Charges

[ousdahl]

omg did you guys see the photo of the encounter between Stormy and Trump?

[jfish26]

#sorrynotsorry

This is too, too good: (Because, Fuck that traitor!)

Stormy Daniels, the adult-film actress at the center of Donald Trump’s hush money trial, testified Tuesday about a disturbing sexual encounter she says she had with him, leading to angry, profane muttering from the former president that alarmed the judge.

New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan called Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche to a sidebar during a midday break to say that Trump was “cursing audibly” and possibly intimidating Daniels, who had begun testifying, according to a trial transcript.

“I understand that your client is upset at this point,” Merchan said to the defense attorney, according to the transcript, “but he is cursing audibly and he is shaking his head visually and that’s contemptuous. It has the potential to intimidate the witness and the jury can see that.”

Blanche assured the judge he would speak to Trump.

“I am speaking to you here at the bench because I don’t want to embarrass him,” Merchan said. “You need to speak to him. I won’t tolerate that.”

The exchange punctuated a day of rage — sometimes whispered from the defense table, sometimes declared loudly by Daniels from the witness stand.

[...]

Watching CNN painfully (but on-type) bothsides the fuck out of this yesterday was disheartening. Leaning into the nonsense motion for mistrial, saying the prosecution erred in letting this become a spectacle, etc...

It is very important for the prosecution to show the jury precisely what was covered up (because the what informs the why, which informs the who and the when and the how, which is where the statutory crimes are).

Bigger picture, it will be vitally important for the prosecution to artfully bring jurors back to the lay of the land at the relevant time. All of this took place BEFORE the right side of our politics had been fully captured.

Hiding this story mattered, which makes falsifying records to hide the hiding, criminal.

[Shirley]

Trump has obviously told his attorneys to go after Stormy in today's cross, but damn, she is doing a fantastic job of holding her own, and I don't think as of yet, they've managed to land a glove.

The fact that Trump has to sit there and helplessly behave himself, must be tearing him apart, and makes me wish more than ever this was televised.

[jfish26]

Trump has obviously told his attorneys to go after Stormy in today's cross, but damn, she is doing a fantastic job of holding her own, and I don't think as of yet, they've managed to land a glove.

The fact that Trump has to sit there and helplessly behave himself, must be tearing him apart, and makes me wish more than ever this was televised.

One subtle brilliance on the prosecution's side, that has been shown too consistently to simply be good fortune, is in its strategic cadence.

The prosecution has done a masterful job syncing up its plan of attack with the court's schedule (off Wednesdays and weekends).

A good example of this is exposing Stormy to cross for a limited time on Tuesday, such that you have an entire day (and the information elicited on the first part of cross) to plan for the rest of cross (and your re-direct) and help her get her sea legs.

[Shirley]

Trump has obviously told his attorneys to go after Stormy in today's cross, but damn, she is doing a fantastic job of holding her own, and I don't think as of yet, they've managed to land a glove.

The fact that Trump has to sit there and helplessly behave himself, must be tearing him apart, and makes me wish more than ever this was televised.

One subtle brilliance on the prosecution's side, that has been shown too consistently to simply be good fortune, is in its strategic cadence.

The prosecution has done a masterful job syncing up its plan of attack with the court's schedule (off Wednesdays and weekends).

A good example of this is exposing Stormy to cross for a limited time on Tuesday, such that you have an entire day (and the information elicited on the first part of cross) to plan for the rest of cross (and your re-direct) and help her get her sea legs.

According to the talking heads, she has appeared to be more confident today.

[Shirley]

Darn! The people don't plan to call Karen McDougall as a witness.

I want my money back!

[jfish26]

Darn! The people don't plan to call Karen McDougall as a witness.

I want my money back!

I think this is a smart way to win back any portion of the jury that was turned off (stop it, MICH) by the Stormy stuff.

[Shirley]

Darn! The people don't plan to call Karen McDougall as a witness.

I want my money back!

I think this is a smart way to win back any portion of the jury that was turned off (stop it, MICH) by the Stormy stuff.

And?

She's the former playmate of the year





dammit!


That being said, you're right, she adds nothing to the case at this point.

[Sparko]

I did want to hear about how he paid for her abortion. Legal expense?

[jhawks99]

I'm guessing it's not a good thing when your defense attorney refers to you as "the orange turd".

[Shirley]

Everyone knows Trump is a coward, and this will never happen:

[jfish26]

Trump’s team’s cross of Cohen is NOT going well…for them.

[twocoach]

Cohen has pretty much pushed this over the "beyond a reasonable doubt" threshold for anyone not just blindly supporting Trump.

[jfish26]

Cohen has pretty much pushed this over the "beyond a reasonable doubt" threshold for anyone not just blindly supporting Trump.

I expected the prosecution to want to call one witness AFTER Cohen, to turn the temperature down a little bit and refocus the messy picture down to a simple fact pattern.

But that was because I did not expect Cohen to hold up as well as he has, so far anyway. I think the defense thought it would be able to bait Cohen into "breaking." However, from the accounts I've read, Cohen took a much more straightforward and disarming approach: he admitted his wrongs AND his biases.

But by making him go last, the prosecution made it so that a juror does not NEED to trust what he says - but what he says corroborates what was said by other, much more trustworthy, witnesses.

I'm very curious to see what the defense will do once the prosecution rests. The smart thing to do would be to stop the bleeding, let the case get to the jury and hope there's at least one MAGA holdout there.

But can Trump stomach - can his enormous ego even CONCEIVE of the possibility of - his team NOT being combative and fighty and self-righteous?

[DeletedUser]

Cohen has pretty much pushed this over the "beyond a reasonable doubt" threshold for anyone not just blindly supporting Trump.

The question is, will it matter?

[jfish26]

Cohen has pretty much pushed this over the "beyond a reasonable doubt" threshold for anyone not just blindly supporting Trump.

The question is, will it matter?

In what sense?

[jfish26]

I also think the defense made a massive mistake with the jury by having Trump's political bootlickers not just attend trial, but make a show of themselves by coming in late.

The defense's BEST argument was that the prosecution was making a spectacle of things.

[DeletedUser]

Cohen has pretty much pushed this over the "beyond a reasonable doubt" threshold for anyone not just blindly supporting Trump.

The question is, will it matter?

In what sense?

Even if he's convicted, will he actually get jail time? Seems unlikely. Will it hurt his chances to beat Biden? Maybe a little, but he's still leading Biden in many of the polls. Trump has a legit shot at winning if Biden is his opponent.

[jfish26]

The question is, will it matter?

In what sense?

Even if he's convicted, will he actually get jail time? Seems unlikely. Will it hurt his chances to beat Biden? Maybe a little, but he's still leading Biden in many of the polls. Trump has a legit shot at winning if Biden is his opponent.

All fair points. But I think they discount the impact of a conviction, on the electorate, the messaging machines and the candidate. Even if he never steps foot behind bars (which he certainly will not in any meaningful sense before the election now).

As to the voters, I think there is a decent chunk of people who will, in a conviction, find permission to break with Trump; Fox News Uncles have lib'ral nieces, ya know. And he needed to GAIN significantly, 2024 over 2020, and that already was going the wrong direction.

As to the media (which also gets to the voters), perhaps I am too optimistic, but: I would NOT underestimate the impact of the legal system working, finally, one FUCKING time. I think it shatters an aura of inevitability, of imperviousness. I think it blows up this stupid-ass fatalistic, nihilistic, limp-dick notion that we are simply incapable of holding this man to account.

As to Trump, I think this case gets directly at some of his core psychoses. I think his mental and psychological state is EXTREMELY fragile, and I would not at all be surprised if his decompensation accelerates.

[DeletedUser]

I also wonder what if a not guilty helps him significantly? I sort of doubt it.

Tbh, I think pretty much everyone already knows who they are voting for unless Trump or Biden drop out.