Trump 63: Fani Makes It Four (Indictments)

[GreyhoundFan]

This is awesome. I’m sure it will cause the ketchup to go flying.

 

[fraurosena]

For anyone who wants to know what's happening in the courtroom, this thread has great live commentary:

Oh, and Trump just managed to shoot himself in the foot again. It's a miracle he still has feet left to walk on at this point.

 

[fraurosena]

He can't keep himself from digging himself deeper and deeper into the hole.

 

[onekidanddone]

1 hour ago, fraurosena said:

Holy shit, is he going to take the stand?!!!

 

Can I take bets how fast he throws Don Jr. and the other one under the bus?

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[fraurosena]

But it's totally not a cult...

 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[fraurosena]

Ooh, I would have loved to have seen a beet red Trump instead of his orange visage!

 

[Xan]

Donny just posted this on Truth Social.  Apparently, Republican Jesus is angry about the trial too.

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

[Audrey2]

2 hours ago, fraurosena said:

But it's totally not a cult...

 

So I guess this means 20 fewer votes for Trump then.

[GreyhoundFan]

She loves to lie:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

[WatchingTheTireFireBurn]

Good grief -do any of these judges that have put him on bond and told him not to make threats etc...do they hear this stuff? When does anything happen?

What's his name could get people killed from his crazed followers.

[fraurosena]

Windbag.

 

[Dandruff]

3 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Windbag.

He's full of some other things too.

[fraurosena]

Good grief, it really is a dead ferret!

[fraurosena]

Insightful thread.

Unrolled version here.

[Xan]

Trump is over on Truth Social slinging, let's say, ketchup against the walls.  Basically it's "Peekaboo James is prosecuting me unfairly.  They're using Executive Law 63(12) so they say it doesn't matter if there were no victims.  The late night comedians aren't funny and they're creeps.  My followers can now see that it's coming out in court that I have incredibly valuable assets.  That disclaimer on the front page of my paperwork proves that I shouldn't be held responsible!  Companies will move away from New York because it's run by Democrats, Marxists, and Fascists.  I'm up in the polls!"

I think he's terrified that they're going to shut down his businesses.  It's one thing to be involved in endless cases that he thinks he can appeal until the Rapture.  It's quite another to have the government shut down Trump Org and take over Trump Tower.  Don't they know the rules?  Nobody takes Donald's stuff!  This is a man who stiffed his own relatives and cut off medical care for his nephew.  Every penny that Donny stole is supposed to be his!

[Xan]

Whatever else might be happening, at least Mar-a-Lago is increasing in value.  Donald now thinks it is worth $1.5 billion!  😆

Spoiler

 

[Howl]

I'm stunned at how little this trial is being covered in the MSM.  Maybe because it's a civil, rather than a criminal lawsuit.  And yesterday Trump was wearing a light blue shirt with a BLUE TIE.  What's up with that?  

I did see some clips from the deposition of Jr., Eric, and Weisselberg where all three claimed to know zip, zero, nada, don't remember, never heard of it, about GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles): WIKI - Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP or U.S. GAAP, pronounced like "gap") is the accounting standard adopted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is the default accounting standard used by companies based in the United States.

Weisselberg looks terrible in that deposition footage, like he hasn't slept for a month and isn't eating well. 

Edited October 3, 2023 by Howl

[fraurosena]

So this happened in the courtroom today:

Judge Shuts Down Trump’s Claim That He Reversed Himself on Statute of Limitations

Quote

The former president claimed the judge 'overruled' himself and would knock out '80%' of the case, but the judge began day two of the trial by shooting that down.

Donald Trump was beaming when he spoke to reporters near the end of Monday’s opening day of his civil fraud trial. He had just left the courtroom, where he’d given two thumbs up from the defense table after hearing that the judge had suddenly reversed himself on the statute of limitations.

But come Tuesday, the judge began the proceedings by clarifying that the former president’s remarks to the TV cameras were not true — without explicitly mentioning Trump by name. 

New York State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron remarked from the bench just before the second day of trial that in fact his recent ruling ordering the dissolution of Trump’s business empire found the ex-president had committed fraud with each submission of a false statement of financial condition to banks and insurers. 

Trump’s attorneys argue that the relevant conduct is when the loan "closed.” But Engoron reiterated in court that he rejected that theory. 

"Every use of a [false] statement of financial condition in business starts the statute of limitations running again," Engoron said on Tuesday morning.

Engoron noted that he understands that the defense "strongly" disagrees with this — and will appeal.

So why did Trump claim the judge “overruled” himself?

Trump’s talking point on Monday afternoon came from Engoron’s exchange with the former president’s attorneys following hours of testimony delivered by Donald Bender, a former accountant Trump’s business had long used from the firm Mazars. 

Hours of Bender’s direct examination focused on documents from 2011, but an intermediate appellate court warned that only events from three years later fall within the applicable statute of limitations. 

Ivanka Trump succeeded this June in defeating claims against her on the applicable statute of limitations, and the former president and his sons — Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. — hope to do the same in challenging an order dissolving Trump's New York business empire.

Late on Monday, Engoron made clear that Bender’s testimony, which continues on Tuesday, must connect to events on or after 2014 in order to be relevant.

“So, I just want to say, after all we have gone through this afternoon, that I trust that — well, that unless the Attorney General can relate all the discussions about 2011 documents to something that happened later, this has all been a waste of time,” Engoron said.

After that line, Trump’s attorney Christopher Kise jumped up and said: “We certainly agree with that, Judge.”

A beaming Trump suddenly shot two thumbs up, and he quickly celebrated his perceived victory outside of court.

“We very much appreciate the judge's decision today — or his statement today — on the statute of limitations, which is a very big thing,” Trump told reporters, adding that the judge “overruled” himself. 

Trump claimed that means the defense knocked out “80%” of the case.

But there’s much more to the story.

In context, the judge’s remark related to Bender’s testimony about events in 2011, but his recent ruling finding Trump liable for fraud cited actions after 2014.

The New York AG argues that Trump fraudulently inflated his assets in statements of financial condition (SFCs) that he submitted to banks and insurers. Trump argues that only the closing date of the loans matters.

Engoron explicitly rejected the alternative defense theory of the case in his ruling finding Trump liable for fraud, finding that the relevant issue is when they were “completed,” which includes the times when Trump was “still obligated to, and did, annually submit current SFCs to comply with the terms of the loan agreements.” 

The judge clarified that his remarks late on Monday do not contradict his earlier findings. 

In fact, Engoron previously ridiculed the defense theory of the statute of limitations as “a bizarre, invented, inverted form of the ‘relation back’ doctrine.” 

The judge added that Trump’s theory would mean that “if one aspect of fraudulent business conduct falls outside the statute of limitations, then all subsequent aspects of fraudulent conduct also fall outside the statute, no matter how inextricably intertwined.”

Former federal prosecutor Mitchell Epner framed the AG’s challenge this way. 

“There has to be a course of continuing conduct that reaches into the period within the [statute of limitations] to make those documents relevant,” Epner told The Messenger.

But Epner noted that the judge’s “ruling was based entirely on post-2014 documents,” except for loans pre-dating 2014 where the financial statements were “demonstrably false,” “issued after the critical date in 2014," and “related to an earlier loan.”

 

Of course, Trump's side of the table isn't listening and persevering with the statute of limitations argument.

 

[fraurosena]

He is imploding as we watch.