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South African anti-migrant ‘vigilantes’ register as party for next year’s polls
"South Africa: Death toll edges to nearly 400 after devastating floods
"‘A True South African Giant’: Tributes for Desmond Tutu, a Force for Harmony "
Operation Dudula changes tactics from evictions and violence, with plans to fight elections on platform of expelling foreigners
Related: Can Jacob Zuma emerge as kingmaker in South Africa’s election?
Zuma’s new MK party is gaining in polls while ANC support slips. But is the former
president still as influential outside the ruling party?
By Crystal Orderson Published On 8 May 20248 May 2024
KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa – Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma is a divisive figure. For some South Africans, the controversial former president is a liberator and saviour for millions of poor people. For others, he is corrupt and ill-fit to lead.
P - Despite having been at the forefront of some of the worst corruption and mismanagement scandals in post-apartheid history, the 82-year-old has returned ..https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/18/jacob-zumas-nine-lives-how-south-africas-ex-president-keeps-coming-back .. to the political spotlight time and again.
[...]She fears Zuma’s tendency to play the victim – as he has done numerous times since being fired as deputy president under President Thabo Mbeki in 2005 – may hinder the country’s advancement and perpetuate harmful ideologies.
P - “He gets away with the victim mentality and blames Ramaphosa for his own failings and the ANC has shot itself in the foot; they supported him for so long, no matter how unethical or corrupt he was,” Ngoasheng added.
P - Now, with Zuma poised to play a big role in yet another election cycle, his supporters are with him all the way, while those reeling from the effects of his last term in office are nervous at the prospect of having him in a position of power yet again.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/8/can-jacob-zuma-emerge-as-kingmaker-in-south-africas-election
Simon Allison in Johannesburg
Tue 26 Sep 2023 15.30 AEST
Last modified on Tue 26 Sep 2023 17.53 AEST
An Operation Dudula protest in Johannesburg in July. As unemployment and inequality in South Africa soar, calls for mass deportation of foreigners have spread. Photograph: Gallo/Getty
All links
An anti-migrant vigilante organisation in South Africa has registered as a political party and plans to contest seats in next year’s general elections.
Operation Dudula, whose name means “to force out” in Zulu, wants all foreign nationals who are in the country unofficially to be deported.
The party, which first emerged in Johannesburg’s Soweto township after riots in 2021 .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/14/vigilante-groups-form-south-africa-tackle-looting-violence , claims to have widespread support, with a formal presence in seven of South Africa’s nine provinces. It claims to be planning to stand candidates in 1,500 of the country’s 4,468 voting districts.
Many Operation Dudula followers have faced allegations of hate speech and physical violence. They have staged protests outside embassies, turned people away outside hospitals to prevent foreign nationals from accessing state medical services, and conducted door-to-door searches of businesses in poorer areas demanding to see identity documents.
In August, Philani Gumede, a 36-year-old from Durban, was convicted of hate speech .. https://ewn.co.za/2023/05/09/operation-dudula-opts-to-become-a-political-party .. after sending a voice-note to members calling on them to evict foreigners from businesses in the city. Nomalungelo Ntshangase, a regional court prosecutor, told the court that this had led directly to xenophobic attacks and looting.
In 2022, Operation Dudula followers camped outside Kalafong hospital .. https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-09-01-operation-dudula-calls-off-protests-at-kalafong-hospital-after-fruitful-meeting-with-health-minister/ .. in Atteridgeville, a suburb of South Africa’s administrative capital, Pretoria, preventing people, including pregnant women, from entering the hospital.
Police at a Operation Dudula demonstration outside Kalafong hospital in Pretoria, where protesters stopped foreigners, including pregnant women, from entering. Photograph: Gallo/Getty
“People were turned away by the protesters based on their appearance and accent,” said Sibusiso Ndlovu, a health promotion supervisor for Médecins Sans Frontières. “They have even demanded that critically ill patients who are migrants must be ‘unplugged’ and taken out.”
Civil society groups have taken the party to court over unlawful evictions and conducting unauthorised citizenship checks in public. A court date has not yet been set.
The Operation Dudula party’s spokesperson, Isaac Lesole, said the transition from civil movement to political party would mean a tempering of tactics.
“We want to demilitarise Operation Dudula. We know the military angle did not appeal to a lot of people,” he said. “Now we’ve taken a new posture, we need to guarantee that we can still achieve a lot without people being militants and killing or kicking things. As a political party, we are governed by a different set of rules.”
But its core ideology would not change, he said. “We view illegal immigrants as criminals, and they must go back to their countries.”
About 3.95 million immigrants live in South Africa, according to 2022 estimates .. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/sar-53.pdf .. by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS). However, there is no such thing as an “illegal foreigner” in South Africa, as its constitution – widely hailed .. https://www.justice.gov.za/constitution/docs/25thAnniversary.html#:~:text=It%20is%20widely%20acknowledged%20not,social%20relations%20in%20South%20Africa. .. as one of the most progressive in the world – confers limited rights upon all people within the country’s borders, regardless of nationality or birthplace.
Operation Dudula has its roots in the riots .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/13/troops-deployed-in-south-africa-amid-violence-rarely-seen-in-the-history-of-our-democracy .. that swept across KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces in June 2021. In the absence of police, some citizens banded together to protect shops and businesses from thieves.
A man shuts his shop in Johannesburg’s Alexandra township as an Operation Dudula march passes. The group targets foreign-owned shops. Photograph: Michele Spatari/AFP/Getty
“You saw a lot of communities starting to self-protect. They started cordoning off malls, and protecting them from being looted. Some of these organisations also felt emboldened to have more operations, under the auspices of ‘anti-crime’,” said Lizette Lancaster, an ISS researcher.
Lancaster said the chronic failures of the state in South Africa .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/africa , which has high rates of corruption, unemployment and violence, created the space for the party to thrive.
[That's a shout-out to all anti-government people. A strong state helps.]
“South Africans have been trying [to hold the state accountable] through protests, but are not getting anywhere,” she said.
“It is almost natural for people to look for another scapegoat. The most obvious scapegoat would be our brothers and sisters that have come here to look for better opportunities.”
Although not expected to win any outright majorities, the fractured nature of South African politics means that small parties can influence the formation of coalition governments – and demand major concessions in return. The current mayor of Johannesburg is from the Al Jama’ah, a fringe Islamist party .. https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2020-11-19-al-jama-ah-the-small-islamic-political-party-with-a-narrow-vision-and-big-ambitions/ .. that won just one of the city’s 135 wards.
Established parties are struggling to respond to Operation Dudula, with seemingly contradictory messages.
In April, President Cyril Ramaphosa .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/cyril-ramaphosa .. called it a “vigilante-like force” taking “illegal actions” against foreigners. “These things often get out of hand,” he said. “They always mutate into wanton violence against other people.”
However, with the ruling African National Congress seeing its support eroded .. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/14/the-guardian-view-on-south-africa-the-anc-is-losing-its-grip .. in recent years by a series of corruption scandals, rising inequality, high unemployment and violent crime, it has also begun to echo the rhetoric of Operation Dudula in a bid to shore up its electoral chances.
An activist pickets the Human Rights Commission in Johannesburg in protest at the surge of xenophobia and vigilantism in South Africa. Photograph: Michele Spatari/AFP/Getty
Last year an ANC spokesperson, Pule Mabe, told the Mail & Guardian newspaper .. https://mg.co.za/politics/2022-04-01-dudula-vigilante-group-has-the-anc-stamp-of-approval/ .. that Operation Dudula was affirming the views of the ANC. “These [foreign] people come here to sell drugs, seat [live] here illegally, undermine our sovereignty, create illegal business.”
Julius Malema, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a militant leftwing party, said in a speech .. https://ewn.co.za/2023/07/28/criminals-in-cahoots-with-ministers-purport-sa-to-be-xenophobic-malema .. in July: “South Africans are not xenophobic. [Operation Dudula] is a group of criminals who are in cahoots with some ministers. They are small boys who must be put in their place.”
Desperate Zimbabweans risk police or crocodiles in bid to reach South Africa
Read more > https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/feb/08/desperate-zimbabweans-face-police-or-crocodiles-in-bid-to-reach-south-africa
However, in a sign of how politically expedient xenophobia has become in South Africa, even the ostensibly pan-Africanist EFF has campaigned for restaurants to employ more South Africans. Malema visited restaurants .. https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/malema-visits-restaurants-in-midrand-to-check-employment-ratios/ .. last year demanding to see the identity documents of workers as he demanded businesses hire locals.
Amir Sheikh, spokesperson for the African Diaspora Forum, said: “At the end of the day, Dudula will not be the only party that is right wing or anti-immigrant, even including the ruling party, which is leaning towards the right wing.”
Many foreigners are returning home with their families, or moving to more friendly countries, although that is in part due to high crime rates and economic decay, said Sheikh. “Even the locals with the means to travel out of the country are doing so.”
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/sep/26/south-africa-anti-migrant-vigilante-operation-dudula-registers-as-party-2024-elections
hearing those names Ameritrade and Scottrade brought back memories, was never into it like you are though. 20 trades
in 2 mins. LOL, nope. I remember knowing something about the the morning and evening bid appearances you mentioned.
Our lungs weren't designed to work better with any of our pollutants. That
includes tar from cigarettes, and even more tar per ounce from marijuana.
Cuts both ways. Sure does. A new friend of mine i said to about a month ago, sooner or later you're gonna have to give up bonging every day. He's a gambler too. And not as big as your friend, but a big guy and into losing weight. They walk every day as part of that deal.
Three weeks ago he and his partner were given a ticket to a big race meeting at Rosehill. All food and drink free, plus $250 in each of their TAB account to bet with. Day before yesterday he had taken it to just over $1000. Lucky so far.
Anyway, they both were sick after the day, he with a lung disease, she the flu. He went through, on dr. advice, four lots of antibiotics. The two days ago, i saw them for the first time since and learned he's been going to a lung guy every three months. He nags about my slot machine stupidity too.
It was this day they were given tickets for .. https://www.australianturfclub.com.au/2024-sydney-autumn-racing-carnival-hospitality/ .. April 20. The guy who gave them the tickets was there too, and also got sick.
During my wondering just then i learned HBO Max has changed to Max ..
https://www.fastcompany.com/90901410/what-was-hbo-max-thinking-three-branding-experts-decode-the-rebrand-blunder-of-the-year .
Oh and my story about Schwab is that since my loss in penny stocks and how i ended up here, i had $100 left over in an account with an outfit i forget the name of, Schwab must have taken it over a few years later as since whenever, i religiously, all those years, receive a monthly account note from Schwab. Must be over 10 years. I've thought of retrieving it but couldn't see any contact number in Australia so have just left it. According to what i see they haven't charged a cent for holding it.
Ah, had the link, too late to edit so was waiting for you ..
Mark Thompson, the former chief executive of The New York Times and director-general of the BBC, will be the next leader of CNN, the network announced Wednesday, taking the reins of the renowned global news organization at one of the most pivotal times in its 43-year history.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/30/media/cnn-ceo-mark-thompson/index.html . Thanks.
Hey, don't forget Murdoch is a Yank now. We don't want him back.
"In order for Bill Maher to sell his show to CNN he had to become more critical of Democrats, besides the BBC now is in charge with its newest CEO. Just think Fox is owned by by conservative Australian Rupert Murdock, and CNN is the newest baby Fox."
And i still don't understand your the BBC in charge yet, suggesting a connection between CNN and the BBC??
And, zab, surely the baby Fox label is a bit unfair to CNN. Or, do people really see them as that bad now?
Update: Maybe instead of BBC you meant network head in Warner Bros, Discovery is new ..
https://mumbrella.com.au/head-of-networks-departs-warner-bros-discovery-anz-828064 .
I've no idea, zab, just can't see any BBC Maher connection.
Is ‘Real Time With Bill Maher’ New Tonight?
Adam Chitwood
Fri, 10 May 2024 at 11:25 pm GMT+10·2-min read
The talk/variety series “Real Time with Bill Maher,” hosted by Bill Maher, has been running for nearly two decades now, and is showing no signs of slowing down. In fact, HBO has already renewed the series to continue through 2026. So don’t expect Maher to leave airwaves anytime soon.
Fans of the show may be wondering – is “Real Time with Bill Maher” new tonight? Yes, “Real Time” is airing a new episode on Friday, May 10 at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.
This week features a one-on-one interview with Eric Schlosser, investigative journalist, author of The New York Times Best Seller “Fast Food Nation,” and stars in the documentary film “Food, Inc.” This week’s panel discussion includes Frank Bruni, contributing writer at The New York Times and best-selling author, whose new book is called “The Age of Grievance”; and Douglas Murray, columnist for the New York Post and author of The New York Times best-selling book “The War on the West.”
Last week’s episode, which is streaming on Max, features a one-on-one interview with Roger Daltrey, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, co-founder, and frontman for the rock band “The Who.” The panel discussion includes Kellyanne Conway, former senior counselor to President Trump, Fox News contributor, and author of the #1 New York Times Best Seller, “Here’s the Deal: A Memoir”; and Joshua Green, Bloomberg Businessweek national correspondent and author of “The Rebels: Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the Struggle for a New American Politics.”
More previous episodes of the show are streaming on Max.
The executive producers of “Real Time With Bill Maher” are Bill Maher, Sheila Griffiths, Marc Gurvitz, Dean Johnsen, Billy Martin; co-executive producer, Chris Kelly; producer, Matt Wood; director, Paul Casey.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/real-time-bill-maher-tonight-220000407.html
Well said. Will they ever see the light, i wonder.
Good. Bad. Happy. Sad. That story of you, your friend, his mother and Xoie is one of those that has all four, and more. Though you had mentioned earlier Xoie had arrived from the death of a friend it still helps to feel your connection to Xoie even more. Thanks.
It's always been sad to me that so many have so much trouble talking about so many things. It was sad enough in teaching Personal Development to 14y-old boys in the '80s to see how many, at first, were nervous in talking about their genitals. And after just a couple of lessons after tossing the word penis around a bit it was good to see the giggles quickly disappear. It's like an arm or a leg boys. Just another part of your body. A hang-up so easily done away with. Today when seeing an adult man stand at the end of a long-type urinal facing the corner so no one can see i think, you poor guy, get over it.
Though i know there is more than just damn misguided shame involved in Jess's friends not wanting to talk about her weight loss thing, what the hell. Talk about it, people. Especially as Jess is a friend who wants to talk about it, for her sake at least talk about it.
When she mentioned that decision to her friends, “they told me, ‘We have no interest in this conversation. We do not want to discuss this with you. We don’t agree with your choice,’” she remembers. “I respect their boundaries, but it’s been difficult not to share certain milestones with them or even talk about day-to-day things. It’s been kind of sad and lonely.” These days, she only discusses her weight loss with her doctor and her husband.
As far as Jess respecting their boundaries without knowing more i'd suggest Jess while respecting be open to finding some new friends. There is too much unnecessary sadness and loneliness in this fucking world without your friends not feeling they are able to talk about the fact they may be overweight.
" No One Knows How to Talk About Weight Loss Anymore"
Get over the little stuff, people. Talk to your friends about any fucking thing they feel a need to talk about. Get over yourself. Think about them.
Guarantee that's one easy way for any person to feel better about themself. And it's FREE.
Would be good, for her, if conix could.
Att. Zorax: Trump Trial Week 4: Testy and Explicit, Then Calm Before the Cohen Storm
"Trump's lawyers CRASH AND BURN with failure during trial
"Opinion Trump might not go to jail, but this trial is a close second""
Zorax, ok, i understand more now why you expressed concern with Cohen's talking out. Wish you had told us Cohen was spruiking on TikTok every day, for one, i didn't know. Now, since Merchan has spoken on it, i hope Cohen does what you felt he should do ..
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=174396842 .
That said it doesn't take anything away from my reply to you there ..
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=174397139 .
Ahead of Michael D. Cohen’s testimony Monday, the judge told prosecutors to keep him quiet about Donald J. Trump’s criminal case.
Former President Donald J. Trump once predicted that Michael Cohen would not turn on him. Now Mr. Cohen is set to testify against him.
Todd Heisler/The New York Times
By Jesse McKinley and Jonah E. Bromwich
May 10, 2024
In a startling precursor to what could be the most explosive testimony in Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial, the judge on Friday told prosecutors that he was personally asking that a key witness stop speaking out against the former president.
The witness, Michael D. Cohen, was once a personal lawyer for Mr. Trump and in 2016, paid $130,000 in hush money to a porn star to silence her account of extramarital sex with the then-presidential candidate. Mr. Cohen, who is expected to begin testifying next week, has been outspoken in his taunting of Mr. Trump, recently posting a TikTok video in which he wore a shirt .. https://twitter.com/wsteaks/status/1788389312452587782 .. with a picture of the former president behind bars.
On Friday, moments after prosecutors acknowledged that they have little control over their star witness, the judge, Juan M. Merchan, asked them to tell Mr. Cohen again to refrain from making any more statements about the case. He made it clear that the directive came from the highest authority in the court: him.
“That comes from the bench,” Justice Merchan said.
Mr. Cohen declined to comment.
Justice Merchan’s remarks might as well have been a billboard previewing next week’s main event. Mr. Cohen is crucial to the case: He says that records of his reimbursements for the hush-money payment were falsified in 2017 at the then-president’s direction.
The Links Between Trump and 3 Hush-Money Deals
Here’s how key figures involved in making hush-money payoffs on behalf of Donald J. Trump are connected.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/04/25/nyregion/trump-trial-hush-money-payments.html
The judge’s admonition injected a sense of anticipation into an otherwise placid proceeding, perhaps the first routine day in a most unusual trial. Prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office steadily tightened their focus on the central accusations against Mr. Trump ahead of what they said could be their final week of witness testimony.
They prepared for Mr. Cohen’s arrival by calling a round of custodial witnesses , whose testimony allowed the prosecutors to introduce important documents, phone logs, and text and email messages — much of it relevant to Mr. Cohen. Such witnesses are used to authenticate evidence that prosecutors and defense lawyers have not otherwise previously agreed should be admitted.
------
[Insert: Custodial Witnesses Provide Little Spectacle, but Affirm Basic Facts
[...]Jeffrey S. McConney, the Trump Organization’s former corporate controller, also described in painstaking detail how Mr. Cohen requested the checks by invoice. They were then cut by Deborah Tarasoff, an accounts supervisor at the organization, and sent via FedEx to the White House by Rebecca Manochio, a junior bookkeeper at the company.
P - Those checks left Mr. Trump’s headquarters in New York stapled to Mr. Cohen’s invoices and arrived in Washington, making their way to the White House through two of Mr. Trump’s aides, including Keith Schiller, Mr. Trump’s personal bodyguard, at their home addresses.
P - A defense attorney, Susan Necheles, sought to downplay the sending of checks to an outside address, suggesting in questioning Ms. Westerhout that such an arrangement was simply “a workaround” to avoid things getting delayed in a crush of mail being received at the White House. Ms. Westerhout agreed.
P - Once the checks were signed by Mr. Trump — often in Sharpie, according to testimony — they were sent back to New York, and eventually to Mr. Cohen, who is expected to be a key witness for prosecutors, beginning on Monday.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/10/nyregion/custodial-witnesses-trump-trial.html ]
------
Between the riveting testimony of the porn star, Stormy Daniels, and Mr. Cohen’s looming appearance, Friday’s session was a moment of calm, the eye of the storm that is the first criminal trial of an American president.
Mr. Trump is charged with 34 felonies .. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/04/04/nyregion/trump-indictment-annotated.html , accused of orchestrating the falsification of documents — 11 invoices, 11 checks and 12 ledger entries — that were used to reimburse Mr. Cohen. Mr. Trump has pleaded not guilty and has denied having had sex with Ms. Daniels.
Friday’s most substantive witness was Madeleine Westerhout, a former executive assistant during Mr. Trump’s presidency who had direct insight into how documents flowed in and out of the Oval Office.
Ms. Westerhout testified that Mr. Trump would sign checks sent from his family business, the Trump Organization, often stapled to the related invoices. She said she saw him sign them at the Resolute Desk and sometimes, in Sharpie.
She also testified that she had helped schedule a February 2017 meeting between Mr. Cohen and Mr. Trump in the White House. There, Mr. Cohen is expected to testify, he and Mr. Trump discussed reimbursement for the $130,000 payment to Ms. Daniels.
During cross-examination on Thursday, Susan Necheles, a defense lawyer, elicited warm testimony from Ms. Westerhout, who said that Mr. Trump had been “a really good boss” who cared for his wife and family.
Those statements bolstered a key component of the defense’s case. Mr. Trump’s lawyers have argued that he was motivated to pay Ms. Daniels not to win the election, as prosecutors have said, but rather “to protect his family, his reputation and his brand” from “salacious allegations.”
But Ms. Westerhout missed a chance to further that case Friday. Ms. Necheles asked the former executive assistant about Mr. Trump’s reaction in 2018 after Ms. Daniels’s story became public.
While Ms. Westerhout acknowledged that “the whole situation was very unpleasant,” she said that her former boss had not brought up his family.
Shortly before Ms. Westerhout took the stand, the jury got a chance to assess Ms. Daniels’s story for themselves.
Who Are Key Players in the Trump Manhattan Criminal Trial?
The first criminal trial of former President Donald J. Trump is underway. Take a closer look at central figures related to the case.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/nyregion/trump-manhattan-criminal-trial-witnesses.html
Beginning on Tuesday, Ms. Daniels was on the stand for more than seven hours. She described, in often graphic detail, her account of a liaison with Mr. Trump in a Lake Tahoe, Nev., hotel suite in 2006. Though not directly related to the charges, the encounter — a brief and fraught experience, as recounted by Ms. Daniels — was the impetus for the hush-money payment made by Mr. Cohen, and for the case itself.
Mr. Cohen was once one of Mr. Trump’s closest confidants and most loyal enforcers. But he has since become a bitter enemy, openly mocking the former president and his legal travails .. https://www.yahoo.com/news/michael-cohen-says-trump-join-050456605.html .
Mr. Trump has returned fire, calling Mr. Cohen a liar and reposting similar attacks by allies. It was those broadsides, in part, that prompted Justice Merchan to prohibit Mr. Trump from attacking witnesses and jurors, among others. The judge has since found the former president to have violated that order 10 times, and fined him $10,000. Twice, Justice Merchan has threatened .. https://www.nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFS/press/PDFs/D.O.motion4contempt-FINAL.pdf .. Mr. Trump with jail .. https://www.nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFS/press/PDFs/DOcontempt_5-6-24FINAL.pdf .. if the violations continue.
Mr. Cohen, a felon who pleaded guilty to a raft of federal crimes in 2018 .. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/michael-cohen-pleads-guilty-manhattan-federal-court-eight-counts-including-criminal-tax , some of which he said were executed at Mr. Trump’s direction, is an imperfect witness. He has already been introduced to the jury by others who spoke of him from the stand, often in unflattering terms. The jury has heard his voice — in secretly recorded conversations, with Mr. Trump and others — and seen a photo of him beaming in the White House. But Monday, he is expected to appear in person.
On Friday, jurors got a taste of Mr. Trump’s disdain when prosecutors displayed Twitter posts disparaging Mr. Cohen, including one in August 2018 .. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1032247043992023040?lang=en , a day after Mr. Cohen’s plea deal was announced.
“If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!” the former president wrote.
Jurors also heard from a prosecution paralegal, Georgia Longstreet, who doubled as a witness, guiding the courtroom through texts between Dylan Howard,
[Who is the Australian caught up in Donald Trump’s first criminal trials?
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=174357015]
the onetime editor of The National Enquirer, and Gina Rodriguez, Ms. Daniels’s manager in 2016. The messages showed a negotiation that led to a deal brokered by representatives of The National Enquirer but eventually executed by Mr. Cohen.
Prosecutors have argued that the supermarket tabloid entered a conspiracy with Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen to unlawfully influence the 2016 presidential election .. https://manhattanda.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2023-04-04-SOF.pdf .
Mr. Trump has characterized the case as a political persecution, brought by the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, a Democrat. During the former president’s four weeks inside Justice Merchan’s courtroom, he has been a glum and glowering figure, staring straight ahead or occasionally at a collection of positive press notices, printed for him daily by an aide.
Many other times, however, Mr. Trump has shut out the testimony around him, closing his eyes for long stretches.
That habit was particularly pronounced during Ms. Daniels’s testimony, which his defense team furiously tried to discredit, suggesting that she was a liar and fabulist, intent on peddling a false story of an affair for personal gain. They called twice for a mistrial, arguing that her testimony had poisoned the jury. The judge rejected both attempts.
For her part, Ms. Daniels was initially uneven — speeding through testimony and earning rebukes from the judge for straying off topic — before finding her footing in cross-examination. She batted back questions and insinuations from Ms. Necheles, the defense lawyer.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers are expected to be equally aggressive with Mr. Cohen, who will likely bring a glare of attention to the courtroom. And while the pressure will be on the witness, the moment is likely to also be intense for Mr. Trump, who once predicted that Mr. Cohen would never turn against him.
“Sorry I don’t see Michael doing that,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter in April 2018 .. https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-michael-cohen-will-never-flip-143516069.html . “Despite the horrible Witch Hunt and the dishonest media!”
Jesse McKinley is a Times reporter covering upstate New York, courts and politics. More about Jesse McKinley
Jonah E. Bromwich covers criminal justice in New York, with a focus on the Manhattan district attorney’s office and state criminal courts in Manhattan. More about Jonah E. Bromwich
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/10/nyregion/trump-michael-cohen-trial.html
Don't forget the case against Trump was almost closed until Bragg brought it back to life. This from 2022:
Donald Trump Revelations Put Alvin Bragg in 'Untenable Position'—Lawyers
The three lawyers resigning, with Mark Pomerantz's letter, certainly gives your feelingsome suggestible credibility. Without
further evidence though that's where it stands. I'd agree with you that there is no doubt Trump is guilty of the charges laid.
Related: Trump Is Guilty of ‘Numerous’ Felonies, Prosecutor Who Resigned Says
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=168352179
By Ewan Palmer On 3/25/22 at 8:09 AM EDT
VIDEO
All links
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been put in an "untenable position" with regards to the ongoing criminal investigation into Donald Trump's business dealings, following the "scathing" resignation letter from his former prosecutor, according to experts.
On Wednesday, The New York Times published the letter from prosecutor Mark Pomerantz, who quit as special assistant district attorney in February amid reports Bragg had doubts about pushing forward with prosecuting the former president and paused the grand jury investigation needed to indict him.
In the bombshell letter, Pomerantz, one of the top prosecutors working on the investigation into alleged tax fraud by The Trump Organization, said that the former president was "guilty of numerous felony violations" with regards to his "false" financial statements.
Pomerantz also hit out at Bragg for not seeking criminal charges against Trump even though the district attorney's predecessor who started the investigation, Cyrus Vance Jr., urged the department to seek an indictment "as soon as reasonably possible" because of the evidence against the former president .. https://www.newsweek.com/trump-mazars-financial-statements-investigations-1679829 .
"The team that has been investigating Mr. Trump harbors no doubt about whether he committed crimes—he did," Pomerantz wrote.
"I fear that your decision means that Mr. Trump will not be held fully accountable for his crimes. I have worked too hard as a lawyer, and for too long, now to become a passive participant in what I believe to be a grave failure of justice."
Speaking to Newsweek, former Los Angeles County prosecutor and criminal defense attorney Josh Ritter said that Bragg is now in a no-win situation regarding how he continues the investigation into Trump, and that Pomerantz's letter presents "huge problems" for him and the former president.
"What Mr. Pomerantz is describing cannot be characterized as a simple difference in opinion between prosecutors. The letter is nothing short of a scathing rebuke on Mr. Bragg's refusal to bring charges against Trump for what Mr. Pomerantz describes as clear-cut criminal behavior," Ritter said.
"This letter places Mr. Bragg in a completely untenable position. If Mr. Bragg were to now reverse course and pursue an indictment against Trump, he will no doubt be excoriated for bowing to political pressure. Conversely, if Mr. Bragg maintains his current position the letter raises questions about Mr. Trump's potential crimes that cannot remain unanswered."
The criminal investigation in New York is one of a number of inquiries that Trump is facing.
The Manhattan DA probe has run parallel with a civil case headed by New York Attorney General Letitia James into allegations Trump's business inflated the value of several New York properties to obtain better bank loans and other financial benefits.
Continued -- https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=169149864
It seems clear there was pressure from different directions to do the right thing and try Trump, as Bragg did
in the end. Also don't forget one source of that pressure was Michael Cohen, after Trump betrayed him:
Disloyal: A Memoir
Disloyal: A Memoir; The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump is a 2020 book by Michael Cohen.[2][3] In the memoir, Cohen recollects his time working as an attorney for Donald Trump from 2006 to 2018, his felony convictions, and other personal affairs. Throughout the book, Cohen alleges numerous incidents of wrongdoing by Trump.[4]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disloyal:_A_Memoir
conix Our rules have been made clear to you over years. One is, no comment on moderation.
Whatever you and she have going it had nothing to do with our discussion. And in saying
'AZ lying about my grandsons, class act you dems can be.....Which takes us back to the original thread of the day...
And here is my quote, not you but dems
Back to dems trying to twist things and even lie as was just shown, its not something dems can have a nuanced discussion about....
And
You all can fight and argue all you want about when it becomes a baby and when its ok to kill it....I think the original roe decision did as good a job as can be done... "
about AZ to me you obviously need a link as i haven't a clue what you are talking
about. No need now, just saying you obviously needed a link to back it up.
And this "Back to dems trying to twist things and even lie as was just shown", the "as was just shown" had
to be talking about something just shown in our conversation, or how was i to know what you were talking about.
Thing is we others here have no trouble with nuanced conversation and there seems little doubt that your repeated "not
something dems can have a nuanced discussion about" can only be because you are not capable of having one yourself.
Enough. It's a waste of time.
That's what i thought. Like Trump when he fucks something up he excuses himself by saying he was joking, or well, it really wasn't...
You said clearly i lied. I ask you where, you say
"Wasn't necessarily your words.....now just what lie was just shown to the board? Not the first time either....
As for the nuanced discussion, tried that once and have seen it here.....Ill just stick to I agree with Roe"
it wasn't my words. Now you have to explain what lie was just shown to the board.
And what you mean by your not the first time either.
There wasn't one, eh. Guessing you just made it all up. And it doesn't relate to anything here.
Then you say, as for the nuanced discussion, which noted you are failing to make happen -- you are -- then
you say that you will just stick with what i just said to you you should have said in the first place.
YOU better go to bed.
And don't forget to tell me what lie you are talking about above. Save it for tomorrow, you are fucking it up too badly now.
B402, Look at you twisting mine even as you accuse us of twisting yours. I said 'unless i missed something' yet you can't help but come back with
"No, Ive stated I agree with the original Roe v Wade ruling
Back to dems trying to twist things and even lie as was just shown, its not something dems can have a nuanced discussion about....
You all can fight and argue all you want about when it becomes a baby and when its ok to kill it....I think the original roe decision did as good a job as can be done... "
a total misrepresentation of my words. And a total misrepresentation of the dems on this board. Yet again. You project, son.
An open and reasonable poster, with no self-generated chip on his shoulder, would have said, No i supported Roe and Wade. That's all you had to say, yet you clearly accuse me of lying. You fucking dick.
That said, and now that you have said "and even lie as was just shown" that i lied there, i ask you.. where is my lie in:
And that's good enough i suppose for all those in support of the GOP abortion position. You being
one, i guess since i haven't seen you in any disagreement with them. Or did i miss something.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=174397586
Not in the first sentence. Hmm, not in the 2nd or 3rd sentences either.
No nowhere there did i even think of saying something definite about you. Didn't even consider it, because i didn't know.
You really did there what you accuse us of. Because it's a mindset of yours you do it all the time.
PS: Don't forget - where is my lie? I want you to tell me, using my words, exactly where it is i lied about you.
Add an x to the end of your link on the board. Haha. I think a few here would be happy with that.
Ps: Any dick with even just as much nous as you exhibit here could at least have posted the live link instead
of your silly' add an x' comment. All of which suggests you don't even have as much nous as you exhibit here.
That is a problem.
And that's good enough i suppose for all those in support of the GOP abortion position. You being
one, i guess since i haven't seen you in any disagreement with them. Or did i miss something.
LOL
B402, You know Trump will lose the popular vote by more millions than he has lost it twice before. That's another reason
why those polls you go to bed with at night are as meaninglessly invalid as most all of the pro-Trump positions you take.
Of course all that .. but the other is no joke when just stated in a forum like this with no inflection whatever context .. any man should want to know al much as he can about pregnancy. Even more so if he is in a pregnant relationship. Should not only be pregnant with feeling, but also pregnant with curiosity and a thirst to know all about it possible.
Trump's lawyers CRASH AND BURN with failure during trial
"Opinion Trump might not go to jail, but this trial is a close second"
B402, What sort of a man doesn't want to know all about pregnancy?
"Make no mistake though, all men know more about it than we really want to"
Than you really want to, lol. i didn't know ignorance as that was one of your problems too.
This might help - Interpersonal vs Intrapersonal Communication for Kids
What’s the difference between interpersonal and intrapersonal communication
and how does each relate to your child's development?
https://snorble.com/blogs/resources/interpersonal-vs-intrapersonal-communication-for-kids
This video is as interesting for me because of all the visuals of Trump, which you guys are probably sick of but i never see, as it is for the chat. Some of that - Trump lost the popular vote by over 3 mill. in 2016, by 7 mill. in 2020, so 10 million in '24. Which doesn't mean he won't win the presidency as the people don't elect the president, "states do." 10 million feels about right, ill go for 12. And David Cay underlined a comment Judge Cannon made very early in the case she has now postponed indefinitely. Johnston reminds us she said Trump 'deserved special treatment.' Johnston reminds her comment is in direct violation of the basis of American law, that every citizen should have equal rights before the law. It's been a long time since i've seen or heard that point made. Chuckle, anyway back to Trump visuals - my favorite is at 6:32. He looks particularly debilitated there. Old. Fragile. Rather desperate.
Trump will lose election by at least ten million votes | David Cay Johnston
Haha, nope, i just enjoy the watch every time. hehe Ok, seven past noon.
B402, is the guy who came proudly riding his independence steed. Bit sorry
now that horse has been reduced to little more than a tired, anti-Biden, nag.
Problem is corruption exists in most every high place where billions of bucks are involved. You're right though it does suck that we have to, in a sense, turn a tolerant eye to it if we are to enjoy the fruits of so many spectacles. There is a lot of ducking and weaving behind the scene no doubt. Is always good when some of the corrupt get caught. Almost as much fun watching as the pole vault or the 100m - - - - s are.
No reason for Biden to debate Trump. Good reason for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to.
Don't know what i've missed Cohen saying which you are worried could sway a juror Trump's way. He certainly is not an idiot. And he does deserve some credit for coming clean. Even if to save himself. And Daniels is also far from an idiot. Her replies from the witness box to Trump's defense confirmed that.
See again the two articles here - Opinion Trump might not go to jail, but this trial is a close second
[... and these two ...]
Trump lawyer Susan Necheles invoked Daniels’s 2018 “Make America Horny Again” tour, and she displayed the products Daniels has sold, including a “Stormy, Saint of Indictments” candle. “That was you selling your merchandise, right?” Necheles asked.
“That is me doing my job,” answered Daniels, who noted that her own crass commercializing was “not unlike Mr. Trump.”
Necheles, who asserted that Daniels has “a lot of experience making phony stories about sex appear to be real,” asked her: “And now you have a story you have been telling about having sex with President Trump; right?”
Replied Daniels: “And if that story was untrue, I would have written it to be a lot better.”
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=174396527
And -- “Real men respond to testimony by being sworn in and taking the stand in court,” she wrote in a post on X. “Oh... wait. Nevermind.”
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=174396960
LOL She is good.
Hopefully. Bevan is good as is Australia's ABC. Another top program Four Corners ..
https://www.abc.net.au/news/programs/4corners .
I've put a few up
45:50 - Self-defence or genocide? Asking Israel’s powerful voices about Gaza | Four Corners
"Inside Israel’s war"
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=174018558
Heh, they would have done one on -- Turning the Focus on America’s Oligarchs
"Agents Tried to Flip Russian Oligarchs. The Fallout Spread to Trump."
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=173697817
Jaraparilla 🇾🇪 🇵🇸 @jaraparilla Israeli journalist Gideon Levy explains the 3 pillars of Zionist delusion:
Related: "Once again it was proved that this isn’t how it is. A few hundred armed Palestinians breached the barrier and invaded Israel in a way no Israeli imagined was possible. A few hundred people proved that it’s impossible to imprison 2 million people forever without paying a cruel price. "
----------------
"On Saturday they were already talking about wiping out entire neighborhoods in Gaza, about occupying the Strip and punishing Gaza “as it has never been punished before.” But Israel hasn’t stopped punishing Gaza since 1948, not for a moment."
---------------------------------------
Israelis Made to Suffer the Cruel Price for Oppression of Palestinians in Gaza
P - The threats of "flattening Gaza" prove only one thing: We haven’t learned a thing. The arrogance is here to stay, even though Israel is paying a high price once again.
Gideon Levy
Oct 10, 2023
Behind all this lies Israeli arrogance; the idea that we can do whatever we like, that we’ll never pay the price and be punished for it. We’ll carry on undisturbed.
P - We’ll arrest, kill, harass, dispossess and protect the settlers busy with their pogroms. We'll visit Joseph’s Tomb, Othniel’s Tomb and Joshua’s Altar in the Palestinian territories, and of course the Temple Mount—over 5,000 Jews on Sukkot alone.
P - We’ll fire at innocent people, take out people’s eyes and smash their faces, expel, confiscate, rob, grab people from their beds, carry out ethnic cleansing and of course continue with the unbelievable siege of the Gaza Strip, and everything will be all right.
By Gideon Levy, Israeli journalist -- https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=174391652
1. We are God's chosen people. Whatever we do is just.
2. We are the victims. Always.
3. Palestinians are not human, they are animals.
So much like the Nazis.
Quote
Bruno Maçães
@MacaesBruno
·
Nov 7, 2023
This is such an extraordinary speech. I only ask of my followers to watch this. Then I leave you alone
Embedded video found in YouTube
Israeli journalist Gideon Levy explains the 3 pillars of Zionist delusion:
— Jaraparilla 🇾🇪 🇵🇸 All ziønists are terrørists (@jaraparilla) November 7, 2023
1. We are God's chosen people. Whatever we do is just.
2. We are the victims. Always.
3. Palestinians are not human, they are animals.
So much like the Nazis. https://t.co/QYupzqtHCf
Nicely said, Gideon Levy. An Israeli journalist with the integrity and the courage to say it like it is. Like it has been for since 1948. That's 76 years of snubbing Israeli noses at international law and 76 years of subjugation and repression of Palestinian people. It can't last forever. Only a fool could consider it could.
LOL It's just i don't know what that version means. haha Was just having fun with you.
conix, If you want to pose questions meant to mislead and mock posters here, then screw you. If you want to make silly subjective comment regarding a candidate, dumb you. And if you want to mock another poster then do it to that posters face. As off topic as could be.
Finally -- Steve Bannon loses appeal; prison term dead ahead
"Trump ally Steve Bannon ordered to pay $480,000 for unpaid legal bills
[...]The order comes as Bannon — now represented by a different law firm — faces a May 2024 criminal trial in the same court for allegedly defrauding donors to a purported effort to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. He has pleaded not guilty in the case.
P - Former President Donald Trump pardoned Bannon just before leaving office in January 2021 in connection with a then-pending federal criminal prosecution for the same alleged “We Build the Wall” scam, in which three co-defendants all later pleaded guilty or were convicted.
P - Bannon also is appealing a Washington, D.C., federal court conviction and related four-month jail sentence for contempt of Congress for refusing to testify to the special House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, after it issued him a subpoena."
After Cash in Hurt, Cake now is like having it and loving it too. Just get fuagf right will, ya.
"for fugaf....kinda for me too lol." Love the trumpet, if that's what it is. Horn would have been safer, i guess.
Can see her moving in that dress. And yeah, you got me right as an island. When am not.
Always will be a tremendous song. As Trent Reznor said, Cash owns it after he did.
conix, Those types of generalizations are the worst. Like goddamn horoscopes.
And where is the link? Next time you forget your link i will remember this warning.
Unless someone offers contrary evidence, gonna sit with Wyndam doesn't like the wet. English disappointing for you. Used to have him, haven't for some time now. Morikawa has to have a big one soon. Noted Jaeger and Theegala are there again. A consistent duo, those two.
Opinion Trump might not go to jail, but this trial is a close second
"Updated: Judge warns Trump of potential jail time for violating gag order"
Related: Wonder If I’ll Ever Get These Details from Stormy Daniels’s Testimony Out of My Head
Her final day on the stand in the hush-money trial was a doozy.
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=174394839
Mar-a-Lago it isn’t.
By Dana Milbank
Columnist|
May 10, 2024 at 7:30 a.m. EDT
Donald Trump and defense attorney Todd Blanche at the New York Supreme Court on Thursday.
(Jeenah Moon/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
NEW YORK — My friend and former colleague Benjamin Wittes, editor in chief of Lawfare .. https://www.lawfaremedia.org/ .. , has provided indispensable legal analysis during Donald Trump’s hush money trial. But his most important insight into the trial is the need for cushioning.
Sign up for the Prompt 2024 newsletter for opinions on the biggest questions in politics
When I arrived at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse early Monday morning for a few days of Trump trial tourism, I found Wittes in line holding not one but two pillows: an orthopedic doughnut to sit on and a padded, wraparound lap desk. If I didn’t do the same, he warned, “you’ll come away with injuries.”
He was vindicated within an hour of my arrival in the courthouse.
The courthouse, completed in 1941, apparently has not been updated much since then, nor even maintained. Its seats are hard, wooden pews with curved backs that accentuate the customary journalist slouch as we hunch over our laptops.
Posters warning of asbestos abatement hang in the lobby. The bathrooms have malfunctioning taps, missing toilet paper holders and what looks like years of grime on the floor. The courtrooms have almost no electrical power or internet connectivity, forcing those covering the Trump trial to lug backpacks full of enormous batteries, cables and hotspots. Temperatures fluctuate madly (a source of much irritation to the defendant .. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/05/03/trump-napping-gaza-protestors-hush-money-trial/?itid=lk_inline_manual_9 ). The hallways are dark and green, and the fluorescent-lit courtrooms have names such as “Part 59” and “Part 75.” The elevators groan and creak; on the 15th floor, where the Trump trial is held, two of us had to manually push an elevator’s doors closed to get the carriage moving down to the lobby.
Mar-a-Lago it isn’t. This place, built on the site of a 19th-century prison and gallows complex called “the Tombs,” may be as close as Trump gets to prison — and it’s a reasonable facsimile. Attendees get colored “hall passes” that allow them to go to the restroom. Dozens of police guards bark orders (“We’re locking it down!”) and impose byzantine rules: No eating in the rooms, and no loitering in the halls unless you are eating. Multiple layers of security make it so difficult to reenter the building that reporters pack their lunches and eat on benches, or any other space they can claim, on unused floors of the building.
Those wishing to attend the proceedings start to line up around 6 a.m. for the 9:30 a.m. trial, in the middle of a media bivouac of satellite trucks, stand-up platforms and acres of police barriers. Those admitted to the courtroom (one reporter per outlet) and the overflow room (where video and audio are piped in) can’t watch Trump’s rants in the hallway, just steps away, and those in the “pool” to watch Trump’s rants can’t watch the trial.
Still, there are small pleasures: On the TV screens in the overflow room, right under the video feed of Trump at the defense table, is a chyron displaying the words “New York County Supreme Criminal.”
Journalists on Thursday report from outside the Manhattan Criminal Court.
(Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images)
I expected to spend much of my year covering Trump this way, watching his trials in New York, D.C., Georgia and Florida. But suddenly, this trial — the least important of the four — looks like it will be the only one to get underway before the election.
In Florida on Tuesday, Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee and a thorough Trump partisan, postponed indefinitely his trial in the classified documents case. In Georgia on Wednesday, an appeals court agreed to hear an appeal from Trump that will almost certainly block the racketeering trial there from occurring this year. Last month, a Trump-friendly majority on the Supreme Court signaled that it would handle Trump’s sweeping immunity claims in such a way that will likely postpone his trial in the Jan. 6, 2021, case until after the election.
Latest editorial cartoons
Cartoon by Mike Luckovich - https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/05/10/mike-luckovich-cartoon-donald-trump-aileen-cannon/
Cartoon by Clay Bennett - https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/05/10/clay-bennett-cartoon-mothers-day-abortion-rights/
Cartoon by Ann Telnaes - https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/05/10/ann-telnaes-cartoon-donald-trump-oil-executives/
[Many more Editorial Cartoons inside.]
For a candidate who moans nonstop about a “rigged” justice system, it looks more as though the deck is stacked in his favor. Yet Trump may be sorry when his time in court comes to an end in a couple of weeks. He will no longer be able to claim that his obligations in court keep him from the campaign trail (he tends to play golf on his days away from the trial anyway), and he won’t be able to complain about how he’s being persecuted by prosecutors and judges.
In the hush money trial, he’s practically begging to be jailed for contempt of court. Justice Juan Merchan .. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/03/31/trump-judge-merchan-indictment/?itid=lk_inline_manual_21 , finding Trump in contempt for a 10th time on Monday for violating a gag order preventing Trump from attacking witnesses, pleaded: “Mr. Trump, it’s important to understand that the last thing I want to do is to put you in jail. You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next president, as well. There are many reasons why incarceration is truly a last resort for me.”
Yet 48 hours later, before Stormy Daniels’s testimony, Trump toyed with the judge some more. He posted and then deleted a message on his Truth Social platform about the “CROOKED” judge “threatening me with JAIL,” while also claiming the judge left “no time for lawyers to prepare” for Daniels. (Her name had been on the witness list for months.)
People wait to enter the courtroom after the lunch break in former president Donald Trump's
hush money trial in New York on Tuesday. (Mary Altaffer/AP)
I came to New York expecting to see Trump doze off during his trial .. https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/of-interest/2024/04/23/trump-asleep-nod-off-trial/?itid=lk_inline_manual_24 . Instead, I was struggling to stay awake myself.
Prosecutors don’t announce the order of witnesses, as a precaution to keep Trump from attacking them. So after waiting for three hours Monday morning to secure a seat, I learned that I was in for a day of accounting testimony — important to the case, but deadly tedious.
“Is this another MDS voucher?”
“What’s the voucher number?”
“What account is this coming from?”
“And the invoice amount?”
“Is there a check number on the stub?”
“What is it?”
Over, and over, and over again.
The only relief Monday was provided by Trump’s lawyers, who complained about everything, no matter how picayune, and without regard to whether their complaint had any truth. Trump lawyer Todd Blanche complained at length that the defense had not been provided with the name of one of the witnesses; her name was on the list of witnesses publicly disclosed during jury selection. Blanche argued that having the witness recalled to provide additional testimony would prejudice the jury against the defense. The testimony in question? The witness was going to read three of Trump’s tweets.
In the courtroom that morning, Trump’s lawyers tried to delay the day’s proceedings so they could raise more objections to the judge; outside the courtroom in the afternoon, Trump complained that the trial was taking too long.
But Tuesday brought blessed relief from the tedium. A witness from the publisher of “Trump: How to Get Rich” testified.
“What’s depicted in the cover photo?”
“Donald J. Trump.”
“And what’s the largest word on the cover?”
“Trump.”
“And what percentage of the cover is the word ‘Trump’?”
“It looks about roughly 30 percent to me.”
The prosecutor then had the witness read passages from the book, such as: “For many years I’ve said that if someone screws you, screw them back. When somebody hurts you, just go after them as viciously and as violently as you can.”
In cross examination, Blanche tried to suggest Trump’s “ghostwriter” was behind such sentiments
— and moments later denied to the judge that he had done any such thing.
Then came the storm.
The content of Daniels’s testimony wasn’t new — she had written or said most of it before — but hearing the prurient account in open court, with Trump at the defense table, was still stunning. It stunned Trump, for the judge had to admonish him, through his lawyers, for “cursing audibly.”
[LOL Chickens coming, Donald, m' lad. See the chickens comin...]
“Mr. Blanche, did you speak to your client?” Merchan asked after a break.
“Yes, your honor,” Blanche replied.
After watching Daniels testify .. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/05/08/stormy-daniels-donald-trump-hush-money/?itid=lk_inline_manual_54 .. on Tuesday, I abandoned my trial tourism. When Daniels returned to the stand for continued cross-examination Thursday morning, I “watched” it through the eyes of my Post colleagues (who report the action in live updates) and those of Lawfare’s Tyler McBrien (who live-tweets .. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1788532635884528013.html .. so fast it’s like a transcript). The attacks on the adult-film star were ferocious, but Daniels didn’t lose her poise.
Trump lawyer Susan Necheles invoked Daniels’s 2018 “Make America Horny Again” tour, and she displayed the products Daniels has sold, including a “Stormy, Saint of Indictments” candle. “That was you selling your merchandise, right?” Necheles asked.
“That is me doing my job,” answered Daniels, who noted that her own crass commercializing was “not unlike Mr. Trump.”
Necheles, who asserted that Daniels has “a lot of experience making phony stories about sex appear to be real,” asked her: “And now you have a story you have been telling about having sex with President Trump; right?”
Replied Daniels: “And if that story was untrue, I would have written it to be a lot better.”
Necheles was skeptical that Daniels, after acting in “over 200 porn movies,” would really become lightheaded, as Daniels claimed, after seeing Trump on a bed in a T-shirt and boxer shorts.
“Yes,” Daniels rejoined. “When you are not expecting a man twice your age to be in their underwear.”
The Trump lawyer asked Daniels if she knew what was in the indictment against Trump.
“There was a lot of indictments,” Daniels responded, to laughter.
Necheles mentioned a Daniels tweet saying she was “the best person to flush the orange turd down,” then asked: “You said you were going to ‘flush’ President Trump?”
“I didn’t say ‘President Trump,’” Daniels shot back. “It says ‘orange turd.’ So, if that’s what’s interpreted by you …”
There was more laughter in the courtroom. Or so I’m told. By this time, I was sitting at home in an ergonomic office chair with plenty of memory foam.
Dana Milbank is an opinion columnist for The Washington Post. He sketches the foolish, the fallacious and the felonious
in politics. His new book is “The Destructionists: The 25-Year Crackup of the Republican Party” (Doubleday). Twitter
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/05/10/trump-new-york-trial-courthouse-scene-stormy-daniels/