Interesting article, thanks.
This comment on Trump’s instructions to his lawyers to fight dirty made me chuckle:
“A lot of this is just begging for sanctions,” says one attorney who’s known Trump for years. “It is not how I’d do it, but … maybe that’s a reason I’m not on the [legal] team.”
And this comment about whether trump will testify flagged the basic concern that all of his lawyers must have:
I think this is a good analysis, of course, with the given that they were going to claim all behavior, innocent (such as gag orders as a NOT random example) or otherwise, as their cause for appeal. And yes, it perfectly matches with Trump’s attitudes, which probably made it easy to sell to him.
It might even work, although, as with the above, it might also backfire, such as if Trump or his cronies end up breaking their gag orders, but yeah, it does strike me as ALSO likely to end up with a metric ton of sanctions for the lawyers. Oh wait, that would be more sanctions for his lawyers.
There will always be another fool lining up to sacrifice themselves apparently.
It seemed pretty obvious that Trump’s team is hoping to win on appeal, but I’m having trouble following their train of logic. As I understand it, and I’m certailny no legal expert, when you make an appeal you have to argue there was some sort of procedural error, the court made an error in judgment based on their interpretation of the law, or something similar. If the plan is to piss the judge off to the point where they argue he was prejudicial against Trump, well, good luck. I don’t think Engoran’s taking the bait.
For this defense against Trump’s appeal, wouldn’t Engoran be issuing warnings on an almost-daily basis? “I’m telling ya, you do this ONE MORE TIME…”
You’ve got it right. Appeals are for the sole purpose of determining if the judge applied the law correctly to the facts as they were found to be true. The factual determination – usually made by a jury – is not a basis for appellate review except in cases where there are allegations of juror error and/or misconduct. Those are dealt with during the trial so they can be remedied before a judgment is rendered by a potentially flawed jury.
In this case, the finder of fact is the judge. It was a bold move for Engoran to rule in favor of the prosecution on a summary judgment motion, and I can only believe that to have done so, this very experienced judge was certain in his belief that his findings of fact would withstand appellate review.
And you’re also right about Engoran. He isn’t taking the bait. He knows exactly what Trump and his team are trying to do.
In addition, sometimes appeal courts come back and award larger settlements. Piss off the judiciary enough and you may be taking a chance in appealing a decision that is actually fair in the eyes of the court system.
This is, I think, the plan. If they can get him on the record saying and/or writing something angry and/or intemperate, they will use that as a pretext for arguing that some associated or following ruling was made on the basis of prejudice or otherwise in error. Whether or not there is anything resembling an arguable error is irrelevant; this is just about trying to get the tiniest fig leaf to justify gumming up the works.
And I agree that he knows what they’re doing and isn’t taking the bait. My hope is that the future judges who catch the inevitable appeals are equally perspicacious.
Nitpick: Engoron, not Engoran.
And, again, this is where I’m having trouble following their logic. If you’re trying to win on appeal, you’re going to have to have something resembling an arguable error. For the appeals court to rule that Engoron was prejudical, Trump’s attorneys are going to have to show them something more than an annoyed or snarky judge. From the last few years, Trump has lost most of his court cases even when appealing them. I guess what I’m seeing here isn’t a well thought out strategy but one born out of desperation.
And in the “only the best people” category, Trump’s Chief Financial Officer apparently has a terrible memory. That’s exactly the skill set that Trump would like in his CFO, I assume.
Bingo. They have nothing else.
In Wisconsin, our Supreme Court just flipped and is now has a democratic majority. As a redistricting case is coming up, Robin Vos (dumbass-WI) has been threatening to impeach the Judge that tipped the scales for not recusing herself from the case after calling it rigged.
I was worried about that one, I mean, it made sense, right? She said the maps are rigged, so she’s prejudiced, right? Well, he lost republican support for the impeachment, Judge Janet [the judge in question] told him to pound sand and a retired republican supreme court justice also told him to back off. For now, she seems to be safe.
Unrelated, but a brewery I ran across a few years ago but chose not to pursue because they’re so political came out with this (and one of their sales people showed up at my store the other day).
https://thirstie-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/clh9jpgn500cl0frtefnwufbz/attachments/cllv4jjhc04eg0bo9v2764wxb-e78c1035-3e68-49b5-b6e6-f1f35a1e01fe.1.0.1412.1412.full.jpg
Moderating:
I have to say, I love those beer cans, but it’s a bit off from the topic at hand.
Exactly. If they had a better strategy they’d use it.
Sir, lets use our best strategy… No! that’s exactly what they’d expect us to do!
I have told you, we aren’t going with plea deal, and that’s final!
( of course, that was 4 indictments and multiple additional charges of likely obstruction of justice ago…)
Given all the other news this week, I was wondering if there was just nothing happening in this trial.
Nope.
Forbes comes with receipts on Thursday.
Thursday afternoon, Weisselberg was testifying, and the report came out. The judge called a sidebar with prosecution and defense attorneys, then excused Weisselberg for the day.
There may be perjury charges incoming.
Trump seems to do a good job of making other people lie for him and then he can just repeat those lies as if they’re fact. And now many of those people, with tears in their eyes, are realizing that they only way to escape him is to incriminate themselves.
Trying to distance yourself by lying more isn’t helping. On the other hand, Trump, I think, is finding out that he’s put so much pressure on so many people to lie for him, they’re starting to flip. It seems we keep finding more people that would rather spend some time in jail if it means finally getting away from him. Like a spouse that finally decides they’d rather fight a murder charge than their abuser.
Prediction: Weisselberg has a “medical emergency” and his doctor says he needs to stay on bed rest for a long while.
Well put. And it’s astounding that people voluntarily go into that situation, knowing full-well the reputation he has. Yet, there appears to be no shortage of otherwise smart people willing to throw it all way for that loser. I mean, they can see the bus coming, and Trump is standing behind them, with his little hands on the back of their shoulders. It bagels the mind.