https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-exec-notes-doom-fraud-trial-defense-1846112 Donald Trump Executive's Handwritten Notes Could Doom Fraud Trial Defense Nov 22, 2023 at 12:41 PM EST A former Trump Organization executive's handwritten notes on draft financial documents could be detrimental to former President Donald Trump's defense in his civil fraud trial, legal experts told Newsweek. The trial, now in its eighth week, stems from New York Attorney General Letitia James' lawsuit that alleges Trump and executives at his company fraudulently inflated his wealth on his financial statements, which were used to secure loans and insurance. Judge Arthur Engoron, who will decide the verdict in the non-jury trial, has already ruled that Trump and other defendants engaged in fraud. The trial is to decide remaining claims of conspiracy, insurance fraud and falsifying business records. James is seeking more than $250 million in penalties and a ban on Trump doing business in New York. Trump, who is the front-runner in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has denied wrongdoing and characterized the case as a political witch hunt by James, a Democrat. Trump has denied involvement in preparing the annual financial documents, claiming they actually underestimated his net worth and emphasizing that disclaimers on the statements insulated him from liability for discrepancies or misstatements. But on Tuesday, the Trump Organization's former corporate controller, Jeffrey McConney, testified it was his understanding that Trump reviewed the financial statements before they were finalized. Trump earlier testified that he "would see them, and I would maybe, on occasion, have some suggestions," according to the Associated Press. His son, Donald Trump Jr., a Trump Organization executive vice president, testified this month that he signed off on statements as a trustee of his father's trust but left the work to outside accounting firm Mazars USA and the company's then-chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg. On the stand on Tuesday, lawyers for James' office presented McConney with a draft of Trump's net worth statement for 2014 which had a note in blue ink on the first page that said: "DJT TO GET FINAL REVIEW." McConney, who worked at the Trump Organization from 1987 until February, said he had written the note. In a pretrial deposition, Trump said he did not know who had written the note on the 2014 draft document. According to Business Insider, his testimony on Tuesday directly contradicted his testimony a day prior that he would review each year's draft net worth statement with Weisselberg, who would then provide it to Mazars. The firm cut ties with Trump last year. McConney's handwritten notes on documents indicate it was Trump and other top executives who made final edits to the documents. McConney's testimony "will permit Engoron to find that Trump himself approved the financial report," Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University, told Newsweek. "Trump is careful to leave no written or recorded trail of what he knows. That has allowed him to blame errors on others, including employees of his organization and outside accountants, for any unlawful conduct. Even now, we can expect Trump to argue that despite McConney's sentence, in fact he did not see the report." Neama Rahmani, an attorney and former federal prosecutor, told Newsweek that McConney's handwritten notes "impeached his own testimony and contradicted the Trump family argument that the accountants were solely responsible for preparing the financial statements. "Impeaching witnesses with their prior inconsistent statements can be a highly effective strategy, and that is what the Attorney General's Office did with this witness. Despite his bizarre crying, the state made him one of their witnesses." The draft documents with handwritten notes were handed over to the attorney general's office by Mazars, not by the Trump Organization, which could further harm Trump if Engoron draws an adverse inference about why the documents were not turned over as required by state subpoenas. "The defense seems to have goofed here," Gillers said. "It appears to have been unaware that the attorney general had received a copy of McConney's report, with his handwritten sentence, from Mazars. "Now not only can that sentence, along with other evidence, support a finding that Trump personally approved the inflated report, Trump's failure to produce the report with McConney's sentence will also support a finding that the report was withheld in order to avoid the true inference of Trump's knowledge and culpability. When a party to a lawsuit lies or withholds evidence in discovery, the court can find that they did so because the truth would implicate them in wrongdoing." Rahmani said that Engoron may "draw an adverse inference from the Trump Organization's failure to produce to documents in discovery. "That inference or instruction would matter more in a jury trial, though, where a judicial instruction could sway undecided jurors. Here, Engoron is the finder of fact." Newsweek has reached out to a Trump attorney via email for comment.
Trump’s Lawyers Double Down on Attacks on New York Judge’s ‘Partisan’ Clerk in Bid to Spike Gag Order A court security officer observed in a sworn statement that threats against the judge's clerk spike whenever Trump attacks her on social media https://themessenger.com/politics/trump-lawyers-judge-clerk-appeal-spike-gag-order
The plan is to flip the underlings and put the top kingpins in prison for a long time after their trials. Georgia prosecutors oppose plea deals for Trump, Meadows and Giuliani Exclusive: sources say Fulton county prosecutors unwilling to offer deals to key trio, preferring instead to force them to trial https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/28/trump-trial-georgia-no-plea-deal
Trump insists on his free speech "rights" to have psychos and morons send you death threats if he doesn't like you. The Trump Double Standard: Free Speech for Me, Death Threats for You https://factkeepers.com/the-trump-double-standard-free-speech-for-me-death-threats-for-you/
An obvious strategy being employed by Trump has been to openly embrace January 6 terrorists in public, but do everything he can to distance himself from them in court. Let's see if they're intelligent enough to notice. Narrator: They're not. Trump embraces the Jan. 6 rioters on the trail. In court, his lawyers hope to distance him from them https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-trump-jack-smith-doj-trial-1e3b917739a06a9d63227298f5547793
Homeland security is obtuse. Whats wrong with these officials.....They need psychoanalysis The Biden administration’s Department of Homeland Security has had federal air marshals following people for years who flew to Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021, even if they did not go to the Capitol and were never charged with a crime, according to an association representing air marshals. Air marshals were allegedly pulled off of sensitive missions to follow potential conservatives, suggesting that not only was a law enforcement agency politicized, but that people with no involvement in politics might have been placed at risk as a result.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/01/...ential-immunity-january-6-lawsuits/index.html Trump doesn’t have presidential immunity from lawsuits over January 6, appeals court rules By Katelyn Polantz and Holmes Lybrand, CNN 3 minute read Updated 11:18 AM EST, Fri December 1, 2023 Former President Donald Trump isn’t immune from being held accountable in civil lawsuits related to the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot in a long-awaited, consequential decision from the federal appeals court in Washington, DC. The decision, making new law around the presidency, will have significant implications for several cases against Trump in the Washington, DC, federal court related to the 2020 election. The decision arises out of lawsuits brought by Capitol Police officers and Democrats in Congress. The opinion, written by Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan, states that not everything a president does while in office is protected from liability. The president “does not spend every minute of every day exercising official responsibilities,” the opinion said. “And when he acts outside the functions of his office, he does not continue to enjoy immunity. … When he acts in an unofficial, private capacity, he is subject to civil suits like any private citizen.” The decision to allow the January 6 lawsuits against Trump to proceed was unanimous among the three judges on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Greg Katsas concurred with the decision, and Judge Judith Rogers concurred in part. The decision allows three lawsuits against Trump from Capitol police officers and members of Congress who are seeking recovery from emotional distress and physical injury from the attack to move forward. The complaints largely rely on a federal law prohibiting individuals from conspiring to prevent someone from holding federal office. Two of the lawsuits were brought by Democratic House members, while a third was filed by Capitol Police officers. The lawmakers allege that they were threatened by Trump and others as part of a conspiracy to stop the congressional session that would certify the 2020 presidential election on January 6, 2021, according to the complaints. They argue that Trump should bear responsibility for directing the assaults. Trump moved to dismiss the lawsuits against him on several grounds, including presidential immunity, which the DC District Court rejected, saying that the former president’s actions in the lead-up to the riot at the US Capitol riot were all an effort to remain in office and not official functions of his presidency. The district court did find that Trump was protected by presidential immunity from the claim that he failed to stop to the riot, saying that he would be acting in his official presidential powers in that instance. The opinion drew a line between campaign speech a president might make during a reelection and official actions of the presidency. Trump had argued in court he was immune for anything he said while president, but the court found that is not the case – specifying that the January 6 Trump rally that preceded the riot at the Capitol is potentially part of his campaign. Trump still will be able to contest the facts of the case as the lawsuits move forward. The appeals court said Trump also may be able to make more arguments around immunity before the January 6 lawsuits move into extensive evidence-gathering phases. The opinion stated a president running for a second term was acting “as office-seeker, not office-holder” when he was campaigning, such as by attending a private political fundraiser, hiring and firing campaign staff and while speaking in political advertisements and reelection campaign rallies.
Trump's co-defendants in Georgia are now acting just like him and directly threatening witnesses on social media. It's long overdue that they locked the entire crowd up until the trial(s). One of Trump’s Georgia Co-Defendants Threatens to ‘F*** Up’ a Witness’ on Instagram Live https://newrepublic.com/post/177299/trump-co-defendant-trevian-kutti-witness-intimidation Legal expert warns Trump co-defendant may be indicted again for “straight up witness intimidation” Co-defendant Trevian Kutti, a former Kanye West publicist, appeared to threaten ex-election worker Ruby Freeman https://www.salon.com/2023/12/04/le...d-again-for-straight-up-witness-intimidation/