Trump Trial

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Trump inflated net worth by more than $2 billion in one year, N.Y. attorney general alleges​

Prosecutors said in Wednesday’s filing that defendants had “falsely inflated by billions of dollars” the value of various assets listed on Trump’s annual statement of financial condition — his own personal financial report card — which falsely puffed up his overall net worth.

According to calculations submitted by prosecutors, Trump routinely overstated his personal financial condition from 2011 to 2021, and he overstated his personal financial condition by comparable levels while he was in office.

"Correcting for these and other blatant and obvious deceptive practices engaged in by Defendants reduces Mr. Trump’s net worth by between 17-39% in each year, or between $812 million to $2.2 billion, depending on the year," the filing said.

During his first year in office, prosecutors allege, Trump overstated his personal wealth by over $1.1 billion and then overstated his financial condition by $1.9 billion in 2018.

Trump, and at times trustees of his revocable trust, repeatedly provided those statements to financial institutions to secure and maintain more favorable loans and insurance, “reaping hundreds of millions of dollars in ill-gotten savings and profits,” prosecutors wrote.

Trump, and at times trustees of his revocable trust, repeatedly provided those statements to financial institutions to secure and maintain more favorable loans and insurance, “reaping hundreds of millions of dollars in ill-gotten savings and profits,” prosecutors wrote.





I guess the New York Attorney General Letitia James thinks the financial institutions are too stupid to do their own verification of the assets ... value is a SUBJECTIVE OPINION .... the banks in question accepted the valuation given by the Trump Business ..... how is this a crime exactly


I'll gotten savings ... Trump was given lower rates he wasn't entitled to ... seriously Letitia James has notyhing better to do the charge Trump because in HER OPINION the property was over valued in statements to secure loans ...


wouldn't this be an ISSUE FOR THE BANKS Not the NYAG

 

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Donald Trump files motion to DISQUALIFY Judge Tanya Chutkan from federal January 6 case​

• Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan was previously labelled as the 'toughest punisher' of January rioters
• READ MORE: Trump's legal team weighs calling lawmakers who objected to electoral votes on January 6 as witnesses

 

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Judge Denies Fulton County DA Request to Try All 19 Defendants Together in Trump Election Case​

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee officially severed the cases of defendants Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell from former President Donald Trump and 16 co-defendants on Thursday in a new order.

"Severing the remaining 17 co-defendants is simply a procedural and logistical inevitability," Judge McAfee wrote, while reiterating the order that Mr. Chesebro's and Ms. Powell's cases will not be severed from each other and denying any request to pause state proceedings while removals to federal court are ongoing.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is prosecuting the case, has repeatedly asked to try all 19 defendants together, previously arguing that was the correct procedure since the judge did not officially sever their cases.

In an earlier hearing, her office estimated the trial would take four months, not including jury selection, and call up 150 witnesses from the prosecution's side.

In addition, they wanted to go to trial on Oct. 23.

Judge McAfee expressed skepticism, offering that the case may take twice as long as they expect with the witness count estimate.

Further complicating the case is the fact that several defendants have filed to move their cases to federal court and sever their cases from each other. The judge noted that a federal ruling or appeal could stall or render a state ruling moot.

The prosecution argued that because this is a racketeering case, the entire case needs to be brought forth every time one of the defendants is put on trial. If the judge severed the two defendants' Oct. 23 trial from the rest, the prosecution would need to bring the whole 150-witness case to trial twice, which is now what seems will happen, unless the prosecution changes tack.

In the Sept. 14 order, Judge McAfee wrote that trying the same case multiple times separately would still be preferable to doing it once with all 19 defendants, given that they all have different schedules, and retain attorneys who further have their own different schedules.

 

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Alan Dershowitz reveals why he does NOT think Trump ruined his defense by admitting it was 'his decision' to try to overturn the election - despite legal experts saying he 'threw his case under a freight train'​

• Trump got grilled on ‘Meet the Press’ on whether he was ‘calling the shots’
• Said he ‘listened to some people’ but also said overturn effort ‘was my decision’
• Legal experts say he undermined top defense that he was acting on legal advice

 

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Special counsel seeks 'narrowly tailored' gag order against Trump, citing 'disparaging and inflammatory attacks'​

In an extraordinary filing released Friday, Smith's office accused Trump of engaging in a sweeping campaign of "disinformation" and harassment intended to intimidate witnesses, prosecutors and others involved in the prosecution he is facing.

"Like his previous public disinformation campaign regarding the 2020 presidential election, the defendant's recent extrajudicial statements are intended to undermine public confidence in an institution -- the judicial system -- and to undermine confidence in and intimidate individuals --the Court, the jury pool, witnesses, and prosecutors," the filing says.

 

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Legal Experts: Trump May Have Key Edge in Classified Documents Case​

"The more conservative the counties, the highest chance he has to find jurors that would be sympathetic with him," said Richard Kibbey, a criminal defense attorney in Stuart, Florida.

The former attorney added that "it’s going to be very difficult given the political climate across the country. Jurors will bring their own biases into the court room.”

The jury selection process is meant to weed out personal or partisan bias that could taint the case, with jurors instructed to make decisions solely on the basis of the evidence they hear. But in a federal court system where convictions overwhelmingly outnumber acquittals, defense lawyers—and prosecutors, for that matter—could nonetheless look to jury selection as a way to elicit an edge.

“Picking a jury is an art. It’s not a science. And whether you’re a prosecutor or a defense attorney, you use everything in your arsenal to seat the best jury you can get for your case,” said Michael Sherwin, a former federal prosecutor in Miami who served during the Trump administration as acting U.S. Attorney in Washington.

 

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With cameras capturing every word, the pressure is on for the Georgia judge over Trump’s indictment​

“When you’re in a high-profile trial, you feel the stress, you feel the pressure even if you’re not reading the papers,” he told an audience of judges last year at The National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada.

Cahill’s experience provides a glimpse of the additional scrutiny and strain that await the four judges overseeing the criminal cases against former President Donald Trump.

But the challenge facing Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee in Georgia is unlike any of the others. For one, he is the only judge so far to allow television cameras in the courtroom to broadcast hearings and any trials. He is presiding over a sprawling indictment with 19 defendants, among them other prominent figures including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. And the trials will play out in a battleground state that Trump narrowly lost in 2020.

Attorneys who have worked alongside McAfee, who took the bench just this year, say his demeanor and years of work as a prosecutor have prepared him for heightened pressure. The judge’s varied interests — he is an accomplished cellist and was a scuba diver at the Georgia Aquarium — should also provide relief from the stress of a long legal case.

 

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Trump Arrives in Court for New York Fraud Trial​

"This is a continuation of the single greatest witch hunt of all time. We have a rogue judge who rules the properties are ... a fraction of what they are," he said, accusing the attorney general of running on a "Get Trump" platform and ignoring rising crime in the city. "We have a corrupt Attorney General."

He also accused the Biden administration's Department of Justice of coordinating with local prosecutors to target him.

"It's a scam it's a sham," he said. "Just so you know my financial statements are phenomenal," he said, adding that his net worth is higher than what is on the statements submitted, and the banks "don't even know why they have to be involved" in the case because they were not hurt and had profited from his business.

"They were paid back on time, there were no defaults there were no problems. It was like a perfect client," he said.

"This is an attempt to hurt me in [the] election," he said. "This has never happened before, that a president of the United States leaves office and gets indicted."

"This case could have been brought years ago but they waited until I was campaigning," he said. "They're all corrupt people."

"Frankly the country is corrupt. That's why I'm running, we're going to straighten it out," he said.

President Trump is on the witness list, but is not expected to testify today. He is expected to stay in court all day, until about 4 p.m.

At midnight on Oct. 2, President Trump made the announcement of his arrival on social media.

 

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Trump judge faces online backlash after smiling, posing for cameras in courtroom: 'Partisan Democrat clown'​

The New York judge presiding over the civil fraud trial of former President Donald Trump was blasted on social media on Monday after cameras caught him smiling for the cameras as the trial got underway.

Conservatives on social media immediately reacted with outrage on Monday when New York City Judge Arthur Engoron was briefly shown in the courtroom smiling and taking off his glasses to seemingly pose for cameras that were filming inside the courtroom.

"This New York City judge is a partisan Democrat clown," Article III Project founder and president Mike Davis posted on X, formerly Twitter. "Disgraceful."

 

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Trump says the JUDGE is the criminal in furious tirade outside court: Demands Engoron is disbarred, tears into clerk and reveals why he wanted to appear in-person in the Manhattan court​

• Trump tore into Judge Arthur Engoron steps outside his courthouse
• He accused him of having 'contempt for his own court system'
• Said judge overseeing his case should be 'charged criminally'

Former President Donald Trump delivered an angry attack on the state Supreme Court judge overseeing his case – saying Judge Arthur Engoron should be disbarred and 'charged criminally' amid adverse rulings.

Trump blasted the judge for an earlier summary judgement ruling in the case that has him facing potential penalties of $250 million, although his team had sought summary judgement in the case.

'This is a judge that should be disbarred. This is a judge that should be out of office,' Trump said.

 

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“the notion that Donald Trump puts a number on a piece of paper and some big bank just says, oh, okay, that’s what it’s worth. That’s not how it works.”​

My appearance on Fox Live Now about the real estate trial that started today: “If they wanted to charge him with fraud and penalize him for these appraisals, fine, but to then try to put him out of business, I think shows how political and how vindictive this is.”



We previously covered the finding of fraud entered by the state court judge on summary judgment, based on the papers submitted without hearing live testimony, NY State Judge Finds Trump Organizations Repeatedly Provided Fraudulent Valuations To Lenders and Insurers.

The judge ordered New York business certificates for numerous Trump entities cancelled. That alone could have a devastating impact on the businesses. The current trial is just about the additional penalties sought, including hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and an order barring Trump and his organizations from doing business in New York State. That would be, as Trump has said, a business death penalty.

This all is egregious. There is no claim that consumers or banks and insurance companies lost money, or were defrauded out of money. That may not be an element of the offenses, but if you are going to destroy a massive business built over decades over property valuations without any impact on the public, it’s an overreach. And obviously politically motivated.

 

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‘Businesses Are Fleeing New York’ Because of Attorney General Letitia James​

“Take a look at Jack Smith. Take a look at these people. This is called election interference, and worse than that, really much worse than that. And you don’t get much worse than election interference, especially [when] we’re talking presidential election of 2024,” Trump said.

As Breitbart News reported, “In 2018, when James was elected, the Washington Post noted that she had run on promises to punish Trump. And while other Democrats in other states had done the same, New York was the “most important” jurisdiction.”

Trump also labeled James as a “racist attorney general,” as he has previously done.

“This is a continuation of the single greatest witch hunt of all time,” Trump said, adding, “We have a racist attorney general who’s a horror show who ran on the basis that she was gonna get Trump before she even knew anything about me.”

“She used this to run for governor; she failed in her attempt to run for governor; she had virtually no polling. She came back, and she said, ‘Well, now I’ll go back to get Trump again.’ And this is what we have. It’s a scam. It’s a sham,” Trump said.

 

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Trump’s Civil Fraud Trial Begins in New York Court​

Donald Trump, Letitia James, Fraud, Trump Indictments, 2024 Presidential Election

AllSides Summary​

Former president and GOP frontrunner Donald Trump appeared in New York court on Monday as his $250 million civil fraud trial kicked off.

Key Quotes: New York Attorney General Letitia James released a statement Monday reading, “For years, Donald Trump falsely inflated his net worth to enrich himself and cheat the system,” adding, “No matter how rich or powerful you are, there are not two sets of laws for people in this country.” Speaking with reporters, Trump accused James of engaging in a politically-motivated attack, stating, “The crime is against me because we have a corrupt District Attorney, we have a corrupt Attorney General. They’re trying to damage me so that I don’t do as well as I’m doing in the election. Our country has gone to hell… So what we have here is an attempt to hurt me in an election.”

For Context: James is accusing Trump of inflating his net worth and the valuations of his properties to obtain better loan conditions and tax benefits. Last week, the judge ruled Trump is liable for fraud and canceled the Trump Organization’s business certification. During court Monday, an accountant who worked on Trump’s tax returns testified as the first witness.

How the Media Covered It: The Washington Times (Lean Right bias) framed coverage around Trump’s claims that the trial was politically motivated. The New York Times (Lean Left bias) reported that the first day of court was “laying the groundwork for a reckoning of the former president’s net worth.”

 

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Yesterday, former Fox News correspondent Tucker Carlson posted a deadly serious interview with constitutional scholar Victor Davis Hanson, and sparks flew. If you tend to get anxious when hearing serious people talk about how deep we all are in the tomato soup, then you might want to skip the video clip, which is on the long side anyway. If so, don’t worry, I have some comments below to give you the gist.


CLIP: Tucker Carlson and Victor Davis Hanson (33:50).

The two men framed their discussion around the first day yesterday in Trump’s trial in the New York “Business Fraud” Case. It was presided over by Judge Engoran, who last week issued a remarkable summary judgment order finding that, as a matter of law, Trump committed fraud by “overstating” the value of his very-difficult-to-estimate real estate properties on financial documents Trump used to obtain bank loans.

Loans that were all paid back, on time, with interest.

Imagine that you wanted to borrow $100 to buy supplies for your MAGA hat stand. I ask, “how’s business?” You say it’s great. Then I give you the $100, and a few days later you pay me back $120, just as agreed. I go away. Now the State of New York comes along and says, hey, when you said business was “great,” it wasn’t really “great,” it was only “okay.” You lied. Now we’re going to take your house.

That’s a simplification, but not an exaggeration. One of our democratic republic’s essential concepts is that the government can’t just take citizens’ property, not without proving a great reason or without paying just compensation. Governments only snatch people’s property and businesses in dystopian communist hellholes like Venezuela or Cuba, where private property always somehow finds its way into some pugnacious dictator’s grasping, bloody hands.



Straight to jail!

Under long-standing New York and common Law, “fraud” is normally found when the state proves four things: (1) the defendant knowingly made a false representation, (2) to a victim who relied on the false representation, (3) the defendant intended the victim to rely on the false representation, and (4) because of that reliance, the victim was injured.

But the State of New York, applying an obscure, patently-unconstitutional statute that’s never been applied this way before, has stripped out all those common-law elements of proof of fraud except for the very first one: the false representation. I guess they had to keep at least one, and they picked the easiest to prove. It’s easiest to prove because all the the judge had to do were some back-of-the-napkin calculations and then say, yep, it was a false representation.

New York has jettisoned the four other fraud elements of: a victim, reliance, intent to deceive, and injury.

Even if the property values were misrepresented on Trump’s financials, whatever that means, by itself that is not fraud, and people should stop calling it that. Trump is being tried for only “lying” or “exaggerating.” And if that’s the standard, Katie bar the door.

In other words, if the government decides Trump lied or exaggerated, he loses. Period, end of story. Welcome to Venezuela, comrade. And no, you can’t also convict Joe Biden for lying. Why not? Because Judge Engoran will just decide Biden didn’t lie, silly. The judge is the gatekeeper who decides who lied and who didn’t.

Yesterday I saw some ignorant commentary from leftists arguing that, maybe there wasn’t a specific victim, but everyone collectively is the “victim,” because Trump’s misrepresentations will inevitably increase everyone else’s loan interest rates, or their insurance premiums, or something. But that’s just woke claptrap, of course, because Trump paid the loans back with interest, causing the banks and insurance companies to be even more profitable, which has the exact opposite effect as the silly leftists claimed.


Liars who they DON’T care about. (Not including the video game player.)

☕️ MS. DIVERSITY ☙ Tuesday, October 3, 2023 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠

Dr. Ryan Cole multiplier; shocking Tucker interview with VDH; more Trump fraud case analysis; SADS homecoming queen; WSJ op-ed rips peer review; Newson finds black lesbian Senator; and much more.

www.coffeeandcovid.com

 

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Letitia James FUMES After Trial Day 3, Accuses Trump of Fomenting Violence, Making Racist Comments (VIDEO)​

On Monday, President Trump said Judge Engoron conceded that the statute of limitations is in effect.

A lawyer for Trump spoke on this: “Based on the judge’s comments at the end of the trial, it would appear that he is agreeing that all the transactions that closed prior to 2014 are now out of the case.”

Trump chimed in: “Which are about 80% of the case.”

Letitia James was humiliated. She accused Trump of fomenting violence and making racist remarks.

“Trump’s comments were offensive. They were baseless. They were void of any facts and or any evidence,” James said to reporters. “What they were, were comments that were unfortunately fomenting violence, comments that I would describe as race-baiting, Comments unfortunately that appeals to the bottom of our humanity.”

“I will not be bullied, and so Mr. Trump is no longer here. The Donald Trump show is over. This was nothing more than a political stunt,” Letitia James said.

President Trump unloaded on crooked Marxist Letitia James and far-left judge Arthur Engoron on Wednesday outside of the courtroom.

“He called me a fraud and he valued Mar-a-Lago at $18 million. And you can’t do that. It’s worth probably 50 to 100 times more than that. And our corrupt attorney general, she’s totally corrupt. She just wanted the publicity to run for governor, and then she failed running for governor,” Trump said on Wednesday.

 

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Fact Check: Is Trump Being Denied a Jury in His New York Civil Trial?​

AllSides Summary​

Donald Trump claimed he is being denied a jury in his $250 million civil fraud trial in New York court. Is this true?

Details: Trump is facing civil fraud charges brought forth by New York Attorney General Letitia James. James alleges that Trump “falsely inflated his net worth to enrich himself and cheat the system.” The case is a bench trial, meaning there is no jury, and the judge— Justice Arthur F. Engoron— controls the proceedings and rules on the case.

Trump’s Claim: On Wednesday, Trump told reporters, “this witch-hunt does not allow me to have a jury,” adding, “I'm not entitled to a jury — because if I had a jury, even though it's in New York and I think I'd do fine with New York — if I had a jury, I would win this case very easily, but I don't have a jury.”

“Checking a Box”: A number of voices and outlets pushed back on Trump’s claim that he was being denied a jury, arguing that Trump’s legal team failed to “check a box” on a court filing requesting a jury. Snopes (Lean Left bias) slightly rebuked these arguments, outlining the legal process of requesting a jury in New York court and determining that it’s true “that the Trump team did not try to assert a right to a jury trial under N.Y. CPLR 4102. It is also true, however, that being awarded a jury trial would have been much more complicated than simply ‘checking a box.’”

 

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"This witch-hunt that's going on, using statute 63(12) — which is a consumer-fraud statute, which may be unconstitutional — doesn't allow me a jury, doesn't allow me anything," Trump told reporters before entering the courtroom on Day 3 of New York Democrat Attorney General Letitia James' $250 million civil trial against him.

"We have a prosecutor, Letitia James, who's incompetent, and what she's doing to our state, forcing companies out by the thousands — people like that are forcing companies out."

Trump and his legal spokeswoman Alina Habba have rebuked media reports claiming the legal team opted out of a jury trial in favor of Justice Arthur Engoron being the judge and jury in the civil case against the former president.

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/donald-trump-witch-hunt-jury/2023/10/04/id/1136948/

 

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ABC News Buries the Most Crucial Part About the Latest Trump Update on His Handling of Classified Info​

The classified document case is a pickle, as the former president didn’t do himself any favors regarding mitigating risk. These are some of the most vicious anti-Trump prosecutors and attorneys working for the Department of Justice. They can and will make any case against him, which is the new rule regarding any Trump-related legal developments: expect the absolute worst. That’s not the case here, for once.

The latest development with Trump and sensitive information involves his conversations with an Australian billionaire, Anthony Pratt, at Mar-a-Lago after he left office, where he told him about the capabilities of our nuclear submarine fleet, which Pratt later spilled to other individuals. Based on the story and its headline, you’d think Trump is about to face another wave of legal hellfire. Nope, it’s a classic buried lede (via ABC News) [emphasis mine]:

[…]
According to Pratt's account, as described by the sources, Pratt told Trump he believed Australia should start buying its submarines from the United States, to which an excited Trump -- "leaning" toward Pratt as if to be discreet -- then told Pratt two pieces of information about U.S. submarines: the supposed exact number of nuclear warheads they routinely carry, and exactly how close they supposedly can get to a Russian submarine without being detected.
[…]
In emails and conversations after meeting with Trump, Pratt described Trump's remarks to at least 45 others, including six journalists, 11 of his company's employees, 10 Australian officials, and three former Australian prime ministers, the sources told ABC News.
[…]
Special counsel Smith did not include any information about Trump's alleged April 2021 conversation with Pratt in his June indictment against Trump, which charged the former president with 40 counts of unlawful retention of national defense information and obstruction-related offenses.

 

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Trump lawyers seek dismissal of DC federal election subversion case, arguing presidential immunity​

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for Donald Trump asked a judge Thursday to dismiss the Washington federal election subversion case against him, arguing the Republican is immune from prosecution for actions they say were taken in his official role as president.

The motion amounts to the most pointed attack yet by defense lawyers on the federal case charging Trump with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. It tees up a fight over the scope of presidential power, forcing courts to wrestle with whether the actions Trump took in his failed bid to remain in office fell within his duties as commander-in-chief or whether they strayed far outside his White House responsibilities and are subject to prosecution.

“Breaking 234 years of precedent, the incumbent administration has charged President Trump for acts that lie not just within the ‘outer perimeter,’ but at the heart of his official responsibilities as President,” the defense motion states. “In doing so, the prosecution does not, and cannot, argue that President Trump’s efforts to ensure election integrity, and to advocate for the same, were outside the scope of his duties.”