It WILL BE the first criminal trail of a American former President…
He’s got THREE MORE coming at him….
This IS a state case….
Trump’s manoeuvring for delays and using the Presidency as a shield does NOT apply….
A New York judge on Thursday rejected Donald J. Trump’s bid to throw out criminal charges against him stemming from a hush-money payment to a porn star, setting a trial date for next month and clearing the way for the first prosecution of a former American president.
The judge, Juan M. Merchan, announced the decision at a hearing in a Lower Manhattan courtroom as Mr. Trump looked on from the defense table. The former president’s lawyers objected to the judge’s decision for jury selection to begin on March 25, noting that the six-week trial would conflict with Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign.
One of the former president’s lawyers, Todd Blanche, called the schedule “unfathomable,” arguing that, “We are in the middle of primary season,” and claiming that the trial would overlap with dozens of Republican primaries and caucuses.
But Justice Merchan summarily dismissed arguments from Mr. Trump’s lawyers, who had derided the case as “a discombobulated package of politically motivated charges.” From the beginning of the hearing, the judge bristled at the pushback from Mr. Blanche about the date, at one point instructing him to “stop interrupting me, please.”
The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, brought the charges last year accusing Mr. Trump of covering up a potential sex scandal involving the porn star Stormy Daniels during and after the 2016 presidential campaign. In a statement, Mr. Bragg said he was “pleased” by the judge’s decision and looking forward to the trial.
It will be the first of Mr. Trump’s criminal cases to go to trial, but it might not be the last. He faces 91 felony counts across four criminal indictments from prosecutors in Washington, Florida and Georgia, as well as Manhattan, all while he seeks to lock up the Republican presidential nomination.
The trial date in Manhattan leaves the door open for Mr. Trump’s federal trial, on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election, to take place in the late spring or early summer.
That case, filed in Washington, is now in the hands of the Supreme Court….
image…Jefferson Siegel for The New York Times
I will now predict that the Georgia case against Trump ,which many think was the strongest of the criminal ones pending,will not occur before the election and there is a good chance it will never even proceed to trial.
I’m gonna say that trial WILL occur……
But that Willis and Wade will NOT try the case……
Willis IS still the elected DA and has oversite on anyone in that office (As Garland has over Smith) , but will NOT be involved in the day to day operation….
Trump IS gonna be convicted in the NYC case which will be appealed and he’ll lose that….
Might be just fines….
If jail time?
That could be worked out with the jail time from the DC traila which think he’ll be convicted ALSO….
He just ain’t gonna do well with juries and the Carroll and NYS civil money loses….($500M?)
Donald Trump IS in some SERIOUS DEEP SHIT with the Law….
Willis is just a side show…..
And there WILL be convictions there also…..
You can uh “ say” what you want.
And again you are wrong as usual.
You are simply wrong as to your an analogizing this to the federal cases.
If Willis is disqualified,then her whole office is.The case will then be reassigned to another Georgia prosecutor,Willis will have nothing to do with it anymore.This new prosecutor ( maybe a Republican) will have total control over the case.He/she can add charges ,drop charges ,or dismiss the case altogether.
The least they will do is ask for several additional months to get up to speed, reexamine the accumulated evidence ,and decide on their prosecution strategy.
Willis will be back in Atlanta fighting for her political life or possibly fighting off criminal charges against herself
We’ll see ….
As i say in mu comment……
The case goes to ANOTHER lawyer who HAS to use the existing trail evidence,….
That lawyer AGAIN as we BOTH say runs their own show
WILLIS is still the DA….
Dropping the case would subject the DA and county and state to civil liability for falsely
Prosecuting …..
Let’s get REAL HERE
The case ain’t going away
Heck?
Smith could step in
GOPer’s down there ain’t THAT stupid
I think the actual attorney knows more about these matters than you do. If she gets disqualified, which people seem to think is inevitable now, they are going to have to find someone else who will even agree to take on these cases. It definitely will not happen before the election.
All of the Fulton County defendants might be busting out the Grey Goose tonight.
Willis is testifying right now and this is going to go very badly for her. She is all sorts of angry.
I will laugh if one of the lawyers pulls out a “What you talking about Willis?”
I swear that Ms. Willis is treating her testimony like it is an audition for a slot on the Real Housewives. She is giving so many unnecessary and irrelevant takes on her personal life that have nothing to do with the yes or no questions being asked of her. I hope Bravo is watching.
U mean like Trump CG?
This is incredibly interesting television. If she gets cast on Real Housewives of Atlanta, I would definitely watch.
Of course CG
A BLACK woman on the stand in case against a sexual offender that tried to steal a election?
Yea does she have a personal issue?
Like Jack points out Trump and one defendant trying to switch things to
Her personal life?
Damn Real she probably angry, embarrassed and wants to put the guy who put her in this situation in jail forever
If the judge keeps het
That guy ain’t gonna get any pleas for less time and she’s gonna nail Trump to the cross
Your comment sums up the objective eh CG
THE JUDGE KNOWS he kicks her pff he’s gonna have some serious media issues
Might give Biden Georgia!
What she is testifying about has nothing to do with Trump. It is about her professional conduct and ethics.
The dispute is over when they started dating and exchanging cash.
It just seems like if she was dating Mr. Wade before charging Trump she should have never hired him to work on the case.
If she started dating him after he was already on the case, that was a pretty bad idea, considering the professional and political stakes she had going on.
CĞ?
This would NOT be happening if Trump wasn’t in this case
The Judge is giving her incredibly leeway to talk about all sorts of things on the stand and be combative, but I am not familiar with whatever kind of legal proceeding this might be considered. I’ve only seen trials on television…. and used to watch the Peoples Court as a kid.
U meam the judge is being‘fair’?
Imagine THAT?
There are a lot of defendants in this case besides Trump. The lawyer questioning Willis is representing an African-American defendant. I happen to think they are all probably guilty, but that’s not the point of any of this, and from a broader perspective, Justice is supposed to be blind, and not tied with political battles between D and R, which is clearly how you see it.
If you are a high profile politician or someone in the public eye, you have nobody to blame but yourself if you choose to get involved in something that will be seen as harmful or embarrassing professionally or politically.
I have no idea if this Judge is being “fair” or not. He seems to be surprised to shellshocked that this is even all going on. He did not plan to have her testify today and Willis insisted on testifying.
I swear, it’s almost as if she knew this case is blowing up on her and she wants to get a gig on Bravo next.
She’s in Georgia CG….
She KNOWS she’s getting railroaded
No she’s not being railroaded.
Jack?
I your experience ?
U EVER have a DA in this situation?
I KNOW prosecutors sometimes do…..
But the DA?
This is a motion hearing not a “trial.”The Judge is acting as the trier of fact.Notice there is no jury.
Often in these situations the Judge will let witnesses ramble on even into matters that seem irrelevant.The legal theory is that the Judge can separate in his mind the “ facts” in the matter at hand ,I.e. separate the wheat from the chaff so to speak.
I haven’t been watching the proceedings.I would imagine the Judge is letting this go on with the idea that the witnesses might inadvertently reveal something that will make his ruling on the motion to disqualify Willis easier to justify one way or the other.
Remember as trier of the facts in this matter the Judge may believe or disbelieve the testimony of the witnesses and may consider anything he deems relevant in making that determination.
As to James’ s ramblings?Inane,unintelligible and idiotic.
Thank You Jack….
I STILL like ya…..
Wh,y do you think she is getting “railro,aded?”
Fulto,n Co.unt,y, Ge,or,gia is the sa,me jurisdi,ction that elec,ted her and pays her sala,ry.
(trying to get around whatever filter is stopping my comments)
my comments are not appearing again
Yes, I get it makes sense that without a jury, the Judge would allow a lot more to go on, but this is definitely crazy to all be on live national television and this is quite something to watch or listen to. She gets asked about trips she goes on and starts going on tangents about what kind of alcohol she prefers to drink, etc, as if she needs to explain and justify everything.
One way or another, Ms. Willis is going to be a lot more famous after today nationally than she was before.
The older Trump attorney is doing a much better job trying to get her answers on the record than the younger attorney who was representing the other client.
As a rule of thumb.most attorneys would advise someone in Willis’ position to give very precise answers and stay on a narrow course.
As I understand ,Willis is a very good trial attorney.So she may think she knows better.
Or maybe she knows this Judge and thinks she can convince him of her innocence of the accusations even though,in my view, she has done what she’s accused of.
Now, she is putting Wade, who apparently is her ex, on blast, volunteering that he is a male chauvinist, etc, even though the lawyer questioning her did not even want to know about that. She is perfect for the Real Housewives.
The lawyer asked her about a “cash order” and she said she thought he was calling her a “cash whore.” This is better than anything that could be on SNL.
The thing this hearing needs next is Rudy Giuliani to represent himself and take his turn questioning her and having them argue about alcohol preferences.
With the testimony done for today, the conventional wisdom from the talking heads seems to be that the Judge seems to be on her side, and thus, she might survive this as it relates to the case,.
So, that’s that, perhaps. Quite a spectacle though. She threw this Wade guy under the bus and rolled over him. She was determined to talk about why she broke up with him and why it was his fault.