Donald Trump and lawyers from New York Attorney General Letitia James’s (D) office will face off this week when the former president is expected to take the stand in the fraud case jeopardizing his business empire.
His testimony marks an unprecedented turn in U.S. history where a former president and current White House candidate must defend himself on trial and in the shadow of a host of other legal troubles. However, that seems to have had little effect among GOP primary voters throwing their support behind Trump, who is consistently polling double-digits ahead of his challengers among that contingent of likely voters.
Still, the former president’s fury over the probe into his business has been on full display — both online and in fiery stump speeches in the Manhattan courthouse’s hallways — throughout which he has derided James as “corrupt,” “racist” and complicit in “prosecutorial misconduct.”
At stake are Trump’s business licenses and the potential for him to lose control of some of his famed properties — not to mention hundreds of millions of dollars in financial penalties as requested by the New York attorney general’s office. His career as a Manhattan real estate and business mogul is part of what propelled him to the White House in 2016. [snip]
Lawyers from James’s office will likely be looking at Trump’s testimony for information on who is responsible for the Trump Organization’s fraud, [Loyola Marymount law professor Laurie] Levenson said.
“The judge found fraud; the question is, who’s the one most directly involved in the fraud and what is the amount of the fraud?” she said. “To the extent that Trump is inflating numbers or deflating numbers, I think that can become pretty clear by an examination of him.”...
Will he try evasion, deflection, and bluster like his failsons, will he ramble endlessly as he did in a deposition last April, or will he decline to answer altogether? Whatever the tactic, he won't be doing himself any favors on the stand. He's a lawyer's nightmare client.
... Donald Trump and his allies have begun mapping out specific plans for using the federal government to punish critics and opponents should he win a second term, with the former president naming individuals he wants to investigate or prosecute and his associates drafting plans to potentially invoke the Insurrection Act on his first day in office to allow him to deploy the military against civil demonstrations.
In private, Trump has told advisers and friends in recent months that he wants the Justice Department to investigate onetime officials and allies who have become critical of his time in office, including his former chief of staff, John Kelly, and former attorney general William P. Barr, as well as his ex-attorney Ty Cobb and former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Mark A. Milley, according to people who have talked to him, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. Trump has also talked of prosecuting officials at the FBI and Justice Department, a person familiar with the matter said.
In public, Trump has vowed to appoint a special prosecutor to “go after” President Biden and his family. The former president has frequently made corruption accusations against them that are not supported by available evidence.
To facilitate Trump’s ability to direct Justice Department actions, his associates have been drafting plans to dispense with 50 years of policy and practice intended to shield criminal prosecutions from political considerations. Critics have called such ideas dangerous and unconstitutional...
This is the slide into fascism that's been discussed again and again. America will be unrecognizable should the Malignant Loser somehow regain power. Talk about "weaponizing government!" (Btw, leave it to the Post to make it a matter of "critics" calling shielding criminal prosecution from political consideration dangerous and unconstitutional, not that it's a a foundational principle of liberal democracies. The matter-of-fact tone of the article works to normalize such fascist concepts and is itself almost as disturbing as what's being reported. The New York Times has also cultivated some of the same noxious ground.)
... It’s been almost one month since the horrific morning that took the lives of over 1,400 Israelis. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not attended even one of the hundreds of funerals of victims who perished during the vicious pogrom that was carried out by Hamas. Besides meeting with families of hostages, he hasn’t met with any of the civilians who managed to escape from the Gaza border communities, or with the security teams that courageously rescued them. Netanyahu has not visited even one of the thousands of wounded survivors lying in beds in Israel’s hospitals. He has not visited with any of the more than 21,000 civilians who were displaced from their homes in southern or northern Israel, and are now scattered in hotels around the country. He held two meetings with 13 families whose loved ones are being held captive in Gaza, but has not spoken – not even by phone – with more than 227 other families who are fraught with worry for their loved ones.
Moreover, there are three words that Netanyahu has yet to voice: “I am responsible” – for the worst catastrophe to befall Israel since the establishment of the state, which took place under his watch...
This from Tal Shalev at the conservative Jerusalem Post. Netanyahu is not Israel, but unfortunately for now Israel is burdened by Netanyahu and his extremist coalition allies.
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