Week one of the first Trump trial

Early Friday afternoon in week one of the hush trial in New York City, the six alternate jurors were selected for the first trial of Donald Jonathan Trump.

[He hates when his middle name is used, so I used it!]

After some legal matter such as whether Trump can be used as a witness, the trial should begin on Monday in the second week.

[Trump testifying could be harmful for him as he obviously has a history of exaggeration and lies. If he takes the stand there will be plenty of side-bars to decide whether some (or most) if his testimony will be allowed or stricken.]

The prosecutor is introducing a motion to sanction Trump for his three social media posts they allege violate the judge’s gag order. The prosecutor told the judge they are seeking permission to hold Trump in contempt for violating the gag order and sanction Trump $1,000 for each of the three posts that violate the order. The prosecutor also said that prosecutors want the judge to take down the three posts and to remind the defendant that “further violations could result in jail time.” The judge hasn’t decided on this yet. At one point in the first week, Trump ignored the gag order seven times.

[Normally $3,000 should be “chicken feed” for him but with all his legal expenses.]

Judge Merchan said he will hold a hearing on the district attorney’s motion to sanction Trump for his social media posts, according to pool reports.

Seems Trump was bored in the first week of the trial during jury selection. It was reported that Trump actually dozed off during the first day. After the reporter mentioned it publicly, Trump gave the reporter a look.

Trump wants to take part in sidebars, which could put him very close to jurors. Defendants rarely get involved in sidebars with judges during jury selection.

Trump’s attorney asked the district attorney’s office to share the first three witnesses they plan to call, noting that opening arguments and the first witness testimony could begin very soon. The Assistant District Attorney refused but acknowledged that courtesy is often extended. But because Trump has been posting on social media about their witnesses, he said with a shrug, “We’re not telling him who the witnesses are.” Merchan said he couldn’t fault prosecutors for that. Trump visibly shook his head over the exchange.

Evidence that will be allowed:

• Judge Juan Merchan said he will allow a series of National Enquirer stories attacking Trump’s opponents into evidence.
• Testimony from Karen McDougal will also be allowed, but Merchan said it is not necessary for the jury to hear that Trump continued his affair with McDougal while his wife, Melania Trump, was pregnant and after she gave birth. McDougal is a model and actress who has said she had a months long affair with Trump in 2006 and was paid $150,000 to keep quiet about it by the National Enquirer. Trump has denied the affair.
• Merchan will allow testimony of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s guilty plea to campaign finance violations with the proper foundation. He said prosecutors cannot tie that guilty plea to Trump.

What will not be allowed:

• Merchan said he still believes the “Access Hollywood” video in which Trump brags about groping women should not be shown to jurors because it’s so prejudicial.
• The judge also denied prosecutors’ request to bring into evidence the allegations of sexual assault against Trump that came out after the “Access Hollywood” tape. He said he will not allow Trump to be prejudiced by a “rumor.”
• Merchan additionally said he doesn’t think the deposition of E. Jean Carroll, who accused Trump of sexual assault, should be brought in because it would be “building in a trial into a trial.”

Barron Trump’s graduation is on a court day but Merchan hasn’t decided to allow Trump to go to it. Although that’s later in May.

[Trump will probably go berserk if he can’t. Although knowing enough of him, he’d do campaigning as well.]

Remember how Trump was complaining that he couldn’t get a fair trial in heavily Democrat leaning New York City? Trump was asked what he thought of the first seven jurors selected. He answered to ask him again in two months [when the trial could be over]. So he’s not complaining now about a fair trial.

[Of course if he loses, he will bring up the unfair trial crap and if he wins, he won’t mention the unfairness. Note that his illegal activities related to this trial took place in New York City. So where else can it be done?]

While he is in court and can’t get out of being there, Trump’s vice-president candidates are on TV and radio trying to help him. They are J.D. Vance, Elise Stefanik, Doug Burgum [a long shot as from a small state and mostly unknown], and Vivek Ramaswamy.

[With some of the candidates, they could hurt him more than help.]

At some rally in some small town in Pennsylvania, Trump said “Gettysburg, what an amazing, horrible, just incredible, classy, terrible thing, really beautiful. I kinda went there, but had the wrong address. Robert E Lee a war hero that wasn’t captured, loser on the hill, but we miss him, really a great guy, believe me.”

[Lee was a war hero and “really a great guy, believe me” – Trump is that old to know him? The GOP were always ranting about President Biden’s age.]

The Supreme Court seemed deeply divided over a challenge to a federal law that prosecutors used to charge more than 350 people who were part of the Trump Insurrection mob that attacked the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Several conservatives expressed concern about giving prosecutors broad power that they suggested would allow the government to target peaceful protesters or hecklers who disrupt a court proceeding.

The court’s ruling, likely to land in late June, has the potential to undo the convictions and sentences of those who have gone to trial or pleaded guilty, and upend the charges still pending for many more. It could also clear Trump of some charges.

[So the justices want those disturbing the court to be allowed to?]

Jimmy Kimmel delivered another monologue making fun of Trump. The morning after, Trump claimed that at the Academy Awards in March, it was Kimmel, not Al Pacino, who said should of said “and the Oscar goes to” or at least “and the winner is.” Kimmel was the host that night. See here. [particularly at about 47 seconds in. “In fairness to our former President, many stable geniuses confuse me with Al Pacino….,” Kimmel wrote late that afternoon on Twitter.

[Can’t Trump get this right? Did he or have someone to verify the message sent? I guess not.]
Trump’s campaign is asking Republican candidates and committees using his name and likeness who fundraise to give at least 5% of what they raise to the campaign. Trump’s campaign managers, Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, said in a letter dated April 15, “Beginning tomorrow, we ask that all candidates and committees who choose to use President Trump’s name, image, and likeness split a minimum of 5% of all fundraising solicitations to Trump National Committee JFC…”

[You think anyone will give more than 5%?]

The LA Times goofed, claiming a “typographical error” when in the obituary for OJ Simpson, Donald Trump’s name was used instead. “Long before the city woke up on a fall morning in 2017, Trump walked out of Lovelock Correctional Center outside Reno, a free man for the first time in nine years,” the Times’ obituary read. “He didn’t go far, moving into a 5,000-square-foot home in Las Vegas with a Bentley in the driveway.”

Voting technology company Smartmatic and the far-right network One America News said that they had settled a defamation lawsuit stemming from the outlet’s lies about the 2020 election. Because of a confidential agreement, no details were revealed. Smartmatic filed its lawsuit against OAN in 2021, alleging that the right-wing conspiracy network “victimized” the company and spread lies about its role in the 2020 election to “increase viewership and revenue.”

The DJT stock continues to drop at one point. Maybe related to the fact that they began selling 2.1 million more shares which diluted the stock [which reduces Trump’s percentage in the company] and then announced they want to go into streaming as well. Streaming a notoriously cost-intensive business in which media behemoths like Disney have struggled to turn a profit. Since the height of DJT stock, it has dropped 70% as of April 16th but over the past three days, it has shot up a bit.

It is suggested that its streaming network could host live news, religious programming and family-friendly shows, movies and documentaries that “has been cancelled, is at risk of cancellation, or is being suppressed on other platforms and services.”

[So I guess content could include Beverley Hillbillies, Dukes of Hazard, moonshine experts, a cookie show on how to make deep fried Oreos….]
Trump repeatedly ranted about wind power during a fundraising dinner with oil and gas industry executives recently, claiming that the renewable-energy source is unreliable, unattractive and bad for the environment.

[Talking about sucking up. Just remember that he was pushing dirty and environmentally unfriendly coal when it was being used less and less. How anyone can think that renewable-energy source is bad for the environment must be crazy. He is.]

Only it now came out that disgraced former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December after being ordered to pay $148 million for falsely accusing two poll workers of cheating in the 2020 election. This week, the former Trump attorney sat for an hours-long deposition behind closed doors in the case, as his creditors seek to recover their money — with his treasure trove of assets revealing how they might be paid.

Where will he get the money?

Donald Trump, his adult sons, and two former Trump Organization officials have appealed the $464 million judgment entered against them in the New York attorney general’s civil fraud case. The Trumps filed a notice of appeal with the court, the first business day after Judge Arthur Engoron made the judgment official. Donald Trump is personally on the hook for $454 million, including interest payments. If he does not provide all those dollars then that interest is going to keep ticking throughout the entirety of the case.

Trump must come up with the full amount to cover the $454 million verdict in the civil fraud trial, an appeals court Associate Justice Anil Singh ruled. Singh lifted a ban on Trump’s ability to obtain loans from New York regulated financial institutions, which could allow him to access the equity in his assets to back the full bond amount. Singh denied Trump’s request to delay his obligation to post $454 million until a full appellate panel hears his motion to stay enforcement of that judgment until his appeals of the civil fraud ruling are over.

Trump could post the cash amount to cover the judgment. But if he decides to secure a loan, his lawyers told the judge, he would need to raise more than $550 million. Bond underwriters charge about 120% of the judgment and often require cash and other easy-to-sell assets like stocks or bonds as collateral.

Trump has asked the judge overseeing the defamation case with writer E. Jean Carroll to postpone enforcement of that judgment or allow him to post a smaller amount until all post-trial arguments are over. The judge has not yet ruled.

Trump sought to appeal to Black voters night in South Carolina by repeatedly citing the 91 felony charges he faces and comparing them to unfair treatment from the criminal justice system toward minorities in America. Funny.

[This is the same joker who claims that New Yorkers will leave the state after that recent $355 million judgment.]

A bipartisan ethics panel in Wisconsin has recommended felony charges against one of Trump’s fundraising arms in relation to an alleged scheme that it says was meant to circumvent campaign finance laws to take out a powerful GOP lawmaker who has turned against Trump. The Wisconsin Ethics Commission found probable cause that Trump’s Save America committee, a state lawmaker and multiple local Republican officials committed felonies and recommended six district attorneys investigate and prosecute them. The commission’s investigation centers on the 2022 primary race between Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, one of the most influential Republicans in Wisconsin, and Adam Steen, a political newcomer who embraced Trump.

The conservative Koch group has decided to pull funding for Nikki Haley after her showing in South Carolina. They originally decided to back Haley late last fall because they didn’t like what they see in Trump. They are now backing Republicans in tight races.

The co-founders of Trump’s media company, Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss, filed a lawsuit, claiming that Trump and other leaders had schemed to deprive them of a stake in the company that could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The case could complicate a long-delayed bid by Trump Media & Technology Group, owner of the social network Truth Social, to merge with a special purpose acquisition company called Digital World Acquisition and become a publicly traded company. That merger deal, which could value Trump’s stake in the company at more than $3 billion.

The two’s attorneys allege in the motion that Trump has recently attempted to “drastically dilute” the partnership’s stake as part of what they called an “11th hour, pre-merger corporate manoeuvring” tactic designed to increase the amount of authorized stock, from 120 million shares to 1 billion shares. They would get a watered down of under one percent instead of 8.6 percent.

From a speech at the Texas-Mexico border Trump repeated his familiar story about how migrants are supposedly arriving in the US after having been deliberately freed by foreign leaders from prisons and mental health facilities.

[Has he been watching the movie Scarface with Al Pacino too many times? That was 40+ years ago!]

From a CPAC speech:

• Trump claimed, as he has on numerous previous occasions, that although he was told it would take “four years” to defeat the ISIS terror group, “I knocked it out in four weeks.” The ISIS “caliphate” was declared fully liberated more than two years into Trump’s presidency, in 2019 after two additional years when President Obama made major progress. Even if Trump was starting the clock at the time of his visit to Iraq in late December 2018, as he suggested later in a speech, the liberation was proclaimed more than two and a half months later.

[Trump, of course, ignored the Kurdish forces who did much of the ground fighting. Do anyone really believe he did it in four weeks?]

• “Remember I used to say a long time ago, ‘Don’t go into Iraq. Don’t do it!’” claims Trump. In his 2000 book, “The America We Deserve,” Trump argued a military strike on Iraq might be necessary. In a September 2002 interview whether he is “for invading Iraq,” Trump responded, “Yeah, I guess so. I wish the first time it was done correctly.” Trump began criticizing the war in 2003, after the invasion.

• Trump said, “And then you wonder why we have a $2 trillion deficit. If you look at it now, it’s gotten to a level that nobody can even believe; it’s so bad under Biden.” The US has never had a $2 trillion annual trade deficit. The overall deficit, which includes trade in both goods and services, was about $773 billion in 2023, down from a record high of about $951 billion in 2022.

• Trump said, “We built 571 miles of border wall.” An official report by US Customs and Border Protection, written two days after Trump left office said the total number built under Trump was 458 miles [including both wall built where no barriers had existed before and wall built to replace previous barriers].

[And if you remember, some of the walls were made so bad that supposedly the wind tipped over a section of the wall that was made.]

• Trump also claimed “I ended Nord Stream” [actually Nord Stream 2 pipeline] and that “I stopped it, it was over.” While he did approve sanctions on companies working on the project, that move came nearly three years into his presidency, when the pipeline was already around 90% complete – and the state-owned Russian gas company behind the project said shortly after the sanctions that it would complete the pipeline itself.

• Trump claimed that, as president, he had threatened that he would cut off all US business with China if China bought even “one barrel of oil from Iran.” China’s oil imports from Iran did briefly plummet under Trump in 2019, the year the Trump administration made a concerted effort to deter such purchases, but they never stopped – and then they rose sharply again while Trump was still president.

• Then Trump said, “I’ve been indicted more than Alphonse Capone,” even though Capone was a notoriously vicious gangster. Trump has been indicted four times. Capone was indicted at least six times.

[Maybe he just watched the movie The Untouchables and thought that was it.]

In the Republican South Carolina exit polls:

• 54% preferred Haley over Trump. This is typical as more educated people prefer anyone but Trump.
• Two thirds of independent voters prefer Haley. Same for moderate/liberal voters.
• 55% of non-White evangelical Christians voted for Haley.
• With 61% of voters believed that Biden didn’t win the election, 87% were Trump voters
• 60% of votes would still vote for Trump if convicted – almost all are Trump voters.
• 31% are unsure if they’d vote for Trump if he is the Republican nominee with most are independent and moderate/liberal voters.

Your typical Trump week

Donald Trump is claiming that the country is better off having no bill for the border rather than a deal being finalized between the Senate Republicans and Democrats. But Trump would prefer to block the deal for his own political gains. Two Republicans would push to have Republican House Leader mike Johnson ousted if the bill is passed. Trump also says that he is 100% certain that terrorists could cross the border with the new deal.

[So with the new bill, supposedly there would be a cap of 5,000 migrants entering a week. If Trump claims that terrorists would cross under the new deal, wouldn’t the same terrorists (or more) cross when there is no cap?]

[The Oklahoma Republican Party approved a resolution over the weekend condemning and censuring Sen. James Lankford, the state’s senior senator, for his role in the ongoing bipartisan border negotiations in Congress.]

Trump is making a push to shore up support from a historically Democratic voting bloc: union workers by meeting with members of the Teamsters union’s leadership as well as rank-and-file members in a roundtable discussion at their headquarters in Washington. The group, which represents 1.3 million workers including technicians, film and television workers and law enforcement officials, has yet to endorse in the 2024 election but backed President Joe Biden in 2020.

The Teamsters had extended an invite to all presidential candidates to meet with them; however, Trump said it would be a “waste” of their time to meet with his Republican challenger Nikki Haley. Meanwhile a vice-president-at-large member of the Teamsters has said that the chances of the union endorsing Trump is next to zero. He blame Trump for using scabs in the government while he was president, his participation in the Trump Insurrection, he previous dealings with the Teamsters weren’t good for them, etc. Of course, the Teamsters voting for them doesn’t mean they will all vote for Biden.

Trump said that if he is re-elected, he would not reappoint Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, accusing Powell of considering rate cuts to give Democrats an advantage in the 2024 elections. “It looks to me like he’s trying to lower interest rates for the sake of maybe getting people elected, I don’t know… I think he’s going to do something to probably help the Democrats,” Trump said.

Trump accused Powell of being “political,” adding to years of verbal attacks since Trump nominated him for Fed chair in 2017. Powell was reappointed by President Joe Biden in 2021. The Fed chair cannot be fired, but the president is responsible for nominating a candidate every four years for Congress’ approval.

[It seems everyone is out to get him. Department of Justice, various states, Federal Reserve Chair, …. If the weather goes bad at a rally, he’d start blaming the National Weather Service saying they did something to cause the bad weather.]

Attorney Roberta Kaplan, lawyer for E. Jean Carroll but not in this case, said Trump threw papers across a table and stormed off during a deposition at Mar-a-Lago after learning that his legal team had agreed to provide her lunch. Trump requested that they work through a lunch break because he believed the deposition was “a waste of my time.” Kaplan detailed the end of the deposition when she was set to leave, saying that Trump told her: “See you next Tuesday” – a phrase that is often used as a derogatory euphemism directed at women.

The former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, Allen Weisselberg, is in talks to potentially plead guilty to a perjury charge related to a civil investigation into the real estate company’s finances. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to 15 criminal charges related to tax fraud and served 100 days in New York City’s Rikers Island jail. He testified at the criminal tax fraud trial of two Trump Organization entities, which were convicted and fined.

All those Republicans who are sucking up to Trump [instead of backing Haley] even though Trump has said nasty thing about them including: Nancy Mace [“terrible person”], Elise Stefanik, Ron DeSantis, Marco Rubio, Lyin’ Ted Cruz.

Related to sucking up, Bernie Moreno, a Republican businessman running for the US Senate in Ohio, once said there was “no scenario” in which he would support Trump. He’s called Trump a “fake Republican” who stokes “hatred and fear” and suggested that Trump’s popularity is the result of “ignorance in our society.” But Moreno has since come to praise Trump and earned his endorsement.

After the 2020 election, the president of the far-right network One America News sent an email to former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell, with a spreadsheet claiming to contain passwords of employees from the voting technology company Smartmatic, according to court filings. The existence of the spreadsheet was recently disclosed by Smartmatic, which is suing OAN for defamation.

Lawyers from Smartmatic said with that the email and the attached spreadsheet, they suggest OAN executives “may have engaged in criminal activities” because they “appear to have violated state and federal laws regarding data privacy.” The court records don’t say how OAN obtained the spreadsheet, or whether the supposed Smartmatic passwords were authentic.

A former conservative federal appellate judge, J. Michael Luttig, is urging the Supreme Court to keep Trump off the ballot, arguing Trump’s effort to cling to power after his 2020 election loss was “broader” than South Carolina’s secession from the US that triggered the Civil War.

Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton believe dictators around the world view former Trump as a “laughing fool”.

Charles Littlejohn , the man who stole and leaked Trump and thousands of other’s tax records has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Trump has $56 million on hand but has to spend money battling Nikki Haley instead of saving the money to eventually battle President Biden.

Two of Trump’s committees, Save America leadership PAC and the Make America Great Again PAC, spent $55.6 million on legal bills in 2023, including $29.9 million in the second half of the year, according to the new reports.

Two of Trump’s political action committees spent nearly $29 million combined on legal fees during the last six months of 2023. In all, Save America PAC and Make America Great Again PAC spent more than $50 million of contributors’ money on legal expenses last year, according to FEC records.

In a November Marquette Law School national poll asking whether Biden and Trump are “too old to be president,” a 57 percent majority said this describes Biden “very well” compared with 23 percent for Trump. Eighty percent said that describes Biden at least somewhat well, compared with 51 percent who said that of Trump.

IT systems belonging to the Fulton County, Georgia government have been disrupted by a cyberattack. Outages are affecting the county’s VoIP phone systems, as well as its court and tax systems. It is the same courts as where Trump’s trial is taking place.

[You think any Trump followers caused it? It is a cyberattack and not ransomware.]

An adage that seems especially appropriate: “For Republicans, life begins at conception and ends at birth.”

[They are “pro-life” only in that they want to make sure that unwanted children are “born”, but not that the necessities of life are provided to them once they leave the womb. But still vote for them.]

Trump needs to pay some “cheddar”

Donald Trump must pay $83.3 million to E. Jean Carroll for defamatory statements he made against her in 2019, a jury determined. The total is more than eight times what Carroll asked for in her initial lawsuit. Carroll’s lawyers have already said that they will take Trump to court again if he opens his big mouth against her. Trump went on his failed social platform and made comments about the case but did not mention Carroll by saying “I fully disagree with both verdicts, and will be appealing this whole Biden Directed Witch Hunt focused on me and the Republican Party.” His lawyers already said they’d appeal.

[There are about 2 million active Truth Social users. However X/Twitter has about 450 million monthly active users and Facebook has about 2.91 billion.]

Earlier, Trump renewed his motion for a mistrial of the defamation case after Carroll acknowledged deleting some emails. Trump’s attorney Alina Habba asked for a mistrial earlier in the middle of cross-examination of Carroll when Carroll testified that she had deleted some emails containing threats to her safety. It was promptly rejected by Judge Lewis Kaplan but Habba reiterated the request and said without the records there is no way to prove when the threats occurred. Trump has argued that Carroll immediately began receiving negative messages after an excerpt of Carroll’s book containing the assault allegations was published on New York magazine’s website – hours before Trump issued his first statement. His attorneys argued Trump shouldn’t be held responsible for what other people did.

[Trump shouldn’t be held responsible unless he encouraged the people to act on what he said – like at the Trump Insurrection – and they did.]

Meanwhile Carroll is likely face a huge tax bill for those damages — and it’s all thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, and it went into effect in January 2018. The measure gave everyone a larger standard deduction, but the law took away the ability for plaintiffs to deduct legal fees in many types of cases, including defamation cases, so the government wouldn’t lose too much in revenue. Who signed the act? Trump.

Habba also criticized the judge, saying the judge wasn’t allowed any defense in front of the jury. But this wasn’t a full jury, just the verdict of how much he should pay. He was already found guilty.

Fox News on TV didn’t even bother to report about the money verdict [from what I was told as I don’t have or want the TV “new” channel] but their web site did have the story but it was way down in the front page of the web site.

Trump said presidents of the United States should have full immunity from prosecution even if they “cross the line” while in office, pushing his claims even further as he awaits a highly anticipated ruling from a federal appeals court in Washington regarding his attempts to overturn the 2020 election. “Even events that ‘cross the line’ must fall under total immunity… A president of the United States must have full immunity, without which it would be impossible for him/her to properly function,” Trump posted.

[This goes back to Trump’s comment when he said he could walk down Fifth Avenue in New York City and kill someone and be immune while President. Some experts are saying that what he said is an admission of guilt of something he has already done in the past. Plenty to choose from! He basically says a president can do whatever every they want any no one in the government can stop the president. Immunity covers the president in office while doing his official duties but with exceptions. Telling a governor to find him 11,000+ so he can win the state isn’t one of them. At that time, he is acting as a candidate and has no immunity.]

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley questioned Trump’s mental fitness after he appeared to confuse her with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when talking about the January 6, 2021, Trump Insurrection. “Last night, Trump is at a rally and he’s going on and on mentioning me several times as to why I didn’t take security during the Capitol riots. Why I didn’t handle January 6 better. I wasn’t even in DC on January 6. I wasn’t in office then,” Haley said. “They’re saying he got confused. That he was talking about something else. That he was talking about Nancy Pelosi. He mentioned me multiples times in that scenario.”

When Trump’s suggested that Haley was standing in the way of him earning the nomination, she responded, “I don’t do what he tells me to do. I’ve never done what he tells me to do.”

[That last sentence might not be true when she was the UN Ambassador. He is easily the front runner at this point. Is he nervous that she might actually be competition for him?]

“But as they said, we lost by a whisker,” Trump said in a speech in New Hampshire. Unsure if he meant the New Hampshire primary this week or from 2016 when he lost to Lyin’ Ted Cruz by almost 3.5% – not a whisker. Publicly, he criticized Haley speech and her outfit in a post online. Privately, Trump told his aides he was baffled that she was refusing to drop out and grant him the GOP nomination, urging his political aides to up their attacks on her.

[Is he admitting that he actually lost the 2020 election? And it wasn’t by a whisker. 74 electoral college votes. This was part of more ranting and complaining after his win in New Hampshire that featured new lies as well as the usuals.]

“My conscience won’t allow me to vote for a criminal,” said a Republican voter in New Hampshire.

Trump this week bragged about purportedly acing a widely used cognitive test that was administered to him when he was president. “I think it was 35, 30 questions,” Trump said of the test, which he said involved a few animal identification queries. “They always show you the first one, like a giraffe, a tiger, or this, or that — a whale. ‘Which one is the whale?’ Okay. And that goes on for three or four [questions] and then it gets harder and harder and harder.”

Ziad Nasreddine, the Canadian neurologist who invented the test in question said it has never included the specific combination of animals described by Trump in any of its versions over the years. The test is called The Montreal Cognitive Assessment, a test aimed at detecting dementia or cognitive decline. Experts also note that the assessment is not an I.Q. or intelligence test, though Trump has often talked about it as if it was.

Senior Senate Republicans are furious that Trump may have killed an emerging bipartisan deal over the southern border, depriving them of a key legislative achievement on a pressing national priority and offering a preview of what’s to come with Trump as their likely presidential nominee. In recent weeks, Trump has been lobbying Republicans both in private conversations and in public statements on social media to oppose the border compromise in part because he wants to campaign on the issue this November and doesn’t want President Joe Biden to score a victory in an area where he is politically vulnerable. But House Republicans want to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for not doing his job.

[How can Mayorkas be impeached when the same party is blocking him from doing his job.]

[You need to wonder whether northern states really care about what happens at the southern border. Very few migrants would make it to the northern states – except when a southern Republican governor forces the migrants to travel north by buses.]

The federal appeals court in Washington, DC, declined to rehear arguments over whether Trump can be prohibited from talking about witnesses and court staff while he awaits trial in the special counsel’s January 6 criminal case. Trump has unsuccessfully tried to challenge the gag order placed on him by Judge Tanya Chutkan late last year through appeals. The 11 judges from the DC Circuit Court of Appeals declined to touch the case after a three-judge panel previously upheld the gag order against Trump.

Maine’s top court declined to weigh in on whether Trump can stay on the state’s ballot, keeping intact a judge’s decision that the US Supreme Court must first rule on a similar case in Colorado. Democrat Shenna Bellows concluded that Trump didn’t meet ballot qualifications under the insurrection clause in the US Constitution but a judge put that decision on hold pending the Supreme Court’s decision on the similar case in Colorado.

So MSNBC decided not to show Trump’s speech after he won in Iowa. When they saw his speech was considered normal [i.e. very few or no lies], they decided to show Trump’s speech in New Hampshire but shortly after he started his speech, they pulled away. Can you guess why?

[Wouldn’t it be easier if they delayed showing his speech by about 15 seconds so they have the time to mute his lies?]

After his Iowa primary win, he said “She [Haley] didn’t, and she couldn’t even beat a very flawed Ron DeSanctimonious [DeSantis], who’s out of money, and out of hope. Nikki came in a distant THIRD!”

[Haley did come in third but right close behind DeSantis. They technically both were a distant second and third, but trump was going after Haley because there were hints that DeSantis wouldn’t stay in the race long which became true a couple of days later.]

Trump posted a comment that anyone who contributes to Haley’s campaign would be “permanently barred from the MAGA camp.” The Americans for Prosperity Action, the super PAC backed by billionaire Charles Koch, who backed Haley in November, said they will not give Trump’s campaign any money and instead focus on getting Senate wins when and if Haley drops. Others will follow. That’s a blow to Trump’s campaign.

Tim Scott, who decided to endorse Trump over fellow South Carolinian, Haley claims that the economy was great under. Does that include the double digit unemployment rate from April to July 2020 and still high after? It slid under 4% within 8 months of Biden’s election. Dow Jones was about 30,000 on December 31, 2020. It is now over 38,000. Trump seemed to always say the stock market was his indication that economy was doing well.

One of Trump’s legal battles is heading to the Supreme Court

Special counsel Jack Smith asked the Supreme Court to decide whether Donald Trump has any immunity from criminal prosecution for alleged crimes he committed while in office – the first time that the high court will weigh in on the historic prosecution of Trump. The extraordinary request is an attempt by Smith to keep the election subversion trial – currently scheduled for early March – on track. Smith is asking the Supreme Court to take the rare step of skipping a federal appeals court and quickly decide a fundamental issue of the case against Trump.

But Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan overseeing Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case has temporarily paused all procedural deadlines while appeals over a major issue play out – which could lead to his March 2024 trial date being pushed back. The judge acknowledged that she no longer has jurisdiction over aspects of the criminal case while the DC Circuit Court of Appeals considers whether Trump is immune and can be tried.

Smith’s team has asked the court to review Judge Chutkan’s ruling that as a former president, Trump is not immune from the election subversion prosecution case brought in Washington DC. Lawyers for Trump have argued that Trump’s alleged actions over the 2020 election results were part of his official duties at the time and therefore he is protected by presidential immunity. If the court rules against Smith, it could cause problems in this case and another.

A New York appellate court rejected Trump’s challenge of the gag order in his civil fraud trial. Trump’s attorneys petitioned the court over the gag order that bars him and the attorneys from speaking publicly about Judge Arthur Engoron’s court staff. In rejecting the challenge, the appeals court said Trump didn’t use the proper legal vehicle to challenge the gag order and sanctions. The appellate court in another order also rejected a Trump request to allow his legal team to seek a review of the gag order by the Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court.

Trump said he has decided against testifying for a second time at his New York civil fraud trial claiming that he “very successfully & conclusively” testified last month and saw no need to appear again. He was expected to add more testimony this past week. When he was questioned by the state lawyers who are suing him, he often responded with lengthy diatribes. Trump’s verbose answers irked the judge, who repeatedly asked Trump to keep his answers short. “This is not a political rally,” the judge said. Had Trump returned to the stand Monday, his defence lawyers would have led the questioning, but state lawyers could have cross-examined him.

[Trump’s lawyers may try to ask the Supreme Court but I suspect they won’t even hear it (if they are really smart). If you got nothing to hide, then you would testify. If your first round of testimony didn’t go well, you wouldn’t want to testify.]

A federal appeals court rejected Trump’s use of presidential immunity in a bid to dismiss a civil defamation lawsuit brought by former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll. The judges found that Trump waived using presidential immunity as a defense by not raising it earlier in the litigation over Carroll’s claim that Trump defamed her when, as president, he denied her allegations of sexual assault. The appeals court also affirmed the lower court’s ruling by Judge Kaplan that rejected Trump’s motion for summary judgment.

[Not really surprising as well as the assault happened way before his reign (of terror).]

Trump’s ex-lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has lost his defamation to two women in Georgia. They were election workers. One was paid $16/hour and the other one was a volunteer. After Giuliani accused them of some shenanigans that he could never prove, they were harassed by him verbally and then by followers of Trump. Throughout the whole time since his accusations, Giuliani said he would show proof of what they did. [We are still waiting!]

Of course he doesn’t have the money. He can’t pay his legal bills. He probably will go bankrupt first. He probably can’t afford an appeal. He probably won’t be able to pay his alimony [3 wives].

[His buddy, Trump, claims to be a billionaire but probably won’t give Giuliani a nickel because Trump likes to throw people under a steamroller while he rolls over them a few times. Donnie was a co-conspirator.]

Trump characterized warnings that his victory in 2024 would represent a threat to democracy as a “hoax” and “Democrat misinformation.” He said in a speech hosted by the New York Young Republican Club that President Joe Biden “is the real threat to democracy.” He said “We call it now the threat-to-democracy hoax, because that’s what it is.”

[This is the man who claimed he would become a dictator on day one of his second reign. He also suggested even a third term which is against the constitution and even scrap parts of the constitution (that he doesn’t like). As well, this from a man who wants to weaponize the Department of Justice and others to go after those who went against him.]

“They think the threat-to-democracy hoax will save Biden from having created the worst inflation in our country’s history, a fragile economy that may soon end in a depression.”

[The inflation came right after his reign when the nation was at least shut down while his administration could not figure out how to handle the pandemic. The world was looking for the US for leadership. Instead the world got turmoil. And of course he knows nothing. Inflation was a whopping 20% in the late 1940s, 15% around the 1980s and about 9% in 2022. The “worst inflation”? Source.]

While on Fox, Trump made 24 false or iffy claims. A good chuckle. Some of the comments by users are quite funny.

Trump says he wants to testify – should be fun

Donald Trump says that he wants to testify at the trial in Fulton County. [You think he will? He is a narcissist with this huge ego. So that part says he will. However, his lawyers will tell him not to do as he has a very good chance of perjuring himself or get out of line.]

The Fulton County district attorney’s office said it’s planned a four months-long trial with more than 150 witnesses, while defense attorneys for two of the defendants, pro-Trump lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, argued their cases should be severed from the other defendants.

The state judge presiding over Trump’s election subversion case, Scott McAfee, denied the motion for Chesebro and Powell – who have both filed to hold a speedy trial – to sever their cases from each other, but he was skeptical of the district attorney’s desire to hold a trial for all 19 defendants beginning next month.

[To make sure they have enough room, maybe hold the trial at the Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium.]

An Atlanta-area special grand jury that spent months investigating alleged 2020 election interference in Georgia by Trump and his allies agreed Trump should be indicted in the case and also recommended charging one of Trump’s closest associates, Sen. Lindsey Graham, and 37 other people — a far larger group than a prosecutor ultimately charged. The recommendations were contained in a 26-page final report presented in January to Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis and made public by a judge.

Special counsel Jack Smith [“Saint Jack” to some] is still pursuing his investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election a month after indicting Trump for orchestrating a broad conspiracy to remain in power. Smith is focusing on how money raised off baseless claims of voter fraud was used to fund attempts to breach voting equipment in several states won by President Biden.

Prosecutors have focused their questions on the role of former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell. Powell’s non-profit, Defending the Republic, hired forensics firms that ultimately accessed voting equipment in four swing states won by Biden: Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona.

Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro has been convicted of contempt of Congress for two charges for not complying to a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. Each charges carries a range of 30 days to a year [very unlikely] plus a fine. Navarro will already said [not surprisingly] that he will appeal.

Just before his press conference after the announcement, Navarro had a slight run-in with an anti-Trump demonstrator where he tried twice to pull down her sign. [She may have been hoping that he’d grab her which could lead to an assault charge – all this on camera.]

Former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has filed his notice of appeal to the US 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in his bid to move his Georgia criminal case to federal court. “When questioned about the scope of his authority, Meadows was unable to explain the limits of his authority, other than his inability to stump for the President or work on behalf of the campaign,” the judge wrote, saying he would give Meadows’ testimony on that topic “less weight” than the other evidence. Jones also cited Meadows’ acknowledgement that the lawyers he included in an infamous 2021 phone call with Georgia’s secretary of state were working for Trump or his campaign — not the government.

A liberal group filed a lawsuit to bar Trump from the primary ballot in Colorado, arguing he is ineligible to run for the White House again under a rarely used clause in the US Constitution aimed at candidates who have supported an “insurrection.” The lawsuit, citing the 14th Amendment, is likely the initial step in a legal challenge that seems destined for the US Supreme Court. The complaint was filed on behalf of six Republican and unaffiliated Colorado voters by the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem endorsed Trump at a campaign rally in her home state. There are rumors going around that she is hoping that Trump pick her as his vice presidential running mate when he wins the nomination. This of course goes against the norm as the running mate tends to be from a state where it could flip to either party and where possible from the other side of the country where the presidential candidate is from. Picking Noem would be twice against the norm as Pence was from Indiana and more conservative than Trump [or Noem].

Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor and onetime attorney to Trump, owes an estimated $5 million in legal fees, a debt that Giuliani hopes to eat into at a fundraiser at Trump’s Bedminster golf club. Giuliani is expected to take in more than $1 million for his legal defense fund at a $100,000-a-plate fundraiser hosted by Trump. It is the first of two fundraisers Trump is expected to sponsor for Giuliani. There are estimates that Giuliani has lost between $10-$20 million in business because of his work for Trump.

Mar-a-Lago IT worker Yuscil Taveras has struck a cooperation agreement with the special counsel’s office in the federal case over Trump’s handling of classified documents, Taveras’ former defense attorney said in a new court filing.

Taveras struck the deal with prosecutors after he was threatened with prosecution, defense attorney Stanley Woodward wrote in the filing. Taveras is referred to in the filing and in the superseding indictment as “Trump Employee 4.”

Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that the jury hearing E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit will only need to decide how much money Trump will have to pay her, after the judge found him was liable for making defamatory statements. Kaplan said that a federal jury’s verdict earlier this year against Trump will carry over to the defamation case set to go to trial in January involving statements Trump made in 2019 about Carroll’s sexual assault allegations.

Carroll, a former magazine columnist, alleged Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s and then defamed her when he denied her claim. In May 2023, after a two-week trial, a jury found Trump sexually abused Carroll and defamed her when he said in 2022 that he didn’t rape her, didn’t know her, and that she wasn’t his “type.” In that case, the jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages.

So President Biden visited Maui and Florida and didn’t throw paper towels at anyone.

Trump’s media start-up, Truth Social, back in announced in October 2021 that it planned to merge with a Miami-based company called Digital World Acquisition and would close within 12 to 18 months. With the $300 million Digital World had already raised from investors, Trump Media & Technology Group, creator of the pro-Trump social network Truth Social, pledged then that the merger would create a tech titan worth $875 million at the start and, depending on the stock’s performance, up to $1.7 billion later.

With the merger stalled for months, Digital World is fast approaching a Sept. 8 deadline for the merger to close and has scheduled a shareholder meeting in hopes of getting enough votes to extend the deadline another year. If the vote fails, Digital World will be required by law to liquidate and return $300 million to its shareholders, leaving Trump’s company with nothing from the transaction. Digital World’s share price, which peaked in its first hours at $175, has since fallen to about $14.

Digital World’s efforts to merge with Trump Media have been troubled almost from the start:

• allegations that it began its conversations with Trump’s company before they were permitted under SPAC rules
• the company agreed to pay an $18 million settlement to resolve charges that it had misled investors and given false information to the Securities and Exchange Commission
• its chief executive was terminated by the board
• a former board member was arrested on charges of insider trading

Legal issue continue to pile on for Trump

US District Judge Aileen M. Cannon, presiding over Donald Trump’s indictment for allegedly mishandling classified documents, has scheduled his trial to start in late May of next year, rejecting claims by Trump’s attorneys that a fair trial could only be held after the 2024 election — as well as the Justice Department’s request to start as soon as December. She scheduled a jury trial to begin in the Fort Pierce Division of the US District Court in Southern Florida during the two-week period that begins May 20, 2024. Cannon was appointed by Trump.

[I think it is fair. Plenty of time to do what they need to do and gather move evidence against him. With a guilty or innocence in late May it could hurt his chance. He or the Department of Justice could appeal to the Supreme Court who would have to decide most likely before their session is over. And hopefully the rioting and terrorism by the right would be over by the time the election happens.]

Trump says he was told in the target letter to “report” to the grand jury within four days of receiving it on July 16th. While Trump didn’t say specifically why he was told to report, individuals who receive a target letter typically are given the chance to appear before a grand jury to defend themselves before charges are brought. “Under the United States Constitution, I have the right to protest an Election that I am fully convinced was Rigged and Stolen, just as Democrats have done against me in 2016, and many others have done over the ages,” Trump wrote.
[Protesting is one thing – trying to undermine the election process is another. No presidential candidate has ever “protested” the way he did in modern US history.]

A target letter from federal prosecutors to Trump makes clear that prosecutors are focused on Trump’s actions in the investigation into overturning the 2020 election — and not just of those around him who tried to stop his election loss. Justice Department regulations allow for prosecutors to notify subjects of an investigation that they have become a target. Often a notification that a person is a target is a strong sign an indictment could follow, but it is possible the recipient is not ultimately charged.

William Russell, a White House special assistant and the deputy director of presidential advance operations, continued to work as Trump’s personal aide after Trump left office. He has testified before a federal grand jury investigating the former president’s efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Trump is blaming former New Jersey governor and 2024 contender, Chris Christie, in what he says was Christie’s recommendation to nominate Christopher Wray for FBI director. But who makes the final decision. {BTW, Wray is a Republican but the party has been blaming him for anything they can.]

The Georgia Supreme Court dismissed a long shot legal bid from Trump to essentially shut down the Fulton County criminal probe into his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat in Georgia. The court said in a five-page opinion that Trump hadn’t demonstrated the “extraordinary circumstances” that would require their intervention at this time. Trump had asked the Georgia justices to throw out the wide array of evidence collected so far in the Fulton County investigation and to block state prosecutors from ever using that material in any future criminal or civil proceedings. The decision was unanimous. Eight of the nine members of the Georgia Supreme Court were appointed by Republican governors.

Trump’s legal challenges also sought a court order blocking Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, an elected Democrat, from participating in any further proceedings related to the criminal investigation. The Georgia Supreme Court said that Trump’s petition to the high court “has not presented … either the facts or the law necessary to mandate Willis’s disqualification by this Court at this time on this record.”

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville recused the entire judicial bench in Fulton County from hearing Trump’s motion to disqualify Willis and her office from further probing Trump. The motion also calls for throwing out evidence and a final report gathered by a special grand jury that investigated the case.

Of more than $35 million raised between March and June, the Trump campaign received $17.7 million, according to the latest report to the Federal Election Commission. The rest went to the Save America PAC, which will report its latest finances on July 31 but has been spending millions on lawyers representing Trump and allies in the multiple ongoing cases, according to FEC disclosures.

A federal judge has denied Trump’s request for a new trial in the E. Jean Carroll case – finding the jury who found that the former president sexually abused and defamed Carroll did not reach a “seriously erroneous result.” “The jury in this case did not reach ‘a seriously erroneous result,” Judge Lewis Kaplan said. “Its verdict is not ‘a miscarriage of justice.’” Trump had asked for the new trial after the jury awarded magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll $5 million in damages.

In a private call with Trump, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he personally backed the idea of expunging Trump’s two impeachments and would bring it up to the conference to gauge support but he did not promise to bring it to the floor.

After spending over 20% of his reign golfing, Trump still can’t even get the easy shots.

He knows how to pick [or pardon] them: A New Jersey man whose 24-year prison sentence for fraud was commuted by Trump has been charged with orchestrating a new Ponzi scheme. He was one of 143 people who were granted executive clemency in the final hours of Trump’s presidency. Less than a year after leaving prison, authorities say the man launched a scheme that defrauded 150 victims out of more than $35 million.

And the big trial is scheduled

Donald Trump will face a criminal trial on March 25, 2024, over charges he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels, Justice Juan Merchan in Manhattan state court said.

The date means Trump, who is currently the front runner for the Republican nomination for president in the 2024 election, will be going on trial during the heart of the nominating primaries, when he and his rivals for the Republican presidential candidacy will be crisscrossing the country to drum up support among the party faithful.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records. In a post on his Truth Social platform after the hearing, Trump said his rights to free speech had been violated. “They forced upon us a trial date of March 25th, right in the middle of the Primary season,” Trump wrote in the post. “It’s called ELECTION INTERFERENCE.”

[So exactly when he would want it (besides never)? While he is (could be but I hope not!) president again? Then he will claim he can’t be on trial because he is the president? Next month (or any time before March)? Either not enough time or during the primaries.]

E. Jean Carroll, the columnist who won a $5 million sexual abuse and defamation award against Trump, is seeking at least $10 million more in a new court filing that seeks to hold him liable for remarks he made after the verdict. An amended lawsuit seeking the $10 million in compensatory damages — and more in punitive damages — was filed in Manhattan federal court by lawyers for Carroll. The lawyers said in the rewritten lawsuit that the former U.S. president “doubled down” on derogatory remarks about Carroll during a CNN appearance a day after the verdict.

Two of Trump’s employees moved boxes of papers the day before an early June visit by FBI agents and a prosecutor to Trump’s Florida home to retrieve classified documents in response to a subpoena — timing that investigators have come to view as suspicious and an indication of possible obstruction. Trump and his aides also allegedly carried out a “dress rehearsal” for moving sensitive papers even before his office received the May 2022 subpoena.

After Ron DeSantis had technical issues for the launch of his campaign run on Twitter Trump had to respond. And he did. “Wow! The DeSanctus TWITTER launch is a DISASTER! His whole campaign will be a disaster. WATCH!” But to be [a bit] fair, it was a technical glitch where too many people on Twitter were accessing the presentation even though it was audio only. Some 500,000 tried to access and eventually 250,000 did after a delay.

On the same night, new Trump campaign videos were released. One video shows footage of DeSantis thanking Trump for “standing by me” when he endorsed him in the election to become Florida Governor. The voice over says: “you’re welcome Ron but instead of being grateful DeSantis is attacking the man who saved his career.”

The Trump campaign put out a further video mocking DeSantis’s launch in which the presidential candidate is in a group call with the devil and Adolf Hitler. The two-minute clip shows an avatar for DeSantis struggling to declare his bid over the sound of George Soros, the hedge fund tycoon, trying to work the tech and Dick Cheney, the former US vice-president, coughing. Others on the fictional call are Elon “Elmo” Musk, the FBI and Klaus Schwab, chair of the World Economic Forum. Mentioning Soros is typical of any right wing crackpot.

Trump on CNN and the fallout (oh, and a lawsuit loss)

So Donald Trump had his “Town Hall” night on CNN – the news network that he probably despises the most. Is this like a wolf being invited into a sheep field by the sheep? The only difference is that most of the audience in attendance were Trump supporters.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins [interesting in a white suit] attempted to meet Trump’s stream of falsehoods during the live town hall with composure and tough questions – but failed. Trump continued the same ranting he has been saying for the last 2.5 years. Nothing has changed.

In 2018, she was banned from a news conference at the White House for allegedly asking “inappropriate” questions about Trump and his administration.

Political pundits and junkies agreed that Trump probably didn’t gain any voters but probably lost a good chunk of the independents and in New Hampshire [where the town hall was] the state is heavily independent voters.

Did I watch? No. I would prefer to have root canal than listen to him for 70 minutes with his lies and falsehoods.

[After the town hall was over, I’m sure Collins sanitized her hands heavily and the CNN maintenance crew did the same to anything Trump touched or sat on – or otherwise burned it.]

CNN CEO Chris Licht as well as others in management are now getting roasted for having Trump on knowing Trump wouldn’t change his ways. He even insulted Collins by calling her a “nasty woman” for asking a legitimate question.

Licht has already mutilated the network with quite a few departures [most not related to something the people themselves did]. Most of the hourly analyst shows are gone and the network itself has moved every so slightly to the right.

A jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996, awarding her $5 million in a judgment that could haunt Trump as he campaigns to regain the White House. The verdict was announced in a federal courtroom in New York City on the first day of jury deliberations. Jurors rejected Carroll’s claims that she was raped, but found Trump liable for sexually abusing her.

US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan told jurors that the first question on the verdict form was to decide whether they think there is more than a 50% chance that Trump raped Carroll inside a store dressing room. If they answered yes, they would then decide whether compensatory and punitive damages should be awarded.
[Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, is not (obviously) related to the judge – but with Trump you never know how he spins it.]

During Trump’s deposition, at one point, Carroll’s attorney asked Trump a basic factual question: “Isn’t it true that you were seeing Ms. [Marla] Maples before you were divorced from Ivana Trump?” Trump responded, amazingly, “I don’t know,” in the sworn deposition. “It was towards the end of the marriage. So I don’t know, really. It could be a lapover, but I don’t really know.” [Lapover could mean overlap?] Trump was also asked more generally if he had been seeing women outside of his first marriage, and he responded, “I don’t know.”

As well, when shown a picture that had Carroll in it with him, Trump thought it was his second wife, Maples. Maybe he is doing it to go for the insanity plea in an appeal.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and Free Speech for People are trying to keep Trump off state ballots, claiming he’s an insurrectionist. The groups are pressuring Democratic secretaries of state and chief state election officials to block ballot access for Trump based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, one of the post-Civil War amendments. The section disqualified any “officer of the United States” who, after taking an oath to support the U.S. Constitution “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against” the United States. Trump wasn’t convicted of insurrection. Special counsel Jack Smith is still investigating Trump over the Jan. 6 riot and his role in disputing the 2020 election.

Of note, in a New Mexico case, CREW succeeded in getting a state judge to disqualify Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin from being on the ballot and holding office because of his role in Jan. 6. The state judge determined Griffin “engaged in insurrection.” The New Mexico Supreme Court dismissed Griffin’s appeal. This is the only time the law has been applied in 150 years.

Trump has no problems working with the dark side

Donald Trump is expected to appear at a CNN town hall to answer questions from the host and those who are in the studio.

This is all more like “I need to court the soft Dems and independents who watch CNN because I may lose the election to DeSantis” or as usual, a politician will kiss anyone’s butt in order to get the votes.

Trump has been badmouthing CNN for the last 7 years – even tried to block their reports to cover him at the White House. He attacked its reporters as “enemies of the people” and calling its reporting “fake news.”

[I’m expecting Trump to go back to blasting CNN just days or even hours after the town hall – probably whine that the questions weren’t fare or something.]

A retired stock broker who has accused Trump of sexually assaulting her decades ago testified in a lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll, who says the former president raped her years before taking office. Jessica Leeds testified that when she sat next to Trump on a plane in the late 1970s, he groped her and tried to force his hand up her skirt.

The video deposition of Donald Trump played before the jury in the E. Jean Carroll civil battery and defamation trial was made public. Among them:

• Trump claims that well known female stars can be groped by men as it is almost expected to happen.
• Trump is shown a black and white photograph that includes Carroll, but mistakes her for his second wife, Marla Maples. Holding the photo, he points at it and says, “That’s Marla, that’s my wife.”
• Since Carroll came forward in 2019, Trump has repeatedly denied her allegations, often saying that she is “not my type.”
• “I still don’t know this woman. I think she’s a whack job. I have no idea. I don’t know anything about this woman other than what I read in stories and what I hear. I know, I know nothing about her.”
• He repeated his admonition that the exchange with Billy Bush captured on the Hollywood Access videotape was “locker room talk.”

At least eight of the Republican “fake electors” in Georgia have accepted immunity deals in an ongoing criminal investigation into efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election there, according to a new court filing. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had previously notified all 16 GOP fake electors in Georgia that they were targets in her investigation. Recently, Willis offered immunity deals to several of the Republicans who served as pro-Trump electors and they accepted, according to the filing.

Former Proud Boys chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio and three other leaders of the far-right extremist group were found guilty of seditious conspiracy in the Trump Insurrection, attack on the US Capitol. A jury deliberated for seven days in Washington before finding Tarrio, 39, and other defendants guilty on 31 of 46 counts.