Trump trial travesty
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The term "kangaroo court" has seemed an apt and amusing term to apply to the trial of former President Donald Trump in Manhattan during the past month. But now that, for the first time in history, a former president has been found guilty of felony indictments, it cannot be regarded as anything other than a dark day for the nation. Jurors decided Trump was guilty on all 34 counts, carrying the possibility of more than 100 years of jail time for business record violations that occurred over a decade ago.
It is a dark day, not because of the guilty verdicts but because this trial has been a travesty from start to finish. It is clear, first of all, that no one other than Trump would have been charged in this way. No one other than Trump would have had a prosecutor concoct such an absurd and disgraceful list of charges and twist the law to do so. It is indisputable that no person has ever been prosecuted as a felon for the misdemeanor recordkeeping crimes as Trump was. It's odd, isn't it, that the only person ever so charged should be a former president, the much-hated opponent of the current incumbent, who is leading in the polls only five months before Election Day. The only reason Trump was charged and convicted of this crime is because he is Trump. This is what banana republics do.
Thursday's verdict is the culmination of a series of smaller menacing events that, when put together, constitute a severe threat to the rule of law in our democracy. A foreign billionaire bent on reimagining our entire justice system paid for the election of a radical prosecutor who explicitly ran on the promise of persecuting Trump. That case was put before a partisan judge who donated to President Joe Biden and whose daughter has profited from Biden's political career. That judge then rigged a jury, stacking the deck with absurd rulings and instructions, causing even liberal judicial observers to call into question the propriety of the proceedings.
All this took place in a city where the very same radical prosecutor lets repeat violent offenders off without any jail time, and Biden himself lets illegal immigrants run free.
What transpired Thursday isn't justice. It is election interference. It is a flagrant abuse of the criminal justice system for nakedly partisan purposes that will tarnish our democracy for a long time, perhaps permanently.
One must hope that this conviction will be overturned on appeal and that the process of appeal will be conducted with more fairness and probity than the original trial. We expect that Trump will ultimately be vindicated in this case, whether at the state Supreme Court or the U.S. Supreme Court. It will show that our justice system is not dead yet.
But justice delayed is justice denied. And the appeals process means justice will be delayed and denied beyond the election. From now until then, Democrats will refer always to Trump as a "convicted felon." That is what the prosecutor went to work for, that is what the Democratic Party wanted, and that is what it got.
Severe damage has been inflicted on the democratic process. Using the justice system as a political weapon is an appalling turn for America. Make no mistake, this was nakedly partisan lawfare, and it has loosed a terrible precedent into our politics. More political prosecutions are on the way.
Till then, Democrats might want to remember the wisdom of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who told then-Nevada Democratic Sen. Harry Reid after he nuked the filibuster for judicial appointees, "You will regret this. You may regret this a lot sooner than you think."
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The former 'president' is a criminal. The gop sure loves their criminals.
The reason the former 'president' was charged and convicted on these 34 criminal counts is because he is guilty.
Not as much as Democrats love theirs.
You can now throw the judge, DA, and prosecutor into the criminal pool.
And never forget the career criminal and traitor that Democrats have currently occupying the White House.
As for guilt. Every leftist needs to take a long hard look in the mirror. You made this country what it currently is- a shit hole.
Sound and fury. That's all.
I've seen a number of non delusional Trump haters recognize and admit the many problems with this trial. People who believe Trump should be convicted in other trials but still have principles beyond "Trump bad." I wish there were more.
This trial was a disaster from the indictment on.
There are problems with every trial, your statement is nonsensical. The level of any of those problems however are so minimal that they would not effect the outcome.
Do you feel the same way about the other side? Those that feel Trump should be allowed to break any law he choses?
This trial found a criminal defendant guilty by 12 independent jurors on the charges presented. Just like juries have done for centuries.
What an idiotic claim.
Start with the decision to prosecute:
when she's charged with dozens of felonies by Bragg I'll take this seriously. Otherise, it's just find the man and Bragg will find the crime 7 years later.
T hose that feel Trump should be allowed to break any law he choses?
Of course not. Don't know anyone who does.
his t rial found a criminal defendant guilty by 12 independent jurors on the charges presented. Just like juries have done for centuries .
No shit. you know juries aren't infallible right, especially when misled by an activist judge...
One of which was a trump supporter yet instead of voting to hang the jury, they voted guilty, weird how that works.
Who was the trump supporter?
Cite one actual instance of Judge Merchan misleading the jury.
Let Michael cohen repeatedly tell the jury Trump committed a campaign finance violation and refused, of course, to allow an actual expert on the subject to rebut Cohen's testimony.
Well then...
Uh... Tell the FEC, the experts with actual jurisdiction, who already investigated the case and declined to press charges against Trump.
The Judge didn't want an actual expert explaining why Trump was not charged. He just let Cohen, a perjuring criminal, testify about it.
You pretend as though you have certain knowledge of what took place behind the scenes. You do not. All one can do is speculate.
Here is analysis on this topic. It is informed speculation, but speculation nonetheless:
"Declined to press charges" doesn't mean he didn't commit a crime.
In fact, they found that he likely was in violation:
But further actions on those findings and recommendations got bogged down in committee.
Here's a thread smith laid out today explaining how nonsensical the prosecution's theory is.
M. Cohen testified that Trump wanted to keep Daniels allegations under wraps until after the election. Prosecutors claim they therefore illegally did not report the campaign expenditure, and by doing so intended to, and did, have "the purpose of influencing an election.
Presidential campaigns file monthly reports with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). These are filed on the 20th of each month, and cover expenditures and contributions for the prior month. So in 2016, the Sep. report was filed 9/20, and covered expenditures made in August.
The Oct. report was filed 10/20, reporting expenditures made in September. But after the October monthly report, the schedule changes. 12 days before the election, campaigns file a Pre-Election Report, covering expenditures up to 20 days before the election. In 2016, the Pre-election Report was filed on October 27, covering expenditures made only through Oct. 19. The payment to Daniels was made on Oct. 27. So the payment would not have been reported on the Pre-election report.
The next report is the Post-Election Report. This covers expenditures made from 20 days before the election until 20 days after the election, and is filed 10 days after that. So this was the 1st report that would have included any expenditure to Cohen for paying Daniels. In 2016, the Post-Election Report was required to be filed on December 8, one month after the election. So the prosecution's theory, that Trump wanted to hide the expenditure until after the election, makes no sense at all.
Even if we assume, incorrectly, that it was a campaign expenditure, it wouldn't have been reported until 30 days after the election. But again, none of this got to the jury, either through testimony or the judge's instruction
There was no illegal contribution or expenditure made, and no failure to report an expenditure. And even if we assume otherwise, the prosecution's theory made no sense, suggesting no criminal intent. Im not a criminal law guy. But I do know campaign finance law. The failure to properly instruct the jury on the law would seem to be reversible error.
Even if you believe this was a campaign finance violation, the reporting timeline makes it impossible for the violation to have effected the 2016 election. Time exists and the prosecution had to literally ignore how it works to create their theory.
Nice of you to do cite the losing argument instead of the actual finding. .
I cited the finding, and the letter of dissent from members of the committee that declined to take action against Trump, and calling out the dishonesty of the member who voted against taking action. And you know that.
At this point, you're hanging your argument over when the payments were made, rather than whether they were illegal, which they were, your assertions to the contrary notwithstanding. That's grasping at straws.
Not at all. Timing is just one of the many flaws. The prosecution's entire cases hinges on timing. The point is that even if you accept everything and every theory the prosecution needs to be true to be true, the bookkepeing choice could not have had any effect on the 2016 election. It's literally impossible for a report that didn't have to made public until 2017 to affect something that happened in 2016.
, which they were, your assertions to the contrary
Lol. So now you are okay with ignoring final determinations by the legal system.
The concealment of the payments isn't the issue, Sean. The fact that they were made is. They were illegal.
That is just all kinds of ironic.
At Trump's appeal he might use some of your arguments...
If Trump didn't want to do the time then he shouldn't have done the crime. Trump broke laws that were on the books!
Neither of those, even if true, would constitute Judge Merchan misleading the jury.
What a stupid reply. If there were no problems in trials, there would be no objections or appeals. DUH!
Who? What problems? maga and the former 'president' have no principles or standards or morals
The travesty is all the people in this country who will not admit that Trump is the most unfit person to be president of the United States we have ever seen, and insist on trying to cram this travesty down the rest of our throats. Thats the fucking travesty.
Alvin Bragg's and Merchan's brand of partisan justice is going to alot more damage to the country than Trump in the long run.
Trump just wants to sit in the White House, eat cheeseburgers and be popular.
Project 2025…
What the fuck?
Is that the new boogyman?
The problem you have is he was actually President and all of the previous doomerism amounted to nothing.
Fuck Trump and all his fans and excuse makers. I'm done being nice about all this.
Right wing media lies and conspiracy bullshit have done more damage to this country in the past 20 years than anyone could imagine or fear.
We have tens of millions of idiots running around in red hats.
Yeah all he has done is turn American politics and public life into an endless evil clown show. Fucking malignant narcissists should not be running the country. Get that through your head. You think things are "divided" now? Put that asshole back in office and see what happens.
If it escapes your notice "Project 2025" is future not past. And, for that reason, some will call 2016-2020 acquiring experience.
Huh?
Or, he could sit in Supermax, eat ultra-processed, starchy prison food, and, of course, be very popular with the other inmates. Either way, I bet he would be as happy as a pig in shit.
Are you in favor of our Supermax prison system?
What noble aspirations!
What the huh?????????????????????????????
Jesus, what a load of shit!
That is not true. The maximum he would do is 4 years. That has been well established for a long time.
This writer seems to be conceding that the violations did, in fact, take place. Freudian slip?
Well, no, not really. The deal to pay Stormy Daniels was, apparently, only negotiated in 2016. Payments came after and fraudulent business records, as well. The real issue would not be the time, but rather the Statute of Limitations. It has already been settled that the SOL was not violated. Even so, if we got to a point beyond the initial dates of violations, the SOL can toll (the clock stops ticking) for several reasons. A first reason is the immunity to indictment for a sitting president. A second reason is that the defendant was not continuously present in the jurisdiction. His official home has been Florida since 2019. In short, New York was well within its rights to prosecute with regard to the timing.
Nonsense. In 2022, Trump’s own CFO pled guilty to charges that were constructed in just the same way. The exact same charge, in fact. The very fact that New York has written the statute allowing for this structure in the charges shows what a silly claim this is.
As I think I have just covered, this is 100% false. It ceases to be a misdemeanor and becomes a felony when the records are falsified to cover up some other crime. It says so in the statute.
Actually, the investigation began under the previous DA, and Bragg was actually criticized for being slow to bring charges.
This is technically true. Judge Merchan donated $15 to the Biden campaign in 2020.
No, that’s not a typo. He donated FIFTEEN dollars. Yeah, that’s some first rate corruption, right there. /s
Yeah, so the daughter works for a Democratic campaign organization. The judge sought the guidance of the court ethics committee, which advised him that this did not represent a conflict, and there was no need for him to recuse himself.
HOW???? Fucking HOW?! How the fuck did the judge RIG the jury? It’s a random pool of people - and most of the time those people are looking for a way to go home so they don’t have to do jury duty. Defense counsel was able to talk to all of them, and dismiss the ones they didn’t like. How the actual fuck is that rigged?
I’m pretty sure Trump does more than the state to delay his trials. Of course, now that he’s been convicted, his worshippers are in a big hurry for the appeal.
I wouldn’t like that either. How about threatening to use it that way?
"because there has never been so many lies, so much deception,"
every utterance is a confession
every accusation, every rant, everything, just about everything he says, is a confession