Below is my column in the New York Post on the first day of the examination of Michael Cohen. He is expected to start his cross examination today. How bad will it be? After lying to Congress, courts, banks, and most everyone else, it will be bad. Years ago, Cohen threatened a journalist and told him “what I’m going to do to you is going to be f—ing disgusting.” Well, that bad. On cross examination, Cohen faces a reckoning of biblical proportions.
Michael Cohen apparently wants a reality show but, if his testimony Monday is any indication, reality is about to sink in for not just Cohen but the prosecutors and the court.
In stoking interest in his own appearance, the former Trump counsel promised the public that they should be “prepared to be surprised.”
Thus far, however, Cohen has offered nothing new and, more importantly, nothing to make the case for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Just before he took the stand, the New York Post revealed that Cohen has been peddling a reality show called “The Fixer,” including working with Colin Whelan, who helped create “Joe Exotic: Tigers, Lies and Cover-Up.” Whelan appears interested to stay within that genre.
The Cohen pitch came with a cheesy promo video where he promised viewers, “I am your fixer.”
His first post-Trump client, Bragg, may have to disagree.
Cohen had only one advantage for Bragg: His notoriously flexible morals and ethics, which allows him to say most anything to support his sponsors.
With the prosecution’s case almost over, Bragg needed Cohen to clearly state that Trump intentionally committed fraud to conceal some still poorly defined crime.
The problem is that Cohen only confirmed that Trump knew he was going to pay for the nondisclosure agreement and that it would be buried before the election. None of that is unlawful.
On his reality show promo, Cohen tells viewers that he is now there to fix their problems because “the little guy doesn’t usually have access to people with my particular set of skills.”
Those skills seem to have escaped all of the witnesses who were compelled to work with him.
Witnesses detailed how Cohen was ridiculed as someone “prone to exaggeration” and unprofessional.
Former Trump associate Hope Hicks said that Cohen was constantly trying to insinuate himself into the campaign and that he “used to like to call himself Mister Fix It, but it was only because he first broke it.”
Cohen only succeeded in confirming that he put together this payment and advised Trump to go forward with it.
He assured him that it would effectively kill the story before the election.
None of that is illegal. The “Fix it man” assured Trump that he fixed it and now wants Trump to go to jail for following that advice.
In the course of that representation, Cohen also admitted to taping his client without his knowledge, a breathtaking breach of trust and confidentiality.
This is the man who, according to Stormy Daniels’ attorney, Keith Davidson, expected to be Trump’s Attorney General.
Davidson said that Cohen was “depressed and despondent” and “I thought he was going to kill himself” when he realized that he would not be made a cabinet member.
Cohen contradicted Davidson and insisted that he only wanted to be Trump’s personal lawyer.
He also admitted that he was unaware that the publisher of National Enquirer, David Pecker, had long killed negative stories about Trump and other celebrities for decades.
Cohen has yet to fix the problem for Bragg.
More importantly, he has added to the problem for Judge Juan Merchan. Many of us have ridiculed this case as devoid of any criminal act.
Indeed, Merchan has allowed the prosecutors to proceed without clearly stating what crime was being concealed.
It is not even clear why paying one’s lawyer a lump sum for his services and costs (including the NDA payment) was not a “legal expense” or how it was supposed to be entered on a business ledger.
Absent a sudden epiphany in his final testimony on Tuesday, Merchan should rule in favor of a directed verdict — that is, throwing the case out before it goes to a jury. If he instead sends this farcical case to the jury, it is Merchan, not Cohen, who may have a better claim to a reality show as the ultimate “Fixer.”
Jonathan Turley is an attorney and professor at George Washington University Law School.
New day. New bizarre, arbitrary claim about the Trump (lawfare) case.
Now we’re being hoodwinked to believe that the statute of limitations on the misdemeanors “is 5 years.”
That is false.
The statute of limitations on those misdemeanors is *2* years: New York law CPL § 30.10(2)(a), a “prosecution for a misdemeanor must be commenced within two years after the commission thereof.”
Then the hoodwinker wonders why Trump’s lawyers did *not* try to have the case dismissed on the grounds of an expired statute of limitations.
They did. In February. The policy “judge,” Merchan, simply ignored NY law.
OT Oxford Debate on Populism
Here is part of a recent debate on the subject of whether populism (personified by Trump) is a “danger to democracy.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFmjgbdNNgw
In an earlier part of the debate, our own Nancy Pelosi makes a complete fool of herself.
I watched this the other day and Winston Marshall shows why Columbia, Harvard et al are useless institutions. That young man is so well spoken and bright.
I would like to address the obsession that some of the denizens of this blog have about the statute of limitations having expired for the charges against Trump.
The statute of limitations has not expired. For these charges the limitation is 5 years. Trump committed these crimes in 2016, so shouldn’t the SOL have expired in 2021.
NO!!. In NY the SOL clock stops running, or is “tolled” to use the legal term, when the accused leaves the state for an extended period. Trump very publicly moved his official permanent residence to Florida in 2019. At that point 3 years had run. When he moved, the clock stopped running.
The statute governing tolled limitations states that the accused must be continuously absent for the clock to stay stopped. Well, you may say, Trump intermittently visited NY after 2019 and that he was not continuously absent, therefore the clock continued to run. The NY Appeals Court has addressed this issue and has held that intermittent returns to the state do not constitute an abrogation of the “continuously absent” criteria. They also ruled that if the accused makes such intermittent returns then the clock starts running again every time they return and stops again when they leave. For example, if he returns for a day, then the clock runs for that day. If he returns for a week, the clock runs for that week.
In order for Trump to avoid prosecution he must show that he was physically present in the state of NY for a cumulative period of 2 years after he moved to Florida. He obviously cannot do this, therefore the SOL had not expired at the time the charges were made.
Very simple.
LOL — Trump Tower was still in NY, as was Trump’s business. A Statute of Limination tolls when a defendant cannot be found and/or is completely out of a jurisdicion so as to be unavailable. If your twisted version of law were correct, then Trump would STILL be unavailable for being charged and tried in NY.
The only thing that matters is the physical location of the accused. The location of Trump Tower or his business is utterly irrelevant.
Did you not read what I said. The NY Appeals Court has ruled that the SOL clock stops and starts every time he leaves and returns to the state.
When he is out of the state he is in fact “completely out of a jurisdiction so as to be unavailable.” The State of NY has no powers of arrest, or ability to serve notice of indictment to anyone outside of its borders. While he is outside NY he is completely unavailable to the judicial system of NY.
And I told you that that’s total nonsense.
If it is total nonsense, and the statute of limitations has in fact expired, then on the day of his indictment, Trump’s lawyers could have gone straight to the Appeals Court to have the indictment dismissed.
They did not even ATTEMPT to do this.
Why not???????
Because any lawyer will tell you that the tolling of SOL, as I described, is exactly correct. The constitutionality of such tolling has been challenged repeatedly and has ALWAYS been upheld.
Not even Turley is making this claim.
By the way, remind me again where you went to Law School.
As has been explained MANY times to people following the current Abuse of Process happening in Manhattan, in NY there is a state law where an expired statute of limitation is extended if the misdemeanor is combined with a second crime, which then makes it a felony subject to a longer statute of limitation.
As best as I can tell, Alvin Bragg has yet to identify the supposed second crime, and the first alleged misdemeanor appears to be falling apart because no credible testimony or evidence connects Trump to the first alleged misdemeanor committed by Cohen. Trump hasn’t yet been accused in any evidence presented in court so far of having done anything that is actually illegal.
My legal credentials are displayed in court of appeals cases published in law review articles.
“Trump’s lawyers could have gone straight to the Appeals Court to have the indictment dismissed.”
No they can not.
universally throughout the country a case is in the jurisdiction of ONE judge at any time.
There are only a few specific types of appeals that can be made prior to a judgement of a court being final.
Further as we see in DC, in those instances where a party CAN appeal during a prosecution – the lower court loses jurisdiction until the matter is resolved at the higher court. That is why the proceedings in SC are on hold. Chutkan has no jurisdiction.
While there have been some tiffs in her court as Smith tried to proceed despite the case being up on appeal, and chutkan told Smith he could not. In point of fact she had no authority to issue any orders at all. The case was at that time before the DC court of appeals.
We have the same in GA now – the GA court of appeals has agreed to hear the appeal of McAffee’s DQ decision.
That is actually an unusual case – because McAfee had to grant the defendants request to allow the appeal – it was NOT mandatory that he grant that request. Had he denied it Trump would have had to wait until the end of the trial to appeal McAfee’s decision not to DQ Willis.
Regardless, appelate courts do not micromanage lower courts while they have jurisdiction.
“The only thing that matters is the physical location of the accused. The location of Trump Tower or his business is utterly irrelevant.”
Incorrect, the ACTUAL NY law asserts that having active businesses in NYS not only qualifies you as a NY resident but MAY allow NY to claim that NY is your PRIMARY residence.
The NY appeals case you refer to without citing is not about Trump. The FACTS are radically different.
But even the quote you cite “completely out of a jurisdiction so as to be unavailable” is an AND not an OR.
You have to be both out of state AND unavailable.
That should be obviopus even to ATS – in law and judicial decisions no words are to be read as superflous.
If all that is necescary is to be “completely out of the jurisdiction”, then there is no need to also say “so as to be unavaialble:
I would further note that “Completely” is relevant. maintinain a home and businesses in NY is NOT completely out of the jurisdiction.
“The State of NY has no . . . ability to serve notice of indictment to anyone outside of its borders. While he is outside NY he is completely unavailable to the judicial system of NY.”
You’re just making stuff up.
The process for such cases is called “domesticate the subpoena” (or summons). For an arrest, it’s called an out-of-state warrant. Those procedures have been used for decades.
SOL on misdemeanors in NY is 2 years, not 5. A fact the judge ignored when defense raised the issue. However, the SOL for corrupt public officials like Bragg and Merchan is 2 years plus 5 for a total of 7 years SOL. That is the true case. https://codes.findlaw.com/ny/criminal-procedure-law/cpl-sect-30-10/
The tolling of a Statute of Limitations when someone moves out of state reflects an earlier time when it was difficult to sue someone residing in a distant state. That is no longer the case with “long-arm jurisdiction” and internet data. So, it will happen that Trump will challenge the constitutionality of this kind of open-ended limitations period.
Long-arm jurisdiction has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with criminal cases.
Long-arm jurisdiction has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the statute of limitations.
Long-arm jurisdiction ONLY applies to civil cases.
The constitutionality of the tolling of SOL, as described above, has been challenged repeatedly and is always upheld.
LOL — what poker game did you win your law degree in?
OK.
If the SOL has expired, please explain to me why Trump’s lawyers did not even ATTEMPT to get a dismissal on these grounds.
You’d know the answer if you’d been following the case instead of watching MSNBC. Meanwhile, Trump’s lawyers will likely move for directed vierdict as soon as Cohen is finished on the witness stand. The crooked judge, whose daughter is a democorat operative making millions off of this case, may or may not follow the law and dismiss the case. He’s likely counting on a Manhattan jury voting to convict notwithstanding the lack of evidence. That’s Manhattan justice, and it’s why people have been fleeing NY as if King Kong and Godzilla were coming again.
“. . . why Trump’s lawyers did not even ATTEMPT to get a dismissal on these grounds.”
They did. In February.
You can’t get anything right about the facts or law of this case.
What arbitrary assertion are you going to make next?
Hey Fool, why didn’t the statute toll for Hunter Biden? How did the SOL run out for the Democrat and not the Reoublican?
“The constitutionality of the tolling of SOL, as described above, has been challenged repeatedly and is always upheld.”
False – what NYS did is relatively new – though other states are following.
There have been very few cases, what has changed – what NY has changed, is that it is no longer necescary to prove that an accused fled the jurisdiction to toll the SOL.
To my knowledge all the cases thus far (aside from the traditional cases of fleeing, which has been the law for decades) have been people who MOVED out of the state, did not maintain residence, did not have businesses ties to the state, did not pay taxes in the state, but FULLY left the state – aside from occasionally returning to visit people.
Regardless what you are highly unlikely to get even an appeals court to buy is a case like this were prosecutors did not even consider prosecuting, or considered and rejected it – not because of the location of the accused, but because the case sucked.
The appelate courts are NOT going to decide that when it is the decisions of the prosecutor that caused the SOL to run, that a new prosecutor or one who has cchanged their minds gets a new oportunity after wasting the first, because a defendant is technically out of state much of the time – but available and maintaining multiple strong ties to the state.
Sorry Edward but tolling of the SOL in criminal cases is quite common today. My wife deals with it frequently. MORE frequently than in the past. The equivalent of the NY appealate decision is being mirrored in state after state.
But the language that ATS cited is relevant. Even today the statute is being told for people who COMPLETELY leave the state.
It remains tolled – even if they come back to visit their relatives.
But the case law is UNIVERSALLY for people who do not have multiple residences – who when they leave a state the COMPLETELY leave.
To my knowledge no courts – including NY has ever tried to claim that a person that maintained a residence and businesses in the state, and filed taxes in that state, had tolled the SOL by living much of the time in a different residence.
I beleive Turley has addressesed this in the past.
There are two HUGE problems Bragg has claiming the SOL has not expired.
The first is that the State of NY was aware of the conduct they are charging as a crime in 2017. They did not investigate it at that time.
SOL tolling occurs when the ACCUSED makes it hard for the state to move forward. NOT when the state does not go forward because there is no crime.
The 2nd is that there is not a person in the world that can claim to have been less able to make themselves unavailable that Trump.
In addition to residing in FL and NY he also was at one of the most conspicuous residences in the entire world 1600 Pennsylvania Ave Washington DC.
The SOL is tolled when the accused is unavailable, Not when every person in the country knows exactly where he is.
This is incorrect as a matter of law and as a matter of fact.
The SOL is tolled when the accused leaves the state for the purpose of evading law enforcement.
The SOL is tolled when the accused is hiding.
Neither of those are true.
As a matter of FACT Trump was NOT continuously absent from NY while he was president.
For a significant portion of his presidency he maintained NYC as his primary residence.
But even today NYC remains – though not likely for long, a residence of Donald Trump.
Continuously out of state means exactly that, If you maintain a legal residence in a state – even if that is not your primary residence
taking the steps the law requires to maintain residency in that state – then you are NOT continuously absent.
Regardless the SOL is not something that prosecutors (and left wing nuts) get to game.
You do not understand both in this case and more generally how the law works.
Laws are required to be narrow and specific – because the objective is NOT to make as much as possible illegal, but as LITTLE as possible.
The objective of SOL’s is to protect the DEFENDANT, and Tolling the SOL is not accomplished by innocent acts of the defendant (charged with a non-crime). The SOL is tooled when the Defendant DELIBERATELY makes themselves unavailable.
I do not think there is a sufficient period in Trump’s entire life that he made himself unavailable.
From 2017 to the moment – Bragg knew EXACTLY Where to Find Trump.
When Bragg indicted Trump and charged him – Bragg did NOT go down to FL to extradite Trump.
He did not need to Trump remains a NYC resident.
This is an incredibly stupid argument.
By YOUR idiotic legal interpretation ANYONE that maintains several residences and moves between them – will have tolled any SOL anywhere.
I would separately note that in most states the SOL can not be tolled unless there is an active investigation.
Bragg waited until AFTER the SOL expired to try to investigate and prosecute this case.
SOL’s are tolled when the accused deliberately makes choices that make it harder or impossible for the alleged crime to be investigated or prosecuted.
If Bragg tries this idiotic claim – he will have another constitutional problem that will cost him the case on appeal.
Of course at this point the question is not will this be overturned on appeal – should Bragg managed to get a biased court to convict, but which of dozens of reasons will reselt in reversal.
The NY appeals court has NOT ruled that people who maintain a residence in a state are continuously absent.
“For these charges the limitation is 5 years.”
No. It’s *2* years: New York law CPL § 30.10(2)(a), a “prosecution for a misdemeanor must be commenced within two years after the commission thereof.”
Since you got that so egregiously wrong, the rest of your comment can be ignored.
Dear Anonymous: thank you for your well-written and reasoned commentary, but ther problem is that somewhere in MAGA media, they’re hyping the claim that the statute ran. The disciples believe it–they believe everything MAGA media pundits tell them–just like they fell for the Big Lie–they still believe it and no amount of recounts, investigations or audits will convince them otherwise. So, when informed people like you explain the law to them, which proves that the MAGA pundit is wrong–well, that makes you a liar. They cannot be dissuaded.
This is just one example of the extent of the damage MAGA media is doing to America–and, to what end? The salve the ego of a malignant narcissist, liar and con man who wants to be dictator, who wants a “get out of jail free” card to avoid prosecution for stealing classified documents, starting an insurrection and causing 5 deaths. That ego craves power, attention, adulation. MAGA media exists to promote someone who promises to take away health care from millions of Americans, to let the oil industry draft Executive Orders deregulating emissions and other environmental protections, to ban all abortions, to eliminate the Department of Education, cut Social Security Medicare, Medicare and food stamp assistance. He actually intends to execute all federal prisoners, regardless of the status of their appeals, to deport aliens, even those legally seeking asylum and waiting for hearings. In the meantime, instead of allowing them to work and support themselves and their families, he wants taxpayers to pay for concentration camps. There are also massive tax cuts for the wealthiest individuals and corporations, plus tariffs–all of which will drive inflation. He would also take away aid to Ukraine so Putin can “win”, and give Israel whatever killing materials it wants–which Netanyahu will use to kill as many Palestinians as he can, all of which will destabilize the Middle East for several lifetimes because Arab countries aren’t going to stand for all-out genocide of the Palestinian people. Trump in office again would be a disater of bibllican proportions, even without consideration for the vengeance he will try to get on his perceived enemies–endless “investigations”, fake “prosecutions”–it goes on and on.
Sometimes just the title of an article is enough, and that often happens at the Babylon Bee. But this title isn’t from the Bee:
Stormy Daniels’ Former Attorney Michael Avenatti SLAMS Michael Cohen from Behind Bars for Being a “Liar and Total Fraud”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/05/stormy-daniels-disgraced-attorney-michael-avenatti-slams-michael/
It’s particularly amusing since Professor Turley’s former star pupil, Michael Avenatti, happens to be in the process of serving a 19-year sentence while lecturing his fellow convicted felon, Cohen, about being dishonest. These two are candidates for the Lawyers’ Hall of Fame and a reminder that Professor Turley might want to update his April 18, 2018 mini-biography of Michael Avenatti:
Turley and Avenatti To Appear At GW Event
https://jonathanturley.org/2018/04/18/turley-and-avenatti-to-appear-at-gw-event/
Just this morning I posted a comment about Sec State Blinken and how he is just a self-hating Jewish appeaser of the left in order to ingratiate himself with those he has been trying to appeal to his entire life. I bring this up now because in my as usual awesome comment (sarc) I said that the Sec State should go back to playing his guitar, growing his pony-tail, smoking a bowl and being a cringeworthy James Taylor imposter…and today the Secretary of State, OUR SECRETARY OF STATE, pulled out his guitar and “jammed” at a Ukrainian night club. This is in Ukraine, the place that Biden and Blinken wanted to arm so badly that they lied about also arming Israel only to turn around and pull the arms for Israel.
hullbobby said: “today the Secretary of State, OUR SECRETARY OF STATE, pulled out his guitar and “jammed” at a Ukrainian night club.”
Just as long as he didn’t make a side trip to Slovakia yesterday to “confer” with Ukraine war proponents ;-/ BTW, I wonder if Victoria Nuland has spent any time there since her alleged departure from the Deep State apparatus.
Shooter Of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico Identified
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/slovakias-populist-prime-minister-robert-fico-has-been-shot
There are a few people that go by Anonymous that actually make good comments but there are also a bunch of “Anonymous” idiots that are trying to get the site to end the comments section with their juvenile, moronic and nasty comments.
To all of the decent people going by Anonymous I say that you can end this ugliness by just creating a name which would make it easier to ignore the idiots.
That’s Floyd Estovir as Hullbobby beseeching us to use real names. What a joke!
Nothing worse than a moron with a thesaurus…except an Anonymous moron with a thesaurus.
I understand your point and I would be happy to post with a username. Is there a way to do this without having a WordPress account? I’m not really in the market for more spam e-mail so I’m reluctant to get an account. I’d be happy for any help or advice. Sincerely.
I do have a wordpress account, and do not get spammed
without an account enter you junk email account and enter a username. I do that if I post something from phone or tablet, when traveling
Easy. When I first began reading & commenting here, I did not know the site was built with WordPress, and I saw nothing on the jonturley.org site specifying that, or anything about creating an account. Furthermore, I jealously guard my privacy, and do not create ANY on-line accounts unless strictly necessary, and when I do, I include the absolute minimum about of PII possible. OTOH, I am also very much annoyed by the abuse here by trolls posting as “Anonymous”. The answer to your question is that you can (and I do) complete the comment form with the same “name” and (anonymized) “email address” every time I comment (using the same values each time). Does this comply with the wishes of site management? Probably not, but it provides just as much validation and authenticity to my comments as an actual WordPress account built over made-up information (the only way I would ever create one) would. YMMV
Dumbest comment section on the web — and it takes a really big bunch of dumb to take home THAT prize.
Some who wish to think they know what Cohen said need to read this.
—–
“Cohen told his lawyers back in 2018 that he had concocted himself the hush-money scheme that Trump is charged with and had no incriminating evidence against the former president.
“Cohen kept on saying: ‘Guys I want you to remember, I will do whatever the F … I have to do, I will never spend one day in jail,’” Costello recalled. “I even said to Cohen at one point: ‘Michael, now is the time to tell the truth and cooperate if you want your legal problems to disappear.’
Cohen would again reply: “I swear to God, Bob, I don’t have anything on Donald Trump.”
Cohen in 2018 told his defense team that he concocted the scheme to take out a home equity loan to pay porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 in return for her silence about an alleged affair with Trump and that the former president didn’t know about the details.
Cohen told his defense team he arranged the payments because he saw it as “a way to ingratiate himself with Donald Trump and save embarrassment for Melania because he knew that Donald Trump was very concerned about not doing anything to embarrass Melania,”
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/all-things-trump/michael-cohens-ex-lawyer-provides-counter-story-congress-habitual?utm_source=breaking&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter
Notes: https://justthenews.com/sites/default/files/2024-03/CohenUSAttorneyInterviewNotes.pdf
Alan, everyone seems to agree that Michael Cohen is a scheming liar with no moral compass. But explain why an old money heir like Donald Trump would retain a lawyer like Cohen for 10 odd years.
Cohen is amoral. Lots of attorneys are amoral.
Not a crime to retain or employ them, unless they commit crimes, which in this case Cohen did but after Trump had long ago fired him.
Peter, when one hires a lawyer, one doesn’t always know if they are good or honest. Trump fired Cohen, and to date, I don’t remember one illegal thing Cohen did for Trump. Look at Fannie Willis and Bragg. How did they get their positions? I know. The Democrat Party is crooked. Some Republicans are as well, but the party is not as crooked as the Democrats.
I have hired many attorneys in my lifetime. Some were excellent, most were mediocre or poor, and some seemed crooked, but these things are found out after a period of time when one fires them. When one observes the comments, whether one agrees with the opinions or not, one can see that the most dishonest people come from the left.
A paragon of christian values.
grab em by the pussy
have sex with a porn star while your wife is breast feeding your new born baby
bury your ex wife at your golf course for tax reasons
call wounded veterans losers
have a year long sexual relationship with a playboy bunny while your married to wife number 2
insinuate your VP should be killed if he doesn’t keep you in power after losing an election
Ahh yes, christian values.
Did the bible catch on fire in his hands?
Did Gabriel blow his horn?
Did the red sea part? How about the Hudson River?
Well at least mister christian values Mike Johnson was there to cheer on trump having sex with a porn star. Indeed christian values.
“have sex with a porn star” That phrase seems to show up frequently in recent comments by our Resident Trolls. Someon at the DNC seems to believe that this phrase will shame some Republican voters into deserting Trump. Very unlikely. The future of the country is at stake. Unless the sex was involuntary, it doesn’t make the slightest difference compared to the enormity of the damage Democrats are causing to our country and cvilization.
Ahh yes , judge others by getting all your information from the National Enquirer.
O T RFK Jr.
Trump has apparently started a campaign of insults directed to RFK Jr. https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2024/04/28/trump-calls-rfk-jr-a-left-lunatic-as-both-sides-fear-his-impact-on-election/?sh=4397a34ffcca He also has refused to commit to debate RFK Jr.
IMO, this is a mistake. He should be trying to overcome the lie that he is an authoritarian figure. Debate is one way of proving a commitment to democracy. Refraing from insulting every other candidate is another way. Trump should acknowledge the obvioius truth that RFK Jr. is a serious and rational person who may have something valuable to say to the public and even to Trump.
Ronald Reagan did not shy away from debating John Anderson in 1980, even though Anderson was reckoned to someone who could out-debate or even embarrass Reagan. Reagan did well in the debate, and only improved his standing with the public. Doubters could see that he was not a lightweight and he was not afraid.
Trump does not only need to consider the election, which he will almost certainly win, but also governing afterwards. To succeed he must have the trust of people who did not vote for him. The RFK Jr. supporters could be a valuable source of support after 1/20/25.
Did Gabriel blow his horn?
I think I missed it.
Trial is a miscarriage and perversion of justice; it should never have been allowed to be brought.
Lawless judges and prosecutors have accumulated far too much unchecked power, and the outcome of this farce will be a conviction of a private citizen for a non-crime by a lawless jury.
The singular American failure is the judicial branch with emphasis on the Supreme Court.
There is a strong case to be made that the anti-federalists were right to fear an unaccountable judicial branch.
The singular American failure is the judicial branch, with emphasis on the Supreme Court.
So what? The jury will convict Trump of murder, treason, sexual assault, among other crimes and sentence him to life in prison w/o parole. Just because they have no evidence is no reason to suppose he’ll be freed. He’s a prisoner of America’s undisputed and unrecognized fiercest enemy> our traitorous lefy-wing.
Patricia, are you related to Margot Ballhere, Mistress Addams or Upscale Suburban Woman?
At least she has the courage to post under her own name, and not Anonymous.
Dourchebag says what? Once upon a time — up until 2018 — I posted under my real name at this trash site, until Turley and his dishonest webmaster and the trolls HIRED BY TURLEY began ruthlessly defamining me. This was back in the days when Turley was teamed up with his former student, Michael Avenatti, to bash Trump, and as a Trump supporter, I objected to the falsities and failure to point out that, at that time, Avenatti was a unprosecuted multiple felon (subsequently prosecuted and convicted).
Anyone familiar with the history of Turley’s garbage site wouldn’t be so foolish as to post comments under their real name.
And how do you know that she’s using her real name? Please explain.
nom de plume? Look it up
REGARDING ABOVE:
That’s Floyd James Estovir posing as Rick Adkinson to call someone a ‘coward’ for not using their name.
Floyd has changed names so many times no one has a clue what his real name could be.
And ‘yes’ Floyd has used Margot Ballhere, Mistress Addams and Upscale Suburban Woman. So you can bet he’s also Patricia, or he wouldn’t have responded here as he did.
If they do send Trump to prison, it will not end well for the USA.
MAY 14, 2024
GUN CONTROL ELITE POLITICIANS REBRAND ‘BITTER CLINGERS’ FAUX PAS AS ‘POOR SOULS’
Today’s gun control politicians are making it clear. It’s not just guns they despise. There are two other primary obstacles to civil disarmament that they loathe.
One is the Second Amendment itself. The other, well, it’s you – the gun owner…..
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was rebuked as an “elite” at an Oxford Union debate on April 25 when she said that certain Americans are “poor souls who are looking for some answers.” Their biggest sin, according to the Speaker Emeritus, is not bowing to the orthodoxy of the gun control elite.
“These poor souls… are looking for some answers,” Rep. Pelosi said. “We’ve given them to them, but they’re blocked by some of their views on guns… they have the three Gs: Guns, Gays, and God.”
Rep. Pelosi didn’t think that was enough. She said, “cultural issues cloud some of their reception of an argument that really is in their interest.”
https://www.nssf.org/articles/gun-control-elite-politicians-rebrand-bitter-clingers-faux-pas-as-poor-souls/
Poor Nancy. No wonder Pelosi was banned from receiving Communion in the Catholic Church by her San Francisco Archbishop.
Well, so much for that.
“Bumbling Biden’s” campaign went full negative and fell on its face with the American electorate.
Biden depraved the government, destroyed “the economy, stupid,” skewed international relations, and corrupted the judicial branch with lawfare.
Now the DNC will be forced to bail on Biden and fetch Moochhell.
Turley must be so proud Trump mentioned Turley’s name the other day, but chalk up another Turley failure, Lets see, the Durham investigations, Hunter Biden, of course Hillary. Time again and again Turley hype’s talking points from FOX, because they know and he knows Trump supporters’ could care less about facts or the law, when it comes to DJT.
Oops!
“Special counsel John Durham concludes FBI never should have launched full Trump-Russia probe”
– CNN
_________
“Judge rejects Hunter Biden’s bid to delay his June trial on gun charges”
– PBS NEWSHOUR
______________________
A LIVING HELL
“[I was] sure [that I was going to win the 2016 presidential election].” “[I thought that the race] was going to be a close, hard-fought campaign [but that I would come out on top].”
“No, we didn’t cry that night, [I needed to] be strong for my family and my friends and my supporters.” “I would’ve won but for Jim Comey’s letter.” “That stopped my momentum, and it really caused enough people to move away from me. Some moved to Trump. Some moved to third parties. Some didn’t vote. The net effect was pretty clear.”
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
– Hillary Clinton, Excruciatingly Looping Her Loss Ad Infinitum
What do you think these things were about ? Bagging big game ? Or getting to the Truth ?
Everything you mentions revealed damning truths about those on the left.
But unlike democrats – No one has Hillary Clinton in the docks for trying to illegally influence and election.
Great try. Jonathan is overcome with shame at how accurate you are.
Don’t gamble for a living, kid.
We have idiots, morons, boobs and finally fishface
JT has gone full obfuscation. I do not understand why as he once had a pretty good position. But his defense of the obsurd is so half ass, where did his brains go. JT, you will be the next AG, give it up.
I never thought I’d live long enough to see a website with a comment section that’s more dishonest than the left-wing Mother Jones website or the right-wing Gateway Pundit website. But here we are in Turleyville, where comments sometimes never get posted and sometimes disappear after being posted and getting upvotes, and where an army of Turley’s hired trolls always upvote each other’s inane GED comments and attack others who aren’t hired Turley trolls.
To call this website dishonest is an insult to dishonesty.
Professor Turley,
You write: “With the prosecution’s case almost over, Bragg needed Cohen to clearly state that Trump intentionally committed fraud to conceal some still poorly defined crime.”
However, this is not true. In fact, Bragg set out four potential object offenses: violations of federal campaign finance law under the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA); violations of New York Election Law § 17-152; violations of federal, local, and state tax law; and additional falsifications of business records outside the Trump Organization (§ 175.05). Merchan allowed Bragg to move forward with the first three theories but tossed out the last one. He did, however, write that the § 175.05 theory appears to be “intertwined” with and “advances the other three theories discussed.”
17-152 is viewed as the “primary” object offense by Joshua Steinglass. This charge requires a conspiracy to be carried out by “unlawful means.” What are the unlawful means that Bragg is alleging? The legal theory loops back around to point to the other three potential object offenses: FECA violations, tax fraud, and AMI’s and Cohen’s misdemeanor falsifications of business records under 175.10.
Yet, you tersely noted in a previous article: “So they are arguing that Trump committed a crime by conspiring to unlawfully promote his own candidacy. He did this by paying to quash a potentially embarrassing story and then reimbursing his lawyer with other legal expenses.”
This shows you either have not read Bragg’s filings or have intentionally misled your readers by omitting basic facts of Bragg’s argument. The quashing of the story is NOT the unlawful action. It is how it was documented (i.e., FECA) and the tax issues associated with how it was documented.
Finally, it is not necessary for Bragg to prove that Trump committed all of the elements of any of these potential object offenses. Rather, under NY law, only the intent element is a prerequisite. See Peoplve v. McCumisky: https://casetext.com/case/people-v-mccumiskey
If this were an actual legal blog, these topics would be discussed, rather than tabloid articles that gloss over details in favor of bombastic, partisan hyperbole.
I was just wondering: Does anyone know when Obama, Biden, Colangelo, and Big Al are going to bring a valid criminal case with actual charges?
There has been absolutely no testimoney todate about any violations of tax laws.
That should not be surprising – there can’t be.
Cohen was paid. He was 1099’d. Any tax problems are his.
So we can entirely shoot that down.
But that is also significant.
Long long ago the Supreme court has ruled that all crimes of “falsification” are really crimes of Fraud – normally the statute is written that way.
This is important. You can not criminalize mere falseness.
Durham was unable to convict Danchenko and Sussman – both of whom admitted lying to the FBI,
Because the FBI KNEW they were lying.
All of Muellers 18 US 1001 cases should have been dismissed because crimes of falsifaction REQUIRE some actual harm to some party you owe a duty to.
A false statement is not enough. There are several required elements,
allegedly false is not enough.
The tax claims – if they had any substance would be quite powerful.
Misrepresenting records for the purpose of evading taxes is a CLEAR crime.
But we do not have that here.
Further if “you only had a brain” you would grasp that allegedly false is not enough.
False statements under oath are not perjury.
The statement must be knowingly false.
It must mislead the court,
It must be material to the case.
Those are the requirements for all crimes of falsification.
And none other than Ruth Bader Ginsberg has noted that in oppinions.
But worse still – you do not even have a false statement.
Paying a lawyer is legal fees.
Paying a lawyer for a settlement is legal fees.
Paying a lawyer for an NDA is legal fees.
As someone else noted – based on Daniels testimony, Cohen’s testimony, and that of many other witnesses,
Daniels initiated the demand for payment, she went through her lawyers,
This was a legal negotiation – a contract, and exchange of something one party valued for something the other party valued.
Daniels threatened to walk out.
As that other lawyer noted – this is all a legal negotiation or it is criminal extortion. Take your pick.
Stormy had the right to sell her story. She could sell it to anyone she pleased.
She tried several places. Trump made the best offer.
It was legal for Stormey to sell her story.
It was therefore legal for Trump to buy it.
It does not matter why Stormey wanted to sell.
It does not matter why Trump wanted to buy.
It does not matter if the story was true.
A legal act does not become illegal because you do not like the reasons that people did it.
A legal act does not become illegal because it is done in secret.
What is really disturbing is that people have to explain such BASIC Fundimentals. leftsics of the constitution and having to address things so basic as the social contract – what is the legitimate role of government.
The rule of law does NOT allow you to make anything you wish into a crime.
Nor does it allow you to take any statutory legitimate crime and read it so broadly as to make confduct that is clearly does no harm into a crime.
Mike Johnson Shows Up At Trump Trial Along With Other Notables
Former top House Republican Liz Cheney (Wyo.), who broke with her party over Donald Trump, weighed in on House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) attendance at Donald Trump’s trial: “Have to admit I’m surprised that @SpeakerJohnson wants to be in the ‘I cheated on my wife with a porn star’ club,” Cheney posted on X. (Trump has denied having sex with Stormy Daniels, the adult-film actress as the center of the case).
From today’s live updates – The Washington Post
…………………………………………..
Johnson addressed the media at a park across from the courthouse. There he chided the New York DA’s office for putting Trump on trial.
Johnson seems to think southern congressmen know Trump better than New Yorkers. As though New Yorkers are inappropriate jurors for trials concerning fellow New Yorkers!
As Liz Cheney points out, it’s odd that a southern evangelical, like Johnson, would want any part of a trial involving a philandering husband and his affairs with a porno star and Playboy model. But perhaps Johnson is a ‘new age evangelical’ okay with hanky-panky.
“Daddy, Daddy, I want to be President!”
“You PROMISED, Daddy!”
“WAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
– Liz “All Hail Halliburton, We Don’t Need No Stinking WMD” Cheney (RINO-Wyo.)
Interesting how the Trump ‘gag order’ got reinforced ‘just like that’ today, the first day of Cohen impeachment.
Did not know that the justlawfulblog nom de screen would direct reader to a blog post about the gag order determination. It does.
Good, the more bad decisions from various courts the better.
Blanche is struggling to impeach Cohen. He keeps going around in circles and into dead ends. This is not turning out to be what Turley so loudly predicted. Trump lawyer Blanche is not succeeding.
Does it matter ? Cohen was impeached before he came to court.
Yes, it matters. Because the failure to impeach Cohen bolsters the corroboration of the evidence against Trump in the jury’s eyes.
Do you really think there is not going to be a jury instruction that Micheal Cohen is a multiply convicted perjurer ?
If there is not – Merchan has committed reversible error.
You also still do not understand – despite the fact that those of you on the left dliberately structred this that way – there is only one jury that matters – Voters.
The purpose of this prosecution is to defeat Trump in the election. The real jury is the voters – and Cohen has absolutely been impeached with them.
If Trump is convicted – which despite the absence of an actual crime here is likely, it is not the conviction that will matter, it is the effect of the conviction on voters. Trump will appeal, the appeal will take years. Even Merchan is not going to be so stupid as to try to jail trump while appeal is pending. With certainty if Trump loses -= this case will eventually be tossed.
So the entire purpose of the case is election interferance – and super majorities of people see that.
When you conduct a star chamber political show trial – the jury that matters is the people as a whole – not the petit jury.