#Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection w/a #HushMoney payment made to a porn star to influence the 2016 election. The case could be in the jury’s hands as early as Wed.
Tues 29 May 2024 🧵
Good morning! It’s the last day of the #TrumpTrial before jury #deliberations.
Today Justice #Merchan will give #JuryInstructions. Then they will discuss the case among themselves for the first time; they have not been allowed to even discuss it w/each other as yet.
Closing arguments took place yesterday, & the lawyers will have no further opportunity to address the jurors before they determine whether #Trump is #guilty or not guilty of 34 felonies.
Last week, prosecution won a major argument when they argued that the jurors did not have to agree #unanimously on the “unlawful means” (#crimes) they might determine that Trump used.
#Trump has posted >20X on Truth Social since he left the courtroom. Each post quotes [right wing, Trump sycophant] commentators or legal scholars making a statement that supports him or criticizes the case.
The male juror prepares to take the computer & the paralegal seems hesitant. “He can take it,” Justice #Merchan says. The 2 jurors leave the room.
All the trial exhibits are on that laptop, which could help speed up the #deliberations: the jurors will not have to request specific documentary #evidence they wish to review. Nor will they have to view it in the courtroom, which takes time to setup.
#Trump Tues night on the conservative network #Newsmax:
“I said, ‘Wouldn’t it really be bad? … wouldn’t it be terrible to throw the president’s wife & the fmr secretary of state — think of it, the fmr secretary of state — but the president’s wife into #jail? … But they want to do it … So, you know, it’s a terrible, terrible path that they’re leading us to, & it’s very possible that it’s going to HAVE TO HAPPEN to them.”
#Trump has made #payback for opponents central to his campaign, at one point declaring to a crowd: “I am your #retribution.” In private, has told advisers & friends that he wants his #DOJ to investigate specific fmr aides & allies who are now critical of him. And he has promised to appoint a special prosecutor to scrutinize #Biden & his family.
"She thus becomes the first person in history to get the legal system to hold Donald Trump to account. She certainly beat Merrick Garland to the punch. E. Jean Carroll, Trump grossly said you weren’t his type. We say with admiration that you are definitely ours."
Must be why US taxpayers pay $2 million per month for the criminal defendant's security.
Adds proof to confirms my theory that criminal defendant Donald was trading top secrets to Iran to get off the hit list for ordering Qassim Soleimani's assassination. My guess is fat Mike Pompeo is also on the list.
5 times indicted criminal defendant arrested 4 times for 91 felony crimes Donald Trump ordered the #killing of #Qasem#Soleimani, with Mike #Pompeo and then publicly admitted it. Iran has an arrest warrant out for #criminal#defendant Donald.
Hey #Iran, get in line. We just arrested this fucker 4 times!
#SCOTUS won’t fast-track ruling on #Trump’s claim of immunity
#SpecialCounsel#JackSmith had asked the justices to short-circuit the normal appellate process & quickly settle the question of presidential #criminal#immunity, which the #SupremeCourt previously has not been called upon to resolve.
"A political party that routinely incites violence and condones lawbreaking by its own members and supporters is not a 'tough on crime' party, and journalists who portray it as such are lying to you. The Republican Party has declared its belief that it is above the law, and has deliberately condoned and encouraged lawbreaking as a means of seizing power. It should be treated as such."
"It’s not just Trump. The Republican Party and the wider conservative movement supports criminality and thuggery at all levels of American government. Trump isn’t an isolated case, he’s just the most visible symbol of a pervasive rot."
As Robert Hubbell notes, in seeking to put her thumb on the scales on behalf of Defendant Trump and to undermine federal cases against him, incompetent Florida judge Aileen Cannon disclosed the existence of a secret grand jury investigation that is ongoing in a different jurisdiction.
Which she absolutely ought not to have done….
She is, Hubbell concludes, the most incompetent judge in the federal judiciary.
#DougFord needs to resign and be investigated for criminal activity related to the corruption and abuse of office. His developer donors directed actions of our government that will make them $8.3 Billion , from what we already know. Our worst suspicions confirmed.
Despite warnings from New York Judge Arthur Engoron to not attack court officials, Donald Trump went on an extended rant near midnight on Sunday, lashing out at the judge who has already fined him $5000, in addition to once again attacking New York Attorney General Letitia James.In a post that compl...
#RICO and #Racketeering regarding Trump because they sound cool but they both mean one thing: Organized crime. The criminal defendant has been a two-bit cheating fraudster pimp scumbag his entire adult life. Now he's finally going to prison where he should have been long ago.
Criminal defendant donald learned everything he knows from the king of blackmail and dirty tricks. Mob shill roy Cohn taught him to get dirt on people from the start. Who knows what the FBI found in his safe.
“RICO” means “Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations.” Under the Georgia RICO law, it is a crime for any person through a pattern of racketeering activity to acquire or maintain any interest in or control of any type of property or business.
A person may be charged with RICO (O.C.G.A. § 16-14-4) if they participate in an interrelated pattern of criminal activity motivated by or resulting in monetary gain or economic or physical threat or injury.
The GA Court of Appeals on Wed ordered a halt to the proceedings in the election interference case against Trump & 8 co-defendants pending the outcome of their appeal seeking to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney #FaniWillis.
“I do believe the Supreme Court should step in,” Johnson told #FauxNews. “Obviously, this is totally unprecedented.” neither the [#law or not the #crime are unprecedented, plenty of #precedent, it’s just the #criminal committing the crime that’s new].
Each page yesterday took him just a little more than a minute, so this will take >30 mins.
Between that & the testimony readbacks, also expected to take >30 mins, there will likely be >1 hour this morning w/the jury in the courtroom, not actively deliberating.
As Justice #Merchan re-reads the #JuryInstructions, #Trump has had his eyes closed, & his chin has sometimes slumped to his chest. At other times, his head has been fallen backwards — just waiting for his mouth to drop open & let flies enter. #NodFarter
Merchan is now in the middle of p 17 of the instructions, explaining jurors can consider whether any #witness would benefit from his or her own #testimony. (hmm)
The pre-sentencing report can also include submissions from the defense, & may describe whether “the defendant is in a counseling program or has a steady job”
The #verdict must be unanimous on the primary crime falsification of business records.
Once #jurors inform the court they have reached a verdict, Justice Juan #Merchan will summon the parties to the courtroom to hear it read by the foreperson.
Merchan must still affirm the verdict & enter a final judgment.
#Trump released a new propaganda video describing this as “the final battle.” The spot, posted on his social media after today’s #verdict, shows him walking down a hallway, while promising in a voiceover to “expel the war mongers from our government,” [huh?] “throw off the sick political class that hates our country” [wha?] & “rout the fake news media” [Fox?] He concludes: “We will liberate America from these villains once & for all,” um yer the convicted [#criminal]. Then his donation link.
Special counsel Robert Hur's report on the investigation into the mishandling of Obama-era #ClassifiedDocuments at 2 locations
connected to President Joe #Biden has been delivered to #Congress.
The report is expected to go into significant detail about what the special counsel's office found in its investigation.
Hur's team is not planning to bring criminal charges, but the report could provide fodder for Biden's #political opponents.
Which is exactly why there are no #criminal charges.
Biden’s kid had JUST DIED.
He did not obstruct the investigation ever.
Biden himself initiated the search after it was discovered Trump not only #willfully stole classified docs but also obstructed the investigation & return of the docs.
'There are no victims, except me': Trump flips out on Letitia James in midnight rant (www.rawstory.com)
Despite warnings from New York Judge Arthur Engoron to not attack court officials, Donald Trump went on an extended rant near midnight on Sunday, lashing out at the judge who has already fined him $5000, in addition to once again attacking New York Attorney General Letitia James.In a post that compl...