56 posts from Thursday, May 30, 2024

- Thank you for joining us here today. Earlier this afternoon, Donald Trump was arranged by a Manhattan grand jury on 34 felony counts. - This case is an abomination. You know, it's obviously political. Seven years try to come up with this case. They're just wrong on the law. - The only crime that Donald Trump is being prosecuted for is the crime of running for president. - Political persecution at the highest level. - They've quite frankly given up on trying to beating at the polls. Either gonna steal it or stop it by law firm. - A Democrat prosecutor elected on a get Trump platform. - What's going on here is a disgusting disgrace. It is war on Trump, it is war on the Republican party, and it is a war on a Republican. - This case is the weakest case I've seen in 60 years of teaching, practicing, and writing about criminal law. - I doubt the New York indictment would have been brought against a defendant whose name was not Donald Trump. - This judge, I mean, you don't need a prosecutor if you have a judge like this. This judge is not on the level. - It's a terrible case, but the judge has been pretty much a rubber stamp on everything that Greg has wanted to do. - They're perverting the system of justice. That's where the danger lies, the corruption and subversion of our institutions by the left. - This is the Democrats' entire strategy to confine President Trump to a dirty criminal courtroom and keep him off the campaign trail where he can bring his winning message to voters across this country. - New York has become a legal banana republic. They are so determined to get Donald Trump. - Look, convicting Donald Trump, that's all they have. - I think they have no cards, and they're depending upon Trump getting convicted. - That Trump train doesn't show any signs of slowing down. - The only verdict that matters is the verdict at the ballot box.

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I was saddened to watch it. I disagree with this verdict. I think, as I said before, that this case was legally unfounded. When they were reading those guilty verdicts, the one thing that we didn't know is really what he was found guilty of. Because if you remember, the judge allowed the jury to find guilt on any one of three secondary crimes. We weren't told whether the jury found any one of those crimes, whether they found all three of those crimes. I'm not too sure we will know that. That's one of the many issues that I think presents reversible problems in this case. So what I would say is that this is a historic moment. We all have to take a breath. But for those upset by this verdict, remember this remains a country committed to the rule of law. And this is going to go up on appeal. I think it's going to be reversed in the state or federal systems.

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This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt. It's a rigged trial, a disgrace. It wouldn't give us a venue change. We were at 5 percent or 6 percent in this district, in this area. This was a rigged, disgraceful trial. The real verdict is going to be November 5th by the people, and they know what happened here, and everybody knows what happened here. You have a so-respected DA, and the whole thing -- we didn't do a thing wrong. I'm a very innocent man, and it's okay. I'm fighting for our country. I'm fighting for our Constitution. Our whole country is being rigged right now. This was done by the Biden administration in order to wound or hurt an opponent, a political opponent. And I think it's just a disgrace. And we'll keep fighting. We'll fight until the end, and we'll win. Because our country has gone to hell. We don't have the same country anymore. We have a divided mess. We're nation in decline, serious decline, millions and millions of people pouring into our country right now from prisons and from mental institutions, terrorists, and they're taking over our country. We have a country that's in big trouble, but this was a rigged decision right from day one with a conflicted judge who should have never been allowed to try this case, never. And we will fight for our Constitution. This is long from over. Thank you very much.

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It clearly is not fair, and you know, none of this is fair. This whole trial is a make-believe trial in the sense that these are crimes we've never heard of based upon dead misdemeanors, based upon felonies that are federal crimes that are roped into it for which you don't need a unanimous verdict. And the whole thing is just, you know, they tried smoke and mirrors. You know, he must have done something wrong here, so it will be a very difficult task for the jury to try to figure this out. And the defense wasn't even, pursuant to the Fifth Amendment, advised what that original crime was that bootstraps this and makes it into a felony. In addition to the fact they don't have to be unanimous about column A, B, or C that involve federal tax crimes and federal election campaign violations.

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communist show trial. You know, even North Korea, even the former Soviet Union, went to a greater length to create the pretense of fairness that is being seen with this Biden donor judge in this courtroom. He ruled that the jurors do not need even to agree among themselves, not even a majority of them, forget unanimity, need to agree among themselves as to the crime that Donald Trump is alleged to have committed. And of course, we know the reason for this, which is that they want to avoid addressing the fact, we've discussed this at length, Eric, before, but it bears repeating, that the central allegation, unproven, can't be proven, that Donald Trump violated campaign finance law is an impossibility. Because the long standing universally understood definition of campaign finance law is that you must use private funds for private matters like a legal returner, like a settlement dispute, anything to do with your corporation, private business, private family. So Donald Trump, even if you believe in the allegations that the prosecution has put forward, which of course, our bunk, is still completely innocent of a campaign finance violation. >> So Stephen, but allow me, I don't want to cut you off, but this is so important because there are a lot of times people are charged with several different things during a trial, during a case. And if the jury can't come to unanimity on a single charge, the charge has to be thrown out, not guilty of secondary degree murder, not guilty of third degree murder. >> And there's no system in the civilized world, in civil litigation anywhere, where less than a majority is required to agree on what the crime is. The idea that less than a majority would need to agree that he committed the campaign finance violation is such an affront to our system of justice, to our constitution, to the rule of law. And here's another point on this. You may remember, the defense was prevented and precluded from presenting expert testimony that Donald Trump never could be construed to a violated campaign finance law for the reasons that I said. They wanted to call as an expert witness, Brad Smith, the former head of the FEC, which administers campaign finance law in this country. They were precluded from bringing him to testify as to what campaign finance law actually is. But the prosecution was allowed in his closing arguments to say without rebuttal and without evidence that Donald Trump broke campaign finance law. So the judge has doubly stacked this. On the one hand, he's prevented the defense from offering any exculpatory evidence, presenting the jury with any information about the actual long-standing meaning of campaign finance law. And at the same time, he's lowered the threshold for the jury to 12 of you just need to agree that some crime somewhere has been committed, that you want a guilty verdict, but you don't even have to agree what it is. This is one of the saddest days in the history of American jurisdiction.

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What's really worse, Eric, is frankly the fact that he took on anyone that was MAGA, anyone that was America first. He's calling them clowns and jokers. I mean, no one hates hardworking Americans, you know, blue collar, hardworking, middle class Americans more than the Democrat party. And Robert De Niro is the epitome of that, listening to his words, not just yesterday, but over the last few years. As he's slowly gotten worse with his Trump derangement syndrome, he's not just attacking Trump, he's attacking the lifeblood of this country, the people who make things happen, the people who work so hard, and the people who are getting crushed, crushed by the policies of the radical Democrats. Joe Biden, Robert De Niro, the Hollywood elite who haven't abandoned Joe Biden and the Democrat policies that have failed America so badly, they hate America. They hate the hardworking men and women of America. And you don't have to take my word for it, just listen to everything he He says.

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"This is the weaponization of our judicial system. The American people saw this start during the Clinton administration. They have watched the Democrats become more bold and more brazen, and now you have this. And it is why so many of my friends who are Democrats and independents say, you know what, we're going to back President Trump. They've never voted for him before, but what they see is weaponization, and they know if you can do this to a former president of the United States, that they can do it to you. And what they're wanting to see is a riddance of this two tiers of justice. So I've stood with President Trump since day one. I'm standing with him again."

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Thank you very much. Here we go again. Five weeks. I've been here. I'm gagged. I'd like to answer all of your questions. They're very easy questions to answer, but I'm gagged, so I can't talk as much as I would like to about this ridiculous case that's hurting our country so badly. Some of the reviews from yesterday are the -- and by the way, everyone's against this case, too. I haven't seen one legal scholar or expert in the law say that this case should have been filed. It should not have been filed, or at a minimum it should have been filed seven years ago. Seven years old. Everybody turned it down, including federal elections turned it down. Southern District turned it down. Bragg turned it down. Then he rejuvenated it when I was running for office. It's a terrible thing. At the request of Biden, the editors of the National Review say, "Quit Trump." Bragg has failed to prove his charges. Totally failed. Greg Jarrett. Because all of the stuff came in after the elections. How were they defrauded? And then you say, "What about Hillary with the dossier? What about all of the other things that go?" And this is nothing. This is nothing. But what about all of the corruption, the voter fraud, that you've seen over the last year on behalf of the Democrats, and nobody talks about it? This is ridiculous what they're talking about. This is called running for office. Greg Jarrett. The government, which received full payment on all taxable income. The government, by the way, received full payment. The taxes were paid in full. In fact, they made comment on that. Even if the taxes were paid in full, the federal elections commission that concluded the money paid did not constitute a campaign contribution under the law. And remember, this judge wouldn't allow us. He's a very conflicted judge. Everybody knows that. You don't want to talk about what the conflict was. I'm not allowed to talk about it because of a gag order that he put on me. It's the one subject he really doesn't want to talk about. There was no fraud. There was no conspiracy. It's that simple. Moreover, without a primary crime, there can be no secondary crime. It's a classic lawfare, weaponizing statutes. Because the law has been -- okay, because no law has been broken. There's a jury chair. Elihonic legal analyst for CNN. The crime here is not easy to explain or to understand. It's just not understandable. In other words, there is no crime. This is CNN. Catherine Christian from MSNBC -- I call it MSDNC -- legal analyst. It's difficult because it's a very nuanced argument. It's never been prosecuted before. This is an argument that has never been prosecuted before. And hopefully, it'll never be prosecuted again. Andy McCarthy -- this is anything but standard. It's the antithesis of standard, actually. The idea that they do not have to agree on what the other crime is. We spent six weeks wondering, "What is the other crime? What is the other crime?" And at the end, the thud we all get is this. There's three or four of them, and you could pick one from the other, and they don't have to agree on anything. And what he's saying is it's so -- it's so corrupt. Nobody has ever heard of anything like this. It's called "pick 'em." It's like the latter. You pick 'em. You pick 'em. And you don't have to be -- even though in a criminal case, you have to be unanimous, you don't have to be -- just give a couple of votes, because the judge, unfortunately, is corrupt. Judge Jeanine Pirro, no one has heard of this. It's like it's a menu column A, B, or C. You don't have to agree on it. This is a kangaroo court. This is unheard of. I've never seen anything like it. I've done this for 32 years. I'm not a federal prosecutor or a state prosecutor, so I know what I'm talking about. I'm not a federal judge. I'm a county judge, just like Russia. This is New York law. This is my wheelhouse. He is 100 percent wrong. He's wrong. That's what Jeanine Pirro, a very good woman, very smart woman -- Jonathan Turley. This is becoming a three-card Monty game on "Where is the Crime?" Smart guy. "Where is the Crime?" Mike Davis. The U.S. would sanction a country for doing this. I think that's good. I think that's good. Steve Hilda seems that every single day, these proceedings go on. The judge and the prosecutor just go out of their way to prove Trump's a point. And I guess he is -- I think I'll prove him my point when you think -- that's why I -- I write some of these things that are very sad. Mark Levin, this Stalinist-like case -- he's a Stalinist-like case -- it has prevented President Trump from running for office. It has prevented him from campaigning. He's unable to campaign because he's been in a courthouse for five weeks. And yet, we just had a ball came out -- NPR. Trump's 54. Biden's 42. And that's with independents. That's the best we've ever had. They said this is the single-best ball that Trump has ever had with independents. Trump's largest lead among independent voters -- NPR, Marist College -- 44-28. And Junior is way down -- way, way down. But it's -- it's -- 44. Junior is extremely liberal. By the way, he's extremely radical left. I think you know that. But he seems to be hurting Biden probably a little bit. So that's it -- it's a disgrace. The millions and millions of dollars that have spent daily on this case -- outside, it looks like it's Fort Knox, like the Guardian -- I've never seen so many police them. Now, with Columbia University, you can plan to tent right in front of the main door, no problem. NYU just put your tent up. Don't worry about it. Over here. But I just want to say that this is a very sad day for America. The whole world is watching. And it's a very sad day for New York. I've gone through two of these trials already. It's a very -- with the same kind of a judge. It's all worked. It's all rigged. The whole thing -- the whole system is rigged. Judge Ann Gordon was overturned five times, in my case, and he's going to be overturned again. And we were treated very, very badly. And the outside world is watching, and the outside world is just not going to bring their business to New York. And that's going to cost the city trillions and the state trillions and trillions of dollars businesses are leaving. And people are fleeing. So, you can see the quotes yourself, and thank you all very much. We'll come in later on in the evening, but we'll be here. It looks like a long time. Thank you.

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But I just want to say that this is a very sad day for America. The whole world is watching, and it's a very sad day for New York. I've gone through two of these trials already. It's a very, with the same kind of a judge, it's all worked, it's all rigged. The whole thing, the whole system is rigged. Judge Ann Gordon was overturned five times in my case, and he's going to be overturned again. And we were treated very, very badly. And the outside world is watching, and the outside world is just not going to bring their business to New York. And that's going to cost the city trillions and the state trillions and trillions of dollars businesses are leaving, and people are fleeing itself.

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to me it was a very difficult day today. I heard a man with a robe instructing a jury that on issues that I know as a former judge exactly as he was were just plain wrong, reversible error. I was stunned at what he brought up and what he said and specifically I refer number one to the fact that we've been talking for weeks, months actually since in this indictment came down is to what is that unknown felony that will be used to resurrect two dead expired misdemeanors. Well that unknown felony is an election law violation according to this judge that is made up of a federal campaign violation of a creation of a false record or of a tax law violation. The Trump defense team didn't know this so they couldn't speak to it and it is a Fifth Amendment requirement that you know the charges against you, that you know it in the indictment in the bill of particulars and discovery in the opening statement and through the testimony. This was and I knew it during the prosecution summation this was clearly it was like a game between the prosecution and the judge where the defense was left out of it and specifically there was they talked about there was no legitimate press function and no one had talked about that during the course of the trial neither side presented evidence as to what a normal legitimate press function was but the jury hears about it from the prosecution in summation. No evidence whatsoever by either side and of course we know that there was no evidence allowed of a federal campaign election campaign violation because the defense was not allowed to put on Brad Smith who was the head of the Federal Election Campaign Commission. So the prosecution put on evidence the defense wants to put on evidence of what an FEC violation truly is and is not allowed to do that and then the defense of advice of counsel was not allowed that's what Trump wanted. This is a kangaroo court you've never heard of anything other than a unanimous verdict in a criminal trial and here's a new one legal expenses are if you report them as as income is a crime I never I wrote it again reporting money as income when its reimbursement is a crime so the judge is saying that itself is a crime no one knew that they could have argued it at the trial but they didn't have the opportunity so I mean those are just some of the issues it was a sad day for me I sat with Andy McCarthy and Jonathan Turley and Trey Gowdy and Shannon Britton we were all like this is unheard of.

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reaction from the Trump organization, Eric Trump, he's been in the courtroom for a better part of this trial. You know, I'll let you take it from there, but you know, everything this judge does in this particular case, Eric, to me, you know, at this point, I expect it, it's not even a shock anymore. You know, Sean, sometimes I'm angry, sometimes I'm numb to it, I mean, I watch my father go in there every single day and fight for his life, literally fight for his life against bogus charges. I said on the show, I've said it on others, no one believes that $130,000 from eight years ago for a perfectly legal NDA booked a legal expense to a personal longtime lawyer booked as a legal expense is a crime where a former president in the front runner for Republican Party is charged with 34 felony counts. No one believes it. The entire city of New York is shut down. You have half of the NYPD guarding the lower half of Manhattan around this trial. They're shutting down the FDR drive every single day. No one believes it. And then you have this judge and I've watched the conduct and Sean, you have to watch it from from the front row, from front and center. So many of the Fox reporters have when you're in there and he is literally sustaining every single one of their objections. He will not give us a single thing. He's disqualifying our witnesses. He's not letting the head of the FEC testify that there is no crime here. He's saying that my father testifies they can go back to every single thing he's ever said or ever done, even if it's not related to this case. The thing is stacked, Sean, you've never seen anything like it. It wasn't until this morning did they actually outline six months later what the actual crime reportedly was. There is no crime here, but they didn't even give us the decency of telling my father what it was until they dragged him through the mud every single day, wasted his time, put him in the icebox for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks. And that's what this is. This is corruption. This is a judge just somehow gets every single anti-Trump case. Is that really interesting? You got, you know, the first Trump case and he gets this case, then he gets it was no jury pool in this case. He was selected. He was selected. Eric. Of course, Sean, that's no different than Fulton County, right? I mean, in Georgia, why did they go to Fulton County? Because it's about as far left as you can get. Why did they go to downtown New York? Because it's about as far left. Why did they pick this judge? This isn't random. It would defy every law of every statistical model in history to get this judge on every single Trump case, especially a judge that wasn't even voted in. This was an appointee judge. He's not even on the list of 24 judges, but yet he just somehow miraculously ends up with every Trump case. And you have the entire DA's office, Sean, front row and they're laughing about this. They're laughing about $130,000 where every single day you have another person being stabbed in the chest on the streets of New York and the city is going to hell and it stinks and there's homelessness all over the place. And this is their focus. The reason it's their focus is Donald Trump is winning, Sean. He's winning. He's winning in the polls. Biden is incompetent. People realize, the Democrats finally realize that the guy will not make it to the finish line. They're panicking. And so what they do, they weaponize the legal system against Donald Trump as they've done every day since he's come down that escalator. And honestly, it's frustrating as a son to watch him go through this hell and this torture. And the guy is incredible. And honestly, kudos to him. No one else could deal with this crap. No one. I don't know many people that could for sure and it's certainly true that you and your family have been through a lot and your father seems to have a capacity to deal with it unlike anybody else that I would know.

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and RNC co-chair, Laura Trump. Good morning to you, Laura. - Good morning, guys. Great to be with you. - Well, great to have you here. What's your reaction when you hear the CNN legal analysts say that he has a man-crushing-- - MSNBC. - Oh, MSNBC, sorry. - Yeah, all the same, CNN, MSNBC, about the same. Yeah, this is not a surprise at all. This guy is a hero to the left because you have to take a look at all the ways he has ruled against Donald Trump and his defense and for the prosecution. Let's start at the beginning. Let's start with the fact that miraculously and defying all statistical probabilities, this judge has gotten every anti-Trump case possible. He got Allen Weisselberg, the former CFO of the Trump Organization, Steve Bannon, and now Donald Trump. We remember he slapped an unconstitutional gag order against Donald Trump at every possible turn, ruled for the prosecution and against the defense. I would love to see the contrast of overturned objections via the defense versus the prosecution in this case. We have seen time and time again how he has weighed the scales. He wouldn't even allow the defense to call a witness that would have shown what a sham and total waste of time this entire trial is. And then just to put the final nail in the coffin for Donald Trump and to weigh the scales as much as humanly possible, he tells the jury, you don't have to be unanimous. Choose whatever you want and we'll work it out on the other end. - Right, with the second crime, right, Laura? With the second crime. - Exactly. - Yeah. - Three choices. - And if you're a person who wants Joe Biden to be assisted by this case and you dislike Donald Trump, I bet you have a big man crush on Juan Mirchon. But anybody, to your points you guys just made a second ago, who cares about the law, who actually cares about the future integrity of America, ought to look at this case and this judge and feel shame and embarrassment. 'Cause that is exactly what it is. - So Laura, how is the former president? I mean, let's just be real here. He's facing jail time right here. - A lot. - A lot of time there. So he's not able to campaign right now. He's stuck in the courthouse. We could get averted soon. How's the morale of him? - He's remarkable. And Lawrence, you know this. You guys have seen him day in and day out, on the way into that courtroom and leaving that courtroom, talking to the press every day, saying whatever he can, of course, with this crazy gag order. I've never seen a person with the focus of Donald Trump. I've never seen someone who can be facing so much, who can really not just take it and still remain standing, but still be fighting. Not only has he gone in that courtroom every day and had to sit there and listen to lie after lie, knowing what they are trying to do to him, knowing this is all about politics and has nothing to do with justice or actually prosecuting a crime. But then he leaves the courthouse and he goes to a bodega in Harlem. He delivers pizzas to the FDNY firefighters. He holds a rally 25,000 people strong in the deep blue Bronx of New York. And that tells you what you need to know about this man. He's a fighter, no matter what they throw against him, he will never back down. And this, just like everything else, I believe will boomerang and only help him in the end. - I know you got all these different flow charts of what if he's convicted, what if he's acquitted, what if he gets home confinement? How detailed are the plans for the campaign judging on these scenarios that are possible at some time we believe this week when Alberta comes down? - Yeah, and you have to think about that. Of course, this is something that has been the goal. They wanted him locked in the courtroom and not out on the campaign trail. Why not lock him in his home so he can't go out and campaign as well? I think it makes it very obvious that this is truly about election interference and nothing else at the end of the day. But we'll turn lemons into lemonade like Donald Trump continues to do at every single turn. We will have him doing virtual rallies and campaign events if that is the case. And we'll have to play the hand that we're dealt. Everything has been stacked against him from the day he came down the Golden Escalator in Trump Tower in 2015 and decided to run for president as a Republican. It continues to be stacked against him today. And despite all of it, he always ends up on top and this will be no different. - All right. Laura, thank you very much. We know you've got a very busy day. Thank you very much for kicking things off with Fox and Friends. - Thanks guys. - Just keep in mind too.

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That press conference, organized by the Biden campaign, on the heels, I would add, of the Biden administration announcing that Biden himself would react to the verdict, a clear message to the jury, by the way, was the moment at which all doubt that anyone could have was removed. All of these communist lawfare campaigns are Democrat party persecutions to take out Joe Biden's political opponent. They dispense with the charade. They dispense with the pretend games. And they said, we want this jury to take out Joe Biden's political opponent. And so that is a moment that will live in infamy for a long time. It's an inflection point. And I would say that even though Donald Trump is the one on trial, it is Joe Biden and the Democrat communist prosecutors who are facing the judgment of history and who will incur the wrath of the American voter.

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