Poor Donald now wants to attend things that his bail terms wont allow. Donald's delays failed and he’s forced to sit in a courtroom. What's your 2024 existential dilemma? Trump’s is being nominated for a Nobel Prize this year.
NY judge Juan Merchan rejects Trump's request to skip attending trial next Thursday to attend Supreme Court hearing on his "presidential immunity" argument
Judge: "Your client is a criminal defendant in New York. He is required to be here. He is not required to be in the Supreme Court. I will see him here next week"
4:49 PM · Apr 15, 2024
We haven’t seen much of Melania lately, period. While the former model has always been less visible than other political spouses, her absence has felt especially pronounced since her husband ramped up his efforts to recapture the presidency in the 2024 election. “
Where’s Melania?,” the Washington Post asked in November. Months later, Melania sightings have remained scarce. In late March,
CNN reported that Melania’s role in Trump’s campaign was still “up in the air.” According to CNN, aside from attending the campaign kickoff and accompanying Trump to vote in the Florida presidential primary, Melania has been MIA for many of campaign’s major moments, including Trump’s Super Tuesday victory party at Mar-a-Lago. Why would Melania schlep to a trial in New York when she didn’t even bother to be seen at a celebration that took place in her own home?
But we all know what’s really keeping her far away from the courtroom. Consider what the trial is actually about: Prosecutors have accused the former president of falsifying financial records “as part of a scheme to cover up an alleged affair with adult film performer [Stormy] Daniels in order to unlawfully influence the upcoming 2016 election,” as my colleagues Jeremy Stahl and Mark Joseph Stern recently put it. The whole trial stems from an instance of Trump allegedly cheating on Melania in 2006—at the time, the two had been married for about a year and a half, and their son, Barron, was just a few months old. You can understand why it wouldn’t be Melania’s favorite topic, and in fact, there have been many reports over the years that suggest it might be the single most explosive issue in their marriage.
slate.com/...
One Trump dilemma: Trump’s lawyers are fighting to keep certain tweets out of court
MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin Monday revealed one major reason that Donald Trump's lawyers are fighting so hard to keep certain tweets he sent as president out of his criminal hush money trial.
"Trump himself has tweeted that he repaid Michael Cohen," Lisa Rubin explained with a laugh. "That's why his lawyers are fighting so hard to keep that out on grounds of presidential immunity."
Trump's lawyers tried to argue that Trump's tweets were official acts because they were written by a standing U.S. president, Rubin explained.
Rubin then argued there existed an underlying reason why Trump's legal team wanted to keep his social media messaging away from the jury.
"In this case," he continued in the second tweet, "it is in full force and effect and will be used in Arbitration for damages against Ms. Clifford (Daniels). The agreement was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair, despite already having signed a detailed letter admitting that there was no affair. Prior to its violation by Ms. Clifford and her attorney, this was a private agreement."
www.alternet.org/…
Donald Trump's top lawyer Todd Blanche got a firm order from the judge in the hush money case Monday.
The attorney kept jumping up to interrupt a prosecutor as they argued about what evidence could be presented to the jury in the case involving allegations that Trump arranged for money to be paid to an adult movie actress to hide an affair from 2016 voters.
The judge, however, quickly tired of his antics — and ordered him to "sit."
"Blanche keeps jumping up to interrupt [Assistant District Attorney Josh Steinglass], but Merchan tells him to sit," Lawfare's Tyler McBrien reported.
Blanche wasn't the only one ordered to take a seat. Merchan, known for running a tight ship, made similar comments to Steinglass.
www.alternet.org/...
Donald Trump lost it with his lawyers once the group returned from the lunch recess, according to a report.
The lawyers were fighting over Trump's team's failure to produce documents under New York's reciprocal discovery laws.
"Justice [Juan] Merchan tells Trump’s attorneys they have 24 hours to do so, or such evidence will be precluded from use," reported Law360's Stewart Bishop. "Trump counsel Todd Blanche complains, says that’s not enough time, what with jury selection and all."
www.rawstory.com/...
A central question is not if that payment was made to seal her lips—we know Daniels got the money—but whether the way the payment was recorded within Trump’s business (as a legal expense) violated New York state law. To win the case, Bragg must prove that Trump's alleged falsifying of business records regarding the hush-money transfer was done in order to cover up fraud or another criminal act. That means the case hinges on the narrow issue of whether this payment to Daniels was made to influence the campaign and, thus, qualifies as a possible illegal campaign law violation.
Trump's attorneys contend the payment did not violate campaign finance laws, even though in 2018 Cohen pleaded guilty to breaking federal campaign law by buying Daniels' silence with these funds. And in the Cohen case, federal prosecutors identified Trump as a co-conspirator who directed the payment be made but identified this person only as “Individual-1.”
link.motherjones.com/...
more absurdity