www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-stormy-daniels-michael-cohen-hush-money-evidence-1902377
Donald Trump has no plausible response to Michael Cohen evidence: Attorney
Already SubmittedHe is not getting acquitted in this case imo. It's gonna be guilty or hung jury. Hope to God it's guilty.
I suspect he will be found guilty but receive a sentence that, while well within the sentencing guidelines, will feel like the lightest of wrist slaps to those of us who have been following his bullshit for years and wanting to see some real consequences.
The part I’m hoping a lawyer can explain to me: from what I can tell Cohen was sentenced to jail for his role in this very scheme, not some tangentially related matter. And yet well respected legal analysts have been saying it’s unlikely Trump sees jail time for being the one to order the crime. Is there some legally defensible reason for the discrepancy or is this more of the usual multi-tiered justice system where Trump gets treated with kid gloves?
The part I’m hoping a lawyer can explain to me: from what I can tell Cohen was sentenced to jail for his role in this very scheme, not some tangentially related matter.
You're mistaken. It takes a lot of digging but the lions share of Cohens crime was tax evasion. This Trump crime, opened the door to them investigating his taxes, and he was cheating the government out of millions for years. He essentially spent 13 months in jail for stealing millions of dollars (so he got off light). The crime he's guilty of, essentially over contributing to a campaign, happens surprisingly often, and no one goes to jail for it. It got lumped into the tax evasion plea just for simplicity.
That said. Trump is guilty as sin, he deserves the felony, but a class E felony, first time offender, no violence, no drugs, not a minority (joking but not really), I don't know if I've ever seen someone go to actual jail for that outside of processing and bail. I do wish they wouldn't do probation with little kid gloves, and force him to go through all the real bullshit real people go through on probation.
In a normal world his proven jury intimidation would factor against him and ensure he gets at least some kind of penalty that matters.
Also the stochastic terrorism against the judge and his daughter.
Not a lawyer, in the US or otherwise. Is it normal to adjust sentencing based on "adjacent" crimes/charges? That seems icky to me the same way that omnibus bills lumping together unrelated legislation seem icky.
OJ got the maximum sentence when he robbed that memorabilia store. I don't think anyone has any doubt his previous case influenced that sentencing haha.
Not a lawyer or in the US either, my only real experience is being on trial for weed.
The sentence is up to the judge's discretion, so because I was guilty my lawyer and I did our best to find mitigating factors. Things like this being my first time offense, or that I attended a detox program after getting arrested, and a ptsd diagnosis.
Especially the second one shows remorse and a willingness to be better. So the judge took that into consideration and gave me a lighter sentence.
Showing remorse or promise that the offense won't be repeated is definitely taken into account as a mitigating factor. The purpose of sentencing isn't just to punish but also to deter people from being repeat offenders. But Trump's attacks on the jury and his whole demeanor about the whole thing (claiming it's a political prosecution, etc) show nothing close to remorse. So normally it should negatively affect the sentence he'll get.
Edit: it's also not irrelevant as it pertains to the same case. It's for the same reason that a person flipping off the judge should get a harsher sentence.
Appreciate this response. Part of my intuition says that the handling of a case should be separate from punishment for the crime/charge but for better or worse that's clearly not how it works systemically.
It's basically extenuating circumstances. Generally, if a defendant shows genuine remorse, they get a lighter sentence. Trump has done the exact opposite.
Prior convictions are used when considering sentencing. Usually sentencing guidelines have brackets based on numbers of prior convictions. There can also be enhancements to the sentence (usually bumping you up a felony/misdemeanor class) if the state can prove them, like using a deadly weapon, particularly vulnerable victims, violation of position of trust, etc.
Omnibus bills are usually a good thing because they promote compromise which is one of the most important parts of a democracy in my opinion.
Wait in decrepit waiting room for an appointment and not get seen until 15-20 mins later. Supervised urine drug screens. Prior Court approval for any out of state travel. Immediate revocation petition filed for any violation.
Agreed. No “super secret” Probation. Regular Probation alongside of the commoners he claims to support/represent. It would be a penalty worse than incarceration for a man like him.
I wonder if the drug screening checks for Adderall? Wouldn’t that be funny?
Yes, but if you have a valid prescription for amphetamines, the lab that processes the results won't report it as a failure.
no violence
That he's been convicted of.
no drugs
That he's been convicted of.
Unfortunately not much they can do about abusing legally prescribed drugs
I have represented many clients in drug court who would disagree with you about that.
That’s kind of how this works — they can’t sentence him based on stuff he might have done.
You know there's drugs. I'd be surprised if Trump didn't do cocaine off someone's naval before.
Probably so, especially if they reminded him of Ivanka
I'd be surprised if Trump didn't do cocaine off the ass of a Hillary Clinton blow up doll every morning.
It’s still a huge win. Because this makes other crimes he’s soon to be convicted for, more serious. ie, this is a first time offence, others will not be.
Even if Trump receives a light sentence, if he's convicted in multiple cases it can lead to harsher sentencing in the later cases. A conviction here won't count as prior criminal history until his appeal is finished, but his delay tactics in the other cases could hurt him here.
A conviction here won't count as prior criminal history until his appeal is finished, but his delay tactics in the other cases could hurt him here.
Depends on the timing and the court. He gets a habitual offender status immediately. He can only add an asterisk to that only when the appeals court agrees to take his case. Basically prosecution can say "he was prior convicted but that conviction is waiting to be seen/decided by the appeals court". Of the appeals court refuses to take his case it's over, he's an HO forever.
That was a civil judgment not a criminal one. Trump is a POS, but his criminal record is clean of violent crime (mainly because statute of limitations had passed by the time the Carroll case happened)
Yeah prosecution asked to play that card, but were turned down by the judge. So jury will likely be in the dark on it.
Where did you find a tax charge? His sentencing documents only reference the one crime he pleaded to; lying to congress about tRump tower Moscow.
For reference: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5533265-Michael-Cohen-sentencing-documents
Please share the sentencing document or plea that acknowledges tax violations.
Thanks!
What strange world we live in, where this lifelong criminal is considered a "first-time offender."
I mean he's been busted over and over for stiffing contractors, stealing from his own charity, rape, running a fraudulent university, taking illegal loans from his father, committing fraud in the Trump Org,... the list just goes on and on. According to NYT he's been a tax cheat since age 3.
I haven't even mentioned the stuff we all know he's guilty of, but he hasn't had a trial for yet.
Yeah bizarre how he's escaped criminal prosecution for so long despite the civil rap sheet of a mob boss.
Lol do they make ankle monitors big enough for his cankles?
He's got multiple criminal indictments around the country. That's not your normal "first time offense" situation.
Yes but, the jury will likely be reminded of innocent until proven guilty, and be instructed to act as though those indictments are not a criminal act. Future juries on the hand.
And lets be honest, with any guilty verdict, trump is appealing
First-time offender and convicted rapist...
So, generally, people with a felony conviction can't join the military. Can someone with a felony lead the military as Commander in Chief?
Picture this... Trump picking up rubbish on the completing 500 hrs of community service, broadcast live on Fox.
I don't think he would actually be able to pee in a cup anyway. Too used to the diapers at this point.
Just wring it out. Duh.
I greatly pity the person who will have to, 'wring it out '. There but for the glorious accident of birth, could have been me.
He’d fail his first drug test for sure
Wasn’t the issue that he used election funds for this? It’s not just tax evasion, that’s the felony part right?
Funnily enough I guarantee trump has evaded FAR more taxes than Cohen.
You’re mistaken
Yeah I get that a lot.
We have a legal system, not a justice system. Adjust your expectations accordingly. It’s a crapshoot.
Didn't he just threaten the current President's life at the NRA conference? Any other person would been in jail already for that...
The kid gloves one.
IAAL. Cohen was not found guilty by trial. He took a plea bargain that included jail time.
Guilty and sentenced with a very stern warning to not do it again or next time the warning will be even more stern.
It is a fact that two separate trials can have two separate outcomes. I dont believe that a judge in one case is obligated to sentence a defendent based on the sentence that another judge ordered in a separate but related case. If a strict judge issues a harsh sentence, a lenient judge doesnt have to follow.
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13d
If anything the second sentence should be harsher as it shows a pattern of behavior. You get caught stealing once you get a second chance, second time the gloves come off.
I’m hoping that the litigious nature of trump affects his sentencing. This is not the first time he’s done shady business practices and that should 100% effect his sentencing guidelines.
Time served because he didn’t have fun at court
Here’s the thing, this case in many many instances probably would lead to a fine and a slap on the wrist. Candidates and their campaigns unwittingly commit campaign finance violations pretty frequently, and they pay back the money they weren’t supposed to receive and that’s kinda it. Same with the business fraud, it’s a misdemeanor and it happens more than we probably realize because a business/owner/CFO is going to plead that down and settle that case as quickly as possible to not trigger a full on investigation that may find other stuff.
I feel like Trump has made this worse by not cooperating and denying anything happened.
Candidates and their campaigns unwittingly commit campaign finance violations pretty frequently
That's the difference, though. The prosecution is seeking to prove that this was a willing violation of campaign finance laws.
Trump isn't just in trouble because he didn't cooperate, Trump is in trouble because these violations aren't incidental the way they would be with most companies, they're a standard and integral part of how he does business. In his mind, laws are for suckers. It's why the penalty for his businesses isn't just a fine, it's the complete dissolution of the Trump Organization.
That’s the difference, though. The prosecution is seeking to prove that this was a willing violation of campaign finance laws.
Well, sort of. What prosecutors actually have to prove in this case is that Trump falsified records with the intent to violate either federal campaign finance laws, state campaign finance laws, or tax fraud statutes. They don’t need to prove he actually did violate these latter laws, just that he intended to do so by falsifying the records (or knowingly allowing them to be falsified).
True. But intent is really hard to prove when your company has all the receipts. I could knowingly accept excess contributions, and if I’m caught just say whoopsie, cop to it and return the money. If I’m not caught, just pocket that extra. But if I’m caught and I rail that this was perfectly legal when there’s doubt that it was, which spurs an investigation, which uncovers documentation of said crime, that makes it all way worse and easier to prove intent.
Like Trump could have come out in late 2016, after he won, and said my attorney took it upon himself to fix this problem hoping I would appoint him to some post in the White House. I didn’t agree to the settlement, he did all this on his own. Then reimburse him for the illegal campaign contribution as restitution and pay a little fine. Cohen goes off to prison and Trump skates.
The trump org convictions and the NY massive fraud conviction are part of it
Yeah, it doesn’t help the fact that his businesses have been committing fraud in every location.
Maybe. Maybe this judge after Trump's overall behavior in this trial will use that as a reason to impose a jail sentence of not insignificant length.
If there's no jail time, it will make no difference if he's guilty or not if he's elected.
He's gonna get a $50 fine and 20 minutes of community service
I fucking hate trump, but this is not a case to lock someone away and throw away the key.
Trump hiding this information from voters in an attempt to influence the 2016 election before they drank the Koolaid led into the shit we had to deal with Trump and the current environment. Election interference 100% deserves jail.
I think we're really underestimating how satisfying some non-jail alternatives could be. Trump in a highvis vest picking up trash along a highway sounds good to me. Ankle monitor would be nice. You know... common people shit.
We don’t want a life sentence, we want at least a week or two of orange jumpsuits, no makeup, and mugshots. He doesn’t need to get locked up for a long time, he needs to appear weak and helpless and appear to suffer consequences and not be above the law. .
Yea!! I wanna see that “ PERP WALK” photo on front page newspaper‼️🤨🤨
Hell, I want the video
No. It's a case to throw them in jail for the next 2-4 years if you run all 34 sentences concurrently.
I think he was sent to jail for perjury
Never charged with perjury, lying guilty to congress yes..
Going into the light range of sentences is still an injustice because he didn’t just pay hush money, but he did so to influence the election for PRESIDENT OF THE GODDAMN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA which should add weight to the crime.
Ohhhh..... I would love to have an answer for this as well!
The judge worried me when they said they didn't want to put an American president in jail when the contempt warnings were issued. Like wtf happened to the blindfold of justice?!?
They don’t wanna be the one that sentences Trump to face jail time, probably because they know/expect his followers would stalk/harass/harm/kill them or their family, better to let someone else become a martyr. Line of thinking probably follows across the board for most/all of them.
I listened to an interview that suggested that only about 10% of people convicted for this crime actually get jail time for similar falsified business document charges.
It has to do with whether the defendant lied on the stand, or if they’ve been a general pain in the ass. The defense HAS refused to stipulate anything in the trial, forcing the prosecution to submit every paper trail into evidence and confirm its authenticity. Annoying.
Hopefully annoying enough.
It's a probationary offense, and typically you aren't sentenced to any prison time of you plead guilty. If you go to trial and are found guilty, then often you're going to receive the maximum penalty for taking up the court's time and resources. Trump's temper tantrums aren't helping to keep his ass out of jail either.
In the US legal system, guilt or innocence does of one party does not reflect on the guilt or innocence of another party.
"Guilt by association" is not a thing... except in Fascist or some Socialist countries.
Is there some legally defensible reason for the discrepancy or is this more of the usual multi-tiered justice system where Trump gets treated with kid gloves?
That’s not really what’s happening but kind of. You’ll notice that every time they mention Michael Cohen, they always make sure to include that he went to jail in part because of this scheme. He did a lot of other tax stuff that he pled guilty too.
But another reason he saw jail and Trump probably won’t is because Michael Cohen didn’t have millions of dollars to keep throwing at lawyers to keep making motions and appeals in perpetuity. So in that it is a two tiered justice system.
So the same charges that Trump has usually only result in prison around 10% of the time in that district... That said, I feel like falsifying business records IN ATTEMPT TO INFLUENCE AN ELECTION should be grounds to put this in that 10%.
I’m ok with a slap on the wrist in this case as long as he is convicted.
I want him to be a convicted felon going into the more serious trials.
Judge like "500 million dollar fine"
DT "I can't pay that"
Judge "ok how about uhh tree fitty"
Agreed but I do think a hung jury isn't as likely as many think
From what I gather the defense didn't really do much beyond "oi cohens a shitheel"
And that wasn’t news to anyone
Can we assume the jury acts rationally? Does it even matter what the defense says at all if there’s that one MAGA holdout?
Voir Dire is supposed to screen out the crazies. And even if you have a diehard Trump supporter, there was one of those on the Carroll jury who voted against Trump.
I wonder how much of the "myth and grandure" of trump goes away when seeing him snooze in person
Yup, exactly. In the late 2000s, I was a juror on a first degree murder trial. It was 11 votes for acquittal, 1 for guilty, and the holdout just simply refused to budge. When everyone ganged up on them out of frustration, the holdout only dug in deeper. We were a hung jury, then later I learned from a public defender that there were two more hung juries for this murder before the charges were finally dropped.
Juries are supposed to be impartial and fair, but juries are full of people, and people can be mystifying.
Juries are supposed to be impartial and fair, but juries are full of people, and people can be mystifying.
That's just it. People aren't impartial and fair. People run on emotions not logic. That's why kids all love art class and hate math.
Can we also assume that the defense isn't engaging in every kind of ratfucking imaginable, including paying off jury members, or promising to?
The hung-jury angle is that at least one person on the Jury isn't going to be willing to put Trump the person in prison.
"I like the defendant" can happen with normal folks, but could doubly happen with an ex-president with a cult following.
I know but they have alternates don't they in case someone goes "yea I think he's neat"?
You can't remove someone from a Jury who says "from the evidence, I think this was a witch-hunt".
It's the Jury's right/responsibility to deny evidence or decide whether the prosecutor is operating in good faith.
If a hardcore MAGAT makes it to the jury, the jury's gonna hang.
No but if they're very clearly biased wouldn't an alternative show up? I'm not a lawyer so Idk but let's be real
A hardcore Trump cultists probably won't be able to be subtle about it. If they even got on
The jury selection process is supposed to be where they winnow out the "very clearly biased" jurors.
Alternates are for if one of the jury gets sick or injured or otherwise is unable to continue their duties, not for one of the jury holding out on the opposite side of the rest.
“Look at what he tweeted!!! I rest my case. 😤”
Hung Jury allows him to be charged again!
But it also delays his deserved “guilty” verdict before the elections, which may be the reason he wins again. Remember everyone, vote if you want to keep him from becoming our first dictator.
Even if he's convicted the punishment probably won't be severe. But I'm hoping that the label "convicted felon" will be a political death knell.
Personally, i think it will be a partial verdict. They'll convict him on some but not all charges.
will it be guilty with jail time? that's what I doubt it will be. just a fine that he will get his minions to pay for him
I’m banking on his lawyers believing there is a high chance of jail time and hit panic mode,decide to get Trump to put on the senile, frail old man act which makes him unelectable as the Republican candidate.
I’m banking on his lawyers believing there is a high chance of jail time and hit panic mode
Why would they bank on that? The historical precedent is that he won't serve any jail time for these offenses if convicted.
After the judge said he doesnt want to jail the former president at his 10th fine for contempt I'm convinced he'll be found guilty and left with a fine. Probably something his base would fund him like 100m and nothing further comes of it. It certainly won't swing any votes either way.
There is a good chance that a maga cult member got onto the jury and will vote not guilty no matter what. As usual, the so called justice system has no way to deal with people who simply opt to ignore the traditions that underlie the process.
It'll either be guilty, slap on the wrist, move on to the campaign coverage as normal.
Or it'll be hung jury, everyone expresses frustration for a day, and move on to the campaign coverage as normal.
Or acquitted, everyone is shocked (but it's just one more thing, so whatever), and move on to the campaign coverage as normal.
Still enjoying it, though.,
100% hung jury.
He'll then parade around saying he was found innocent.
My worry is jury nullification. I haven't seen how the jury has responded to evidence or the attorneys, but I can imagine a scenario where they acknowledge Trump broke the law, but don't see the law itself as important to uphold. With how things have been going lately, it just feels like the saving grace he could use.
Otherwise, if he is convicted, he'll get house arrest or probation, I'm thinking. Somewhat of a punishment, but not enough to conceivably affect the results of the election.
Well.."Nuh-uh neener neener" has been working pretty well for him so far.
Ahhh, the "neener-neener" defense. Professors warned us of it in law school. It's nearly as hard to overcome as the " Chewbacca " defense.
But using the "Chewbacca defense" inappropriately is a Wookie mistake.
And ewokes are care bears who lost their powers and are on a very bad trip
Yeah, why would he need a plausible response? Implausible ones have been doing just fine.
There is a lot of precedent that’s been set in Rubber v. Glue that they have employed elsewhere to great success.
His response is to fall asleep and shit in court. His cult love it.
There was LITERALLY a time not that long ago when we would have used this as a comically exaggerated example of how far gone his cult is.
We’d have said “he could shit his pants in court and they’d love him even more for it”.
Well, here we are.
They’re wearing diapers in support of him. It’s literally insane.
Meanwhile shitting on Biden for being ...checks notes... 4 years older
I made this joke around 2020 and backtracked it thinking it was too rediculous.
I remember when a “latte salute” and “tan suit” were big crisis for the country in how our leadership was “unpresidential” according to Fox News. Somehow their base doesn’t understand how much the orange turd lowered the bar.
The ‘squelch’ when he sits must be vomit inducing.
They love naps and diapers because they are, in essence, toddlers
Been working for 8 years
If the facts are in your favor, argue the facts
If the law is in your favor, argue the law.
If nothing is in your favor, burn down the country to stay out of jail.
DJT defense strategy.
If nothing is in your favor, fall asleep and shit your pants.
The only defense they have is the “he is a disgruntled former employee out to get my client with a history of lying on the stand”. Unfortunately for them, the prosecution has done a great job corroborating everything he has testified to with other evidence so unless their jury tampering works, I don’t think they will be successful.
The confusing thing is, Cohen was already convicted and served jail time for the same crime.
What is there to think about in this case?
Cohen went to jail for lying to Congress in an effort to help trump. If trump is found guilty, it will be because the jury found that he illegally used campaign finances to pay off a porn star to be quiet and tried to cover it up.
Incorrect.
MICHAEL COHEN was sentenced today to three years in prison for tax evasion, making false statements to a federally insured bank, and campaign finance violations.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/michael-cohen-sentenced-3-years-prison
Can we both be correct? My point was that collectively, the charges weren’t the same crime. Thanks for the clarification.
You’re making the impression that Cohen only went to jail for lying to Congress. However, he did serve jail time for the exact same thing (among other things) that Trump’s trial is about. That’s why I felt the need to correct you.
If you want to be pedantic about it (which apparently you do), they are not being tried for the same thing. Cohen was tried and found guilty of three *federal* offenses in relation to this payment: tax evasion and false financial statements; excessive campaign contributions; and violation of Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971. Trump is being charged under *NY state law* with falsifying business records, which, among other things, violates NY state election laws about influencing elections. These are not the same thing. If Cohen had filed his taxes correctly, Trump still could have falsified his own business records, and vice versa. They each chose to commit a different crime to individually cover up their role in this transaction.
The point Wa…whatever is trying to make I think is more that Cohen mostly went to jail for tax evasion, not campaign finance violations, so to connect Cohen’s 13-month sentence with what “Trump deserves for the same crime” is wildly inaccurate
And this is wrong as well. The case in court is a falsifying corporate documents case but the +1 to a felony was in furtherance of another crime(influencing an election). So this is not his campaign, this is his company... Again... Accused to be skirting the law by classifying reimbursement payments as legal fees.
ya’ll remember the mountain of evidence against OJ right?
And the lady who spoke out after OJ just died, who said they voted to acquit out of spite for the LAPD
We knew that at the time. The LAPD had been racist shitheads for a long time, and this was seen as an opportunity to stick it to them for a change.
Yup. If anything, it just shows yet another reason why police departments need to fire openly racist cops rather than supporting them. When the police do their job wrong, it doesn’t just hurt the innocent, it can also help the guilty.
When the police have no credibility you can't count on a jury believing any evidence they gather.
That is even worse when they have evidence in front of them that suggests some of the work was faked for the specific case in question.
In a way it's the same problem we see with say Thomas, alito, or even canon: their presence taints all the rulings they make because they are clearly unfit. How can you trust a process or a system when it is not only makes mistakes but it makes decisions based on whatever political narrative or expedience, regardless of evidence.
So agree
There was a ton of evidence against the officers who beat the crap out of Rodney King and got off scott free, that was relevant to the verdict of the OJ trial.
It'sbasically the opposite here, DJT is hated in New York, and white people aren'tbeing beaten on camera by the cops causing a riot.
...with confirmed mishandling of evidence, and the detective who built most of the case had both opportunity to plant evidence and was definitely especially racist.
And the hardest part to swallow is that there was a potentially stronger suspect (OJ's son). Prosecution knew about him, and assumed if the son did it then OJ must have been involved. Now I don't buy into the PI who claims to have the knife and who claims to have proof the son did it, but the narrative that he did it never was fully debunked.
I dunno about you, but I watched the OJ trial live in school and we dissected the fuck out of it and debated it as it was happening.
I think OJ likely did it, but the OJ case was a clear "reasonable doubt" case. The only thing that "should" have convicted him was his skin color and the natural racism of jurors, and fortunately for him his fame approximately counteracted that.
Nobody knew what DNA evidence at the time.
He doesn’t need one. His followers worship him. He’s the American hitler. I can only hope he will see justice, but I’ll be as surprised as happy if it happens.
Call me a naive optimist, but I still believe a large number of MAGAts can be demagafied, in the same way most nazis were denazified.
A lot of them snapped out of it after the election denial, then more snapped out of it after J6.
If Trump gets sent to prison now, he will go down as a martyr of political oppression amongst his current supporters.
But if he gets found guilty, gets favorable treatment and stays out of prison, loses the election, gets found guilty of inciting J6, gets found guilty of stealing nuclear secrets, gets found guilty of selling secrets to Russia gets sent to prison at a time when election interference is not an excuse .... THEN the sheer string of losses and humiliation just might make a difference.
Trump going to prison would be great. But putting an end to that ideology is the real prize.
Since when has plausability been a consideration of Trump or his supporters?
What sort of jail time, if any, would Trump be facing?
Trump isn't going to jail, the most he'll get will be a fine if he's found guilty. I have absolutely no faith in our justice system.
Black man here... welcome to our World.
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13d
NAL- Durring the E carol jean lawsuit, he was found to have committed the rape. He is therefore 'known' to the NY courts to have committed a violent felony (even if he wasnt convicted or found guilty due to statute of limitations). NY sentencing guidlines refer to offenses / offenders, not convictions /convicted felons, so it may be in Judge Merchan's purview to consider him a violent offender due to the ecarrol jean ruling.
The speculation makes this more stressful.
I don’t think he’ll do jail time because he was POTUS.
IF he isn’t on the ballot and receives any kind of punishment, it will be house arrest at a golf course.
There are adults parading around in gold diapers in support of this ignorant, senile, con artist rapist.
I hope I am 100% wrong.
There is no justice.
He'll just get the judges he's corrupted to cover him with some questionable legal bs while the Republicons lie about him..Hes the John Gotti of American Politics.Just remember they eventually got Gotti.
Cohen isn't even the best the prosecution has. Trump tweeted that he was reimbursing him. There is also the financial statement which lists it as a reimbursement. There is so much evidence that the jury has no choice but to find him guilty.
Maybe a signed bible?
Never stopped them before
Trump's entire defense against Cohen is that Cohen was caught lying as an agent of Trump.
When has a lawyer done something that got them disbarred and put in jail and ended their career as an attorney and it WASNT at the direct request of their client.
Avenatti
If plausibility was a deal breaker we wouldn’t have had Trump in the first place
However, he has no shortage of implausible responses.
The primary weakness in the case is that they have to prove Trump was aware the reimbursement to Cohen was being fraudulently made under cover of legal fees for the campaign. Those payments were not made by Cohen but by Weisselberg who is currently in prison for perjury and is not likely to be a friendly witness for the prosecution. The defense will likely claim that Trump wasn’t aware of the details of the reimbursement and the case hinges on that knowledge.
He signed every check. Hard for the defense to plead ignorance.
Bingo!!!
Trump’s aware of the reimbursements. He signed all of the checks to Cohen himself with a Sharpie pen. Multiple witnesses testified Trump was the only singer of checks even after he was in the White House. Also, final reimbursement check was made payable to Cohen from Trump’s personal bank account and signed by Trump with black Sharpie pen! Trump’s executive assistant of 30+ years testified to this in the stand. Trump looked up and smiled each time she stated he signed checks with a Sharpie pen!
Didn't that lady who cried while testifying already testify Trump verbally confirmed he wanted it done before the election?
Yes
I think that the conviction of trump org for business and tax fraud plus the NY massive fraud conviction are related to this case
Even if hes found guilty and sentenced I feel like he's going to do like Bannon and be allowed to appeal any jail time for a year and a half.
It is a criminal case, he doesn't need one. The Prosecution has to make the case.
It's like Newsweek does not even know the basics of the legal system.
What's the minimum and maximum sentencing for this. I imagine he will get one year probation. But community service would be really funny
The cult wont care
Trump himself has admitted that he has no case in his projection rants where he blatantly attempts to project how insanely weak his defenses are onto the opposition. Trump has no case, he is a fraud, his business acumen was always a hoax propped up with fraud and propaganda. Much if not all that he accuses tends to be his own sins. Really, a narcissist lives in a world of 1 where nobody else actually exists as anything other than a meatbox with levers to manipulate.
This brings up a central weakness with conservatives due to their careless and lazy voters which worsened post-2000 as the wildly successful R initiative to legalize bribery in campaign finance distorted them as much if not more than the Dems. Like Putin in appraising Ukraine, they and their increasingly extremist partisan media are free of a critical electorate and thus they invent the enemy they want to fight in their heads in an evidence-free echo chamber of bias circle jerking. Then, when they apply their approach for the magical enemy that never existed, the enemy on the ground generally stomps them into a bloody pulp. They absolutely cannot figure out how stupid it is to fail to study anything objectively in their blind desire to hate the enemy. Then, rather than reform (say to make bribery illegal again), they project their own inadequacies onto the enemy so they don’t have to do any heavy lifting. It never actually worked, but they just keep rinsing and repeating. There is no pressure from R voters on anti-corruption at all with congress staffs telling me their voters can’t even pronounce the phrase ‘campaign finance reform’ to their great delight.
What happens if he's found guilty? What if any punishment will he face. What will it take for this guy to go to prison?
This sub whenever this trial ends:
"HE CaNt KEEp GeTtInG AwAY wiTH ThIS!!!!"
lmao. the salt must flow.
FYI, I can have an attorney say whatever I want them to say.
Still waiting on this orange jackass to take the stand, but we all know he won’t.
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That was clear the moment the judge had to ask Trump’s lawyer “why are you making this about you?” in cross.
“Don’t listen to him! He’s a criminal and a liar!”
“Yeah, and according to all of these other witnesses and recordings, I was lying and committing crimes with your client.”
Since when is Donald Trump been stopped by not having a plausible response for anything?
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