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Kendall in 3x03 [for @nightswatchrebel]

When I see people with a red hat….

Also, it’s not about liberal vs conservative.

It’s about wrong vs right. Law & order. Treason.

Vanity Fair

Report: Trump Was Basically One Step Away From Throwing a “No Indictment” Party

The ex-president apparently believed he was in the clear.

One of the funniest subplots in the Donald Trump Indictment Show—which centers on the hush money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016—involves the multiple reports that, after predicting to his followers that he would be arrested on March 21, the ex-president and his allies came to believe he was in the clear.

Trump, The Washington Post reported late Thursday, “had grown cautiously optimistic” in recent days, after “advisers had counseled him that a possible indictment by a Manhattan grand jury…would not come for some time—if at all.” The former president, the outlet noted, was apparently so unconcerned about the prospect of being charged that he’d “even begun joking about ‘golden handcuffs,’” which is probably not something one does if one thinks there’s a legitimate possibility they might be indicted, convicted, and sentenced to time in prison. “It was a surprise to everybody,” David Urban, a longtime Trump adviser, told the Post, which noted that “some of his lawyers had been preparing to take a few days off.” Following the indictment, The New York Times similarly reported that “Trump and his aides were caught off guard by the timing, believing that any action by the grand jury was still weeks away and might not occur at all.” The paper of record noted that Trump had recently been “telling nearly anyone that he was in a good mood and that he believed the case against him by Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, had fallen apart.”

Of course, the biggest indication that Trump indeed believed he’d outrun Bragg? His taking to Truth Social on Wednesday to write: “I HAVE GAINED SUCH RESPECT FOR THIS GRAND JURY, & PERHAPS EVEN THE GRAND JURY SYSTEM AS A WHOLE…. THE GRAND JURY IS SAYING, HOLD ON, WE ARE NOT A RUBBER STAMP, WHICH MOST GRAND JURIES ARE BRANDED AS BEING, WE ARE NOT GOING TO VOTE AGAINST A PREPONDERANCE OF EVIDENCE OR AGAINST LARGE NUMBERS OF LEGAL SCHOLARS ALL SAYING THERE IS NO CASE HERE.” Sure, that could have been an unabashed attempt to sway the jurors through flattery—but, in retrospect, those very much sound like the words of a man who was extremely confident he was not going to be indicted. “Such respect”! “The grand jury system as a whole”! “The grand jury is saying, hold on”! Do you think he still stands by these statements? If there were ever a time for the internet-ism “ROTFLMAO,” it would be now.

In related news, according to the Times, Trump was less focused on “the legal consequences” of the indictment Thursday than “the political implications.” Trump previously said he would not drop out of the 2024 presidential race if charged, boldly claiming that being indicted might actually help his chances of making it back to the White House. One adviser told the Post that the ex-president and current presidential candidate is planning to “milk [the indictment] for all it’s worth politically.” And while Trump has reportedly raised millions since he first claimed he’d be arrested earlier this month, it does not appear that people are reacting exactly as he had hoped.

Per the Post:

"The causeway that leads to Mar-a-Lago has long been a rally spot for Trump supporters, especially during his presidency, when they would regularly gather to cheer on his motorcade. But as the sun set along the causeway Thursday, more people were fishing for sand perch and croaker than had shown up to support the former president. Shortly before 8 p.m., only a half dozen Trump supporters had amassed in their usual spot."

Meanwhile, according to the Times, on Thursday, “a large group of former Trump Organization employees was quietly cheering the latest developments via text messages.”

The Independent

Donald Trump Jr confirms he signed father’s porn star ‘hush money’ check

In the criminal indictment unsealed on Tuesday, prosecutors allege a check made out to Mr Trump’s former ‘fixer’ Michael Cohen was falsely r

Donald Trump Jr. has admitted that he personally signed one of the hush money checks now at the center of his father’s arrest on criminal charges. The former president’s son told right-wing network Newsmax that part of Mr. Trump’s indictment on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records refers to his own actions.

“That son is me. Like I said, clearly also not a campaign finance violation if it’s from his own trust, not to a campaign, not from the campaign, not from the funds raised from it,” he said.

“So, none of it actually makes any sense.”

In the criminal indictment unsealed on Tuesday, prosecutors allege that a check made out to Mr. Trump’s former “fixer” Michael Cohen was falsely recorded as a “retainer” in the Trump Organization’s business records.

The check was signed by former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg – who is now in Riker’s Island on a fraud conviction – “and the Defendant’s son, as trustees”.

The son in question was not named in the charging documents but Don Jr. later confirmed it was him as he joins his father in railing against the charges. Don Jr. has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the criminal case and the payment itself is not illegal.

Instead, prosecutors allege that a crime was committed when this payment – and many others – to Cohen were falsely recorded in the Trump Organization’s business records. The crime then reaches the level of a felony when the falsified records were made while in commission of another crime.

According to Manhattan prosecutors, Mr. Trump and Cohen carried out a “catch and kill” scheme in the lead-up to the 2016 election. Cohen allegedly made hush money payments on Mr. Trump’s behalf to suppress negative information about the presidential candidate. The payments were allegedly made to silence individuals over alleged affairs he had with women.

Mr. Trump “repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election,” the charging documents read.

Three specific alleged affairs and hush money payments were mentioned in the charging documents – a $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, a $150,000 to former playboy model Karen McDougal and a $30,000 payment to a doorman at Trump Tower who claimed he had information that Mr. Trump had fathered a child with a woman while married to Melania Trump.

Mr. Trump then allegedly reimbursed Cohen but falsely recorded the payments as legal fees.

Back in 2019, Cohen testified before a House committee that Don Jr. signed some of the checks reimbursing him for the payment to Ms. Daniels. Cohen has already served jail time for his part in the hush money case and has now become prosecutor’s star witness in the case against Mr. Trump.

During Weisselberg’s trial last year, he testified that both of Mr. Trump’s adult sons, Don Jr. and Eric Trump, signed checks that he used to defraud authorities but insisted that no member of the Trump family played a part in his tax evasion scheme.

On Tuesday, Mr. Trump was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in order to conceal illegal activity connected to his 2016 presidential campaign. Each of the 34 criminal charges relates to an individual entry in the Trump Organization’s business records.

Mr. Trump surrendered to Manhattan authorities on Tuesday afternoon and was officially arrested on the charges. He then appeared in court for his arraignment before Judge Juan Merchan – the same judge who sentenced the Trump Organization and its CFO last year. Cutting a glum figure, he defiantly pleaded not guilty to all the charges and has continued to lash out at the judge and Manhattan DA in the aftermath.