# Manhattan Prosecutors file criminal charges for Trump re Stormy Daniels case - ongoing discussion here (Guilty on all 34 counts, May 30, 2024) **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [March 9, 2023, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattan-prosecutors-file-criminal-charges-for-trump-re-stormy-daniels-case-ongoing-discussion-here-guilty-on-all-34-counts-may-30-2024/980953 "2023-03-09T22:53:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 61
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattan-prosecutors-file-criminal-charges-for-trump-re-stormy-daniels-case-ongoing-discussion-here-guilty-on-all-34-counts-may-30-2024/980953/1201 "2024-04-11T21:28:14Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > The more motions he files that get rejected the more he can complain the the court is baised against him. “I object, your honor! This trial is a travesty. It’s a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham.” ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattan-prosecutors-file-criminal-charges-for-trump-re-stormy-daniels-case-ongoing-discussion-here-guilty-on-all-34-counts-may-30-2024/980953/1202 "2024-04-11T21:59:08Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > The more motions he files that get rejected the more he can complain the the court is baised against him. A masterful defense strategy! ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattan-prosecutors-file-criminal-charges-for-trump-re-stormy-daniels-case-ongoing-discussion-here-guilty-on-all-34-counts-may-30-2024/980953/1203 "2024-04-11T23:03:53Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > michael cohen This witness alone should be enough to sink Trump to the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattan-prosecutors-file-criminal-charges-for-trump-re-stormy-daniels-case-ongoing-discussion-here-guilty-on-all-34-counts-may-30-2024/980953/1204 "2024-04-12T02:29:59Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > i believe the judges (most of them) have his number and are treating him like they would a sovereign citizen. He makes as much sense as them, so yeh. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattan-prosecutors-file-criminal-charges-for-trump-re-stormy-daniels-case-ongoing-discussion-here-guilty-on-all-34-counts-may-30-2024/980953/1205 "2024-04-12T02:44:39Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > This witness alone should be enough to sink Trump to the bottom. He has serious credibility issues. The DA better have good corroborating evidence. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattan-prosecutors-file-criminal-charges-for-trump-re-stormy-daniels-case-ongoing-discussion-here-guilty-on-all-34-counts-may-30-2024/980953/1206 "2024-04-12T03:00:56Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > He has serious credibility issues. The DA better have good corroborating evidence. Cohen’s greatest utility to prosecutors at this point may be his ability to help them uncover that corroborating evidence. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattan-prosecutors-file-criminal-charges-for-trump-re-stormy-daniels-case-ongoing-discussion-here-guilty-on-all-34-counts-may-30-2024/980953/1207 "2024-04-12T03:08:09Z")
Cohen taped calls and produced signed checks. No doubt Donnie’s lawyers will attack Cohen’s character. I hope the judge/prosecutors keep a close reign on the questioning (Trump’s on trial, not Cohen). ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattan-prosecutors-file-criminal-charges-for-trump-re-stormy-daniels-case-ongoing-discussion-here-guilty-on-all-34-counts-may-30-2024/980953/1208 "2024-04-12T03:18:41Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > at this point may be his ability to help them uncover that corroborating evidence They need to have it by now. The trial is not the time for uncovering evidence. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattan-prosecutors-file-criminal-charges-for-trump-re-stormy-daniels-case-ongoing-discussion-here-guilty-on-all-34-counts-may-30-2024/980953/1209 "2024-04-12T03:33:12Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > A masterful defense strategy! It may not be good legal strategy, but it’s good political strategy. Delay tll November, and the case goes away. I’ve given up all hope that the really important cases —insurrection and election fraud,(Jan 6 , and Georgia)-will ever begin in a courtroom. Is this case different? Is it likely that this case will actually begin and end with a final , unappealed,verdict before Trump gets re-elected? ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattan-prosecutors-file-criminal-charges-for-trump-re-stormy-daniels-case-ongoing-discussion-here-guilty-on-all-34-counts-may-30-2024/980953/1210 "2024-04-12T03:52:28Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > “I object, your honor! This trial is a travesty. It’s a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham.” And a duck egg. (HONK HONK) Two duck eggs. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattan-prosecutors-file-criminal-charges-for-trump-re-stormy-daniels-case-ongoing-discussion-here-guilty-on-all-34-counts-may-30-2024/980953/1211 "2024-04-12T12:45:53Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > I’ve given up all hope that **the really important cases** —insurrection and election fraud,(Jan 6 , and Georgia)-will ever begin in a courtroom. I once thought this too. However, the more I’ve thought about it the more I’ve come to realize this case is _every bit_ as bad as the other ones. The media has been reporting this thing as a hush money or business records case. But really that doesn’t get to the heart of the matter because the money and records were merely the tools used to execute a much larger crime - to interfere with the 2016 election, by depriving voters of information to make an informed decision. Trumps actions in 2016 were a direct attack on democracy. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattan-prosecutors-file-criminal-charges-for-trump-re-stormy-daniels-case-ongoing-discussion-here-guilty-on-all-34-counts-may-30-2024/980953/1212 "2024-04-12T12:48:26Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > > [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > > > This witness [Michael Cohen] alone should be enough to sink Trump to the bottom. > > He has serious credibility issues. The DA better have good corroborating evidence. To be clear, Michael Cohen is a piece of shit who was happy to be Donald’s lackey for years. > **[Audiotapes of Michael Cohen threatening journalist released](https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/05/31/politics/michael-cohen-tapes)** > > Lawyer Michael Cohen told a journalist, "I will take you for every penny you still don't have," in 2015 after the reporter wrote a story about President Donald Trump and his first wife, Ivana Trump. But to believe the defense, you have to believe that Cohen decided, _independent_ of donald, to pay off women that donald had slept with while married, and the donald paid him for legal services he never provided without donald ever knowing what use the money was really intended. Sure, the defense will call out Cohen for being a liar and a scumbag. But the best part of this is that it gives the government the clear argument that “yes, this man was unsavory. And that’s who _donald_ decided to associate himself with. A man who had no compunction about lying and cheating.” (I’m pretty sure that the DA will also be presenting the testimony from David Pecker from the Enquirer about the “catch and kill” practice of buying stories and then burying them. And also people in Donald’s inner circle who would have assisted him with the logistics of making the payments). ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattan-prosecutors-file-criminal-charges-for-trump-re-stormy-daniels-case-ongoing-discussion-here-guilty-on-all-34-counts-may-30-2024/980953/1213 "2024-04-12T13:23:50Z")
withdrawn ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattan-prosecutors-file-criminal-charges-for-trump-re-stormy-daniels-case-ongoing-discussion-here-guilty-on-all-34-counts-may-30-2024/980953/1214 "2024-04-12T13:25:38Z")
[Trump tests limits of gag order with post insulting 2 likely witnesses in criminal trial](https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-new-york-gag-order-a3193356a115951052bbd92f528d1989) > [@](#): > > In a post on his Truth Social platform Wednesday, Trump called his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, and the adult film actor Stormy Daniels “two sleaze bags who have, with their lies and misrepresentations, cost our Country dearly!” Trump is deliberately dipping his toe just a bit over the line. While school yard insults like sleaze bag should be avoided, the two likely Manhattan trial witnesses in question have lived lives opening themselves up to the charge. Here’s context to think about this: [How Donald Trump Gets Special Treatment in the Legal System](https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024*/04/12/trump-trial-special-treatment-justice-system-00151814) > [@](#): > > Trump has never faced the swift repercussions that were imposed on [former Dallas City Council member Donald] Hill — and are routinely imposed on other defendants in America. > > Instead, Trump gets special treatment. > > “I can’t imagine any other defendant posting on social media about a judge’s family and not being very quickly incarcerated,” said Russell Gold, a law professor at the University of Alabama. So – where is the line to be drawn? Should Trump go to jail over merely previewing likely lines of cross-examination – after he got away with slandering the judge’s daughter? I say yes, Trump should serve the same number of days, in a clean safe Rikers cell, as other defendants would, with Secret Service agents granted no less, or more, visiting rights than any other friend or acquaintance. But I can also see reasons why Judge Merchan won’t dare. And why Trump will correctly see this leniency as authorization to find the next line he can step over. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattan-prosecutors-file-criminal-charges-for-trump-re-stormy-daniels-case-ongoing-discussion-here-guilty-on-all-34-counts-may-30-2024/980953/1215 "2024-04-12T15:04:35Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > I say yes, Trump should serve the same number of days, in a clean safe Rikers cell, as other defendants would, with Secret Service agents granted no less, or more, visiting rights than any other friend or acquaintance. But I can also see reasons why Judge Merchan won’t dare. Why shouldn’t Mechan dare? What’s he afraid of? That Trump will file a frivilous motion to have him removed or something equally stupid? That this will provide Trump with ammunition for his inevitable appeal? There’s a point where a judge has to tell Trump “Enough is enough” and I think this is it. Smack him with a fine and if he continues the behavior then incarcerate him. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattan-prosecutors-file-criminal-charges-for-trump-re-stormy-daniels-case-ongoing-discussion-here-guilty-on-all-34-counts-may-30-2024/980953/1216 "2024-04-12T15:15:07Z")
Plus consider that this is first _criminal_ trial Trump has stood for. I would think the judicial leash would necessarily be shorter here. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattan-prosecutors-file-criminal-charges-for-trump-re-stormy-daniels-case-ongoing-discussion-here-guilty-on-all-34-counts-may-30-2024/980953/1217 "2024-04-12T15:49:47Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > the two likely Manhattan trial witnesses in question have lived lives opening themselves up to the charge. Why do you feel Stormy has lived a life that opens her up to being called a “sleaze bag”? ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattan-prosecutors-file-criminal-charges-for-trump-re-stormy-daniels-case-ongoing-discussion-here-guilty-on-all-34-counts-may-30-2024/980953/1218 "2024-04-12T16:14:07Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Why shouldn’t Mechan dare? What’s he afraid of? First, there might be mistakes in my last post. It may be that it is up to the prosecution to petition the judge to enforce his gag order. I am unclear on this. Reading a few New York Times articles ([this](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/16/us/elections/what-is-gag-order-trump.html?ugrp=m&unlocked_article_code=1.j00.1pG_.1c_juz99vufw&smid=url-share) and [this](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/26/nyregion/trump-trial-gag-order.html?ugrp=m&unlocked_article_code=1.j00.1l5l.4n-POyZpOaVM&smid=url-share)), the idea I got from Politico, that jail is “routinely imposed on other defendants” whose contempt is less blatant, could be mistaken. According to my last link in this post: > [@](#): > > Although Justice Merchan did not specify how he might enforce the narrowly tailored order, judges typically impose fines. But to answer your question about what Mechan would reasonably be scared of, in the event of sentencing Trump to jail for contempt, it could range from concern about a successful appeal, to Secret Service interference, to making a job, whose dangers may extend to his whole family, riskier. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattan-prosecutors-file-criminal-charges-for-trump-re-stormy-daniels-case-ongoing-discussion-here-guilty-on-all-34-counts-may-30-2024/980953/1219 "2024-04-12T16:25:10Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > to Secret Service interference, Not his problem, IMHO. > [@PhillyGuy](#): > > to making a job, whose dangers may extend to his whole family, riskier. I doubt this is the first time a defendant has threatened him. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattan-prosecutors-file-criminal-charges-for-trump-re-stormy-daniels-case-ongoing-discussion-here-guilty-on-all-34-counts-may-30-2024/980953/1220 "2024-04-12T16:30:29Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Not his problem, IMHO. Isn’t it? Not his **responsibility** , perhaps, but certainly a potential problem to be resolved. > [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > I doubt this is the first time a defendant has threatened him. It’s likely the first time the potential pool of those poised to threaten his family has numbered in the millions. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattan-prosecutors-file-criminal-charges-for-trump-re-stormy-daniels-case-ongoing-discussion-here-guilty-on-all-34-counts-may-30-2024/980953.md?page=60) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/manhattan-prosecutors-file-criminal-charges-for-trump-re-stormy-daniels-case-ongoing-discussion-here-guilty-on-all-34-counts-may-30-2024/980953.md?page=62)