Three Things: Goodbye, Good, Buy? Good – Bye!
[NB: check the byline, thanks. /~Rayne]
Given the quantity of news today worth discussing but not necessarily worth an entire dedicated post, I’m going to pull together three topics under this umbrella.
Consider this an open thread.
~ 3 ~
Goodbye – Mitch McConnell will step down as Senate minority leader, three years ahead of his retirement from the Senate.
I didn’t see this coming today, but then it probably should have been expected given the bullshit going on with the federal budget negotiations.
Hapless House Leader Mike Johnson has screwed up the negotiations in a whole bunch of ways, allowing the GOP’s vulnerabilities to be exposed each time a new sticking point surfaces to halt progress.
This past week, as one example, it was a poison pill amendment to halt prescriptions of abortion drugs like Plan B for dispensing through pharmacies and by mail. Oh, we can work with that – just look at what happened in Kansas post-Dobbs, when voters turned out in August 2022 to defeat a GOP effort to pass a state constitutional amendment banning abortion.
Not to mention the hassle of an evidence-free impeachment by the House of Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas which the Senate must now consider for conviction and removal. Way to make GOP senators look both absurd and racist at the same time thanks to Johnson’s leadership in the House.
McConnell says the recent death of his wife’s family member reminded him of his mortality, which encouraged him to step down and take a seat in the back.
I think at 82 years of age, in iffy health, McConnell simply doesn’t want to have to sweep up after the rogue elephants in his party any longer.
~ 2 ~
Good, buy? – President Biden signed an executive order prohibiting the sale of Americans’ personal data to politically-adversarial countries like China and Russia.
This is an important measure which Congress should take up and write into legislation so that future expansions of privacy protections can be added as amendments.
It’s bothered me that so much personal data is freely available – your driver’s license or state ID and your property taxes are just a couple examples of data anyone can locate and use without any real friction like fees or documented requests kept on file.
But pair that data with purchasing habits acquired by data brokers and the accrued data is highly weaponizable.
It’s not a little thing for persons who are politically active, or even prone to exercising their First Amendment right of free speech.
The Department of Justice has deterred at least four assassination plots targeting persons in the U.S., stopping them before someone died as ordered by a foreign government. Imagine how easy it is to find a target and profile them to make the assassination fast and easy using personal data acquired from data brokers for mere pennies. No more assigning teams of personnel for surveillance – just buy the data, hack a few local area internet-connected cameras, and dispatch a killer.
Or send a drone, like Trump did to Iran’s General Soleimani, likely breaking norms against such assassinations.
Knowing that personal data is less likely to be acquired by hostile foreign governments might make some Americans more comfortable with making purchases which might create data sold by brokers.
Or, maybe not.
~ 1 ~
Good – Bye! – Trump could only post a $100 million bond today against the $454 million he owes in the E. Jean Carroll defamation NY state business fraud case.
It’s a pretty solid indication he’s broke. It should be a familiar feeling because he’s declared six business bankruptcies before.
Heck, given that many bankruptcies under his belt, this one he should be able to file on his own in his sleep. Maybe he’ll be able to save on attorneys’ fees by doing much of the work himself.
~ 0 ~
Bonus: Michigan’s primary results = so many bad hot takes.
I mentioned this in the wee hours this morning on Mastodon; the first take I saw in Washington Post missed a critical point about the way Michigan’s primaries are conducted, and how that affects the poll results.
RayneToday @[email protected]
There’s a critical problem with this analysis of the Michigan primary results: there are crossover voters who voted for Nikki Haley who will vote for Biden in November. The “uncommitted” vote may actually be a smaller percentage of total Democratic voters because of this practice of crossing over during the primary.
Unlike neighboring Ohio, voters aren’t locked into a party and can cross back in November. See 2000 primary when McCain won the Michigan primary. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/27/4-takeaways-michigan-primary/
Union members are encouraged to do this though it may depend on circumstances surrounding the candidates.
The percentage of Democratic votes are not as they appear; there will have been Democratic voters who threw behind Nikki Haley, making Trump’s win margin look smaller than it is, while also making the “uncommitted” Democratic vote numbers appear larger as a percentage of the total vote.
I am absolutely certain this took place; I was asked by Democratic voters who planned to crossover which not-Trump GOP candidate would optimize this approach.
Of course in my opinion the best fuck-you to Trump is voting for a woman of color.
With regard to the “uncommitted” vote, what should be noted is where the most votes occurred in highest concentrations. Dearborn, where the largest number of Muslim and Arab-heritage voters live in Michigan, would obviously be expected as the location of the largest number of “uncommitted” votes.
For large news outlets to trumpet as a headline the protest vote sent a message is rather misleading, especially when most of these outlets couldn’t be bothered to report on the crossover vote.
Again, this is an open thread.
A reminder to all new and existing community members participating in comments:
— We have been moving to a new minimum standard to support community security over the last year. Usernames should be unique and a minimum of 8 letters.
— We do not require a valid, working email, but you must use the same email address each time you publish a comment here. **Single use disposable email addresses do not meet this standard.**
— If you have been commenting here but have less than 1000 comments published and been participating less than 10 years as of October 2022, you must update your username to match the new standard.
Thank you.
“Maybe he’ll be able to save on attorneys’ fees by doing much of the work himself.”
Trump couldn’t do much worse than Habba has been doing On the other hand I suspect that mark Steyn would advise him against this pro se stuff.
I’m glad McConnell is finally going, as he is awful.
I suspect, after they replace him, I will miss the good old days when McConnell was in charge, because whoever follows him will be much worse.
McC is distancing himself from the Nov GOP “Rvenge ’24 trainwreck
Recent GOP congress leadership selections have been awful, radical with a spash of incompetent, this will be no different.
If Mich Arab/Muslim Americans help put trump in the WH in 25 they’ll be committing political hari-kari, they must realize that they are the climax of his deportation wet dream and being naturalized US won’t necessarily save them.
Thanks Rayne
It’s like they completely forgot Trump’s first executive order one week after he took office was the Muslim ban — signed without any review by DOJ, and for which the Trump administration fought for months.
It will not be merely Muslim Americans this time. Trump will do what Clarence Thomas said they were going to attack: birth control, mixed race marriage, same-sex marriage. There will be more, and it will launch a civil war if Trump should manage to win.
Rayne said above: “There will be more, and it will launch a civil war if Trump should manage to win.”
Unnecessary for me to say, but I will say it anyway: AGREE
Areas where I have lived in the last 20+ years have clearly shown that the last Civil War did not end, it just went cold.
I doubt Dearborn voters forgot about the Muslim ban. Rashida Tlaib is not stupid. She knows what a Trump administration would do to Americans like her. The uncommitted votes got the kind of press those voting uncommitted wanted. As Rayne noted, the nuances of the MI primary are beyond the scope/interest of many a news outlet. The MI primary results were Different! (Shiny!) So it gives “pundits” something new to talk about especially with regard to Biden. And we all know that the media loves a good “Dems in Disarray!” story even if it’s mostly manufactured by the media themselves.
I should not have to point out that the body with the most power to defund and halt weapons to Israel is Congress. If Tlaib can’t persuade her coworkers, how does damaging Biden — whose administration has been struggling to break Netanyahu’s Trumpian bullshit while fending off Iran’s non-stop attacks via Houthis — achieve the results needed?
Protest needs to be more focused and far more effective.
How can the Democratic party point out that Trump is far more aligned with Bibi Netanyahu than Joe Biden without offending Jewish voters?
That was my first reaction: He’ll hold on to whatever vestiges of power that he still has — got to ensure the democrats don’t somehow manage to accomplish anything for the nation — right up to the election, after which he’ll be only too happy to turn his back — once again — on any and all responsibility for coup 2.0.
Yes, he is old and frail, and his relevance is a shadow of what it used to be, but that he plans to leave in the midst of the coming crisis speaks volumes.
The Thanks for this, Rayne. Especially the Michigan analysis and the reminder that you’re on Mastodon. I’m slowly growing an appreciation of how things connect in that world. Following you over there right now.
Thanks for the comments about the MIchigan results. I was looking forward to them.
I take it as one more data point showing people will turnout to vote against Trump. He’s not a blank slate any longer and instead has replaced Hillary Clinton as the negative personality in Presidential politics.
The Supremes have given Trump an eight week delay, which is plenty of immunity.
But NY tells Trump: go borrow the money if your businesses want to avoid execution of the judgment. Lets find out if any bank will lend it to him.
Putin needs Trump to win.
Money will find its way to Trump, as long as Putin continues to need him.
It’s not just Putin, though. I think we’ve got a blind spot about this.
Agreed.
Thanks for the reality check.
Right. And thus there was some irony in Michigan’s Democratic results. Netanyahu would certainly prefer Trump to Biden.
Some irony if Bibi sends shekels to Donald (which probably came from US funds.)
Some great commentary–especially the details on his casino laundering operation–by David Cay Johnson on loser Trump.
https://youtu.be/3CYmq7lju0E
That’s a pretty good assessment, though I think some of what Trump has been connected to includes the Russian laundromat. The property on Palm Beach beachfront he sold to Dmitry Rybolovlev in 2008 is another example of money laundering facility he offered — annoys the fuck out of me how credulous the reporting is. “But it was worth that much…” except that the price drew a lot of attention at the time. “But it was asset hiding in a divorce…” Sure, sure, and the sale of the asset to liquidate into funds was really convenient for the divorced couple. Uh-huh. Total credulity. That’s what the laundromat depends on.
This kind of helpful utility is what assured Putin that Trump was owned. In return Trump got what he really, really wanted: funding for his true love, golf, in spite of a global economic crisis. The reason the courses don’t fold up like casinos in “mafia blowout” is that Trump loves his golf and his courses remain useful to those who need laundering.
So, in the E. Jean Carroll case, Trump argues that he shouldn’t have to post a bond because he is so wealthy. In the civil fraud case, he argues that he’s too poor.
Letitia James should be picking out which realtor she’ll use when she starts selling Trump’s properties.
Trump’s big argument seems to be that the penalty is so big that it’s punitive. I think he’s going to make a “cruel and unusual punishment” argument to the US Supreme Court.
Which auctioneer?
I wonder how big the commission will be.
I think Trump is arguing both positions in the Letitia James case: he’s too poor to pay for a full appeals bond; he’s too rich and too good a credit risk to need to pay for a full bond.
I don’t think his argument that the amount is unconstitutionally punitive will go far. Yes, it’s a big number, but it’s commensurate with the gains he made through many years of financial fraud, as Judge Engoron fully laid out.
I don’t think his argument that he will suffer irreparable harm will go any farther. His lament is that he would have to exhaust his cash and sell assets at fire sale values. That does not constitute irreparable harm. Many defendants who lose big have to do that.
They should have stopped lending to him after he failed as a casino owner.
Most of them did. Deutsche Bank is an outlier, and a poster child for a criminogenic institution. It has paid billions in fines for running afoul of lending rules.
I think we forget not all business institutions operate to the letter of the law, and that we’ve seen this before, ex. Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI).
BCCI, the mother of all poster children. Yep, DB is a standout, but many banks fail to comply with regs and pay large fines. If they make money at it, notwithstanding the fines, it’s just a cost of sales. It doesn’t change their business model. That’s a regulatory as well as a business failure.
Given Germany’s awakening to their problems with Russian influence in their economy, I wonder if there has been some house cleaning at Deutsche Bank, since Deutsche had some deep relationships with Russian money.
Who’s due the money? Wondering enough to ask, but have not researched nor seen it clearly reported, can anyone post to whom damages are to be paid in the fraud case? To the State, as Plaintiff? I read his conduct was putting banks at greater risk in lending to his business via misstating asset worth. But that he was not missing payments. What recovery theory applied? A judgment and order link would be great.
The answer seems obvious: the state of NY is the only plaintiff, it gets the money. Presumably, it goes into the general budget.
Yes.
Here is the Engoron final decision and order
https://www.scribd.com/document/706231478/452564-2022-People-of-the-State-of-v-People-of-the-State-of-Decision-After-Trial-1688#1fullscreen=1
Here the summary judgment re count 1 which of course is the foundation for what followed
https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/trump-judges-ruling/ce6de7d636227e1b/full.pdf
The proceedings are essentially in Equity, and in accordance with a particular NY Statute.
Executive Law § 63 (12) broadly empowers the Attorney General of the State of New York to seek to remedy the deleterious effects, in both the public’s perception and in reality, on truth and fairness in commercial marketplaces and the business community
The fraud is equitable fraud in a case brought by the AG on behalf of the State essentially in its role as guardian of the public and business community in general, protecting the requirements it imposes to ensure equitable dealing amongst businesses and business people require to register with it.
The fraud involves:
unjust enrichment by means of deceptive business practices,
securing monies loans and assets at lower rates of interest
by deceptively inflating valuations of assets and personal net worth,
than at the rates which such loans would have been given had the lenders known
the true lower asset valuation and true lower personal net worth
The equitable remedy for unjust enrichment is disgorgement
That is to say by attempting as strictly as possible (but having regard to the deception of the defendants) to measure the precise amount by which the defendants have unjustifiably enriched themselves
And then forcing them to give up to the State the precise sums and interest, if necessary by liquidation of current assets.
In Equity the duty of the defendants is to come to the court with clean hands, and they have a duty of candour. Those who seek equity must do equity
Consequently the court in Equity can apply strict principles of adverse inferences if it encounters deception resistance or recalcitrance
These are very different proceedings and principles to common law actions for damages in tort or contract.
Nice summary.
For those clicking through to Engoron’s decision and order, it was 92 pages, but the last two of the body of the decision contain a summary of his order.
Nice summary.
One of my favorite maxims: One who seeks equity must do equity.
Thanks for comments
I should add the following
Executive Law s63 (12) is concerned with
‘Persistent’ fraud.
This is important in understanding the wrangle about statute of limitation on original counts which were dismissed on appeal, and subsequent evidence at trial.
Count 1 is a general count covering the entire period
Counts 2 -7 are particular counts for each year, and by incorporating criminal statutes each allege an element of criminal intent, albeit resulting in an aggravated form of equitable fraud.
The original complaint had a wider period in count 1 going back further in time, and further particular counts to match
The AG had argued that because of the continuation of the fraudulent scheme and system to the present day that the SOL had not expired on the counts now dismissed by the appeal court. If correct the AG could have disgorged unjust enrichment going back much further back than ? 2014 (I think)
Trump however succeeded on getting those counts dismissed, and Ivanka dropped out as a defendant re the older counts.
However, the evidence of those earlier frauds was led in the subsequent trial as evidence of persistence of the methods and schemes. Hence Trump’s bogus complaints about Engoron ignoring the appeal court’s earlier ruling re the statute of limitation. He is appealing on this point, but will fail IMHO.
I am thankful for that answer, and glad that I asked. The appointment of a monitor person, however it was titled, is an equitable remedy here?
Money going to the public general fund is always good to see, more money, more services. In general.
Yes.
The jurisdiction of a Court in Equity is quasi-inquisitorial, but the purpose is not necessarily to punish but rather to encourage and enforce practices which accord with fundamental principles, and deter and modify behaviours which don’t. In situations where innocent parties are caught up in a complex web of dealings, protection of their interests aren’t necessarily enhanced by taking actions which bring the edifice crashing down.
TBH Courts of Equity around the world have developed practices procedures and remedies appropriate to their circumstances as formed or supplemented by statutes
Wiki does a good basic nutshell on the origins of Equity and the Court of Chancery (the Lord Chancellor) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equity_(law)
Trump’s not going to lose his shirt. But he is going to have to loosen his tie. For purposes of posting the bonds, he’s property poor. So he will have to sell some stuff (in addition to the sneakers).
Trump Tower in NYC would be an obvious choice. And the Seven Springs property. He needs to lower his profile in NY and NYers don’t much care for him.
Since I alluded to it in another thread, here’s the day-old NYT article about the McConnell-endorses-Trump talks:
The Back Channel Talks to Secure McConnell’s Endorsement of Trump
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/26/us/politics/trump-mcconnell-endorsement.html
I am skeptical of any speculation as to Mitch’s motive for retiring from leadership, even my own, but I find the timing of yesterday’s article and today’s announcement just too conveniently coincidental.
Mitch has had health problems in the last year. News from a doctor may have had an impact in his thinking.
Given that I’m one of his constituents, I’m well aware.
Without Mitch McConnell’s shenanigans in 2016, would Donald Trump have been elected president?
Of course, one could ask the same about the actions of James Comey. Or Vladimir Putin. It took so many things going wrong for Trump to nab those 80,000 votes.
Mitch McConnell deprived President Obama of the chance to fill a Supreme Court seat, holding it open for Trump.
If it weren’t for his partisan warfare, the current Supreme Court wouldn’t be stacked with right-wingers. Roe v. Wade would still be in force. The Supreme Court would have denied cert (a week ago) on Trump’s ridiculous immunity appeal.
Mitch McConnell had a golden opportunity to rid his party of Trump right after Jan. 6, and he was too cowardly to do it. A lot of assholes have contributed in their own way to the current dire situation in the US; McConnell much more than most.
It’s just so wild how the people who were cheering so loudly for McConnell back when he was holding open the seat vacated by Scalia’s death and who fully agree with his positions on forced birth and taxes have turned so viciously against him because he couldn’t quite get on board with Jan. 6th. (And even then McConnell saved Trump.)
Thank you Rayne for the open thread.
August 6, 2016, Mitch McConnell speech to supporters in Kentucky:
“One of my proudest moments was when I looked Barack Obama in the eye and I said, ‘Mr. President, you will not fill the Supreme Court vacancy.'”
Mitch McConnell, a.k.a. Mr. Despicable. So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye. Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye – Glad to see you go!
Don’t forget the New York Times.
Retiring in November? Not January 3 when the current Congressional session ends? I mean really Mitch. Is that November 1st or 30th? I think it will be busy around that time. Why not June? OK, you want to get out before the feces hits the impeller but November is cutting it too close.
Someone at DKos did a nice rundown of McConnell’s misdeeds:
The 17 worst things Mitch McConnell did to destroy democracy
Truly an effective evildoer.
Same site, different post:
Down Pat
Mitch got the pitch down Pat,
straight to and from their autocrat,
When Murkowski came to bat,
she pretended it wasn’t all that.
The coaches are all in on the scam,
Bad faith hits another grand slam,
They don’t care we know it’s a sham,
They say aloud they don’t give a damn.
The base’s loaded for another steal,
A grand bargain with a sunk deal,
Even the grifters called it surreal,
sitting next to the Presidential Seal.
Cheating just to walk a hall
that allegedly is owned by all,
Thr GOP’s written on the wall:
“We gladly cause our republic to fall.”
Turkish candy and Russian delights
mean more to them than our rights,
Republicans hide behind dirty fights:
Last to leave, turn off the lights.
1/31/20
The Supreme Court deciding to take up the presidential immunity case ( with no definable timeline) has put a serious dent in my celebratory mood due to the McConnell and Bobert news.
Well, at least the F1 season starts this weekend.
A new NBC news headline. “Illinois judge rules Trump ineligible for Republican primary ballot over Jan. 6 riot. The judge put her ruling on hold to give Trump time to appeal before the state’s March 19 primary.” The news is on other sites, too, so I’m not providing a link.
I wonder if he has to post a bond, to appeal. :)
What bunk. Is there ANY point at which people here will recoil from, instead of cheerleading, local county courts trying to affect the national presidential election? If so, when will the realization of that idiocy catch hold, not only now, but as to the future?
Well, that’s the court system – starting most all cases in local trial courts — that this country and many other countries have had for ages. If that’s no good, then what is the preferred alternative? A local Federal Cistrict Court, since it’s a federal election? They often know no more than state courts, and certainly have no greater experience in dealing with this issue. Or perhaps start with an appellate court? Or a “supreme” court? Or should these matters not be heard at all in courts? If that’s the case, then where are these decisions to be made? Maybe just ignore the Constitutional provision, providing no enforcement provision at all?
What a load of bunk. And what is a “Cistrict” court? The rest is unintelligible.
What is your preferred alternative?
A federal court or Congress.
And what exactly have they accomplished in that regard?
He’s been a criminal his entire life and has never seen the inside of a jail cell.
“Justice delayed is justice denied”. Oh, and your “Rocket Docket” is an oxymoron.
How do you get around the idea that states determine how they conduct their elections via laws made by individual state legislatures? I ask because that’s in the Constitution and is pretty much established law and tradition…
A Cistrict Court is a typo. You know that.
Yes, I do. But the thought that little local county judges have the same scope, jurisdiction or knowledge as federal ones is absolutely ludicrous. I practice in both, and they are night and day. And blithely stating that states run “their” elections does not mean any one county ought be the basis of determining the election of a President is ludicrous.
As of 2020, the population of Cook County, Illinois was 5,275,541.
Richard J Daley Lives!
(headline in the Trib)
sorry, bad joke
Adding that the US Constitution does indeed provide “no enforcement provision at all” and is not clear at all on how it is inherently enforceable by random county courts.
Although I’d hazard that some state court judges are sharper than some federal court judges, I’ll defer on that point. Still, I believe there should be some type of enforcement mechanism, or the provision is effectively meaningless. And, I don’t think the fact that no enforcement mechanism is spelled out here should mean that the provision is not enforceable; after all, there are constitutional provisions that don’t explicitly provide such a mechanism, and still people go to court every day on those. For example, if the US Government were to try to censor this blog, it could go to court to assert its First Amendment rights, and there is no wording in the First Amendment which spells out that path to a remedy.
By the way, I’m not cheering this action on. Rather, I’m just noting its existence, and also noting that I have yet to read about another suitable remedy.
There is, but it comes via case law and the application of certain statutes, such as sec. 1983.
bmaz – Ballot access is separate from A14, S3 disqualification to serve. At ballot access time, it is not a ripe issue. It is a potential issue. The candidate loses, moot. The candidate wins, someone with standing goes to court or not, or Congress delivers that super majority excuse. But ripeness can be argued against ballot exclusion as premature as well as prejudicial.
Oh, thank you so much for enlightening me. You are a clown show, and readers of Emptywheel ought no that.
When you say “Ballot access is separate from A14, S3 disqualification to serve”, you pretty much prove my long standing point. Thanks.
But that’s the system.
States decide who is eligible to be on their ballot. States run elections. States can read and interpret the U.S. Constitution, which plainly says insurrectionists aren’t eligible.
No doubt this Supreme Court will issue a ruling full of sophistry to try and force them to put Trump on their ballots. I think they should ignore any such ruling and follow the Constitution instead.
A.14, S.3 begins, “No person shall be . . . ”
It does not say no person may seek to be . . . I.e., it does not foreclose running, since there is always that supermajority of congress that can waive the infirmity per the final S.3 sentence – which would be a moot provision if the individual in question is kept off a ballot. Reading provisions to hang together is considered a good construction rule where there is ambiguity.
You are full of shit. Where exactly did you come from? Please go back there.
Living during a period of history when the Fuller SCOTUS has been resurrected is demoralizing.
👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
good observation on the crossover votes.
Voted early, did not crossover.
General info: Super Tuesday, Minnesota has a Presidential Preference primary – only that office – a general primary in August: MPR – https://www.mprnews.org/story/2024/02/27/minnesota-super-tuesday-how-to-vote-presidential-primary
From the item:
“The presidential race is the only option on the ballot.”
“While Minnesota doesn’t have party registration, you must decide which party ballot to request and a polling place worker will provide that ballot.”
“There is a roster oath that reads: ‘I am in general agreement with the principles of the party for whose candidate I intend to vote, and I understand that my choice of a party’s ballot will be public information.’ ”
That roster oath puts a high conscience price on crossing over. I could not go there. The “principles” part, not the “pubic information” part. I don’t know if the MN GOP even has principles; or only MAGA as such. (They have a platform, but we all know about that.)
The roster oath is not statutory, but by Minn.Rule 8215.0300, Subp. 3 —very quaint. Three major parties, each with multiple candidates, which the MPR item lists.
Since this is an open thread, people with a continuing interest in the Heritage Foundation’s Project: 2500 (“2025 Presidential Transition Project”) might find this piece useful.
https://gregolear.substack.com/p/project-2025-the-cowboy-catholic
From Greg Olear’s PREVAIL substack, it starts with a short introduction of its leader (“Cowboy Catholic” Kevin Roberts), and details the potential impact of the 12 main goals in its manifesto (he read their 920-page Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise so you don’t have to, though there’s a link if you want to try).
Good background and detailed analysis of something that’s worse than you thought, even it you already thought it was pretty bad. First paragraph follows.
[1st line—Project 2025 of course. Sometimes my fingers have a life of their own.]
I think you mean the $454 million that Trump owes in the Letitia James civil fraud trial. He owes E. Jean Carroll $83 million, but he’d need $91 million for an appeals bond for that case. He’d need >$550 million for an appeals bond in the Letitia James case.
Thanks, you’re right, I had far too many tabs open and read the wrong one while typing. Will fix now.
Goddamnitall, I want those golf courses cracked open like a lobster claw so we can get at the meat.
At this rate, I’ll break par before any financial secrets of Trump’s golf courses and resorts see the light of day.
It’s going to take a mess of forensics if we ever get access to the books. I can’t imagine what Letitia James’ team saw, and what they may not have addressed being focused on property values and taxes paid.
Access to the books is coming, at least to Judge Jones, via the new Director of Compliance for The Trump Org. Whoever that poor soul turns out to be, they were already going to have their hands full trying to reconcile a decade’s worth of creative bookkeeping fraud through 500 or more incestuous LLCs, before today’s ruling also allowed Eric and Jr to go back to running the joint. What a bleeding nightmare of a job for any accountant with a conscience. But I look forward to seeing the bottom line they eventually reach. I hope I live that long.
When all of the interrelated subsidiaries financials are corrected, it will probably show that Trump’s operations are making enough income to keep the lights on but not a lot more. The CFO knew how to shift things around to make everything work.
As with the monitor, the compliance director will have a staff.
Break par? I am of the age where shooting my age for nine is much more likely.
That my breaking par was improbable was the point. :-)
IMO – Eric and Jr. each are hooked for $6 million in the fraud case. They could appeal, and the business put up the bond for the judgment against them to get a stay – which those near tapped out might be able to afford. Or am I wrong that it would buy time? And don’t forget – Trump AND Rudy on the ropes. Rudy matters.
A stay would apply only to the defendant that put up a bond to cover their personal liability under Engoron’s judgment.
Eric and Don Jr were convicted as individuals. No other defendant is jointly and severally liable with them. So, if someone else pays for their appeals bond, that would be a gift or loan to them.
“The percentage of Democratic votes are not as they appear; there will have been Democratic voters who threw behind Nikki Haley, making Trump’s win margin look smaller than it is, while also making the “uncommitted” Democratic vote numbers appear larger as a percentage of the total vote.”
Yup. You can count me in that group, and I personally know others. The MSM failure to report on that detail really is galling.
“Since this is an open thread”, will Rayne also be ripping me off as to F1 coverage like she has attempted to do with “Trash Talk”? I have more than “three things” questions” about this.
You have your own blog. You should try writing about F1 there. I have zero interest in that topic just as you’ve had zero interest in copyrighting the phrase “trash talk” which has its own Wikipedia entry.
Community members: do not get involved in this, I will bin your comments.
Lol, what a pissant backstabber. You have apparently been angling towed banning me for longer than I ever realized. And, you know, I used to have another blog. One I invested nearly two decades of my life in before YOU decided to botch it all. Go to hell.
You think I do not care, you are wrong. Again, go to hell.
March 5th is the California primary, to select the top two candidates, who will then compete in the general, to replace the late Sen. Diane Feinstein.
The corporate establishment Democrat, Adam Schiff, is currently in the lead. He’s been helping a former pro-baseball player move into second place: seventy-five year-old Republican Steve Garvey. Garvey has no war chest and knows SFA about politics in or outside DC. So Schiff must think he can beat him more handily than he could beat Katie Porter or any of the other more progressive Democrats.
Contrary to media coverage, I don’t think we have any assurance that Schiff would be “well to the left” of the center-right Feinstein.
Well, here’s the thing: this is exactly what they would say about any Democrat whether or not he is to the left, particularly if he represents a district in California.
But to get to the real point, the politics of raising the profile of a clown like Steve Garvey worries the crap out of me. I can see it backfiring like it did with Grey Davis back in the day. I’d prefer not to to have to deal with a Republican senator for a long, long time.
Hell will freeze over before Cali elects a Republican senator. But there’s more to Schiff’s strategy. There is initial research which a policy wonk like him would know to suggest that Republicans sit out two D races more than Democrats sit out two R races. And that research was before J6 wacko theories became acceptable. A race against Porter is very possibly nothing more than a two person Democratic primary given the large number of likely abstentions. More extreme candidates have historically had a slight edge in this state. I would consider him the underdog in that race.
Schiff seems to have an edge over Porter in money and establishment backing, and reports of polling say the race is his to lose. But it would be nice to think Schiff is an underdog and that a progressive had the lead. The Garvey thing is really troubling.
Garvey reminds me of the Georgia running back with more children than he’d originally identified to the public, along with strange utterances. Garvey likely has fewer disqualifications than Herschel, but enough.
Porter and Barbara Lee both running splits the progressive vote. Schiff looks in, likely having the most votes; while second place is vexing everybody aware of things – us outsiders to Calif. If Porter derails Garvey, she could win the general if enough voters see Schiff’s maneuvering as distastful, with too much of a lean and hungry look.
Lol, try not naval gazing so much
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with naval gazing—I used to enjoy visiting the US battleships when I lived in the NJ/NY area.
Gotta admit, I haven’t seen a single one since moving to NM, though.
But have you been to Battleship Rock, NM?
Yes, and although it does vaguely resemble a battleship, I wasn’t particularly impressed.
Ship Rock (also in NM), on the other hand, really knocked my socks off—imposing & craggy.
Cool! I’d like to get back to NM sometime soon. Beautiful state.
Turned in my ballot yesterday – I voted for Porter.
Same.
Thank you to both.
It’s an open thread, so here is a new lyric I wrote today instead of working. I don’t know how well it’s going to sing, but I think it’s a good start.
Biggy Bags
V1
For six months after Daddy left there wasn’t much to say
But Momma would take us all to Patty’s on Saturday
A treat we kids looked forward, down on a busy street
Arm and arm we’d walk together three kids at Momma’s feet
Chorus
At Patty’s with two Biggy Bags
There wasn’t a family richer
We’d share the fries and Mom’d pour out
From the cokes just like a pitcher
We’d play rock paper scissors
And everyone was a winner
Sometimes you’d get the hamburger
And sometimes you’d get the tenders
V2
I remember the price that Saturday but I couldn’t tell you the date
But it was on the register screen saying fourteen ninety eight
Mom’s face turned red, she laughed and said she forgot her wallet outside
Then we four went out to the car and sat while Momma cried
Ch
Br
A man from Patty’s came to us
Holding out our food
He said someone had paid inside
Trying to do some good
He said that Patty’s ups the prices
When it’s busy in the store
But we wouldn’t know about any of that
We don’t eat there anymore
Ch
Like it a lot.
Thanks for listening!
Tyler Boebert well on his way to being a future GOP POTUS. Can he hit 91 felonies by age 35?
Don’t want to dignify this with a reply.
Now, the deficient mother – fair target.
I posted about this on the other thread, but I now think Smith may have laid a clever trap for team Trump.
Because SCOTUS is now going to definitively decide the question of presidential criminal immunity for official acts, Smith can get Cannon to proceed with her trial full steam ahead.
Here’s why: either way SCOTUS rules will have no effect on her timeline.
If SCOTUS affirms: the immunity motion is mooted because Trump has no immunity for official acts.
If SCOTUS overturns: then Cannon will have to rule on whether it matters that Trump “officially” made the documents personal records, because the criminal act really was post-presidential.
So if I’m Smith, I ask her to stay any ruling on the immunity motion until SCOTUS weighs in, but that all other pre-trial motions proceed as normal as well as CIPA litigation. Since this will all take some time, there is no way Trump will be deprived of his interlocutory right of appeal in the event SCOTUS reverses the DC circuit. Therefore, there is no conceivable way the court could be relieved of their mandate during the pendency of the SCOTUS proceedings.
Imagine what could have happened if SCOTUS had just simply denied the stay: then there would have been an appeal of whatever Cannon’s decision on the immunity motion was, and Trump could have, and I think likely would have gotten an emergency stay from SCOTUS given the possibility of a circuit split, which effectively would have iced both cases.
Not a lawyer, of course, but at least this way the FL case, I think, will be forced to slog ahead. And who knows, it might even go to trial first!
His acts might not be criminal if he successfully declared the documents personal records. That seems improbable; in fact, the argument is ludicrous.
But if the Supreme Court decides in favor of Trump on immunity, it would more likely mean that Trump’s attempt to declare the documents personal records was ineffectual, but that he could not be prosecuted for it. He could and should be prosecuted for what Smith is actually charging him with, which are illegal acts that occurred post-presidency.
EoH: does that imply (re: your last paragraph above): that because Jack Smith indicted only NON-classified material, that would be one step easier for JS to win his case (or whatever lawyers call a win)?
Trump won’t be able to even begin to argue immunity from or for anything because he can’t claim that he had EVER a right to those classified docs, if he’s only being charged with the non-classified?
If so, seems to me, that’s good.
MODS: I known I’m chatting more than usual. I’ve been waiting for this decision. I want to learn about it. Shutting up, now!
Yes, I agree with this. In fact, in my mind the personal records argument bears no weight on whether there was a 793 violation; he was still in possession of NDI and the government wanted it back.
The only way I see it mattering is if by making it a personal record, he deprives NARA of the authority to ask for it back, and thus the subpoena to him would be invalid because it was predicated on a NARA referral. But then again there are parallel lines of evidence that Trump was hoarding classified material at MaL, not just because NARA found classified evidence in the document returns.
Presumably, the search warrant would still have been valid.
Everything I wrote just disappeared, the on-line world is so fragile.
I’ll try gain! I have no idea whether the incomplete nonsense I was not ready to post will be published. So I’ll try again.
I stopped commentating on the only site I thought relevant (this one), because my views and my expressions were not welcome.
But I am so motivated to say this:
SCOTUS decision on Insurrection case. bmaz loves the law, I think it is an Ass (I have provided evidence for this in previous posts).
Bush v Gore – SCOTUS is biased
Citizens United – SCOTUS is corrupt
Garland – McConnel is corrupt
Comey-Barrett – Proof that McConnel is totally corrupt
Dobbs – You can lie in front of the whole world if you want to be a life-time SCOTUS Justice.
Today – SCOTUS decision, Trump will not stand trial before the election.
Conclusion: your system is corrupt.
Implication: I live in Australia. My brother went bust in the GFC. The sub-prime mortgage scam reverberated around the world. His marriage was gone, children’s education in peril – dead from pancreatic cancer at 67.
Cry from the heart:
Vote, vote for me, and all the people in the world who don’t have a vote but live with the consequences of your decisions because the USA created the post WW2 system. My first comment on this site was an attempt to say that but was misconstrued. My fault, I expressed it badly.
I will now go quiet again, but know I am still perennially lurking.
My best wishes to the survival of your democracy and my mine I know you will try.
new-radical
I believe that the US needs a cultural revolution when it comes to personal data. This is one of the biggest differences betwen US and Europeal cultural values; personal data in the US is owned by whomever collects it, while in Europe it’s enshrined in law (GDPR) that all personal data is the property of the individual it refers to. This is a good small step in the right direction at least.
I have no idea what you are talking about!
“personal data”
“cultural values”
FMD – this is about Institutional corruption that affects all of us around the world.
Wake up for fucks sake.
My life in Australia is going to be changed inexorably by the decisions made by the USA SCOTUS.
Wake Up! Wake Up!
I’m going to bed now, sick of a world where I have no say!
Yes, agreed. Violations of privacy have not taken enough of a toll on the average American, who have become too comfortable with using “free” technology in exchange for allowing access to their personal data. Data privacy activists need to do a better job outlining the erosion done to human rights because of ad tech’s “convenience.”
I’ve long thought that we need an internet Bill of Rights. Personal data needs to be part of it.
I was looking at the overall vote totals in MI. Reading about the crossover vote adds another layer to trying to understand how incredible it seems that Trump got more votes than all the Ds combined? It would be a lot of crossover votes, more than 100,000 to Haley subtracted from the Ds, and that seems unlikely. How many voters stayed home? I did not like the numbers.
The perception to the majority of voters who are also those less likely to vote in the primary is that there are only two candidates: Biden and Trump. Why bother to do anything until the general election?
And it’s not particularly notable to have a low primary turnout for an incumbent president. I am quite sure that the national political news media would love to make it an issue for Biden, though.
I agree, but this year might show an uptick. In my case of one, I briefly considered whether to vote in the primary, but did because of the stakes of this election. (I messed up my ballot and then made the choice to request a new one. It arrived in my mail yesterday, and I will post today.)
I’m going to bed, and you people are waking up to the most corrupt decision in the history of Anglo-Saxion Jurisprudence – and no one is going insane… that’s why I’m insane!
Why are you even concerned with the MI Republican election.
Your SCOTUS just fucked up the whole world.
That was supposed to be a snark reply to the comment above bg… whatever.
I’m sorry, I have no idea how to work this system, but we have a fundamental problem if people are talking about the MI elections, then you really have lost the plot.
If Trump gets re-elected we are fucked. When Trump loses he will make claims about election fraud and Cannon and SCOTUS will support him.
Where will the law be then bmaz?
Many years ago there was an Australian comedy show and the sign off line was “good luck to your families” and all I can say is good luck to your families unless you can defeat Trump, the whole Western World that the USA created is fucked!
.
Why are we even concerned with the MI Republican election? Because this is *still* a democracy and it’s the aggressive application of democracy which will prevent Trump from becoming a fascist autocratic monarch.
Because the inattention to what was going on in Michigan in 2016 allowed Trump to win Michigan by a mere 10K votes — roughly 120 votes per county — while a record undervote of roughly 960 votes per county occurred, likely because of suppressive tactics the fucking media didn’t report and the DOJ didn’t recognize and address in a timely fashion.
Go do something constructive because whining here does fascists’ demoralization work for them.
ADDER: Demoralization is a psychological weapon of warfare. We’ve spent a considerable amount of time at this site discussing attacks on our democracy by hostile foreign entities; one of their weapons is the use of social media for demoralizing psyops. Showing up and complaining without any constructive engagement on a topic is little more than demoralization; persons from overseas engaging in this behavior in threads here should and will be treated skeptically. One of the biggest problems in 2016 which led to Trump’s election was the lack of such skepticism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demoralization_(warfare)#Sowing_seeds_of_doubt_and_anxiety
Yes, Michigan broke our hearts (and we broke theirs) in 2016. Just as Wisconsin did in 2011 & 2016 with the loss of Russ Feingold. No more. Those states are vitally important to this country.
Exaggeration does not help make your case; it makes people ignore you.
I look forward to the Supreme Court’s textualist analysis of presidential immunity.
He wasn’t immune to covid either. However, covid is absent from original text, so drop the thought.
Who the fuck are you to demand anything, much less ordering a drop of “the thought”?
Sorry. Unclear. Not drop the thought of immunity being a bad idea needing to be curbed. Written badly. Let it be. Who the fuck am I? Between Biden and Trump in age, still ambulatory and cogent. Male. Having seen much ironic things in this nation, as strange as a corporate person, a legal fiction in perpetuity having the rights of a human to influence modes of our being governed, where spending money is the measure. That, because some guys in DC said so. Seeing that an ally that won WWII, Eastern Front, transfigured into a grave Red Scare, something seen in childhood – not fully understood but assimilated. Yes, some orderly things are needed, Brandeis said some things are better decided, than that they are decided correctly. Trump has a following with people having their own sense of an orderly nationhood, against which a deep state, which exists, can exert a useful inertia. Who are you? I am trying to learn that,
I used to think that Mitch was a vile piece of shit who stacked the courts with feckless Theocrats.
I still do, but I used to too.
Does the Supreme Court’s question mean that the rest of the Circuit Court’s opinion can be, at least, dicta?
If the delay means that the trial bumps up against the DOJ self-imposed ban on trials too close to elections, can the DOJ make an exception?
Given the timelines, the likelihood that Trump will be jailed, even if convicted, before Election Day is nil. (Steve Bannon is still walking free, a year or year and a half after his verdict.)
Seeing Trump scramble to find $500+ million is much more satisfying than see him in an orange jump suit, at least, for me. What I had been looking forward to is Jack Smith laying out the full conspiracy. The American people deserve to know that their President was a crook and someone willing to overthrow the government to stay in power. And we deserve to know who was in on the conspiracy. So maybe instead of a criminal case, all we will get is the Special Counsel’s report.
This salient point from Marcy’s piece this morning bears repeating:
“That would present Tanya Chutkan with the decision of whether to try the January 6 case during the election season (it is her choice, not DOJ’s to make)”
I suppose that the prosecution could ask for a dismissal, which is what would happen if Trump were to become President, and the trial had not happened.
Thanks for the sanity check on the open Michigan primary. Also thanks for mentioning Mastodon; it’s much more calm than Xitter, but hard to find people. I’m @[email protected] there.
The current trend by the slightly hipper media to disparage the constant “horse race” coverage by the trad media made A Big Think drop on my head.
I would pay good money to see a very slow bike race between Biden and Trump. No Lycra allowed! Just a nice loop of 5-10 miles on closed, scenic roads on a pleasant day.
I think Biden could do 10 miles easily. I think Trump couldn’t do it with training wheels, being towed by Stephen Miller, Steve Bannon, that Probosiec guy, and 6 others pedaling a bike bar while drinking Mai Tais.
Nikki looks fit and able to do ten miles. What GOTV turnout cutoff would she need to get a starting line place? On a bike she could run Trump off the road by crossing over.
The timing of Sen John Thune’s Trump endorsement a few days ago seems fortuitous now – with all McConnell replacement choices promising to sink the Republican Party even further into the MAGA abyss. (gift article) https://wapo.st/3P2ZUqO (I hope the link is acceptable.)
Thanks for the article. This in particular sticks out:
‘His allies were quick to defend McConnell as not getting pushed out by Trump, with whom he has had a political cold war since late 2020, or his enemies within the GOP conference. “No, I do not think he was forced out in any way. This was his decision,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said.’
Dunno if I could’ve rolled my eyes any harder than when I read that quote.
In the Senator Superlatives, I nominate Susan Collins for Most Credulous.
Collins voted to confirm Kavanaugh after receiving “private assurances” that he wouldn’t vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. She made a big speech defending his jurisprudence.
Fast forward a couple years, and Collins “feels misled”.
I wonder if Collins can even imagine how all the women who lost their bodily autonomy thanks to six male right-wing Supreme Court justices feel now? One of those six was credibly accused of sexual harassment during his confirmation hearings. But another—Kavanaugh—was credibly accused of sexual assault. Collins voted for him anyway.
In the same WaPo article FL Resister links to, Collins puts her own name in as a Senate Leader candidate. Which was my second-biggest eye roll.
Collins is as good at playing credulous as John Kennedy is at playing the country bumpkin with law degrees from Oxford and UVa.
While she swoons onto her feigning couch with an arm raised above her forehead, and a speech bubble saying “Oh, dear. I may be concerned.”
Kicking into the privacy part: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-government-disrupts-botnet-peoples-republic-china-used-conceal-hacking-critical
A Jan. 31 lead subhead and opening quote:
“Court-Authorized Operation Removed Malware from U.S.-Based Victim Routers and Took Steps to Prevent Reinfection”
“A December 2023 court-authorized operation has disrupted a botnet of hundreds of U.S.-based small office/home office (SOHO) routers hijacked by People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-sponsored hackers.”
Did you know that? Court authorized, this instance, but the Feds hold a power to remotely alter your router code. FISA order or just curious, some bureaucrat placed somewhere seemingly can get into your router. All your web traffic goes through your router. It is unclear whether web service providers were bypassed technically for this fix, (with notice), or whether their cooperation was required. Yet, two worries. Hackers got there, then the government (Reagan: … from the Government and here to help).
There is low-key reporting of it, Bloomberg online included, where the search I used is “router remote repair by government” after reading in an Ars Technica Feb. 16 post of a second phase router cleaning on a different brand.
Last, OT, I was going to jump bmaz for “towed banning” instead of “toward banning” after bmaz earlier jumped “Cistric Court” but the site police warning me off kept me from being that snotty. In retrospect, thanks, Rayne, the italics kept me pure.
You try to “jump” me anytime you want. I am a big boy and can deal. Don’t hide behind Rayne.
Just switched from a cable co to a broadband and some of the legalize let us know that previous aspects of privacy were no more.
I’m pretty good at keeping privacy protocols up-to-date, I remember when Qwest was the only telephone co that wouldn’t give info to Ashcroft, but I realized yesterday, yet again, I simply have no idea how we’re being tracked anymore. Way past accessing what books we check out of the library.
I’ll go read the link you provided, Error Prone, thank you.
Its actually a good thing that the feds are allowed to hack citizens’ routers for good, though. This is sort of like vaccination—a societal good that is needed to combat disease on a large scale.
Yes it worries folks who are concerned about their rights, but there are hundreds of millions of hackable IoT devices connected to the Internet and the incentives for that ecosystem to self-police are nonexistent. Gov’t stepping in to dismantle the worst of the criminal botnets is the only way of protecting innocent internet users from this large-scale criminal activity, that has had much success so far.
We can’t just make individuals liable for whatever criminal crap their hacked router does; attribution is too hard and very few individuals have any technical understanding of what their router is doing anyway. The owners of those hundreds of millions of devices can’t be trusted to police them. The only options are (1) gov’t doing it under court supervision, or (2) private vigilante hacker groups doing it which would be even worse.
Rayne said: “Oh, we can work with that – just look at what happened in Kansas post-Dobbs, when voters turned out in August 2022 to defeat a GOP effort to pass a state constitutional amendment banning abortion.”
We had moved out of Kansas by August 2022. To my gratitude, amazement, and relief, previous co-workers, on both sides, joined in the fight. I was so, so, so very proud of them. They rallied. In Kansas. A thing of beauty.
Heads up to MTG: Witness in Tyler Boebert’s arrest affidavit says he made a sex tape.
‘I think at 82 years of age, in iffy health, McConnell simply doesn’t want to have to sweep up after the rogue elephants in his party any longer.’
I apologise in advance for lowering the tone of the discussion but, being a Brit of a certain age, all I could think of was this classic TV clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz9omscQ1F4
Did they show Blue Peter on your side of the pond?
“Here’s a democratically elected government I made earlier, if you remember that programme in 1688”.
No, they didn’t (speaking as an expat Brit). I can’t even begin to imagine the effect.
“My view is that Trump will not change the Republican Party, America’s right-of-center party. If he brings in new followers, that’s great, and well worth the effort, but he will not change the Republican Party.”
Mitch McConnell
Suggests Mitch was lying at the start, or hopeless at reading the political tea leaves. The latter seems virtually impossible.
Ken Chesebro was caught lying in a proffer to Michigan investigators.
He denied using Twitter and said he had no alternate IDs, but he had one called “BadgerPundit”. Under that moniker, his statements were very different than his public claims that the alternate electors plan was contingent upon court outcomes.
On Twitter “BadgerPundit” wrote:
“‘You don’t get the big picture. Trump doesn’t have to get courts to declare him the winner of the vote. He just needs to convince Republican legislatures that the election was systematically rigged, but it’s impossible to run it again, so they should appoint electors instead,’ wrote BadgerPundit on November 7, 2020, the day multiple media outlets, including CNN, called the election for Joe Biden.”
https://crooksandliars.com/2024/02/chesebro-lied-investigators-about-his
This seems like a very big deal to me, but I don’t know half of the threads that are being pulled here. My intuition says this will affect many investigations and the effect could multiply like the existence of Nixon’s tapes. Chesebro would seem to me to be in a world of hurt and prosecutors will have leverage to flip him.
If that happens, does anyone have any thoughts about which investigations are likely to be affected? Or maybe new ones begun?
Thanks
I’m curious about the timing of the Mitch announcement. This was not done in haste so likely has been in the works for some time. He announced the same day as Hunter Biden giving his closed door deposition (which had been scheduled for quite a while). By doing so Mitch pushed the dick sniffing media types and MAGA Rs down the page and below the fold. A subtle FU to the former guy and the Freedom caucus nut jobs? Anyway, just a thought.
E. Jean Carroll’s attorneys filed a great response to Donald Trump’s request that he not be required to post any bond to appeal her $83 million judgment against him. Normally, he would need to post a $91 million bond. This excerpt from their motion epitomizes many of the arguments Trump makes, and highlights the range of information he continues to withhold from the courts, and, hence, his growing list of creditors:
Manipulating creditors is something Donald Trump started learning in his crib. When measured against the risk of being a Trump creditor, this request amounts to a motion to reduce Carroll’s judgment to near zero. The point about criminal convictions ending his business career permanently is important, because he’s the Trump Org. and the Trump Org. is him.
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.543790/gov.uscourts.nysd.543790.303.0_1.pdf
There is one argument Trump might use in federal court to avoid posting an appeals bond, should he choose to make it, with the required supporting documentation, of course. From Carroll’s response, quoting from a 2nd Circuit case:
Even that argument is in the context of providing “other security” than a bond. It’s not an argument that would allow him to post no bond. Trump is just trying one on, his standard protocol.
Carroll, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but totally accurate:
Andrew Weissmann, on MSNBC, seems dumbfounded that a media organization participated in preventing news from becoming news. He was commenting about the start of Alvin Bragg’s prosecution of Donald Trump for accounting fraud, and Trump’s successful spiking of stories about his use of sex workers.
I’m dumbfounded that so senior a former DoJ lawyer has never heard that major news media spike news. There was even a popular spy novel written about it. I’m pretty sure the late Gary Webb had heard of it, as have more than a few senior editors at papers that claim to print all the news that’s fit to print.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_(journalism)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spike_(novel)
It is Weissmann, what else would expect from him?
Just wanted to hear from you.
They’ve released the Hunter Biden deposition transcript:
https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Hunter-Biden-Transcript_Redacted.pdf
If Donald Trump is moving assets out of NY and failing to tell the monitor or Judge Engoron, he’s in a world of hurt. That would be a fraud on the court, which would implicate his attorneys of record in Letitia James’s case.
If there’s credible evidence that Trump is using the stay and delays in perfecting his appeal as cover for such a move, he prejudices his position before the NY courts, and every judge overseeing a pending case against Trump, including the NY federal judge Trump just asked to allow him not to post a bond to appeal the E.Jean Carroll case. Trump also risks persuading the Appellate Division and Engoron that the only response to an unrepentant recidivist defendant is to appoint a receiver over his companies, which Engoron earlier contemplated.
For those reasons, moving assets would seem entirely self-destructive. Moreover, the big ticket liabilities are joint and several. DJT Holdings LLC and DJT Holdings Managing Member LLC – the two entities Trump has reportedly relocated to Florida – are not the only entity defendants. All of them are jointly and severally liable, as is Donald Trump, which means any one of them can be compelled to pay the whole amount.
If the reporting is correct, the Appellate Division might partially lift the stay, to allow Engoron to haul Trump into court to explain things, and to take further action, starting with increasing the authority of the monitor. When Trump perfects his appeal, the AD might promptly rule against him, which it already seemed likely to do. It might also refuse a stay, while Trump appeals to the Court of Appeals. Taking that appeal is discretionary and the CA was already disinclined to take it.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-s-asset-shuffle-amid-464m-judgment-appeal-raises-eyebrows/ar-BB1j6I6A
The stuff about moving assets to Florida relates to the whole exchange re “settling the order” where Trump had included a set of changes of address within the correspondence see p2 of following
https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewDocument?docIndex=NkOdpI7vFlQEpw3ndky1mg==
AG James called this out in he response to the Court the same day
The discussion on Meidastouch has been that all the Trump recent shenanigans and filings about the order etc has been geared towards delay of the enforcement in any which way in anticipation of the Trump Media DWAC merger on 22 March, because of a share trading scheme was afoot intended to provide a massive cash injection to Trump.
As I understand it the proposal was that Trump were going to benefit from a waiver of the lockout preventing him from immediately trading in his very large holdings once the merger went ahead producing an immediate influx of huge amounts of cash to Trump, but the trading of huge volumes of such shares would be substantially to the disbenefit of smaller share holders, by the resultant drop in share prices.
Now smaller shareholders have run to court to prevent the share trading lock out waiver https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2024/02/29/trump-media-sued-over-dwac-merger-share-dilution.html
Meidastouch hot take on this share scheme https://youtu.be/YEA4BWs4RBs
A valid minority shareholder suit could prevent or delay Trump cashing out any time soon. That would cause him no end of hurt. It may have merit, given Trump, it probably does. But it’s also leverage to get Trump to pay up at closing.
Link to msn after so many finger slapping of others who have done so?
I’m also confused as to how 40 Wall Street or any of the other other buildings gets transferred to Florida and can any of this criminality be brought into Bragg case?
It’s not physical assets which move but title or incorporation depending on the asset, ex. transferring ownership of Trump Tower to a Trump Org entity located in Florida rather than NY, or the subsidiary corporation which holds Trump Tower reincorporated in FL.
I expect whiny fallacious arguments to follow from the Trump spawn, “But we were just trying to comply with the court order that we can’t do business in NY…”
The “transfer” that was tried on here was the literal business addresses of entities which are defendants in the action.
James responded that they all were and remained registered NY businesses with operating officers also registered in NY all with registered addresses at Trump Tower.
This was a pretty transparent try-on designed more to generate dispute delay, and public spectacle.
Similarly with the various other filings in this and the EJCarroll case regarding bonds – it’s all twisting in the wind to delay and distract, with noisy public ‘negotiations’ over judgement bonds while scheming in the background for the merger and share operation to come to fruition on or about 22 March. The people Trump were trying to distract were those who might otherwise pay more attention to the share sale scheme they were hoping to get away with.
Good arguments, but I think Rayne has the better one about what “playing with addresses” is about. Sure, it’s a distraction from the share scheme. Trump may be relying on it to pay for the latest shit he’s jumped into. But he probably needs several weeks to get the money, months if the minority shareholder suit has traction.
It’s also an attempt to get James to admit, by failing to object, that the address changes have meaning. It becomes an argument about jurisdiction, and whose law applies to the legal situs and ownership of assets James may have to foreclose on in order to collect judgment, Trump shouldn’t win those arguments, but if the courts allow him to make them, he delays and increases James’s costs.
Trump is playing his usual shell game. His self image is tied up in being too smart to pay vendors. And if he’s going to see his empire crippled, he would vindictively burn his house down rather than let James have it.
Speaking of physical movement of the buildings, travelling through the time machine of my childhood, the story of Dick and Jane watching, I think, their neighbor’s house being moved with pictures of the cranes, trucks, etc.
I was hoping to watch that happen including these assets as they were rolling down I95 and all the shenanigans to watch them lift and lower above the over and underpasses.
Come to think of it, one of the most exciting things I’d ever seen was a few decades ago when a local railway metal overpass was removed and replaced, with all the mm movements to get it and the rails in place just right.
It was almost as exciting as taking an interior and exterior tour of a brand new jet that an airline was adding to its fleet or watching a soft drink filling conveyor line at a bottling company.
Yeah, well, moving by crane isn’t going to happen with Trump National Golf Club Westchester, Trump National Golf Club Hudson Valley, and portions of buildings in NYC.
https://www.curbed.com/article/trump-lawsuit-real-estate-nyc-letitia-james.html
It may be easier to move the “Golf Club” as just find some illegals and have them roll up the grass and put the rolls on a few 18wheelers.
And oh, Fulton Cty, with McAfee allowing this comedy to even get started, and really letting it continue into stupid land, I don’t see that he leaves Fanni in charge of the case.
He’s a Federalist Society incel and even though has seemed decent up to this charade, now like Cannon, he has come out swinging for the guy.
Even before the charade, he would not set a start date for the trial; did he know this was coming down?
“It may be easier to move the “Golf Club” as just find some illegals and have them roll up the grass and put the rolls on a few 18wheelers.”
You’re not a golfer, clearly.
Here’s an interesting news item from Western Massachusetts:
https://www.wwlp.com/news/local-news/former-holyoke-city-councilor-may-have-left-country-to-evade-law/
A former Holyoke Ward 2 City Councillor and Massachusetts Air National Guard member was facing trial in Rhode Island on January 9 on charges of child pornography and forgery. He skipped bail, flew to Istanbul on January 7, and is apparently now living in Moscow and working at the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
According to the arrest report, he was “assigned to the Barnes US Air National Guard base [in Westfield] where he was employed as a security officer.”
The DoJ apparently has apparently said to Judge Cannon that its policy to not pursue legal process against a suspect close to an election does not apply to a defendant after indictment.
Makes sense to me. The issue is no longer about the reputational harm the possibility of an indictment might do to a candidate. It’s about having probable cause to indict and having made a prosecutorial decision to indict. But that logic and a fully fleshed out supporting argument should have been made clear long ago.
“Crypto Super Pac spends $10m on Katie Porter attack ads in California race: Fairshake [sic] Pac spends millions opposing progressive Senate candidate known for tough stance on crypto industry.”
No question about which side of the debate Adam Schiff is on. It’s not on the side of the average people of California.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/01/crypto-super-pac-katie-porter-attack-ads
It’s refreshing to see 100K or so votes in MI transmogrify into airdrops and potential marine corridors of assistance in Gaza. The wonders of the ballot box!
I read somewhere that if you divide up the fraud judgment Trump owes every New Yorker around 43 bucks. I’ll send mine to Ukraine.