The Russia Investigations and other Trump-related cases

[Voronwë the Faithful]

What interests me particularly is the statement that Forbes has relevant emails which the New York attorney general's office has not seen.

Me too:

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Meanwhile, Adam Klasfeld is reporting that Trump is planning to return to the trial next Tuesday. That is interesting for two reasons. First, that is the day that Michael Cohen is scheduled to testify. But even more importantly, Trump has a deposition scheduled that day in yet another case, the wrongful termination lawsuit filed by Peter Strzok. Like the deposition in the now-dismissed lawsuit against Cohen, that deposition has been rescheduled many times. Is Trump going to skip out on it with the excuse that he had to be at the trial? It certainly looks that way. Time will tell.

[N.E. Brigand]

Meanwhile, Adam Klasfeld is reporting that Trump is planning to return to the trial next Tuesday. That is interesting for two reasons. First, that is the day that Michael Cohen is scheduled to testify. ...

As far as I can tell, Michael Cohen doesn't have a long-lost brother whom Donald Trump can bring to the courtroom on Tuesday.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

?

[N.E. Brigand]

Meanwhile, Adam Klasfeld is reporting that Trump is planning to return to the trial next Tuesday. That is interesting for two reasons. First, that is the day that Michael Cohen is scheduled to testify. ...

As far as I can tell, Michael Cohen doesn't have a long-lost brother whom Donald Trump can bring to the courtroom on Tuesday.

?

"The [Trump] White House's 'Godfather' Fantasy" (New York Magazine, Oct. 28, 2019). Although it wasn't about Michael Cohen:

“Do a Frank Pentangeli.” That’s what Donald Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone urged an associate who was set to testify against him to do, according to a federal indictment. During the 2016 campaign, Stone was in contact with WikiLeaks, which had obtained stolen Democratic emails from Russian hackers through an intermediary named Randy Credico. In 2017, Stone falsely testified to Congress that he had no records of his discussions with Credico. When he learned Credico planned to testify, he texted and emailed him on multiple occasions, once counseling him to “start practicing” his Pentangeli. “You should do Pantagela [sic] on Erin Burnett,” Stone wrote soon after.

Roger Stone's lawyers managed to prevent prosecutors from playing the relevant portion of The Godfather, Part II to jurors, but the jurors did get to read a transcript of that scene. And how did Michael Corleone get Frank Pentangeli to contradict his previous testimony?

[N.E. Brigand]

Dan Alexander, who's covering the trial, explains why prosecutors have focusing on the "cap rate":

That, my friends, is an example of how you could inflate someone's net worth by a half of a billion dollars. Just takes one small tweak to one arcane number. Such machinations are more complicated than lying about the size of a penthouse--but they're also more consequential.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Meanwhile in NY (Probably should have a separate thread for this case, but I'm not going to do it now), more fireworks:

[N.E. Brigand]

A decent amount of Donald Trump's fraud trial in New York (which he is again attending today) seems to be officially stating under oath of what previously was reported in the media, as in this 2022 article in Forbes by Dan Alexander (who is reporting on the trial). That piece noted that Ivanka Trump was given the option to purchase an apartment from the Trump Org. for a lot less that the company valued the apartment at in financial statements -- something which a Trump Org. accountant confirmed today.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[N.E. Brigand]

At some point in the past year (I think), Donald Trump filed a lawsuit in the U.K. against Christpher Steele and his intelligence gather firm, Orbis, for violating that nation's "data protection" laws by creating his so-called dossier of reports on Trump's activities pertaining to Russia.

Apparently in a court filing, Steele has argued that the real reason for Trump's suit against him is one of my favorite coincidences:

"My understanding is that Ms [Ivanka] Trump had not disclosed our relationship to her father and that his discovery of it through the [Department of Justice] review severely damaged their relationship. I infer that [Trump's] discovery of my friendship with his daughter further deepened his animus towards me and is one of the reasons for his vindictive and vexatious conduct towards me and Orbis."

[Voronwë the Faithful]

At some point in the past year (I think), Donald Trump filed a lawsuit in the U.K. against Christpher Steele and his intelligence gather firm, Orbis, for violating that nation's "data protection" laws by creating his so-called dossier of reports on Trump's activities pertaining to Russia.

Quite recently, actually. Or at least, it was first reported about three weeks ago. (e.g., https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... ty-service)

[N.E. Brigand]

Donald Trump said this evening that (1) the various legal proceedings involving him are an attempt to tied him up in court and prevent him from campaigning and (2) that he won't be either in court or campaigning tomorrow because his club is hosting a golf tournament.

[N.E. Brigand]

So there's actually a legal term called the "bad boy guarantee"?

Also Adam Klasfeld explains the significance of something that was revealed in the Trump fraud trial today: "This email appears to show the father (on the borrowing side) engaging directly with his son (on the lending side) on a 10-year, $65 million loan." In other words, Donald Trump's CFO, Allen Weisselberg, and his son, Jack Weisselberg (who was on the stand today), engaged in the kind of scheme that Republicans keep alleging (but have never found evidence to show) happened with Joe Biden and Hunter Biden. This particular transaction was already referenced in the judge's huge pre-trial ruling against the Trump Org., and because of the statute of limitations, it's not actually going to be adjudicated in the trial, but the judge said it could be presented as part of the state's efforts to show patterns of behavior.

[N.E. Brigand]

Forbes reports that Trump Org. CFO Allen Weisselberg seemingly lied during his testimony about his knowledge of Trump's inflated apartment valuation.

Which is not surprising, since it appears that Trump is not yet halfway through bribing Weisselberg not to cooperate with authorities.

What interests me particularly is the statement that Forbes has relevant emails which the New York attorney general's office has not seen.

New York moved on to other witnesses without concluding their courtroom examination of Allen Weisselberg last week. There was speculation that this pause in their questioning was a response to Forbes publishing that article. Today the state officially notified the judge about the article and say that they believe there are emails should have been turned over but were not. They want a "forensic examination" of the emails.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

That was the big news today, but this really had me shaking my head in disgust. I didn't realize that Kise and Trump were this much of two peas in a pod. (But good for the judge to force him to apologize.)

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[RoseMorninStar]

Was the amount of 'reach' part of the order? That shouldn't matter. Almost 7,000 people is a lot.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I think the more important issue is intent. With Trump's social media post, it was easy to show that he was responsible. With this campaign website, it is less clear. In any event, the judge has not indicated what sanction, if any, he is going to impose. Apparently, Michael Cohen is now scheduled to testify on Tuesday, and Trump is planning to be there, so perhaps the judge is waiting until then so that he can say it directly to Trump.

[RoseMorninStar]

I found it disturbing (nothing new) that Trump shared Judge Letitia James address after a nasty post. What other 'intent' can one have than one of malice hoping someone acts on his disgruntlement? His behavior is so off the rails.. yet his supporters don't seem to register that.