Trump Indicted by Manhattan District Attorney

[Frelga]

Meanwhile, Russian TV is gleefully airing AI generated images of Trump on trial.



Note the stylish orange suit rather than a prison jumpsuit.

[RoseMorninStar]

And still the red tie...

[Sunsilver]

Although calling him a star is a stretch, it was just a cameo.

Well, he's a narcissist - of COURSE he was the star!

Oh, and the best one I saw on FB today was this: "I understand he's going to be tried as an adult."

[RoseMorninStar]

I cannot help but wonder what many Russians really think.. how it would be to have a leader held accountable/answerable to crimes.

[N.E. Brigand]

Jenna Ellis, who was one of Donald Trump's lawyers during the 2020 election, is publicly encouraging Trump not to travel to New York to surrender for arraignment but instead to take Florida governor Ron DeSantis up on his offer to defy the constitution and block any request by New York to extradite the former president.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Will he even be back there by then?

[Frelga]

This is an actual quote from an actual NYT article. I want to know in what world we don't want the answer to be yes?

20230402_203430.jpg (139.18 KiB) Viewed 4504 times

[Voronwë the Faithful]

To be specific, that isn't from an article in the New York Times, it is from a NY Times "guest essay" in its opinion section by someone named "Ankush Khardori".

Of course, the Times did give this person the platform.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Ryan Goodman and his colleagues at JustSecurity eviscerate the argument that the "intent to defraud" element of the falsifying business records statute would not apply here.

[River]

As of now we know Trump has been indicted following an investigation into his business practices and hush money payments. We don't, however, know anything specific about the indictment other than there is at least one charge. This leaves me wondering why so many people have been so reckless as to even comment and so many others have been so reckless as to take the commentary seriously. At this point, I'm kinda hoping there's something really, incredibly juicy is announced on Tuesday. Something inexcusable. Something that will make every single individual or group that tried to downplay the whole affair as a political with hunt look like a complete and utter tool. I probably won't get my wish, but hey, a girl can dream, right?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Probably not with this indictment, but there are 3 more to go!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

This is too funny.

[RoseMorninStar]

The Freudian slip of all Freudian slips.

[N.E. Brigand]

Here's a nice little roundup of what conservative commentators said in 2011 when former Democratic 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards (who also ran for the presidency in 2008) was indicted on six counts for using campaign funds to cover up his extramarital affair with Rielle Hunter, with whom he had secretly fathered a child. A jury later found Edwards not guilty on one count and hung on the other five counts, and the Department of Justice opted not to pursue a second trial. But at the time the charges were announced, Republican pundits were sure Edwards was guilty. Sean Hannity, for example, said "The facts are that he broke campaign finance laws and that he lied to cover it up."

(This totally cuts both ways: Democrats should be prepared for the possibility that Trump will be acquitted.)

[N.E. Brigand]

Hungary's president, Viktor Orban, today urged Donald Trump to "keep on fighting."

[N.E. Brigand]

I think Marcy Wheeler is correct to say that Donald Trump is using the media to provide him with footage that he can use in campaign ads and fundraising pitches. On the other hand, journalists do have to cover the story, but they ought to acknowledge what he's doing. I think Jennfer Mercieca has a good suggestion about one step the media could take to push back against Trump's attempts to use them: refer to him as "the defendant," as in "The defendant traveled in a motorcade, the defendant boarded the plane, the defendant wore handcuffs, the defendant held a news conference."

Rolling Stone reports that the timing and public nature is largely of Trump's choosing and meant to guarantee him the spectacle he wants. One source says "It’s kind of a Jesus Christ thing. He is saying, 'I’m absorbing all this pain from all around from everywhere so you don’t have to. If they can do this to me, they can do this to you.'" ("You" presumably means everyone who illegally uses campaign funds to cover up payments to porn stars.) Per the same reporting, Trump won't be handcuffed tomorrow because the "Secret Service said absolutely not, no cuffs, no way." How much say should the Secret Service have? And looking into the future: if Donald Trump is eventually convicted to a crime that requires a jail sentence, how will that work?

[N.E. Brigand]

At Yahoo News, Michael Isikoff reports that "Donald Trump will be placed under arrest on Tuesday and informed that he has been charged with 34 felony counts for falsification of business records, according to a source who has been briefed on the procedures for the arraignment of the former president." But he won't be handcuffed or even have a mug shot. These are Class E felonies, which theoretically could result in four years' imprisonment, but "no one gets jail time for that as a first offender."

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[Sunsilver]

"no one gets jail time for that as a first offender."

No one gets jail time for that as a first offender the first time they are caught.

There. Fixed it.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

More good debunking by Ryan Goodman.