NY: Convicted Felon Donald Trump!

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

This reminds me of how QAnon would keep setting up dates that they "calculated" based on Q info that Trump would order the mass arrests while he was in office or the dates that he supposedly would be reinstated and returned to power afterwards. After all of those ended up obviously false Q communities now actually frown on "date fagging" because of exactly this.

It's possible Trump might get indicted here and plenty of other cases as well. But predicting exact dates like this is a fool's errand.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

HOLY. SH!T.

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https://twitter.com/krassenstein/status/1641555308739739648?s=19

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https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/status/1641570852381523974?s=19

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Of course this is this guy's take:

https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1641878846654824449?s=19

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They're not saying it's delayed because he was President. He could have been charged under the law. It's a 5 year statue of limitations on felonies in New York. The last payment to Cohen was in late 2017 but the bookkeeping for it was in 2018 which starts the 5 year clock.

Technically yes but it is a DOJ opinion that you cannot charge a sitting President with a crime, period, and states have followed along with that. (YES, even if they are say, driving at 200 mph and crashing into 30 different cars, you cannot)

So the argument is the clock actually started on January 20, 2021.

No, that's not how it works. The DOJ controls all federal indictments so as long as it states that a sitting President can not be indicted then no federal indictment of one can occur, but it doesn't control state policy. It'd be different if there was blatant constitutional or statutorial language stating this or a clear case law precedent, but there isn't. It's just DOJ policy and isn't binding on anything but federal.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

All 34 of the charges are felonies.....wow.

To be fair all that really means is Trump made 34 transactions, and there was an underlying crime he was trying to cover up. It's not really possible for some to be misdemeanors and some to be felonies since there was either a covered up crime or not.

What I'm interested in is what the underlying crime was. Having an affair isn't a crime, so it's likely campaign finance violations or some other type of tax fraud (some have pointed out that if Trump tried to declare some of the payoffs to Cohen as tax deductible that would be tax fraud.) Some have also speculated there was blackmail of some type to Stormy Daniels also going on that was being covered up.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

https://twitter.com/krassenstein/status/1643323775293726720?s=19

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Almost all indictments in this country are political in one way or another, Trump's not least of all, because prosecutors are elected, often partisan, politicians who run on platforms promising to indict or not indict specific categories of suspects or even specific categories of crimes. You'd think that the cavalcade of recent high-profile examples of this being abused would lead to some calls to change this, but apparently not.

No.  Just no.

Okay, almost all indictments in parts of the country where DA races are high-profile ideological barn-burners.

Okay, with that far reaching caveat, probably/generally.

The initial lack of the caveat is on me; I overestimated how much of the country has that dynamic in DA races (which is a bit embarrassing, frankly, because, as you probably know, I've proudly lived most of my life in the sorts of periurban-to-rural areas that tend not to). Thanks for the pushback.

This reminds me of the fact that while "collecting" Facebook friends from my current church I was a bit disappointed to see that the current and final board chair and her husband were vocal supporters of the more conservative candidate for Hennepin County Attorney (slightly because I'm not really a huge fan of the more progressive candidate who beat her and is the current incumbent even though I did vote for her) although upon some deep diving this appears to be mostly just because she lives in their neighborhood and they've known her personally for a couple years (they live in one of the gentrified pockets of north Minneapolis which is actually a pretty logical and fitting place for a black woman who grew up on the north side and is now a judge to live so it makes sense) and were only vocal on those grounds, otherwise not much political content at all aside from generic stuff about how terrible Trump was for the country and expressing shock and horror at January 6.

But what's especially interesting about that race is seeing how many suburban and exurban Republicans voted for the progressive candidate...apparently a white lesbian to them was still preferable to a straight black woman who campaigned on being tough on crime, lol. So an ideological race but not really a typical ideological breakdown in the results. If you had shown me the results without knowing anything about the candidates I would be perplexed trying to figure out how one candidate won the hipster parts of Minneapolis and the Republican exurbs while the other candidate won the black areas of Minneapolis and the affluent and Democratic suburbs.

Arguably even weirder was the race for Dakota County Attorney where the more progressive candidate was a former DFL State Senator and mayor of one of the more Republican cities in the county who narrowly lost to his law enforcement and outgoing legal establishment-backed opponent who said nothing about her partisan affiliation or her ideology or plans in general aside from "I've prosecuted criminals", but his strongholds was his former district and city where he was a popular mayor, along with the progressive stronghold of the part of Northfield in the district. But he lost the most Democratic areas in the north. A map without knowing who the candidates are would make you think he was the conservative in the race unless you know about the Northfield precinct and then be absolutely puzzled figuring out how he carried that one.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Even CNN calling out the Trump-hating judge

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/06/politics/judge-merchan-trump-biden-contribution/index.html


The Judge overseeing Trump’s case has donated money to ActBlue, the Progressive Turnout Project, Stop Republicans PAC and to Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign.

Why would the Supreme Court of New York assign this case to such a biased person?

That’s not to mention his daughter who worked for Kamala Harris

Do you believe judge Aileen Cannon should've recused herself?

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Now the judge is a jackass because of the donation? I should have learned my lesson after what you said about the DA.

The guy broke the American Bar Association Model Code of Judicial Conduct. We are counting on him to make decisions about people’s freedoms in Manhattan Supreme Court, and he is breaking his oath by donating to politics campaigns when he isn’t supposed to do. He is a jackass because he is supposed to be held at a higher standard, given the grave importance of his occupation

I think shoving a judge's nomination through in your home federal district in the lame duck session just so you can rely on her to make slanted rulings in your favor is a much bigger betrayal of public trust than a $15 donation.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Also to add to the above Judge Aileen Cannon is a registered Republican and donated $100 to Ron DeSantis' 2018 campaign. So her bias is quite a bit more obvious than the judge in this case.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Trump was indicted and we don't have any hearing until December...what else is there to talk about?

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Does anyone else think that they’re purposefully dragging this out so it has a bigger impact on the 2024 primary/general?

If Trump wanted to speed it up, he could.

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LOCK! HIM! UP!

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https://twitter.com/krassenstein/status/1666972279182327809

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NBC just played Trump's video response he posted on Truth Social.

It's a load of total malarkey!

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

FAMILY GUY TRIGGER WARNING:

(Scene: The Griffin family is sitting in their living room, watching the news on TV. The headline reads: "Trump Indicted for Classified Documents")

Lois: (Gasps) Oh my goodness! Did you hear that, Peter? Trump was indicted for illegally holding onto classified documents!

Peter: (Chuckles) Well, Lois, I guess you could say he's got a "Trump" card up his sleeve, huh?

(Just then, a cutaway gag begins, transporting the Griffins to a South Florida courtroom.)

Judge: (Bangs gavel) Order in the court! We are here today to address the charges against Donald J. Trump for unlawfully retaining classified documents.

(Trump, wearing a suit and his signature red tie, stands in front of the judge, surrounded by lawyers.)

Stewie: (Wide-eyed) Oh, dear. It looks like the big man himself is in quite the pickle.

Peter: (Grinning) Yeah, and we're here to see it all unfold! (He holds up a bucket of popcorn.)

Meg: (Rolls her eyes) Dad, this is a serious matter!

Peter: (Nonchalantly) Eh, let's just enjoy the show, Meg. We're in a courtroom, it's like dinner theater but with less dinner and more judges.

(As the trial proceeds, the cutaway shifts to various comedic moments.)

Cutaway 1:

Brian: (Disguised as a lawyer) Your Honor, I would like to present Exhibit A: a tweet by Mr. Trump that says, "Just had a tremendous lunch with my good friend Classified. Great guy, really knows how to keep a secret!"

Judge: (Raises an eyebrow) Mr. Trump, care to explain?

Trump: (Smirking) Your Honor, I was merely being sarcastic. Everyone knows I'm tremendous at sarcasm.

Cutaway 2:

(Chris is seen pretending to be a secret agent, stealthily sneaking into Trump's house.)

Chris: (Whispering) This is Operation Document Retrieval. I repeat, Operation Document Retrieval.

(Peter bursts through the door, dressed as an FBI agent, holding a box of documents.)

Peter: (Excitedly) Got 'em, Chris! Now we just need to find the nearest shredder!

(They both proceed to run through the house, tripping over furniture in a slapstick manner.)

Cutaway 3:

(Meg walks into a room where Trump is surrounded by stacks of papers.)

Meg: Mr. Trump, the world needs to know what's in those documents!

Trump: (Smirking) You want to know? I'll tell you, Meg. It's a secret recipe for the best spray tan in the world!

Meg: (Rolls her eyes) That's not classified, Mr. Trump. That's just embarrassing.

(The courtroom cutaway ends, and the Griffins are back in their living room.)

Stewie: Well, I suppose that was an eventful trip to the courtroom, wasn't it?

Peter: Yeah, but you know what they say, Stewie: truth is stranger than fiction, especially on TV!

(They all laugh as the scene fades out.)

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

[Beavis and Butthead are sitting on their couch, watching TV. The news anchor is reporting on the recent developments regarding Donald Trump.]

News Anchor: Breaking news, folks! Former President Donald Trump has been indicted for alleged mishandling of classified documents. The charges claim that he unlawfully held onto sensitive information during his tenure. This has sparked a major legal battle that could have serious consequences for Trump's future.

Butthead: Hehehe, Trump is like, a dumbass. He probably thought "classified" meant, like, a new flavor of nachos or something, huh huh.

Beavis: Yeah, he's such a buttmunch. I bet he was just keeping those documents to draw, like, dumb pictures of himself with a mustache, huh huh.

Butthead: Yeah, like that time he drew on his passport photo, hehehe. Trump's probably gonna try to bribe someone to get out of this mess. That's what rich guys do, right?

Beavis: Yeah, like, give 'em a bunch of money and they'll do whatever you want. Butthead, we should become rich so we can, like, bribe people too!

Butthead: Yeah, Beavis, we'll have all the nachos we want! We'll be like, "Hey, Mr. President, we'll give you a million dollars if you put us in charge of, like, fire or something."

Beavis: Fire! Hehehe, yeah! And then we can, like, watch stuff burn and say, "Fire! Fire!" That would be cool.

Butthead: Yeah, and everyone will be like, "Whoa, Beavis and Butthead are like, the fire kings!" Huh huh.

[Beavis and Butthead laugh hysterically, imagining themselves as powerful and wealthy individuals.]

Beavis: We should call Trump's lawyer, huh huh. Maybe he can teach us how to become rich and bribe people.

Butthead: Yeah, but let's make sure we don't accidentally call the plumber again. Remember what happened last time? We had poop water all over the place. Huh huh.

Beavis: Oh yeah, that sucked. Let's just stick to watching dumb stuff on TV and laughing at people like Trump. Hehehe.

[Beavis and Butthead continue to watch TV, giggling as they make fun of various news segments. Their plan for wealth and power forgotten, they find entertainment in their usual mischief and stupidity.]

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The territory covered by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida voted Biden 55.42% - Trump 43.80%.

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we need a mugshot

Federal ones are not publicly released.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Again, who is pressuring Biden to pardon Trump? The only people I'm seeing seriously raise this are Geraldo Rivera, a washed up has-been media personality now seeking contrarian attention as grift, infamous contrarian morons like Greenwald/Tracey/et. al. and some left Twitter types who have no real reason besides DOJ BAD or that Trump did nothing wrong because the Espionage Act is bad/unconstitutional and besides giving away military secrets of the imperialist neoliberal military industrial complex isn't bad anyway yet we all know would turn on Biden immediately if he did so regardless...and since when does Biden have any reason to care one iota about any of those people?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

This thread is for the NY indictments, if you want to post about the federal indictments we have a thread for that.

Should probably change the title then (and also remove the "BREAKING")

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Not exactly, it says that he'll get their names (which is still way more than he should get), but not personal details, only the lawyers will. And if Trump reveals any he'll no longer have access and probably get some serious extra charges on top of that. Trump still shouldn't have access to even the names but this isn't that big of a security breach, especially considering the consequences if any names and especially personal details get disseminated.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I'm quite certain that states do not have the authority to ban flights from other states, that would violate hordes of Constitutional provisions and precedents on interstate commerce, not to mention that airports and flights are governed by the FAA, a federal agency.