NY: Convicted Felon Donald Trump!

[emailking]

Regarding Trump 💨, best to eat light the night before and morning of when you're going to be around a lot of people you can't get away from all day. I learned this strategy many years ago. He should implement that!

[Florida Man for Crime]

Do anyone else think that Bragg is leaving a much stronger case on the table by concentrating on this election interference stuff?

The basic facts of this case are that Trump falsified business records to cover up affairs.  In order for the falsification to be a felony, it needs to be in furtherance of another crime.  So to do this, Bragg for some reason thinks he needs to think of some convoluted way in which the hush money payments constitute election interference or campaign finance violations.  This part of the case has always struck me as incredibly weak.

But he shouldn't need to do this.
Adultery in New York is a crime.  If you are falsifying records to cover up an affair, it can be prosecuted as a felony because the affair itself in the underlying crime.
Trump might not be guilty of adultery with Stormy Daniels, because my impression was the affair was not conducted in New York.  But he almost certainly did commit adultery in New York with Karen McDougal.

So why not concentrate this case on the payments to McDougal to cover up the crime of adultery, and just leave out any feeble connection to election interference?

I know the adultery law in New York might not be popular, but an unbiased jury would be expected to uphold the law whether they like it or not, and this seems like an ironclad case if judged by the letter of the law.

Interesting, I hadn't heard that adultery is supposedly a crime. If it is, that is obviously unconstitutional under the Supreme Court's precedent (Griswold, Obergefell etc).

So the problem with convicting Trump on that basis is it would be easy for SCOTUS to overturn on appeal.

Though given that the Supreme Court is dominated by Conservatives, it would be an interesting/difficult case for them insofar as their ideology would be conflicting with their hackery.

The additional problem is it quite possible for a jury (or even just a single juror) to potential do jury nullification on that basis.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

If anyone posts video of that again or anything like it, they’ll receive a five day mute from this board, no ifs, ands, or buts.  This is your first and last warning!

[Florida Man for Crime]

The guy who lit himself on fire according to the NYPD press conference is "Maxwell Azarrello" from St Augustine FL.

Quick search shows someone with the same name filed a lawsuit against the Clinton foundation etc

https://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/new-york/nysdce/1:2023cv03197/597363/5

ORDER: On May 10, 2023, the Court directed Plaintiff to show cause, by filing a written declaration, why this case should not be dismissed for lack of standing and lack of subject matter jurisdiction. (ECF No. 4.) Plaintiff was warned that if Pl aintiff failed to submit a declaration within 30 days, or if the declaration did not show that Plaintiff has standing to sue and that the Court has subject matter jurisdiction of this action, the complaint would be dismissed. (Id.) Plaintiff has f ailed to file any communication. Accordingly, in light of Plaintiff's failure to respond to the Court's Order, this case is DISMISSED without prejudice. The Clerk is directed to close the case. SO ORDERED. (Signed by Judge J. Paul Oetken on 10/26/2023) (tg)

And also was a defendent in a case in Florida:

https://unicourt.com/case/fl-sjr-caseez8a8d43979b29-185570

On 08/28/2023 STATE OF FLORIDA filed an Other - Other Criminal lawsuit against AZZARELLO, MAXWELL CROSBY. This case was filed in St. Johns County Courts, Richard O. Watson Judicial Center located in St. Johns, Florida. The Judge overseeing this case is BLOCKER, LAUREN P. The case status is Disposed - Other Disposed.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

While he was walking into the courtroom Trump was asked about Taylor Swift's new secret double album and he did not respond. Boo.

You could not produce a better distillation of 2024 if you tried.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Very cool that multiple people are setting themselves on fire in public now because TikTok, Fox News, etc told them to. First that pro-Hamas lunatic a few months ago, now this MAGA nut job.

not exactly a MAGA nutjob:

https://twitter.com/harrylitman/status/1781391397658247654

Trump & Biden working together.. where I have heard that recently?

Johnson is a decent person it's sad that the uniparty was able to hijack him. They even got Trump to cave on the issue.

nbg

[Neo-Malthusian Misanthrope]

While he was walking into the courtroom Trump was asked about Taylor Swift's new secret double album and he did not respond. Boo.

If the guy who lit himself on fire cited this as the inciting incident, I would understand completely. The fact that somebody is asking Trump about Taylor goddamn Swift, I mean, not the lack of response. That's the most reasonable thing Trump has done in some 30 years.

[GM Team Member and Deputy PPT WB]

The sign found where the guy burned himself

what a loon

[brucejoel99]

They’re apparently holding a Sandoval hearing. If the judge rules they can’t bring in prior bad acts, will they basically have to exclude Trump’s entire life?

Update:

https://twitter.com/klasfeldreports/status/1780674978834256116
https://twitter.com/klasfeldreports/status/1780678364849750437

https://twitter.com/harrylitman/status/1781387385932218383

https://twitter.com/tylermcbrien/status/1781410058653360436https://twitter.com/tylermcbrien/status/1781410522417582315

[emailking]

^ Bruce, what do those posts mean?

[brucejoel99]

^ Bruce, what do those posts mean?

Arguing over what prior history Trump can & can't be talked & asked about if he decides to testify.

[emailking]

Oh it's one of the frivolous lawsuits Trump filed.

[emailking]

Judge has made it official btw that Opening Statements are on Monday morning!

[brucejoel99]

https://twitter.com/klasfeldreports/status/1781420884919722319https://twitter.com/tylermcbrien/status/1781423224426811501https://twitter.com/klasfeldreports/status/1781425980478787665

[emailking]

Prosecution agreed to give defense the name of the first witness, for attorneys' eyes only, and if gets out ahead of time they won't extend the courtesy again.

[2016]

This Trial is a complete charade here. It should have never happened!

[brucejoel99]

https://twitter.com/jose_pagliery/status/1781456208236351833

[Landslide Lyndon]

Just look at this moron.

https://twitter.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/1781289431527231936

[Yoda]

Are they gonna be sequestered. I imagine they will be

Especially given the fire issue, I hope so.

That is a clear signal not to mess around or take any chances with this, if there was any doubt before.

I strongly disagree that jury duty should essentially be turned into a jail sentence and you can simply justify it by saying it's for their own protection simply b/c some psycho set himself on fire. From what I saw on the news the jurors are being escorted by police, which seems enough to me. Sequestration is no small thing, especially if you have a family. Give them plenty of police protection, and address any and all security concerns they have, absolutely.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Just look at this moron.

https://twitter.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/1781289431527231936

Yeah, black men are thrown in prison due to a systemic problem of them misappropriating money and fraudulently paying off a porn star they had a tryst with. They also have the luxury of being out on bail and having muliple non-court appointed professional lawyers working for them. Not to mention glowering at the judge and jury, insulting them on a social media platform they own, and having press conferences after every day in court.

[Joe Republic]

I don't want to be a whiny bitch or anything, but back in 2017 I was summoned for jury duty and the voir dire selection process alone took just over two weeks, for a boring-ass pharmaceutical malpractice civil case.  Meanwhile, jury selection for a criminal case against a former POTUS takes half that time?!

[brucejoel99]

I don't want to be a whiny bitch or anything, but back in 2017 I was summoned for jury duty and the voir dire selection process alone took just over two weeks, for a boring-ass pharmaceutical malpractice civil case.  Meanwhile, jury selection for a criminal case against a former POTUS takes half that time?!

this Merchan guy ain't f**king around

[ProgressiveModerate]

Haven’t seen this mentioned but apparently juror 2 is an investment banker with no kids who gets their news from X and Truth Social, and many conservatives seem to believe he’ll be their savior from what I’ve seen on Twitter. However there are of course also some who believe he’s a leftist plant playing 4D chess or something.

Given the lawyers on both sides have access to the media consumption of the jurors, it is curious why the prosecution didn’t try to strike him - they have more information than we do though and maybe have reason to believe he’d be an impartial juror.

For someone who’s more legally aware, if Trump is legally entitled to a jury of his peers, should that mean we should want a jury that looks like Manhattan or a jury that looks like the country? I’d assume the former -even if this case is nationally covered precedent generally is a jury of peers in the jurisdiction where the alleged crime took place from my understanding but I’m not 100% sure.

It’s also my understanding that both sides only have ability to strike down jurors and remove them from the possible pool and not add new jurors until they get an  “ideal jury” and also the numbers of strikes are limited. Given how left leaning Manhattan is, that means the prosecution needs to use their strikes more carefully since you’re going to have more left-leaning hacks than right-leaning hacks. However, it only takes one full MAGA person to create a hung jury so the prosecution needs to be careful, whereas the defense can afford to have some seemingly unfavorable jurors.

[emailking]

I don't think that guy is necessarily Maga. He said he also follows Cohen on X who roasts Trump all the time (but he's only doing it in case there's anything that might move the markets). And he said he hasn't seen any evidence in this case. But he also follows right wingers for the same reason and has read quotes from Art of the Deal. So who knows. But ok suppose there's 11 people who want to convict and he thinks there's evidence to convict and he wants to be a holdout because Trump. That's a difficult position to be in. A true believer might hang on but probably not someone who just leans right and didn't even know the details of this case beforehand.

[Florida Man for Crime]

I don't think that guy is necessarily Maga. He said he also follows Cohen on X who roasts Trump all the time (but he's only doing it in case there's anything that might move the markets). And he said he hasn't seen any evidence in this case. But he also follows right wingers for the same reason and has read quotes from Art of the Deal. So who knows. But ok suppose there's 11 people who want to convict and he thinks there's evidence to convict and he wants to be a holdout because Trump. That's a difficult position to be in. A true believer might hang on but probably not someone who just leans right and didn't even know the details of this case beforehand.

In addition, he said he listed to "Mueller she wrote" podcast, and pays close attention to Israel/Ukraine news.

Mueller she wrote in particular is not something that any Trump cultist would ever listen to, and is also not something you would listen to at all if all you care about is quick breaking news that moves markets quickly.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/16/jury-trump-hush-money-trial/

    This juror said he follows former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen on Twitter. Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and confidant, arranged the hush money payment to Daniels in 2016 and is expected to be a key witness in the case.
    He said he also follows former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway on Twitter, as well as other figures on the right and left. The juror, an investment banker, said he did so because of his work in finance.
    “Anything that might move the markets, I might need to know about,” the juror said.
    During questioning by Trump’s defense team, he said Trump had done some good for the country. “It’s ambivalent. It goes both ways,” he said.
    He said he has listened to “Mueller She Wrote,” a podcast about the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, and consumes news about Ukraine and Israel. He told the court he hadn’t read “The Art of the Deal,” Trump’s book on business strategy, but had seen quotes from it.
    He lives in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood.