Courts: “You are free to exercise your right to remain silent.”
Trump: “Take a look at me, do you think I exercise?!”
I’ve come to the assumption that Trump lawyers buy their Scotch by the case.
Weekly.
Having said that, “My staff post so many hateful things in so many places I can’t possibly keep track of them all!” is a terrible defence.
Three days’ funding which isn’t going to other Republican candidates.
Michael Cohen’s testimony is going nicely today:
So that happened.
The whole ‘not allowed to take/keep notes’ thing, you’d think, would have been a red flag to so many people over the years.
OTOH, maybe it was. We’re only hearing from people that did work for him. Who knows, maybe for each person that did work for him there’s 10 that decided against it and walked away.
Judge Engoron has fined Trump a token $10,000 after he made an oblique insulting reference to Engoron’s clerk.
Engoron made Trump take the stand, where he (Trump) claimed that he was really insulting Cohen rather than the Judge’s clerk.
Seems the judge did not buy it. He’s certainly drawing a firm line in the sand; No playing childish games.
Cite:
Judge Engoron is doing it right, escalating sanctions gradually. The goal is to protect the case, the jury pool, witnesses, jurors, court staff, etc. with the least intrusive means possible – but up to and including jail.
I believe this is a Bench Trial, with no jury present.
You’re right in this case, but I was speaking more generally about how judges proceed in imposing gag orders and sanctions for same.
the civil hammer has fallen again!
I wonder what’s next; Bigger fine or a short stay in the crowbar hotel. I’d be happy even with 8 hours.
Bigger fine.
basically, a fucking swear jar. Trump will happily drop 10k here and there to ‘speak his mind’.
I agree that it’s a token. I agree that it’s pocket change for Trump right now, and totally worth it in his fundraising efforts as it were. I suspect that it won’t be a mere doubling, nor end as just fines if the trend continues. If it were me, the next would be $50,0000. Then $250,000 with increasingly clear statements that repeatedly failing to follow the Judge’s instructions cannot be construed as anything but defiance of the court’s authority (rather than the judge’s authority) to ensure any citizen’s compliance with the law. And if he goes for 5+ (which is what I’ve laid out above) while claiming he was “innocent in intent” the whole time, I’d explicitly state that the next step is jail.
But let’s be clear, Trump has written off this case, he’s playing for his crowds and the appeals. And making things steady but clearly spelled out is the best counter to said appeal. Sympathetic judge or not on appeal, constantly denying the court’s authority isn’t going to endear him to any one evaluating his efforts.
i must say after today’s slap down, the televised georgia trial should be quite something.
after the slap down, the trump team lawyer once again tried to get the case dismissed. that did not go well either.
Note that it wasn’t just a fine; the judge required Trump to take the stand, questioned him about what he meant, and when told it was about Cohen, not the clerk, flat-out told Trump he didn’t believe him.
That’s got to smart.
ETA: Quote from DavidNRockies’ link:
Engoron said Trump’s claim was “not credible,” noting that he sat closer to the clerk than to Cohen.
“The idea that the statement would refer to the witness,” Engoron said, “doesn’t make any sense to me.”
I hope in this case the gag order eventually involves and actual, physical gag. Is that a possibility? Individual One may be into that kinda thing, but one can hope.
The judge also mentioned that trump calls cohen by name. A bit of the transcript was read on msnbc.