Trump Trial Time - banish all memories of Mueller.

[Spandauer]

Is this #132?
Still trying to rid the world of this troublesome twat.

Old thread here:
www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4912378-trump-gets-gagged-mccarthy-gets-booted-whats-next-in-trumpworld

No love lost for Michael Cohen but really don't want the prosecution's main (?) witness being in contempt of court or whatever.

(Apols for including a pic of the orange one)

Yeah, Cohen isn't doing the case any favours with that.

However the photo is hilarious when you contrast the colour of Trumps face with both his hands. You can always tell a golfer because they usually have one brown hand and one white from wearing a glove most of the time. Both Trumps hands are snowy white , so he must use sun block.

Cohen is allowed to say what he likes about Trump; if he goads Trump into response (a favourite trick of Trump's, saying goady things until the person you are attacking can''t stand it any more) there is an inconvenient gag order waiting to catch the Fart.

How's that, @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime? I'm trying not to be obtuse but surely Cohen shouldn't be tweeting like that during a court case?

https://x.com/frankrunyeon/status/1782453494575767970

NY Courts will release daily transcripts of Donald Trump's criminal trial.

There is nothing in place forbidding Cohen from saying whatever he wants to, as far as I know. First amendment: he is exercising his right to free speech. (If Trump is certain it's provably wrong and denigration, he can sue the man for libel – if he has the free time to spend in yet another court, and the money to pay his lawyer up front.)

Trump, on the other hand, is subject to a court order forbidding him from speaking by name about the members of the jury, the witnesses, any of the court officials, or members of the families of any of these people. He has broken this "gag order" repeatedly, and it is likely that he is facing a hefty fine for it (anyone else would be looking at prison). One of the people he is not allowed to say anything about is Cohen, and he has badmouthed Cohen on more than one occasion since that order was put in place. I suspect Cohen hopes to get under his skin and cause him to break the law some more.

Incidentally it is worth noting that Cohen has not mentioned Trump by name – unless Trump is happy to be identified as, or to identify with, Von ShitzinPantz....

Thank you for the very clear explanation, @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime. I'll be watching with interest.
Someone in either the WaPost or NYT is saying that if Trump were to be re-elected, he couldn't pardon himself. Is that correct? I thought it had never been tested because never before has there been such a shit elected as President, so all bets are off?

Oh, I hope it's all right to ask here. Does anyone know if Roussette is around under a different name? Haven't seen her on the Trump threads for a while. Thanks.

Thank you, @nojudge. I am always/still confused by the difference between federal and state law.

Not stalking (!) but I remember her being on the Sunak threads fairly regularly. Maybe end of March?

Roussette is not on MN anymore, I hope she will be back but don't know if she will. Maybe she is still reading.

Thank you for the info, @Spandauer and @DuncinToffee.
👋at Roussette if you're reading, hope all is well with you and yours.

😂😂😂

I wouldn't want to be a involved in the Trump case in any shape or form. A women who does those charcoal Court sketches was interviewed (MSNBC?) recently, and even she has received very unpleasant abuse from Trump supporters

@BruceAndNosh - their crass stupidity and unkindness never fails to surprise me. Just when you think they can't go any lower, they do.

Trump has apparently been going on about how they are deliberately making nasty drawings of him, so I suppose his cultists are taking their cue from him.

He's an ugly man. That's why the drawings aren't flattering

If he thought his mugshot was flattering, he has a skewed view of what is ugly anyhow.

Judge Merchan is losing patience with Blanche, telling him

You are losing all credibility with the court, I have to tell you right now. Is there anything else you want to tell the court?

Judge weighs decision regarding Trump’s possible contempt over gag order

The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s falsifying business records criminal trial did not immediately decide after a hearing Tuesday on whether the former president is in contempt over a gag order imposed to protect the safety of people involved in the trial and their families.


New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan said at the end of the 75-minute hearing that he would reserve his ruling, and did not say when he expected to issue one. He did sharply criticize a defense by Trump attorney Todd Blanche of Trump’s recent social media posts referencing people connected to the case.

(Washington Post)

Jury is back in court (they weren't present for the gag order hearing) and David Pecker is resuming his testimony.

(from Washington Post)
Former National Enquirer executive David Pecker said that during his long relationship with Donald Trump, he was eventually introduced to Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, as a go-between.


Pecker said he first met Cohen at a bar mitzvah. Later on, he was told “all of the contacts that I had with Mr. Trump, that now my contacts should go through Michael Cohen.”


Specifically, Pecker was told that any tips he had should go to Cohen.
“If there were any rumors in the marketplace, Mr. Trump or his family, any negative stories that were coming out … I would call Michael Cohen directly,” Pecker testified.


Pecker said he still spoke regularly to Trump, and those conversations increased once the real estate and reality TV star began running for president.

Donald Trump kept his serious expression as David Pecker referred to Trump as “the most eligible bachelor” — while explaining why he told Trump’s team he would be on the lookout for women seeking to tell stories about him amid the 2016 campaign.

Yeah, well considering this ridiculous painting, no surprise he doesn't like the artist's sketch. It's titled 'The Visionary' and hangs in Mar A Lago. It may have been painted in 1989, but even back then he didn't look that good. And I'll bet whenever he passes it he thinks "I haven't change a bit!".

This sounds quite damaging to Trump - formation of a conspiracy... "eyes and ears" of Trump campaign?
Or am I just being over optimistic?

David Pecker said he promised to be ‘eyes and ears’ for Trump and flag any women selling stories

By Shayna Jacobs

Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker told jurors Tuesday that he offered in 2015 to intercept negative stories about his longtime friend Donald Trump and to flag any efforts by women who would try to profit by selling stories about the then-presidential candidate.


Pecker is a key witness for Manhattan prosecutors because he has begun to discuss plans within Trump’s inner circle to keep negative items about the 2016 presidential candidate a secret. The Manhattan district attorney’s office has said that Trump purposely concealed the nature of a 2016 payment to adult-film star Stormy Daniels to keep it out of the public eye and out of campaign finance disclosures.


The witness testified late Tuesday morning that it was common for women to try to sell stories about political candidates, so he offered to intercept them for Trump and his campaign, sometimes paying to “kill” them.
“Mr. Trump was well known as the most eligible bachelor and dated the most beautiful women and it was clear that based on my past experience that when someone is running for public office like this, it is very common for these women to call up a magazine like the National Enquirer to try to sell these stories,” Pecker said.


At the same time, Pecker said he would keep running pieces about former president Bill Clinton’s womanizing so that it would potentially hurt his wife Hillary’s campaign in 2016.
“

Previously what I would do is I would I would publish positive stories about Mr. Trump and I would publish negative stories about his opponents,” Pecker added.


Pecker said he offered to be “the eyes and ears” of the Trump campaign, explaining that Trump’s company had a small staff and that his efforts to support Trump were mutually beneficial because they helped his magazine.

I'm getting strong "Ken" vibes from that painting! (Sorry, Ryan)

Maybe Trump can give us a quick rendition of "I'm just Ken Don"?

Did Trump ever play cricket in his life? He doesn't strike me as likely ever to have been a team player, but I might be doing him an injustice.

As for "most eligible bachelor": Trump had been married to Melania for more than ten years at that point, so he was hardly a bachelor.