QOTD -- "A Detailed Road Map To Trump's Thievery"

 

"... In justifying his findings of fact, New York Judge Arthur Engoron’s analysis of testimony in Trump’s seven-week civil fraud trial in Manhattan showed how everything Trump does is based on consistent and shameless cheating, deceiving, falsifying documents, and lying.  [snip]

"'Protecting “the integrity of the financial marketplace and, thus, the public as a whole,' the judge wrote, is made all the more difficult by the Trump team’s 'refusal to admit error—indeed, to continue it.' This shows that Team Trump will engage in fraud 'going forward unless judicially restrained. Indeed, Donald Trump testified that, even today, he does not believe the Trump Organization needed to make any changes based on the facts that came out during this trial.'

"The message from Engoron’s opinion should carry over into whether to entrust Donald Trump once again with the presidency’s powers. People who want a man in the White House who thumbs his nose at the law, has no remorse for cheating others, and lies as easily as he breathes should vote for him. But now that a judge has laid bare Trump’s unrelenting dishonesty, hopefully the American public will realize that Donald Trump is nothing but a remorseless con artist who would steal our democracy and then brag about what a great job he did preserving it." -- investigative reporter David Cay Johnston, in The New Republic, on Judge Engoron's "detailed road map to Trump's thievery" laid bare in the State of New York's bank and real estate fraud victory over the Malignant Loser.  Johnston should know what he's talking about. He's been reporting on the Malignant Loser's fraudulent activities for 35 years.

QOTD -- Trump's Art Of The Steal

 

“Today, justice has been served. This is a tremendous victory for this state, this nation, and for everyone who believes that we all must play by the same rules — even former presidents. 

“For years, Donald Trump engaged in massive fraud to falsely inflate his net worth and unjustly enrich himself, his family, and his organization. While he may have authored the ‘Art of the Deal,’ our case revealed that his business was based on the art of the steal.

“When powerful people cheat to get better loans, it comes at the expense of honest and hardworking people. Everyday Americans cannot lie to a bank to get a mortgage to buy a home, and if they did, our government would throw the book at them. There simply cannot be different rules for different people.

“Now, Donald Trump is finally facing accountability for his lying, cheating, and staggering fraud. Because no matter how big, rich, or powerful you think you are, no one is above the law.” -- press release from New York Attorney General Letitia James following the judgement by Judge Arthur Engoron of the New York Supreme Court ordering the Malignant Loser and his co- criminals to pay $463.9 million combined (which includes $100 million in pre- judgement interest that continues to accrue every day until the fine is paid).  For engaging in financial fraud and illegal conduct, the Malignant Loser himself was ordered to pay $355 million and was banned from serving as an officer or director of any New York company for three years.  A breakdown of the penalties is at the link above.

We're forever grateful to AG James for her tenacity, professionalism and honor during the course of the investigation and trial.

(Image: via X/ Twitter)

BREAKING: Trump Fined $350 Million For Fraud

 

New York State Judge Arthur Engoron has ordered the Malignant Loser to pay over $350 million and imposed a ban of 3 years from him serving in any executive capacity in any New York business due to his business fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. From the New York Times coverage:

"A New York judge on Friday handed Donald J. Trump a crushing defeat in his civil fraud case, finding the former president liable for conspiring to manipulate his net worth and ordering him to pay a penalty of more than $350 million that could wipe out his entire stockpile of cash.

The decision by Justice Arthur F. Engoron caps a chaotic, yearslong case in which New York’s attorney general put Mr. Trump’s fantastical claims of wealth on trial. With no jury, the power was in Justice Engoron’s hands alone, and he came down hard: The judge delivered a sweeping array of punishments that threatens the former president’s business empire as he simultaneously contends with four criminal prosecutions and seeks to regain the White House.

Not only did Justice Engoron impose a three-year ban preventing Mr. Trump from serving in top roles at any New York company, including his own, but the judge also applied that punishment to the former president’s adult sons for two years. One of the sons, Eric Trump, is the Trump Organization’s de facto chief executive, and the ruling throws into doubt whether any member of the family can run the business in the near term." (our emphasis)

The court-appointed independent monitor, Barbara Jones, will be overseeing the Malignant Loser's New York business over the next three years to ensure that no continuing fraud is committed. The Malignant Loser will likely appeal, but he needs to come up with the money or secure a bond in the next 30 days. More as the story develops.

BONUS:  The 92-page ruling is embedded here (pdf).

Special Monitor Flags Trump Tax Evasion Plot

 

The Special Monitor appointed to oversee the New York civil case against the Malignant Loser has flagged a scheme that the Malignant Loser used to knowingly and intentionally evade as much as $48 million in taxes.  The findings have now been provided to Justice Arthur Engoron as he determines the penalties he'll impose on the fraudster and his criminal organization:

Tucked into a footnote in a letter written by former federal judge Barbara Jones, the court-appointed special monitor overseeing Donald Trump's New York business fraud case is a bombshell that appears to indicate the former president may have engaged in massive tax evasion, according to a new report released by The Daily Beast.

The letter, first reported by The Messenger, was delivered Friday to update Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron on Jones' findings while reviewing the former president's business dealings through his company, the Trump Organization.

In it, Jones writes that the financial information filed to her by Trump's team has contained "incomplete" or "inconsistent" disclosures containing multiple "errors." However, she describes Trump and his businesses as "cooperative" with her investigation.

But buried in the sixth footnote of the 12-page letter is what the Daily Beast indicated is a clue that Trump may have evaded taxes on $48 million in income, with Jones writing that the massive sum — which Trump has claimed for years that he owes as a debt to one of his companies — never existed.

"When I inquired about this loan, I was informed that there are no loan agreements that memorialize the loan, but that it was a loan that was believed to be between Donald J. Trump, individually, and Chicago Unit Acquisition for $48 million," Jones wrote.

She added: "However, in recent discussions with the Trump Organization, it indicated that it has determined that this loan never existed — and thus that it would be removed from any upcoming forms submitted to the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) and would also be removed from subsequent versions of MAML," Jones wrote, referring to corporate financial statements filed by the company.  [snip]

However, per the Daily Beast, as recently as October, Trump has claimed in financial disclosures that he owes the sum to his company, Chicago Unit Acquisition LLC, listing his debt as more than $50 million.

The discrepancies, if true, would indicate that the disclosures Trump has filed with the federal government were intentionally submitted with inaccuracies related to the debt equating to tens of millions of dollars. "It would appear, assuming Judge Jones' letter is accurate, that this amounts to tax evasion," Martin Lobel, a tax lawyer, told The Daily Beast.

Of course, the broad outline of the Malignant Loser's tax evasion techniques has been known for some time:

[I]n 2019, Mother Jones reported a significant portion of Trump's debt was forgiven by the hedge fund he owed money to after he paid about half of it.

So, instead of paying income taxes of up to 39% on the forgiven debt, the outlet reported, Trump "invented a loan — and then parked it." Debt parking is the process of purchasing debt using a corporation to avoid paying income taxes on it. The maneuver is legal as long as the borrower intends to repay the loan but is illegal to engage in indefinitely.

Adam Levitin, a Georgetown University law professor specializing in commercial real estate finance, told Mother Jones at the time that the plot was "pretty brazen," adding: "if he didn't actually buy the loan, this is just garden-variety fraud."

"While the reasons behind claiming this fake loan are still unknown, at the very least he misled the government for years about his finances," Jordan Libowitz, communications director at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told The Daily Beast. "It appears that Trump knowingly and intentionally broke the law. The only question is how many laws."

Adding the amount of taxes evaded, along with interest and penalties, along with the $370 million New York is already seeking in penalties, the $83 million Carroll defamation judgement, and Manhattan DA Bragg's pending business fraud/ mistress payoff trial -- all in State courts, where he can delay but can't nullify the results -- should be sufficient to eventually cause the Malignant Loser to have to sell off significant chunks, if not all, of his properties.  It also means, the sociopathic narcissist will  be ranting about nothing else but himself from now until Election Day, if he gets that far without being DQed or pulling a stint in the slammer (a.k.a., the American Dream).

And, contrary to the Malignant Loser's latest whine, This Is America.

 

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

... On Monday Mr Trump's defence team will begin presenting their side, calling the former president's oldest son back to the stand as their first witness. But legal analysts told the BBC that after two damaging weeks of testimony from members of the Trump family, salvaging their case now will be a herculean task.

"It's been a disaster from a legal perspective," said Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers.

He believes that Mr Trump is "going to lose this case, and lose badly."  [snip]

Despite the aggressive attacks, experts told the BBC that Mr Trump's legal team had failed to undermine the state's case.

"The defence needs someone to get up there and justify these valuations," Mr Rahmani said. "Accountants, CPAs, real estate experts, appraisers. And they just haven't done that yet."

At this point, they face an uphill battle in salvaging their case, analysts told the BBC.

"The reason that they are in such a bad situation is that the judge has already found that the most important documents in this case were all false," Mr [Mitchell] Epner said. "As of now, the judge has also been given an enormous amount of evidence to show that they were knowingly false, and provided with the intent to defraud."

"Since they don't have the ability to get into a Back to the Future DeLorean and turn back time," Mr Epner said of the defence team, "I can't imagine what they can do to turn around this case."

They can't.  Of course, they'll make their arguments, not to the court but to credulous MAGAt yahoos who want to believe this is political persecution and not bringing a career con man and his crime family to justice.

The bad:

With less than a week before federal spending laws expire, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Saturday unveiled a novel and uncertain plan to temporarily extend funding — but it’s already been rejected by the Senate and White House, increasing the odds of a government shutdown.

Johnson’s proposed stopgap funding bill, called a continuing resolution or “CR,” would leave funds for different federal agencies to expire at different times, according to three people familiar with the House leader’s plans, requiring Congress to confront multiple deadlines in the coming months or risk repeated partial government shutdowns.

The House speaker described the two-step proposal as a move to avoid the massive spending bills that historically have been considered by Congress. [snip]

Funds for military and veterans programs, agriculture and food agencies, and the departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development would run through Jan. 19. The remaining government funding — covering the State, Justice, Commerce, Labor and Health and Human Services departments, among others — would expire on Feb. 2.  [snip]

The Democratic-controlled Senate and the Biden administration have already rejected the “laddered” CR, which has never before been attempted.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, on Friday called the staggered funding plan “the craziest, stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of”...

It's DOA in the Senate, but MAGA Mike isn't interested in keeping the government open.  He's interested in using whatever leverage he thinks he has to force draconian spending cuts to social safety net programs in appropriations bills and to generally sabotage the economic recovery.  With a smirking smile, of course.

The ugly: 

The Biden campaign on Saturday lambasted Donald Trump’s reported plans for an extreme and rapid expansion of his first-term clampdown on immigration if he takes back the White House.

If he wins the 2024 election, Trump intends to reimplement many of his first-term policies, including the so-called Muslim ban and the use of Title 42 to turn away asylum seekers. He also wants to deport migrants by the millions per year, detaining them in large camps while they await expulsion, according to a new report ($$) from the New York Times.

The former president further wants to end birthright citizenship for children born to undocumented immigrants, among other hardline policies.

“Mass detention camps, attempts to deny children born here citizenship, uprooting families with mass deportations — this is the horrifying reality that awaits the American people if Donald Trump is allowed anywhere near the Oval Office again,” Biden campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said in a statement. “These extreme, racist, cruel policies dreamed up by him and his henchman Stephen Miller are meant to stoke fear and divide us, betting a scared and divided nation is how he wins this election.”

Trump has repeatedly hinted at these plans at political rallies, where he typically talks at length about the southern border. Stephen Miller, a senior aide who crafted many of Trump’s first-term policies, is once again heavily involved in the planning, according to the Times.

“We’ll stop the invasion on our southern border and begin the largest domestic deportation operation in American history,” Trump said during a rally on Saturday in New Hampshire. 

Round them up, put them in "detention" camps, load them in rail cars?  Another chapter in the Christofascist MAGAt Republican playbook revealed.

The State Of New York Rests Its Case

The State of New York rested its case against the Trump Crime Family after weeks of testimony corroborating Judge Arthur Engoron's finding that fraud was committed by them and members of their organization in inflating assets to obtain better loan rates. Trump's lusted-after daughter Ivanka took the witness stand largely to say frequently that she couldn't remember when asked about her involvement in the family's business dealings. From CNN's reporting:

"Ivanka Trump was questioned at length by Louis Solomon, a lawyer with the attorney general’s office, about the financing of loans for the Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Florida through Deutsche Bank.

The loans are a key part of the case because they required Donald Trump to submit annual financial statements – and the attorney general alleges those statements were falsified to inflate Trump’s net worth and obtain better loan rates. [snip]

The final agreement for the Deutsche Bank loan required Donald Trump, as the guarantor, to maintain a minimum net worth of $2.5 billion.

One earlier draft of the loan terms proposed by the bank required Trump maintain a $3 billion net worth. Ivanka Trump proposed a change to lower the net worth requirement to $2 billion, in an email Solomon showed in court."

Her "I have no knowledge" routine continued during the day:

"Ivanka Trump said she had no knowledge about why a penthouse apartment she leased from her father’s Trump Park Avenue building was valued on Donald Trump’s financial statement at more than $12 million more than what she was able to purchase it for.

Ivanka Trump had a purchase option on the apartment for $8.5 million, but the value on Trump’s financial statement was $20.8 million, according to the attorney general’s civil complaint. [snip]

Her testimony on the financial statements mirrored her brothers, who also both said they were unaware of the work that was done on Donald Trump’s statement of financial condition, even though they submitted information that was used for preparing the statements." 

Someone who claims to have been clueless about the family's financial statements after personally negotiating loans from banks won't fool Judge Engoron. Luckily for her financial future, she hooked on to a multi-millionaire real estate heir who has a pipeline to corrupt Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin "Bone Saw" Salman, so the fate of daddy's big business scam is less important to her than to her needy brothers.

Today It's Ivanka's Turn In The Barrel

Despite her attempts to avoid and delay testifying in the Malignant Loser's business fraud trial in New York, Ivanka Trump is scheduled to take the stand today:

Ivanka Trump is set to appear on the witness stand today at her father’s New York $250m fraud trial. She will be the last family member and the last witness to testify before the prosecution rests its case.

Last month, Ivanka Trump asked the court to remove her from the prosecution’s witness list, though she ultimately rescinded the appeal. Ivanka Trump tried to argue that appearing in court would cause her “undue hardship” if she was to testify during the school week. The attorney general’s office had wanted Trump’s eldest daughter to testify in court before the former president himself took the stand, but ultimately rescheduled her appearance because of her appeal.

Once listed as a co-defendant on the case, along with her father and two adult brothers, an appeals court tossed out the claims against Ivanka Trump last summer, saying that her involvement with the Trump Organization had passed the statute of limitations.

Before the trial started, Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump guilty of inflating the value of his assets on state financial statements that were used to broker deals and obtain loans. Though Trump’s team is appealing the decision, he stands to lose his state business licenses if the appellate court sides with Engoron. The actual trial is over the fine Trump will have to pay. Prosecutors are asking for at least $250m.

Ivanka Trump had served as a top executive at the Trump Organization, alongside brothers Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, until 2017, when she stepped down to assist her father at the White House. Like her siblings, she helped her father broker deals with lenders to develop properties for the company. [snip]

It is unclear what stance Ivanka Trump will take on the stand. She has surprised in testimony before when in 2022 she told investigators looking into the January 6 Capitol insurrection that she did not believe the election was stolen, contrary to her father’s furious insistence. Trump’s eldest daughter said she believed former attorney general William Barr, who maintained that Trump had lost the election.

“I respect Attorney General Barr. So I accepted what he was saying,” Ivanka Trump told congressional investigators at the time...

We don't know if daddy will be in the courtroom to ogle/ intimidate his daughter. We also don't know how she will respond to questioning, except we predict a lot of weaseling and memory- lapsing. Producing documents with her name on them will have a clarifying effect on her powers of recall.

The Malignant Loser has already torpedoed his defense, so whatever his daughter may or may not add is almost irrelevant now.  But the opportunity to bathe in schadenfreude over the legal morass of this corrupt family should not be missed.

 

The Malignant Loser Undercuts His Defense

 

While attention was drawn to the Malignant Loser's combative performance before Judge Arthur Engoron in the business fraud trial in New York, some attorneys noticed a key admission from him that will make it hard to win on appeal. First, law professor Joyce Vance on MSNBC on the Malignant Loser's day in court, and how his big, ignorant mouth is doing him in:

"If there was a jury in the box, the judge would have been forced to restrict Trump's answers; he would have directed Trump as a witness to answer the question. He would have been moving to strike any of these extraneous comments Trump continued to make which weren't admissible and which were prejudicial.

If you are Trump's lawyers, sitting at the counsel table, you are watching your only hope of surviving this case — which is the appeal — you're watching it fade away. The Trump Organization is liable. In essence, the Trump Organization as a business will be shuttered. They will remove its certificate to operate.

On appeal, they would have argued, Trump's lawyers, that that decision by the judge was misplaced; he shouldn't have found fraud as a matter of law. Yesterday, because the judge let Donald Trump ramble, Donald Trump conceded that point. That means that this decision should survive appeal, and the Trump Organization, as Trump has operated it for all these years is at an end." (our emphasis)

By letting Trump talk and talk, the Judge let him confirm his central role in the long-term fraud perpetrated by his organization. One admission in particular seemed to seal his fate, as law professor Andrew Weissman notes:

BREAKING: AG GETS TRUMP TO AGREE THAT THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND TRUMP'S PERSONAL GUARANTY WERE TO INDUCE BANKS TO LEND MONEY. KEY FACT FOR THIS FRAUD CASE.

— Andrew Weissmann (weissmann11 on Threads)🌻 (@AWeissmann_) November 6, 2023

In other words, the Malignant Loser's financial statements were not intended to show an accurate accounting of his assets to lenders; he admitted that they were intended to "induce banks to lend money," and far more than they would have if the statements had been honest. Big credit to Judge Engoron in giving Trump enough rope to hang himself.

 

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

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.

The bad:

... 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.)

The ugly:

... 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.

Trump "Children" Don And Eric Torpedo Their Defense

 

Legal analyst Lisa Rubin gives an overview of the testimony from the Malignant Loser's failsons at the New York civil fraud trial, and how they helped New York Attorney General Letitia James' case:

 

On the stand next week:  Ivanka and her lusting daddy.

Trump Crime Family Members To Begin Testimony In New York Fraud Case

 

At long last, members of the Trump Crime Family will begin to testify in the New York civil fraud trial starting today:

... The relationships between Trump and his three eldest children are likely to be on display over the next two weeks, as Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka are all scheduled to take the witness stand in the civil fraud trial in New York over the Trump Organization’s business practices. Donald Jr., 45, is up first, scheduled to appear on Wednesday; Eric Trump, 39, is scheduled to appear the following day, and Ivanka Trump, 42, on Nov. 8. Trump himself is scheduled to testify on Monday.  [snip]

Trump’s adult sons are co-defendants and will probably face questions on the stand about whether they knew of or participated in efforts to pump up the value of company properties on financial statements. Ivanka Trump is likely to be asked about, among other things, her and Deutsche Bank’s role in helping the Trump Organization redevelop the Old Post Office property in D.C. into a luxury hotel.

Control over at least part of the siblings’ collected fortune could be on the line. James has asked that a judge bar Trump and his three eldest children from running New York businesses, buying real estate and taking out loans, and fine them $250 million.

A lawyer for Ivanka Trump did not respond to a request for comment, and a lawyer for Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump declined to comment...

We fully expect the crime family members to take a leaf from the Malignant Loser's playbook in their appearances:

In his initial deposition before the attorney general, Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to answer questions for fear of self-incrimination more than 400 times, using it for every question.

Can you say "I take the fifth," or "I don't recall," or "I'm a concrete guy"? 

Of course, as Judge Engoron has repeatedly pointed out, the determination that the Trump Crime Family organization engaged in fraud has already been established.  This phase of the trial is to determine how much of a financial bath to give the organization, and ultimately the shutting down of its operation in the State of New York.

That, as many have pointed out, is what gnaws at the Malignant Loser most:  the kneecapping of his business "empire" and hit to his "fortune." (Recall that he went ballistic recently when Forbes dropped him from their list of the wealthiest 400 Americans, again.)   His claims that the suit is "hurting his children" is risible, since he's a raging sociopathic narcissist who would gladly throw any or all of them under a bus to save his worthless orange hide.

Let the testimony games begin --

Happy Trump Family Starts Testifying in Their Fraud Business Trial Day to all who celebrate 🎉

— Karen Schwartz (@pithywidow) November 1, 2023

 

Boy, I tell you: if the fate of MY financial empire rested on the testimony of slack-brained Don Jr. and Eric trump, LMAOOOOOOOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/C7TadEVBhK

— BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ (@mmpadellan) November 1, 2023

 

 

Trump Angry Over Ivanka's Court Date

Now that the Malignant Loser's lusted-after daughter Ivanka will have to testify at his business fraud trial in New York on Friday, the Malignant Loser is reportedly angry and anxious about the prospect. Law professor Joyce Vance writes on her Substack platform:

"Trump’s attacks on others involved in his cases as unethical, racist, crazy and lying go beyond hyperbolic. It is a deliberate attempt to inflame the most volatile people among his followers. Anyone who doesn’t yet realize Trump would, quite literally, burn the country down to save his business and spare himself prison isn’t reading the room. And we enter dangerous terrain with Don Jr. testifying this Wednesday, Eric scheduled for Thursday, and Ivanka on Friday. The former president gets his chance to bat cleanup on Monday, November 6.

Trump is especially spun up about Ivanka testifying, saying it was unfair of the Judge to force her to testify, since she’s been dismissed as a defendant in the case. He conveniently overlooks the fact that most witnesses in a case aren’t plaintiffs or defendants. In Ivanka’s case, she’s a fact witness who was around for many of the transactions and meetings that are called into question in the Attorney General’s $250 million lawsuit. Who better to testify than someone with first hand knowledge? Ivanka was dismissed from the lawsuit because her direct participation happened too long ago to come within the 'statute of limitations'—the number of years back the AG is permitted to go with her allegations. Fortunately for Ivanka, she left Trump Organization for the White House in 2017, which puts her beyond the reach of New York law as a defendant, but does nothing to rule her out as a witness."  (our emphasis)

We're gratified that New York State's terrific Attorney General Letitia James didn't let Princess Ivanka wiggle out of testifying about what she knew about the fraudulent transactions while she was an active member of the Trump Organization during the time in question. We can imagine him glaring knives at presiding Judge Arthur Engoron as his daughter / object of his desire takes the stand and is forced to choose between perjuring herself and helping to convict him. Be assured that the prosecutors will have copies of memos and other documents that will link her to business dealings, and make it hard for her to deny. A good build up to the Malignant Loser's time on the stand next week.

(photos: The perversions of a sick man)

 

Cohen Testifies Today At Trump Fraud Trial

The Malignant Loser will face one of the strongest challenges to his penchant for outbursts today when former Trump Organization attorney Michael Cohen testifies for the State of New York in the Malignant Loser's fraud trial. Once a close ally, Cohen took the fall for his boss over the hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels and served time in prison. Since then, Cohen has been vocal about the criminal behavior of his former boss. From the Associated Press:

"Michael Cohen once proclaimed he’d “take a bullet” for Donald Trump. Now, after breaking with the former president amid his own legal troubles, the fixer-turned-foe is poised to testify against his old boss Tuesday as a key witness at the civil fraud trial that threatens to upend Trump’s real estate empire and wealthy image.

Trump is expected to be in court for the highly anticipated testimony, detouring from his usual campaign haunts to the Manhattan courtroom for a sixth day this month. Cohen scrapped their expected showdown last week, citing a health issue. Cohen has said it will be his first time seeing Trump in five years."

In his testimony to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform in 2019, Cohen provided the blueprint for the State of New York to prosecute the Malignant Loser for bank and insurance fraud, naming names in the Trump Organization who carried out the Malignant Loser's dictates to inflate the value of his assets to get bank loans, and decreasing the value of the same assets for insurance and tax purposes:

"[New York State Attorney General Letitia] James, a Democrat, has credited Cohen as the impetus for her civil investigation, which led to the fraud lawsuit being decided at the trial. She cited Cohen’s testimony to Congress in 2019 that Trump had a history of misrepresenting the value of assets to gain favorable loan terms and tax benefits.

Cohen gave copies of three of Trump’s financial statements to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Cohen said Trump gave the statements to Deutsche Bank to inquire about a loan to buy the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and to Forbes magazine to substantiate his claim to a spot on its list of the world’s wealthiest people."

As an indication of the tension that's expected in court today, the Malignant Loser has rearranged his golfing "campaign" schedule to be in court to glare at Cohen, whom he hopes to intimidate. But Cohen's grown stronger since his days with the Malignant Loser, and has been put through painful times thanks to his former boss. He'll be doing some glaring back.

(photo: Leah Millis, Reuters)

 

Ivanka Trying To Avoid Testifying Against Daddy

The Malignant Loser's lusted-after daughter Ivanka Trump is fighting off a subpoena that would require her to testify against her corrupt father in the State of New York's trial against him, his sons and Trump Organization associates for business fraud. Thursday, her lawyers filed last-minute paperwork to quash the subpoena on the grounds that it was improperly served and that she's no longer a resident of New York. Her honest testimony would likely reveal details of the Malignant Loser's fraud against banks and insurance companies, where he made false statements about the values of his properties for financial gain. But if she is compelled to testify, we expect that there'll be a lot of "I don't recall" responses from her. She was dismissed from the fraud case by an appeals court in June over a statute of limitations issue. 

Judge Arthur Engoron, whom the Malignant Loser has castigated publicly, will rule on the filing from Ivanka Trump's lawyers, perhaps in a few days. Also, former Trump Organization attorney Michael Cohen is expected to testify on Tuesday, which should bring out the simmering rage in the Malignant Loser when they face each other in court, and Cohen gets his well- deserved revenge.

(photo: "Daddy not here. Later.")

 

Damning Witness Testimony In Trump Fraud Case

 

Testimony from a real estate executive in the fraud trial brought by the New York State Attorney General Letitia James against the Malignant Loser indicates appraisals were never conducted by him, contrary to the Malignant Loser's filings. Doug Larson testified that phone calls to him that were referenced in the Malignant Loser's financial documents never occurred, and an appraisal by him never conducted. From AP's report:

"Larson, a real estate brokerage executive and certified appraiser, assessed Trump properties for lenders. He was taken aback when told on the stand that he was repeatedly cited as an outside expert in former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney’s valuation spreadsheets.

'It’s inappropriate and inaccurate,' Larson testified. 'I should have been told, and an appraisal should have been ordered.'

When it came to valuing a storefront formerly known as Niketown, McConney relied on rates of return for a different type of property, rather than for comparable retail space, Larson testified. He also said he appraised a Trump-owned Wall Street building at $540 million in 2015, while McConney valued it at $735.4 million on Trump’s financial statement."  (our emphasis)

Another witness, Trump Organization accountant Donna Kidder, testified that the Malignant Loser's corrupt chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg had her inflate values of properties to improve the Malignant Loser's bottom line:

"Kidder, the Trump company accountant, testified that as she filled out spreadsheets documenting the value of a Trump-owned Wall Street office building, then-finance chief Allen Weisselberg told her to act as if the skyscraper would be fully leased by a certain date, even if some space was currently vacant. For a Park Avenue residential tower, she was told to project that unsold units “would all sell out' in a certain timeframe."  (our emphasis)

The accumulation of testimony and evidence in this case that deliberate fraud was committed should convict the Malignant Loser. He'll delay and appeal, of course, but the evidence that Attorney General James has assembled in extensive and unassailable.