Maybe Individual-ONE can get a mistrial declared on the basis of his lawyers being so utterly incompetent that they look less intelligent than even him?
I asked this earlier, and was informed that “ineffective assistance of counsel” is available only in criminal proceedings, whereas this is a civil action. So that’s off the table.
Also, it should be noted that even in a criminal case, this argument can be raised only after the conviction, as part of the appeal; it can’t be used to interrupt and short-circuit the proceeding prior to rendering of the verdict. In other words, even if this were a criminal trial, Trump would need to absorb the hit of being found guilty before he could try to argue this.
So, yeah, Trump’s team definitely looks like a bunch of clowns, but there’s no obvious way for him to turn that to his advantage.
This has to be Trump’s legal strategy for all his upcoming trials. For the average person, of course this is meaningless, but being a politician, is it possible this will get any traction? I mean, beyond the rubes. Can he cry “this isn’t faaair!” in the courtroom and make a difference?
He doesn’t care if it gets traction with the legal system.
He only cares that it gets traction in the court of public opinion and further inflames the folks incensed at the Evil Gummint. Once he is dictator, all this pesky legal stuff simply disappears in a poof of smoke. Yes, even any state-level complaints.
Once everything you do is illegal, there are no rules. N-O-N-E none. It’s all a matter of what your goons with guns can persuade other people without guns to do.
I take it the court proceedings yesterday were so insipid and irrelevant that no one has any pithy comments. I’m surprised Engoron allowed Jr. his stump for so long, but I admit it probably makes sense in the long run.
Yeah, that’s it. But I guess tha AG had enough. At some point she grabbed her coat and left.
In a less circumspect vein:
“Trump suggested Mar-a-Lago is “one of the few sort of American castles” and added that “you couldn’t build [its] atrium for $18m today”"
ISTM, something like that would be so easily proven wrong, it’s a waste of time to even say it. How difficult would it be for the prosecution to hire an architect to work out a rough cost to do that job.
And, pulling up a picture, I’m pretty sure that’s not $18m worth of wood and glass.
From the quote in @Gyrate’s post:
- Trump claimed the organisation was run like a “mom and pop” business and says his father is a “genius” and an "artist with real estate”
I think he left out the word “con”.
I’m surprised that hasn’t blown down. I will admit building that today to Miami/Dade wind standards would be an engineering challenge, but I bet I could still build that for $3-400/foot. Structurally challenging, but the finishes are low-rent.
Too bad Mom got popped.
But I think the real issue isn’t the value of the buildings that are Mar-A-Lago.
It’s that, IIRC, in an effort to avoid taxes, Trump agreed to stringent restrictions regarding how the property could be used - which accounts for the low tax valuation.
But when he valued the property in his financials, he ignored those restrictions and the resulting devaluation.
Well, maybe Trump could. Hire a contractor, accept his bid of 18 million, and pay a total of 1 million in legal fees and the contractor’s bill. Or even less than 1 million, maybe a lot less.
He couldn’t, because of his reputation of stiffing people who do stuff for him.
you seem to be unfamiliar with Individual-ONE
No, paying less than one million on an 18 million dollar bill seems about right for Individual One.
The Master of Subtlety puts a Mob Hit LiteTM out on Letitia James and Judge Engoron. Stochastic terrorism, anyone?
NB: Jonathan Turley has really gone over to the RW dark side, so him cautioning against acting on this is saying something.
Is it even stochastic when it’s this literal? This is a pretty straightforward call to kidnap two government officials.
ETA: I just looked it up, and it’s prefaced with “MY FANTASY” and then some emojis, so all in good fun, judge! Just joshing around!
So does this mean it’s time to widen the gag order? Take away his access to social media?
I predict Engoron will extend the order to James but will leave himself as an allowable target, continuing out of the “not giving team Trump so much as a fingerhold for an appeal” playbook.