Trump predicts imminent arrest, calls for protests - Sound familiar?

[geordief]

9 minutes ago, exchemist said:

On the Obamas' bed, if I remember correctly. 

They are locking him up today

They are throwing away the keys

I wonder who it will be tomorrow 

You or me

 

I wish.

Edited March 22, 2023 by geordief

[TheVat]

On 3/20/2023 at 11:59 AM, StringJunky said:

The GOP have a right internal pickle on their hands.

To an American, this sounds like some sort of human anatomical feature.  If you are rich, you can probably have your right (or your left) internal pickle replaced by a transplant.  

36 minutes ago, exchemist said:

Quite funny that he's hoping to be put in handcuffs, thinking it will rile up the MAGA blackshirts and make him a martyr. I think he's delusional. 

More interesting will be whether this lack of reaction makes the craven Republican party realise he's not the vote-winner they assume.

I think a lot of the GOP is already trending away from him.  And are now a little disoriented, since their Plan B was DeSantis and now he's starting to alienate a lot of party power brokers.  Which leaves them with a bunch of either boring or hideous Red State governors.  

25 minutes ago, exchemist said:

On the Obamas' bed, if I remember correctly. 

What's the difference between a chickpea and a garbanzo bean?

 

Donald Trump never had a garbanzo bean on his face.  

[Genady]

Breaking news: Trump indicted in Stormy Daniels hush-money case (msn.com)

[geordief]

2 hours ago, Genady said:

Breaking news: Trump indicted in Stormy Daniels hush-money case (msn.com)

Very interesting.A former president who may not be above the law and a Republican party that is beneath contempt.(actually Stormy Daniels considered running for a Republican  seat in the Senate in 2010)

[StringJunky]

Looks like he's going to have black fingertips shortly, having his prints taken. Lots of jail memes on the horizon...

Quote

NEW YORK, March 30 (Reuters) - Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury after a probe into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, becoming the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges even as he makes another run for the White House.

The charges from an investigation led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg come as Trump seeks the Republican nomination to run again in 2024.

The specific charges are not yet known, as the indictment remains under seal. CNN reported Trump faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud.

Trump said he was "completely innocent" and indicated he would not drop out of the race. He accused Bragg, a Democrat, of trying to hurt his chances of winning re-election.

"This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history," he said in a statement.

Shortly after, Trump appealed to supporters to provide money for a legal defense. He has raised over $2 million, according to his campaign, since he incorrectly predicted on March 18 that he would be arrested four days later.

The charges will likely be unsealed by a judge in the coming days. Trump will have to travel to Manhattan for fingerprinting and other processing at that point.

Bragg's office said it had contacted Trump's attorney to coordinate a surrender, which a court official said would likely occur next Tuesday.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/urgent-trump-hit-with-criminal-charges-new-york-first-us-ex-president-new-york-2023-03-30/

 

[iNow]

Rumor is he actually wants a photo of himself being led away in handcuffs bc he can use the imagery to whip up the base about an out of control and misused justice department (which will be the MAGA narrative no matter what despite their own chants of Lock Her Up! 73x at every single rally in every single town in 2016)

Fingerprints are digital now, though. 

[geordief]

From the CNN discussion  ,regarding the Stormy Daniels  hush money aspect ,the test will be whether Trump personally knew about the cooking of the books  and that the actual payments being made to her  may not be central to a successful  prosecution 

 

I also drew from their discussion  that Michael Cohen may certainly be a weak link as his animosity  to Trump was so obvious and on show(I thought he was very impressive,but still..)

Recommend seeing his interview with Lemon and the other lady as it is great and instructive viewing.

[StringJunky]

13 minutes ago, iNow said:

Rumor is he actually wants a photo of himself being led away in handcuffs bc he can use the imagery to whip up the base about an out of control and misused justice department (which will be the MAGA narrative no matter what despite their own chants of Lock Her Up! 73x at every single rally in every single town in 2016)

Fingerprints are digital now, though. 

Yes, he'll no doubt try to make political capital out of it. 

[iNow]

6 minutes ago, geordief said:

the test will be whether Trump personally knew about the cooking of the books

Of course he did. 

7 minutes ago, geordief said:

Michael Cohen may certainly be a weak link

It seems they have far more damaging documentation than just the Cohen testimony so this may be moot. 
 

5 minutes ago, StringJunky said:

he'll no doubt try to make political capital out of it. 

He’s already raised over $2M since announcing he’d be arrested last Tuesday and I’m sure he and his minions will bilk his hordes out of at least $10M more just this weekend given the announcement today. 

[geordief]

6 minutes ago, iNow said:

Of course he did

I mean there needs to be evidence besides Cohen's testimony  and common sense.

Cohen's credibility is a weak link and I have no idea how common sense  will play out.

Cohen was "crowing"** how his testimony has be corroborated by documents and has not been rebutted by any if the other witnesses so maybe that will tell.

 

**not crowing but very passionate nonetheless

 

13 minutes ago, iNow said:

It seems they have far more damaging documentation than just the Cohen testimony so this may be moot

How do you know that?

[iNow]

I read and listen a lot. 

I believe that bit may have been from Bob Costa’s reporting, but please don’t hold me to it. 

[geordief]

I read speculation  that Weisenberg has now got his own lawyers and that it might be of consequence 

That might be more fun than  is decent.

[TheVat]

11 hours ago, iNow said:

Rumor is he actually wants a photo of himself being led away in handcuffs bc he can use the imagery to whip up the base about an out of control and misused justice department (which will be the MAGA narrative no matter what despite their own chants of Lock Her Up! 73x at every single rally in every single town in 2016)

Fingerprints are digital now, though. 

Happily, the cold sweat of scoundrels remains analog.  Probably no cuffs, since it's not a violent crime, TFG agreed to come in on Tuesday, and has a Secret Service detail at his side.  The SS tends to frown on handcuffing.  Weinstein got cuffed, since the charges included rape (and movie moguls don't get SS protection)

Trump can stir up his base, but likely that moderate Repubs and Repub-leaning Independents won't vote for a candidate under indictment.  So it may help that the trial could be years away, with defense lawyers filing endless motions to delay.

[StringJunky]

Here's a link from Politico to a letter in pdf from Alvin Bragg to Jim Jordan et al. This is the state of things from the horses mouth. He means business.

https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000187-37d2-dd77-a1cf-7ff7d0920000

A taster:

Quote

Moreover, your examination of the facts of a single criminal investigation, for the supposed
purpose of determining whether any charges against Mr. Trump are warranted, is an improper
and dangerous usurpation of the executive and judicial functions. See Trump v. Mazars USA,
LLP, 140 S. Ct. 2019, 2032 (2020) (“Congress may not issue a subpoena for the purposes of
‘law enforcement’ because “those powers are assigned under our Constitution to the Executive
and the Judiciary.”); Plaut v. Spendthrift Farm, Inc., 514 U.S. 211, 219, 224 (1995) (“The Framers
of our Constitution lived among the ruins of a system of intermingled legislative and judicial
powers” and accordingly created a system that separated “the legislative power to make general
law from the judicial power to apply that law in particular cases.”). Even worse, based on your
reportedly close collaboration with Mr. Trump in attacking this Office and the grand jury
process,4
 it appears you are acting more like criminal defense counsel trying to gather evidence
for a client than a legislative body seeking to achieve a legitimate legislative objective.

 

Edited March 31, 2023 by StringJunky

[geordief]

2 hours ago, StringJunky said:

Here's a link from Politico to a letter in pdf from Alvin Bragg to Jim Jordan et al. This is the state of things from the horses mouth. He means business.

https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000187-37d2-dd77-a1cf-7ff7d0920000

A taster:

 

We have seen the "rules" Trump and his cronies play by.You need a bit of balls to stay standing. 

[Alex_Krycek]

One "silver lining" in all this has been the integrity of the courts.  So far, Republican judges have held the line, both at the state, federal, and supreme court level.  When presented with blatantly frivolous or fabricated cases by Trump, Republican judges have dismissed them. Conversely, serious charges are given serious consideration, as with the numerous pending legal actions again Trump.  So far Republican judges have not abandoned the law or their duty to the constitution.

[StringJunky]

2 hours ago, Alex_Krycek said:

One "silver lining" in all this has been the integrity of the courts.  So far, Republican judges have held the line, both at the state, federal, and supreme court level.  When presented with blatantly frivolous or fabricated cases by Trump, Republican judges have dismissed them. Conversely, serious charges are given serious consideration, as with the numerous pending legal actions again Trump.  So far Republican judges have not abandoned the law or their duty to the constitution.

Mostly, I agree. There's a judge in Texas that's overly partisan though. Apparently, GOP try to steer cases to him. 

[Janus]

On 3/30/2023 at 8:37 PM, geordief said:

I mean there needs to be evidence besides Cohen's testimony  and common sense.

Cohen's credibility is a weak link and I have no idea how common sense  will play out.

Cohen was "crowing"** how his testimony has be corroborated by documents and has not been rebutted by any if the other witnesses so maybe that will tell.

 

**not crowing but very passionate nonetheless

 

How do you know that?

It seems highly unlikely that a Grand Jury would make the unprecedented move to indict a former President on over 30 counts if all they had to go on was the testimony of one witness.   Of course, we won't know exactly what the charges are until  he is arraigned.  One commentator  has suggested that this may go beyond the hush money case, as he can't see how that, by itself, could be stretched into more than 8 separated charges.

[geordief]

17 minutes ago, Janus said:

It seems highly unlikely that a Grand Jury would make the unprecedented move to indict a former President on over 30 counts if all they had to go on was the testimony of one witness.   Of course, we won't know exactly what the charges are until  he is arraigned.  One commentator  has suggested that this may go beyond the hush money case, as he can't see how that, by itself, could be stretched into more than 8 separated charges.

Yes it is certainly  very interesting.Not sure if it will compete with the Paltrow trial as pure spectacle but  even this first  part of his  hoped for comeuppance  is a lot more consequential than that.

 

I do have sympathy for Cohen even if I wouldn't want to be his friend.

 

He has ,in my view the higher moral ground for having served his time.

There is that  fascinating  subplot  to untangle  the two guilts.

 

Hopefully  even the Trump cultists will be drawn in by the opening of the curtains.

[iNow]

Leaks suggest at least one of those counts will be a felony. To be confirmed soonish. 

[npts2020]

I can see the issue ending up appealed to the Supreme Court with Mr. Trump claiming he couldn't get a fair trial of his peers because he has no peers. Of course, a frivolous appeal but it would take more time to resolve (along with all of the other appeals) and push final resolution even farther into the future, possibly even beyond "The Donald's" lifetime. His people are experts at delaying and tying things up until something happens like the prosecutor leaves office or plaintiffs lose interest/run out of money. 

[Janus]

11 minutes ago, npts2020 said:

I can see the issue ending up appealed to the Supreme Court with Mr. Trump claiming he couldn't get a fair trial of his peers because he has no peers. Of course, a frivolous appeal but it would take more time to resolve (along with all of the other appeals) and push final resolution even farther into the future, possibly even beyond "The Donald's" lifetime. His people are experts at delaying and tying things up until something happens like the prosecutor leaves office or plaintiffs lose interest/run out of money. 

Though it does seem that the courts themselves are beginning to lose patience with this tactic.  He just recently had an appeal rejected a mere 14 hrs after filing it.

[TheVat]

I'm also a little concerned that this case will steal some thunder and spotlight from the two far more significant cases upcoming, where Trump actually tried to subvert democracy and institute fascism.  The current indictment is a bit of petty sleaze, pretty low on the Trumpian Peccadillo scale, when you look at some of his other crimes.  

OTOH, if as @Janus mentioned, unsealing the charging document reveals larger felonious acrivity, then let's make some popcorn...

[npts2020]

2 minutes ago, TheVat said:

I'm also a little concerned that this case will steal some thunder and spotlight from the two far more significant cases upcoming, where Trump actually tried to subvert democracy and institute fascism.  The current indictment is a bit of petty sleaze, pretty low on the Trumpian Peccadillo scale, when you look at some of his other crimes.  

OTOH, if as @Janus mentioned, unsealing the charging document reveals larger felonious acrivity, then let's make some popcorn...

Agreed. Mr. Trump has probably had more lawsuits (supposedly 3,500-4,000) filed against him than everyone who ever visited this forum combined.

[geordief]

12 minutes ago, TheVat said:

I'm also a little concerned that this case will steal some thunder and spotlight from the two far more significant cases upcoming, where Trump actually tried to subvert democracy and institute fascism.  The current indictment is a bit of petty sleaze, pretty low on the Trumpian Peccadillo scale, when you look at some of his other crimes.  

OTOH, if as @Janus mentioned, unsealing the charging document reveals larger felonious acrivity, then let's make some popcorn...

I was reading that to have more than one case on the go makes life more difficult  for the defense lawyers.

The defendant has to show his or her hand in the earlier cases whereas the prosecution  in the later cases start from scratch and with the benefit of the earlier disclosures.

57 minutes ago, npts2020 said:

I can see the issue ending up appealed to the Supreme Court with Mr. Trump claiming he couldn't get a fair trial of his peers because he has no peers. Of course, a frivolous appeal but it would take more time to resolve (along with all of the other appeals) and push final resolution even farther into the future, possibly even beyond "The Donald's" lifetime. His people are experts at delaying and tying things up until something happens like the prosecutor leaves office or plaintiffs lose interest/run out of money. 

It would have to be heard before the election because he would have the tools as a sitting president to prevent it being heard ever(or set up some kind of packed court to hear it in his favour)

We have his "president for life" comments  to support this.