Throughout the trial the prosecution refused to outline the underlying crime that President Trump was guilty of violating.
Without telling the defendant what crime they committed, the defense did not know what point of specific law to refute. Then, in the closing arguments by the prosecution, the Manhattan District Attorney finally stated the crime that frames their case against President Trump. A federal campaign violation.
This context of surprise attack LAWFARE is egregious in the extreme because throughout the trial the court refused to permit testimony from expert defense witnesses, including testimony from the Federal Election Commission, that federal campaign violations never took place.
The court previously said the defendant is not being charged with federal campaign violations because this is a state case; ergo no FEC testimony is valid. Then in the closing arguments, the state says the underlying case which frames the state prosecution are FEC violations of law.
Jonathan Turley writes an op-ed in The Hill sharing the extreme nature of the judicial breach that has taken place. This is unmitigated Lawfare in the extreme and the American people can see it clearly.
(Via The Hill) – […] going into the deliberations, the court allowed the jury to be told repeatedly that there were federal campaign violations committed by Trump. That is not true. Putting aside that the federal government found no basis to impose a civil fine, let alone bring a criminal charge, the court barred a legal expert who could have shown that no such violation occurred. The jury does not know that. Instead, the judge allowed them to be repeatedly told a false fact that could make it difficult for anyone to acquit.
However, the instructions then went in for the kill and turned the jury deliberations into a canned hunt.
Consider just a few highlights from the curious aspects of these deliberations.
First, the judge has ruled that the jury does not have to agree on what actually occurred in the case. Merchan ruled that the government had vaguely referenced three possible crimes that constitute the “unlawful means” used to influence the election: a federal election violation, the falsification of business records, and a tax violation. The jurors were told that they could split on what occurred, with four jurors accepting each of the three possible crimes in a 4-4-4 split. The court would still consider that a unanimous verdict so long as they agree that it was in furtherance of some crime. (READ MORE)
The judge refused to give the jury a written copy of the 55-pages of juror instructions because the corrupt judge wants the jury to keep coming back to him for guidance. The judge wants to coach the jury to their guilty conclusion. [SEE INSTRUCTIONS HERE]
Additionally, the judge is doing everything possible to make jury deliberations extend as long as possible in order to create the impression of guilt which assists the lawfare narrative. Everything happening in this courtroom is corrupt and a bastardized abuse of the courts, ie Lawfare.
LAWFARE: Acting Justice Merchan is requiring Trump to remain in the courthouse while the jury deliberates. There is no reason he couldn’t wait at his home – no reason other than to punish him. pic.twitter.com/qScGMIy69G
— @amuse (@amuse) May 30, 2024
Trump’s defense was not told what the underlying charge was that makes this case a felony until after they rested.
Megyn Kelly is on fire about this miscarriage of justice.
Credit: @MegynKellyShow pic.twitter.com/YDMsPe6nYC— Big Fish (@BigFish3000) May 29, 2024
They are incrementing the outrage so by the time the election rolls around we will be at peak outrage. Then what is just one more outrage by stealing the election if everything else they did was just met by flabbergasted tweets.
There are two lawyers on the jury. If they were doing their job of informing the other jurors of the key points of law, there would have been no need to ask multiple times for the jury instructions to be reread. The way I see it is that those two lawyers are fake attorneys who just want to convict Trump. IMO the ones who asked for the instructions to be reread were those who were looking at an acquittal and were receiving pushback from the others who already made up their minds and weren’t interested in anything those who had reasonable doubts had to say about the lack of evidence.
As an example of my opinion, one of notes sent to the judge had to do with Cohen’s testimony.
Merchan’s jury instructions included that, if Cohen lied on any material point, the jury should feel free to disregard the entirety of his testimony.
If a juror believed that Cohen lied, then the case falls apart and that juror would be within his/her rights to call for an acquittal based on a lack of evidence.
They were NY leftist judges who were there to follow the judge’s instructions to the preordained conclusion, to be the authority figures that weak minded jurors would follow and give a patina of right decision in the aftermath. Law and evidence were not a part of their function on the jury.
I’m not sure how the Republican Party survives this, to be honest. It consistently allows the Dems to use the law enforcement process to target its members. At some point party members have to ditch this hollow shell and establish an actual opposition party which defends its own people from this corrupt process.
If Trump is convicted and taken off the ballot I can see the GOP getting wiped out in November.
Any total BS ” conviction ” would last about 30 seconds on appeal. It will have zero legal implications for allowing PDT on the ballots and will only serve to make him wildly more popular
Our plan, millions of us are going to write his name on the ballot regardless. He’s my President for life, the federal down ballot can go to hell.
Local votes with close scrutiny is where we save our country. Being able to meet, see, and hear candidates up close is quite useful. I’ve been to meet and greets plenty and was not at all impressed.
I went to two Trump rallies, and am still impressed more and more everyday.
The republican’t party establishment knows that they cannot stop PDJT from winning.
The only way they can stop him is to give the HoR & Senate to the communist demoncraps. Then he will impeached & removed in week #1 if he is seated at all. Same goes for his running mate.
They’re okay with that.
I don’t think so. The Dems (and especially the DS) need to continue the ruse that a two-party system exists in this country. Many of us know that’s a damn lie. IOW, the Dems need the Republican Party to remain in existence no matter how impotent they become. And of course the GOPe will go along with the plan.
I agree with Unconstrained Analytics attorney Stephen Coughlin that we should dump the term “Deep State.”
A more precise name is “anti-State.”
Everything it does is in the service of burying our Constitutional Republic once and for all.
I would argue that the Anti-State members rival the American traitor Benedict Arnold.
And it’s time to start playing the funeral dirge for the not-so-GOP.
The judge did not let President Trump’s lawyers even discuss the law. He said, “That’s my job!”
Strangest case I have ever heard.
Some good news for our President: “A New York state appeals court said Donald Trump can sue his niece Mary Trump for giving the New York Times information for its Pulitzer Prize-winning 2018 probe into his finances and his alleged effort to avoid taxes.”
What a putz, she’s going to have to blow all the money she made selling out her family (out of jealousy) on lawyers.
“Tax evasion” is illegal, “tax avoidance” is a national pastime.
It does not matter if a conviction is reversible. The goal is to make him a convicted Felon before the Republican Convention. The GOPe will balk at nominating a convicted felon, no matter how specious.
Ans so WE will balk at ever giving the GOPe another dime much less another vote FOR ANY CANDIDATE THEY PROP UP.
As far as I’m concerned the felons are in Congress, every last one of the GOPe who lifted not one finger to roll back the evil and unConstitutional edicts put forth by the Leftists “across their aisle” for these many decades now.
Am I surprised not a one of them was speaking up publicly, decrying the sham legal treatment being meted out to Trump.
??
NO.
Au Contraire, Mi Amigo. MAGA republicans will not balk at voting for DJT; however, RINOs definitely will balk, but they would have anyway.
Fox News reports Verdict has been reached..
They’re late. That was a foregone conclusion.
Lawfare:
The ham sandwich is guilty because it cannot defend itself.
Trust God. Fear not.
Without the judge letting the Lawfare interpretation of statutes into the courtroom, there would have been no conviction. They needed the right judge and the right venue. They had that with the Letitia James litigation, with the Alvin “The Chipmunk” Bragg’s trial, and they have it with Judge Chutkan and Washington DC with the January 6th case. The only one lacking judge and venue is the classified documents case, so the whole gang wants Aileen Cannon’s head on a post.
What is not receiving attention are the choices of prosecutors in all of these cases. Not one is exceedingly competent. If I wanted someone to handle the corrupt prosecution of a major political figure, the last prosecutor I would choose would be JACK (“Zero-for-Three”) SMITH. Trump would call Smith a “Stone Loser.” Three major political cases, and TWO of them were DEMOCRATS, and Jack blows all three, including Bob Menendez, presently under indictment for similar behaviors involved in Smith’s indictment years ago, the indictment that led to an acquittal of Menendez. Missing Menendez is like not being able to hit a whale with a bass fiddle.
Look at the hot mess Fani Willis is. There isn’t any vote fraud in Fulton County, but Fani posted a Tweet on election night after the “leaking water pipes” story broke that indicated Fani thought some fraudulent activity could be going on as a result of the “water pipe story.” What more needs to be said? McAfee threw out six of her indictment counts already, and the case is wobbling and stalled in the muck of the Immunity motion now before the Supreme Court.
Who, and why were these prosecutors chosen. No one was looking for sure convictions by picking them.
The judges haven’t been too swift, either. There’s Juan “Look-At-Me-Commit-Reversible Errors” Marchan. That is not a conviction that will survive appellate scrutiny, so we know, or at least can reasonably suspect, a lengthy jail term was NOT the motive of that show trial. Engoron, who couldn’t read a real estate appraisal if it was in braille, is another fakir. None of these legal actions are intended to be KNOCK OUT blows against Trump. They are flea bites and gnat stings, so I don’t know what their motive REALLY is for sure.
NYC Jury has reached a verdict on … … … itself.
Everyone should call their congressman and senator and ask them why they aren’t speaking out about this persecution of President Trump.
The NY jury has reached a verdict.
Remember this day, May 30th, 2024 as it will mark the end of the former United States of America.
God help us all
The bigger the circus, the bigger the eventual crash & the more actual votes PDJT will get. Without campaigning.
The people are not 🙈🙉 or dumb & if we hate anything, it’s liars, cheats & thieves in & out of gubmint.
PDJT should file civil lawsuits against NYC, the state of NY, the DoJ & the fblie & every participant personally.
(Note: Here I go again, I’m Kane’s (CFP) disfavored warmonger with violent delusions of grandeur. I’m also pretty verbose and yeah, maybe a little arrogant, but no one’s perfect.)
America, the USA, was unique among countries at its inception, and through to the end of the 20th century. It was unique for many reasons, but chief among those, was its Constitution, which included a bill of particulars of citizen’s rights reserved from the government, called the “Bill of Rights”. It is the BofR which “Lawfare” attacks and when successful, invalidates and destroys. Equal justice under the law, becomes an impossible concept.
We all KNOW what the “Rule of Lawfare” looks like. We are seeing it every day. The Trump trials (all of them) illustrate it, as do the lawfare driven prosecutions against common innocents, from young military combat veterans to elderly grandmothers.
However, Lawfare is a bludgeon, a tool, not the alternative to the rule of law. It could perhaps be its antithesis. Once that tool has done its job, what’s the logical alternative to the rule of law? It’s not socialist America, nor corporate-run America. It could be an oligarchy, perhaps, if free men submit to it. If not, the only alternative is a violent, bloody, thoroughly hot civil war.
I’ll refer readers to a scene of the movie “The Untouchables”, with Sean Connery’s portrayal of the old Irish cop Malone,
speaking with a young lawyer and Federal prosecutor, Elliot Ness, portrayed by Kevin Costner. Ness discusses the problem of a corrupt police force and justice system. Malone patiently listens, but finally puts the question to Ness, “WHAT are you prepared to do about it?” It turns out, at that point, not much. Ness is committed to the rule of law. Ness BELIEVES in the rule of law. When Malone eventually assassinated by the Chicago mob, as he lay dying in Ness’s arms, he repeats again. “WHAT ARE YOU PREPARED TO DO ABOUT IT?”
That’s where we are now, folks. We are a lawful people pushed to this point. We all KNOW that if they stole the 2020 election, that 2024 will likely be no different. Oh, they may or may not be successful, but they’ve demonstrated with
the DOJ/FBI/DHS/CIA’s acts, the J6 trials, Trump’s trials, Navarro’s imprisonment, the government controlled or influenced media censorship, that they’ll murder, imprison, financially ruin, and/or personally destroy anyone (and
their families) who attempts to stop them. And the “they” includes not just the Democrats, but 95% of the elected GOP. What’s frustrating listening to conservative and MAGA podcasts and reading commentary, is that like Elliot Ness, all that is happening is a recital of the issues and problems that we are all well aware of. What are we prepared to do about it? Do more politics? Go to jail? Suffer capital punishment at the hands of a “no knock” 3AM FBI wakeup call?
What are we prepared to do, in terms of THINGS THAT MATTER? The ruling oligarchy or NEOCON corporate conglomeration is lawless. Therefore, a peaceful and lawful transition of power is impossible. As long as “lawfare” owns justice in America, and the D.C. oligarchy owns the guns and badges, you WILL lose. Future elections will never solve the problem of past stolen elections.
So, again, what are we prepared to do about all of that? My guess is, nothing much at the moment, because we aren’t the men of substance that founded this country. That’s temporary, though. With just the right catalyst, we won’t have a choice, because the civil war will come to us.
I guess this is Lawfare’s only chance for success this year. They’ve made a hash of MAL and the Atlanta fiasco, and although this one is just as putrid, they’ve managed to slime their way to jury deliberations. They get smoked on appeal of course. The almighty Lawfare has done nothing but help Trump, imo.
Cost him lots of money and anguish, mind you. I hope this jury does the right thing, as this likely would cripple Lawfare this year.
I bet the deliberation chamber is bugged by an insider to inform the judge on holdouts and ‘troublesome’ issues.
This will backfire for the Democrats. As President Trump has repeatedly said,”they are coming after you and I am just in their way.” Any rational American can see this a flagrant, deliberate and miscarriage of justice.
I’m not so confident. Remember, the RINOs are still out there plotting. Uniparty got a big win today.
No. The fact that throughout this most recent, brazen outrage the GOPe part of the Uniparty sat on its hands means that at some point it will be hoist on its own petard.
I leave it to God to design the means and the time.
I think most Americans will not be able to comprehend how egregious the judge’s actions were. How can a judge introduce new criminal charges (federal election law) after a trial has been completed? The prosecution did not present any evidence of election law violations and the defense were not allowed to present as their witness an expert on election law.
After the verdict was read this is what Trump’s defense lawyer stated in court:
Inner City Press
@innercitypress
·
28m
Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche: “We move for a judgment of acquittal. There is no way this jury could have reached a verdict without relying on Michael Cohen – he lied, in this case. He cannot be used to convict President Trump
Justice Merchan: I’m sure you misspoke”
As expected Judge Merchan quickly denied the request for acquittal.
Why didn’t Trump’s defense lawyer state instead to the judge: “We move for a judgment of acquittal because your honor introduced a new charge against my client – a charge of election law violations which was never in the indictment and for which the prosecution presented no evidence. My client did not have the opportunity to defend himself on these new charges that your honor slipped in after the trial was over. This is a gross violation of my client’s most fundamental 5th Amendment rights and a gross example of judicial misconduct on the part of your honor”
I agree that most truly have no conception whatsoever … and that is exactly why Merchan declined to have the trial televised; he certainly wouldn’t want his obvious bias and efforts to push the jury into a conviction to be made public.
This is criminal, treasonous, illegal, unconstitutional, and why do WE let it happen to us?! Why? We can say No.
I’m ready. When our militia is ready , so am I…
Some believe that this is part of all the theater keeping American citizens preoccupied while the main backbone of the Plan is executing:
Drag the US into war, where it will be forced to capitulate due to hollowed out industry and weakened military, leading to a totalitarian vassal state with a “restructured” sovereign debt used to control it under “multi-polar global governance’.
There is no other plausible explanation for insanity like this:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/denmark-says-ukraine-can-strike-targets-inside-russia-danish-supplied-f-16s
But a kangeroo court issuing a sham ruling against Trump, roundly condemned as patently ridiculous, certain to be overturned on appeal, trivial compared to a global war? What else could this be but theater?
This witch hunt sham trial is a complete violation of President Donald Trump’s due process of law.
Title 18 section 242. The State of New York is in violation of substantive due process of law. This is beyond ludicrous!!
Sean Davis has been lighting up X, and he is exactly right.
No. Quarter. Given.
Lawfare uses the CONCEPT of “Novel Legal Theories” to attempt some of the courtroom maneuvers the Lawfare group concoct, and then recruit others to employ in legal actions from grand jury hearings to actual trials. Now, those on the left, like the Lawfare people, use “Novel Legal Theories,” but so have people on the right as we saw during the Electoral Vote Count of 2021 which helped cause a lot of this mess. Most Novel Legal Theories are what I call “Dead End” or “No Outlet” theories. There is no tie between the Constitution, and any related statutes, and the Novel Legal Theory. The lack of any such tie to documented LAW is what results in the “Dead End” in their arguments.
One of the first of these “Dead Ends” I discerned was in defense of the John Eastman Novel Legal Theory about the Electoral Vote Count and VP Pence’s alleged authority to make unilateral decisions about what Electoral Votes can be counted and which cannot be counted. When I asked for citations from the Constitution and/or the Electoral Count Act to support such an authority, I received such answers (including from a noted Twitter defender of Eastman’s theories) as “SUBSTANTIVE AUTHORITY.” When I again asked for citations offering support for the existence of such “substantive authority,” I received NO REPLY AT ALL, which gave rise to my notion of a “DEAD END” theory. The discussion ends with that term, “substantive authority,” which is a DEAD END. This should be considered a dead giveaway that the theory is not anchored to any existing part of the Constitution or any existing statute.
This is the same problem with LAWFARE’S dominant behavior of using NOVEL APPLICATIONS of existing statutes, which I have complained about many times in here and on Twitter (X). They actually used the SARBANES-OXLEY statute, at one point, in the January 6th prosecution of Donald Trump. On Twitter, I warned Anti-Trump people, prior to the indictment of the former President for actions taken during the Electoral Vote Count on 1/6/2021, that criminal prosecution may be impossible because there are no criminal elements in the Electoral Count Act. Most remedies under that statute would have to be Constitutional and/or civil litigations, not criminal prosecutions. The Anti-Trump people were sure that the federal criminal code could have some statutes that were applicable. If Smith’s choices are indicative of that, no, there aren’t any that come close, but when they are used in a prosecution anyway, the elastic nature of “Lawfare Reasoning” is applied so that even 18 USC 241, which was really the first ANTI-TERRORISM law passed by Congress against the KKK, was used when Trump could not have violated ONE ELEMENT of the statute. Sarbanes-Oxley had nothing to do with the Electoral Vote Count, either. Ask how these are applicable, and the answers are similar to “Substantive Authority” that I got when asking for proof of Mr. Eastman’s Novel Legal Theories. NO OUTLET.