thing. "Trump for President 2020" (made-up name) pays Daniels to keep quiet. That seems like an expense (maybe not a "legal expense") to the campaign, not a contribution.
If the payment to Daniels was a reportable campaign contribution from whom was it received?