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kpete
kpete's Journal
kpete's Journal
April 4, 2023
Trump met with Pecker and thanked him for executing the catch and kill scheme.
E. Post-Election Communications with AMI CEO
22. On November 8, 2016, the Defendant won the presidential election and became the President-Elect. Thereafter, AMI released both the doorman and Woman 1 from their non- disclosure agreements.
23. The Defendant was inaugurated as President on January 20, 2017. Between Election Day and Inauguration Day, during the period of the Defendant’s transition to his role as President, the Defendant met with the AMI CEO privately in Trump Tower in Manhattan. The Defendant thanked the AMI CEO for handling the stories of the Doorman and Woman 1, and invited the AMI CEO to the Inauguration. In the summer of 2017, the Defendant invited the AMI CEO to the White House for a dinner to thank him for his help during the campaign.
https://twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/status/1643349434787328002?s=20
April 4, 2023
https://twitter.com/RebeccaShabad/status/1643336595494391808?s=20
JUST IN: The Trump indictment is now public
https://www.manhattanda.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Donald-J.-Trump-Indictment.pdfhttps://twitter.com/RebeccaShabad/status/1643336595494391808?s=20
April 4, 2023
Waiting for Bragg
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-manhattan-da-alvin-bragg-holds-press-conference-following-trump-arraignment
April 4, 2023
Lock THEM up.
Donald Trump Jr. just posted a picture of the judge's daughter on Truth Social
Reminder: Trump was indicted by a jury of his peers, not Biden or the deep state or Hillary's server or any of the nonsense talking points that Republicans have been trotting out in right-wing media
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1643250247282335745?s=20
https://twitter.com/EricTrump/status/1643209196199112705?s=20
April 4, 2023
Another J/6 "tourist" video
The images & sounds are disorienting, vulgar and claustrophobic in this Jan 6 police body camera video.
It was posted and released again as a court exhibit by the US Justice Dept last week
https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1643201746448072705?s=20
April 4, 2023
Robert Reich
Apr 3
................
This may be nothing more than a temporary lull in the giant 21st century storm of self-aggrandizement.
The charges against Trump may well be dropped, feeding more outrage. Fox News and its dreadful hosts could prevail over Dominion. Putin will continue to pummel Ukraine, regardless. Elon Musk, wealthy fraudsters, billionaire bullies, and Republican election deniers may ultimately be successful.
But I prefer to believe that the zeitgeist is beginning to shift. The wheels of justice are starting to turn. The silent majority (as Spiro Agnew called them, in a totally different context) is finally demanding and getting some accountability. Trump and the Trump wannabes — every rich and famous personage who has said “the public be damned” — is about to get a comeuppance.
(Isn’t that a lovely old-fashioned word — comeuppance? It means a fate that is deserved. The word first appeared in Harper’s Magazine in 1859. It derives from the phrasal verb “come up” as in a case for judgment at a trial, or in the court of public opinion.)
Is this the start of a long-overdue comeuppance?
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-great-comeuppance?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=365422&post_id=112254389&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email
The Great Comeuppance?
What’s happening to Trump, Fox News, Putin and other public-be-damned scoundrelsRobert Reich
Apr 3
................
This may be nothing more than a temporary lull in the giant 21st century storm of self-aggrandizement.
The charges against Trump may well be dropped, feeding more outrage. Fox News and its dreadful hosts could prevail over Dominion. Putin will continue to pummel Ukraine, regardless. Elon Musk, wealthy fraudsters, billionaire bullies, and Republican election deniers may ultimately be successful.
But I prefer to believe that the zeitgeist is beginning to shift. The wheels of justice are starting to turn. The silent majority (as Spiro Agnew called them, in a totally different context) is finally demanding and getting some accountability. Trump and the Trump wannabes — every rich and famous personage who has said “the public be damned” — is about to get a comeuppance.
(Isn’t that a lovely old-fashioned word — comeuppance? It means a fate that is deserved. The word first appeared in Harper’s Magazine in 1859. It derives from the phrasal verb “come up” as in a case for judgment at a trial, or in the court of public opinion.)
Is this the start of a long-overdue comeuppance?
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-great-comeuppance?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=365422&post_id=112254389&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email
April 4, 2023
By Errol Louis
… Bragg is expected to argue that hush-money payments to adult actress Stormy Daniels and/or ex–Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal were made by setting up a fake retainer agreement with Trump’s ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen, who paid the cash up front and later got reimbursed by Trump’s company for nonexistent legal services. Creating phony business transactions to hide the payments could constitute the misdemeanor offense of falsifying a business record, with the intention of committing or concealing a second crime of not reporting what was, in effect, a campaign contribution. (New York election law defines a contribution as “any thing of value, made in connection with the nomination for election, or election, of any candidate.”)
This is where things get sticky for Trump. Falsifying a business record in order to commit or conceal a second crime would bump the matter up from a misdemeanor to a felony, punishable by one to four years in prison. In fact, New York courts have found that the second crime need not even be proved: Mere intent to commit or conceal a crime can be sufficient to make records falsification a felony.
...................
Trump has lost or settled so many damaging lawsuits that it’s easy to forget that he used his businesses to cheat before and during the 2016 campaign. But that is why we have a judicial system that uses courts, prosecutors, juries, judges, and meticulous rules of evidence and procedure to discover truth and hold the powerful accountable.
Trump, an expert at distortion and distraction, is betting that the public will focus on threats, theatrics, public outrage, and personal insults rather than a formal investigation of his actions.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/04/dont-underestimate-alvin-braggs-case-against-trump.html
UPDATE to add Emptywheel's Not So Sure:
by Bmaz
https://www.emptywheel.net/2023/04/03/trump-edition-what-is-and-what-shall-never-be/
hat tip to Bev54
Don't fall for it. Bet on Bragg.
Don’t Underestimate Alvin Bragg’s Chances Against TrumpBy Errol Louis
… Bragg is expected to argue that hush-money payments to adult actress Stormy Daniels and/or ex–Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal were made by setting up a fake retainer agreement with Trump’s ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen, who paid the cash up front and later got reimbursed by Trump’s company for nonexistent legal services. Creating phony business transactions to hide the payments could constitute the misdemeanor offense of falsifying a business record, with the intention of committing or concealing a second crime of not reporting what was, in effect, a campaign contribution. (New York election law defines a contribution as “any thing of value, made in connection with the nomination for election, or election, of any candidate.”)
This is where things get sticky for Trump. Falsifying a business record in order to commit or conceal a second crime would bump the matter up from a misdemeanor to a felony, punishable by one to four years in prison. In fact, New York courts have found that the second crime need not even be proved: Mere intent to commit or conceal a crime can be sufficient to make records falsification a felony.
...................
Trump has lost or settled so many damaging lawsuits that it’s easy to forget that he used his businesses to cheat before and during the 2016 campaign. But that is why we have a judicial system that uses courts, prosecutors, juries, judges, and meticulous rules of evidence and procedure to discover truth and hold the powerful accountable.
Trump, an expert at distortion and distraction, is betting that the public will focus on threats, theatrics, public outrage, and personal insults rather than a formal investigation of his actions.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/04/dont-underestimate-alvin-braggs-case-against-trump.html
UPDATE to add Emptywheel's Not So Sure:
by Bmaz
So far, at least, not too sold on it. Not like all the Boyz at Just Security, several of whom I respect, but they have been been overselling, led by Weissmann, this entire scenario mercilessly. To the extent of being dubious.
Anybody who thinks this is all cut and dried as Bragg makes it is a dope. To what extent we shall see. But, yes, we shall see. Tomorrow will be merely the start of the analysis, not merely the end like other dopes will tell you.
So, let us see what is, and what will never really be. They are very different things. Am prepared to be totally wrong. Are you? And how long are you willing to play the long game out?
Criminal law will never be your personal political savior.
https://www.emptywheel.net/2023/04/03/trump-edition-what-is-and-what-shall-never-be/
hat tip to Bev54
April 4, 2023
Split Screen
SPLIT-SCREEN: At 3:35pm ET, here’s contrast the White House wants. On the left,
@POTUS
Biden is in Minnesota touting his legislative accomplishments. On the right,
@realDonaldTrump
is landing in NYC to face an indictment.
https://twitter.com/edokeefe/status/1642974594452578304?s=20
April 4, 2023
Maddow continued: "I mean, it's one thing for people not to come out and protest in your defense ... but when you specifically ask them to? When you, in fact, command them to and they don't? What does that say about you?"
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-protests-that-never-happened/
https://twitter.com/thejackhopkins/status/1643062635183603715?s=20
Maddow: 'When you command people to protest for you and they don't, what does that say about you?
"A handful showed up and waved flags at Mar-a-Lago, but it wasn't anything that constituted an 'event' by any stretch of the imagination," Maddow explained. "We've had headline after headline after headline that everybody is bracing for mass protests by supporters. It's not happening. At least, so far, it's not happening. And that in itself is an interesting political fact, a known outcome. He specifically called on his supporters to come out on his behalf to save America. 'Protest, protest, protest.'"Maddow continued: "I mean, it's one thing for people not to come out and protest in your defense ... but when you specifically ask them to? When you, in fact, command them to and they don't? What does that say about you?"
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-protests-that-never-happened/
https://twitter.com/thejackhopkins/status/1643062635183603715?s=20
April 3, 2023
https://www.emptywheel.net/2023/04/03/the-espionage-act-evidence-wapo-spins-as-obstruction-evidence/
https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1642884747289407492?s=20
DOJ is collecting evidence of Espionage Act violation(s).
Reup: WaPo reports DOJ has gotten "fresh evidence" of obstruction in the stolen doc case. What they show is DOJ is collecting evidence of Espionage Act violation(s).
DOJ has obtained substantial evidence since August to prove the probable cause suspicions already laid out in their August warrant affidavit. You don’t search the former President’s beach resort without awfully good probable cause, and they were able to show substantial reason to believe that Trump had boxes moved to his residence after he received the May 11 subpoena, where he sorted out some he wanted to keep, eight months ago.
They’ve just gotten a whole lot more proof that they were right, since.
...........
All of which is to say that WaPo not only reported that DOJ has collected more evidence to prove what DOJ already suspected when they did the search on August 8, but they’ve been collecting information that would go beyond that, to a hypothetical Espionage Act charge.
Charging a former President with violating the Espionage Act is still an awfully big lift, and in the same way that charging obstruction for impeding NARA’s proper administration of the Presidential Records Act would invite an appeal, charging 18 USC 793(e) in DC would invite a challenge on venue (and charging it in Florida would risk spending the next three years fighting Aileen Cannon). But in addition to developing more evidence to prove the suspicions that they already substantiated in August, WaPo describes Jack Smith’s team asking the kinds of questions — about specific documents that might be charged as individual violations of the Espionage Act — that you’d ask before charging it.
They’ve just gotten a whole lot more proof that they were right, since.
...........
All of which is to say that WaPo not only reported that DOJ has collected more evidence to prove what DOJ already suspected when they did the search on August 8, but they’ve been collecting information that would go beyond that, to a hypothetical Espionage Act charge.
Charging a former President with violating the Espionage Act is still an awfully big lift, and in the same way that charging obstruction for impeding NARA’s proper administration of the Presidential Records Act would invite an appeal, charging 18 USC 793(e) in DC would invite a challenge on venue (and charging it in Florida would risk spending the next three years fighting Aileen Cannon). But in addition to developing more evidence to prove the suspicions that they already substantiated in August, WaPo describes Jack Smith’s team asking the kinds of questions — about specific documents that might be charged as individual violations of the Espionage Act — that you’d ask before charging it.
https://www.emptywheel.net/2023/04/03/the-espionage-act-evidence-wapo-spins-as-obstruction-evidence/
https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1642884747289407492?s=20
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