Translation
@MichaelOyewole_
·
29m
BREAKING: The E. Jean Carroll verdict against Donald Trump:
Compensatory damages: $7.3 million
Reputational repair: $11 million
Punitive damages: $65 million
TOTAL: $83.3 million
The Tiny Scandals and Trials
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Re: The Tiny Scandals and Trials
Michael Oyewole 
@MichaelOyewole_
·
29m
BREAKING: The E. Jean Carroll verdict against Donald Trump:
Compensatory damages: $7.3 million
Reputational repair: $11 million
Punitive damages: $65 million
TOTAL: $83.3 million
@MichaelOyewole_
·
29m
BREAKING: The E. Jean Carroll verdict against Donald Trump:
Compensatory damages: $7.3 million
Reputational repair: $11 million
Punitive damages: $65 million
TOTAL: $83.3 million
“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
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Honorary_medal
Re: The Tiny Scandals and Trials
Jury rules Trump must pay E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million in damages for defamation
PUBLISHED FRI, JAN 26 2024 9:51 AM EST UPDATED 2 MIN AGO
Dan Mangan
Adam Reiss
KEY POINTS
A federal jury said that Donald Trump must pay E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million in compensatory and punitive damages for defaming her in statements he made as president when the writer said he had raped her in the 1990s.
The massive verdict came less than three hours after the nine-member jury began deliberating in U.S. District Court in Manhattan following closing arguments in the trial.
Trump earlier this week defeated former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley in the Republican presidential primary in New Hampshire. Last week, he won the Iowa GOP caucuses.
A federal jury on Friday said that Donald Trump must pay E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million in damages for defaming her in statements he made as president when the writer said he had raped her in a New York department store in the 1990s.
The massive civil verdict — which comes on top of a $5 million sexual abuse and defamation verdict that Carroll won against Trump last year — was delivered than three hours after the nine-member jury began deliberating in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Trump was not in court for the reading of the unanimous verdict at 4:40 p.m. ET. But shortly afterward, he said in a social media post that he would appeal it.
Jurors awarded Carroll $7.3 million for compensatory damages other than reputation repair, and another $11 million for repairing her reputation.
They then awarded her another $65 million in punitive damages after finding that Trump in a June 21, 2019, statement about Carroll had “acted maliciously, out of hatred, ill will or spite, vindictively or out of wanton, reckless, or willful disregard of Ms. Carroll’s right.”
Earlier Friday, Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan, in her closing argument, had urged jurors to award her a “very large” amount of money, to make the billionaire former president “stop” slandering her, as he has continued to do since June 2019.
“He doesn’t care about the law or truth but does care about money and your decision on punitive damages is the only hope that he stops,” Kaplan said.
Trump in a social media post on his TruthSocial site after the verdict wrote, “Absolutely ridiculous!”
“I fully disagree with both verdicts, and will be appealing this whole Biden Directed Witch Hunt focused on me and the Republican Party,” wrote Trump, who is the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination.
“Our Legal System is out of control, and being used as a Political Weapon. They have taken away all First Amendment Rights. THIS IS NOT AMERICA!”
Trump may find it difficult to overturn the latest verdict and the prior one on appeal.
Last month, the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected Trump’s argument that he was immune from damages in the current case on the grounds that he was president at the time he defamed Carroll. The appeals court ruled that Trump had waived the potential defense of presidential immunity for not raising it for years after Carroll first sued him in 2019.
Trump last year posted $5.6 million as security while he appeals the verdict in the prior sex abuse and defamation case. When he appeals the last case, he will likely to have to post more than $90 million in security.
Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is not related to Roberta, told jurors before their deliberations that they had to accept as facts that Trump “sexually assaulted” Carroll in the mid-1990s and defamed the writer in 2019.
“What remains for you to decide,” Judge Kaplan said, is whether “Mr. Trump acted maliciously when he made his two statements” about Carroll.
“You must accept as true the facts as I explained to you as they have already been decided,” the judge said, referring to Trump’s sexual assault of Carroll, and his slandering of her decades later.
Trump looked on during the instructions with a frown on his face.
Earlier, Trump stalked out of the courtroom after Carroll’s lawyer began her closing argument, in which she urged jurors to award monetary damages “large enough that it will finally make him stop” slandering the writer.
Trump’s dramatic departure came minutes after Kaplan warned his lawyer that she was risking being tossed into jail before summations began in the case.
“The record will reflect that Mr. Trump just rose and walked out of the courtroom,” said Judge Lewis Kaplan.
Trump returned about an hour later after Carroll’s attorney finished her summation, and just before his attorney began her closing argument.
Carroll in a 2019 New York magazine article wrote that in the mid-1990s, Trump had raped her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman department store on Fifth Avenue, just up the street from the Trump Tower, where he lived and worked.
Trump denied her allegation at the time, saying she had made it up.
Another Manhattan federal court jury last year found he had sexually abused Carroll in the attack, and had defamed her in statements he made in late 2022 denying her claims.
Kaplan ruled later in 2023 that that jury’s verdict meant that jurors in the current trial would have to accept as legally established that Trump had sexually assaulted Carroll, and defamed her in his 2022 statements.
Trump on Friday posted several social media messages attacking Kaplan for rulings in the case, accusing the judge of having “absolute hatred of Donald J. Trump (ME!).” Trump’s Truth social account posted 14 times about Carroll when he was in the courtroom.
In her closing argument, Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan, who is not related to the judge, asked jurors to impose punitive damages on Trump for refusing to stop defaming Carroll even after a jury last year held him liable for doing so and ordered him to pay her $5 million.
Trump’s comments have sparked death threats and vicious emails and tweets directed at Carroll, the lawyer said.
“The dollar amount has to be very large,” Roberta Kaplan said. “It is at least as much and probably much more than the $12 million” that the lawyer noted an expert witness had testified it could cost to repair Carroll’s reputation after Trump accused her of investing her claim.
“Last trial, Donald J. Trump didn’t even bother to show up, but this trial where it is about damages he has been sure to be here and the one thing he cares about his money,” Kaplan said. “He doesn’t care about the law or truth but does care about money and your decision on punitive damages is the only hope that he stops.”
“How much will it take to make him stop? You cost him lots and lots of money,” she said.
Trump “is worth billions of dollars he said that under oath, he could pay a million dollars a day for ten years and still have money in the bank,” Kaplan said. “When you begin deliberations I encourage you to step back and think of bigger picture, a former president of the United States who sexually assaulted, defamed and continues to defame.”
Earlier, Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba, who had already irked Judge Kaplan for showing up late in court, angered him when she persisted in arguing that defense lawyers should be able to show a slide to jurors during their summation that represented some tweets related to Carroll.
“You are not going to use a slide to represent how many tweets there were, you are not using that slide, period,” Judge Kaplan said.
When Habba said, “I need to make a record,” referring to putting her argument on the record, the judge issued his warning.
“You are on the verge of spending time in the lockup, now sit down!,” the judge told Habba.
Kaplan snapped at Habba several more times during her closing argument, at one point telling her that if she continued pressing a particular point “there will be consequences.”
In her summation, Habba said that Carroll “has failed to show she is entitled to any damages at all.”
“It is Ms. Carroll’s burden is not President Trump’s to prove that his statements caused harm and she failed to meet that burden, it is common sense,” Habba said.
The attorney also suggested that Carroll had made up her claims of receiving “thousands of threats.”
Carroll had testified that she deleted most of those threats, making them unavailable as evidence.
“Either Ms. Carroll is lying to you and those messages never existed in the first place or she deleted them and wants you to rely on them and guess what they are not here and she has to give them to you to support her claim for damages and that is a fact,” Habba said.
Habba also said that not only did Carroll “not suffer any emotional harm” after publishing her claim in 2019 about Trump raping her “she was happier than ever.”
“She told Vanity Fair [magazine] that the support she received walking down the streets was heartwarming,” Habba said. “One of the most carefree and happy times of her life that she was in a cocoon of love ... does this sound like someone whose world has come crashing down, who can’t sleep?”
“She was enjoying the newfound attention she was receiving,” the lawyer said.
Before the arguments began and jurors entered the courtroom, the judge issued a warning.
“During closing arguments, no one is to say anything other than opposing counsel,” said Kaplan. “There are to be no interruptions or audible comments by anyone else and that will apply when I charge the jury and that will apply to counsel then as well.”
Carroll’s lawyers have complained during the trial about Trump making comments that were audible to jurors while sitting with his attorneys at the defense table.
The nine-member jury is expected to begin deliberations later Friday after several hours of summations by Carroll’s lawyer and Trump’s attorney, and instructions from the judge.
Last year she won a $5 million judgment against him at the first trial. Trump is appealing that verdict.
Kaplan previously ruled that because of the prior verdict, there was no legal question that Trump defamed Carroll. That ruling left only the question of monetary damages remaining for the jury.
Trump during his very brief testimony in the trial Thursday said of Carrol’s claim, “I consider it a false accusation.”
Kaplan struck that testimony, in light of the prior jury’s verdict which found he had sexually abused Carroll.
Trump earlier this week defeated former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley in the Republican presidential primary in New Hampshire. Last week, he won the Iowa GOP caucuses.
This is developing news. Check back for updates.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/26/trump-e ... ments.html
PUBLISHED FRI, JAN 26 2024 9:51 AM EST UPDATED 2 MIN AGO
Dan Mangan
Adam Reiss
KEY POINTS
A federal jury said that Donald Trump must pay E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million in compensatory and punitive damages for defaming her in statements he made as president when the writer said he had raped her in the 1990s.
The massive verdict came less than three hours after the nine-member jury began deliberating in U.S. District Court in Manhattan following closing arguments in the trial.
Trump earlier this week defeated former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley in the Republican presidential primary in New Hampshire. Last week, he won the Iowa GOP caucuses.
A federal jury on Friday said that Donald Trump must pay E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million in damages for defaming her in statements he made as president when the writer said he had raped her in a New York department store in the 1990s.
The massive civil verdict — which comes on top of a $5 million sexual abuse and defamation verdict that Carroll won against Trump last year — was delivered than three hours after the nine-member jury began deliberating in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Trump was not in court for the reading of the unanimous verdict at 4:40 p.m. ET. But shortly afterward, he said in a social media post that he would appeal it.
Jurors awarded Carroll $7.3 million for compensatory damages other than reputation repair, and another $11 million for repairing her reputation.
They then awarded her another $65 million in punitive damages after finding that Trump in a June 21, 2019, statement about Carroll had “acted maliciously, out of hatred, ill will or spite, vindictively or out of wanton, reckless, or willful disregard of Ms. Carroll’s right.”
Earlier Friday, Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan, in her closing argument, had urged jurors to award her a “very large” amount of money, to make the billionaire former president “stop” slandering her, as he has continued to do since June 2019.
“He doesn’t care about the law or truth but does care about money and your decision on punitive damages is the only hope that he stops,” Kaplan said.
Trump in a social media post on his TruthSocial site after the verdict wrote, “Absolutely ridiculous!”
“I fully disagree with both verdicts, and will be appealing this whole Biden Directed Witch Hunt focused on me and the Republican Party,” wrote Trump, who is the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination.
“Our Legal System is out of control, and being used as a Political Weapon. They have taken away all First Amendment Rights. THIS IS NOT AMERICA!”
Trump may find it difficult to overturn the latest verdict and the prior one on appeal.
Last month, the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected Trump’s argument that he was immune from damages in the current case on the grounds that he was president at the time he defamed Carroll. The appeals court ruled that Trump had waived the potential defense of presidential immunity for not raising it for years after Carroll first sued him in 2019.
Trump last year posted $5.6 million as security while he appeals the verdict in the prior sex abuse and defamation case. When he appeals the last case, he will likely to have to post more than $90 million in security.
Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is not related to Roberta, told jurors before their deliberations that they had to accept as facts that Trump “sexually assaulted” Carroll in the mid-1990s and defamed the writer in 2019.
“What remains for you to decide,” Judge Kaplan said, is whether “Mr. Trump acted maliciously when he made his two statements” about Carroll.
“You must accept as true the facts as I explained to you as they have already been decided,” the judge said, referring to Trump’s sexual assault of Carroll, and his slandering of her decades later.
Trump looked on during the instructions with a frown on his face.
Earlier, Trump stalked out of the courtroom after Carroll’s lawyer began her closing argument, in which she urged jurors to award monetary damages “large enough that it will finally make him stop” slandering the writer.
Trump’s dramatic departure came minutes after Kaplan warned his lawyer that she was risking being tossed into jail before summations began in the case.
“The record will reflect that Mr. Trump just rose and walked out of the courtroom,” said Judge Lewis Kaplan.
Trump returned about an hour later after Carroll’s attorney finished her summation, and just before his attorney began her closing argument.
Carroll in a 2019 New York magazine article wrote that in the mid-1990s, Trump had raped her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman department store on Fifth Avenue, just up the street from the Trump Tower, where he lived and worked.
Trump denied her allegation at the time, saying she had made it up.
Another Manhattan federal court jury last year found he had sexually abused Carroll in the attack, and had defamed her in statements he made in late 2022 denying her claims.
Kaplan ruled later in 2023 that that jury’s verdict meant that jurors in the current trial would have to accept as legally established that Trump had sexually assaulted Carroll, and defamed her in his 2022 statements.
Trump on Friday posted several social media messages attacking Kaplan for rulings in the case, accusing the judge of having “absolute hatred of Donald J. Trump (ME!).” Trump’s Truth social account posted 14 times about Carroll when he was in the courtroom.
In her closing argument, Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan, who is not related to the judge, asked jurors to impose punitive damages on Trump for refusing to stop defaming Carroll even after a jury last year held him liable for doing so and ordered him to pay her $5 million.
Trump’s comments have sparked death threats and vicious emails and tweets directed at Carroll, the lawyer said.
“The dollar amount has to be very large,” Roberta Kaplan said. “It is at least as much and probably much more than the $12 million” that the lawyer noted an expert witness had testified it could cost to repair Carroll’s reputation after Trump accused her of investing her claim.
“Last trial, Donald J. Trump didn’t even bother to show up, but this trial where it is about damages he has been sure to be here and the one thing he cares about his money,” Kaplan said. “He doesn’t care about the law or truth but does care about money and your decision on punitive damages is the only hope that he stops.”
“How much will it take to make him stop? You cost him lots and lots of money,” she said.
Trump “is worth billions of dollars he said that under oath, he could pay a million dollars a day for ten years and still have money in the bank,” Kaplan said. “When you begin deliberations I encourage you to step back and think of bigger picture, a former president of the United States who sexually assaulted, defamed and continues to defame.”
Earlier, Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba, who had already irked Judge Kaplan for showing up late in court, angered him when she persisted in arguing that defense lawyers should be able to show a slide to jurors during their summation that represented some tweets related to Carroll.
“You are not going to use a slide to represent how many tweets there were, you are not using that slide, period,” Judge Kaplan said.
When Habba said, “I need to make a record,” referring to putting her argument on the record, the judge issued his warning.
“You are on the verge of spending time in the lockup, now sit down!,” the judge told Habba.
Kaplan snapped at Habba several more times during her closing argument, at one point telling her that if she continued pressing a particular point “there will be consequences.”
In her summation, Habba said that Carroll “has failed to show she is entitled to any damages at all.”
“It is Ms. Carroll’s burden is not President Trump’s to prove that his statements caused harm and she failed to meet that burden, it is common sense,” Habba said.
The attorney also suggested that Carroll had made up her claims of receiving “thousands of threats.”
Carroll had testified that she deleted most of those threats, making them unavailable as evidence.
“Either Ms. Carroll is lying to you and those messages never existed in the first place or she deleted them and wants you to rely on them and guess what they are not here and she has to give them to you to support her claim for damages and that is a fact,” Habba said.
Habba also said that not only did Carroll “not suffer any emotional harm” after publishing her claim in 2019 about Trump raping her “she was happier than ever.”
“She told Vanity Fair [magazine] that the support she received walking down the streets was heartwarming,” Habba said. “One of the most carefree and happy times of her life that she was in a cocoon of love ... does this sound like someone whose world has come crashing down, who can’t sleep?”
“She was enjoying the newfound attention she was receiving,” the lawyer said.
Before the arguments began and jurors entered the courtroom, the judge issued a warning.
“During closing arguments, no one is to say anything other than opposing counsel,” said Kaplan. “There are to be no interruptions or audible comments by anyone else and that will apply when I charge the jury and that will apply to counsel then as well.”
Carroll’s lawyers have complained during the trial about Trump making comments that were audible to jurors while sitting with his attorneys at the defense table.
The nine-member jury is expected to begin deliberations later Friday after several hours of summations by Carroll’s lawyer and Trump’s attorney, and instructions from the judge.
Last year she won a $5 million judgment against him at the first trial. Trump is appealing that verdict.
Kaplan previously ruled that because of the prior verdict, there was no legal question that Trump defamed Carroll. That ruling left only the question of monetary damages remaining for the jury.
Trump during his very brief testimony in the trial Thursday said of Carrol’s claim, “I consider it a false accusation.”
Kaplan struck that testimony, in light of the prior jury’s verdict which found he had sexually abused Carroll.
Trump earlier this week defeated former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley in the Republican presidential primary in New Hampshire. Last week, he won the Iowa GOP caucuses.
This is developing news. Check back for updates.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/26/trump-e ... ments.html
“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
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ti-amie
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Honorary_medal
Re: The Tiny Scandals and Trials
John Harwood @JohnJHarwood
question for law brains:
how quickly will Trump be actually required to pay Carroll? is this something that gets delayed on appeal for years? and if he refuses, does it then turn into a criminal case?
cc:
@gtconway3d
@JoyceWhiteVance
@AWeissmann_
question for law brains:
how quickly will Trump be actually required to pay Carroll? is this something that gets delayed on appeal for years? and if he refuses, does it then turn into a criminal case?
cc:
@gtconway3d
@JoyceWhiteVance
@AWeissmann_
Joyce Alene
@JoyceWhiteVance
He can appeal if he posts a bond
“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
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ti-amie
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Honorary_medal
Re: The Tiny Scandals and Trials
Adam Klasfeld @KlasfeldReports
And there it is:
Completed verdict form in Carroll v. Trump.
@TheMessenger
https://themessenger.com/politics/trump ... mages-jury
And there it is:
Completed verdict form in Carroll v. Trump.
@TheMessenger
https://themessenger.com/politics/trump ... mages-jury
“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
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ti-amie
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Honorary_medal
Re: The Tiny Scandals and Trials
erica orden
@eorden
Not only did Judge Kaplan order two anonymous juries for the Carroll trials, he also encouraged jurors on Friday to continue to keep their identities private.
“My advice to you,” Judge Kaplan said, “is that you never disclose that you were on this jury.”
@eorden
Not only did Judge Kaplan order two anonymous juries for the Carroll trials, he also encouraged jurors on Friday to continue to keep their identities private.
“My advice to you,” Judge Kaplan said, “is that you never disclose that you were on this jury.”
“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
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Owendonovan
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patrick
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Re: The Tiny Scandals and Trials
Unfortuntaely, Carroll will never see that money. Appeals are coming and he will beg that he is broke and MAGA will donate to the cause. Florida almost did it as someone put in a bill to help but the drop-out of the week said he will veto that bill
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Honorary_medal
Re: The Tiny Scandals and Trials
If he appeals he has to put the full amount he owes into an escrow account. Even DeSantis shot down that mess in his state trying to get taxpayers to pay his legal bills. It'll be interesting to see how he tries to squirm out of this.
“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
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Re: The Tiny Scandals and Trials
Special counsel questioned witnesses about 2 rooms FBI didn't search inside Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence: Sources
The FBI missed the rooms in their search for classified documents, said sources.
By Katherine Faulders, Mike Levine, and Alexander Mallin
February 1, 2024, 7:28 PM
Special counsel Jack Smith's team has questioned several witnesses about a closet and a so-called "hidden room" inside former President Donald Trump's residence at Mar-a-Lago that the FBI didn't check while searching the estate in August 2022, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
As described to ABC News, the line of questioning in several interviews ahead of Trump's indictment last year on classified document charges suggests that -- long after the FBI seized dozens of boxes and more than 100 documents marked classified from Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate -- Smith's team was trying to determine if there might still be more classified documents there.
According to sources, some investigators involved in the case came to later believe that the closet, which was locked on the day of the search, should have been opened and checked.
As investigators would later learn, Trump allegedly had the closet's lock changed while his attorney was in Mar-a-Lago's basement, searching for classified documents in a storage room that he was told would have all such documents. Trump's alleged efforts to conceal classified documents from both the FBI and his own attorney are a key part of Smith's indictment against Trump in Florida.
Jordan Strauss, a former federal prosecutor and former national security official in the Justice Department, called the FBI's alleged failure to search the closet "a bit astonishing."
"You're searching a former president's house. You [should] get it right the first time," Strauss told ABC News.
In addition to the closet, the FBI also didn't search what authorities have called a "hidden room" connected to Trump's bedroom, sources said.
Smith's investigators were later told that, in the days right after the search, some of Trump's employees heard that the FBI had missed at least one room at Mar-a-Lago, the sources said.
According to a senior FBI official, agents focused on areas they believed might have government documents.
"Based on information gathered throughout the course of the investigation, areas were identified and searched pursuant to the search warrant," the official told ABC News.
Within a few months of the FBI's search, federal prosecutors in the Justice Department pushed Trump's legal team to ensure that no classified documents remained at any of Trump's properties, but it's unclear if those prosecutors or any Trump lawyers even knew about the unexamined spaces then.
It's also unclear if Trump ever kept any classified documents in either of those spaces, or whether Smith's team ever considered seeking another warrant to search Mar-a-Lago again.
In their questioning of witnesses, Smith's team seemed to focus more on the missed spaces in the three months before first indicting Trump in the case, sources said.
Reached by ABC News, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign criticized President Joe Biden and the news media, saying the investigations into Trump are "just desperate attempts at election interference ... to stop the presumptive Republican nominee for President."
'Rigorous and professional'
Strauss, who served in the Justice Department from 2005 to 2016, said he was particularly surprised to hear about the FBI's alleged inaction considering how "exceptionally thorough" he said they usually are and how meticulously they planned for the Mar-a-Lago search ahead of time.
Testifying before Congress last year, FBI Director Chris Wray noted that agents conducting the search even wore casual clothes to Mar-a-Lago -- rather than the more common "raid jackets" -- so they wouldn't draw too much attention.
Wray assured lawmakers that in such "sensitive" investigations, "Our folks take great pains to be rigorous [and] professional."
But when agents reached the locked closet near the front of Trump's residence, they couldn't locate a key for it and were told the space behind the door -- an old stairwell turned into a closet with shelves -- went nowhere, so they decided not to break it open, sources said
Sources also told ABC News that FBI agents didn't do more in part because they felt like they had been at Mar-a-Lago long enough. But the senior FBI official disputed that, saying, "Discussions took place that day about additional areas of the property and it was determined that actions already taken met the parameters of the search warrant."
"[The FBI] is almost notorious for their relentlessness and follow-through," Strauss said.
At the time, the FBI didn't know the lock change -- at least in their view -- could have been potentially significant, sources said.
According to the indictment against Trump, after Trump received a federal subpoena demanding the return of all classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, his attorney -- identified to ABC News as Evan Corcoran -- was told to look for any responsive documents in boxes stacked inside a basement storage room.
But in the days before Corcoran arrived at Mar-a-Lago on June 2, 2022, Trump aide Walt Nauta -- acting "at Trump's direction" -- moved more than 30 boxes from the storage room to Trump's residence, so the attorney never even saw many of Trump's boxes, according to the indictment.
Corcoran found 38 classified documents in the storage room and gave them to the FBI, but Trump ensured that "many documents responsive to the [subpoena] could not be found," the indictment alleges.
Through their investigation, Smith's team learned that while Corcoran was still in the storage room, Trump asked a longtime Mar-a-Lago employee to change the lock on the closet, sources said. For years, the lock on the closet was managed by the Secret Service, but on June 2, 2022, Trump had it changed and wanted the key, the sources said.
One former maintenance worker described Trump's request as unusual, according to the sources.
Unlike the locked closet, the FBI didn't even know the so-called "hidden room" existed until after they left Mar-a-Lago, sources said.
Though agents searched Trump's bedroom, a small door in one of the walls was concealed behind a large dresser and a big TV, sources said. The space behind the wall was the "hidden room," which maintenance workers sporadically entered to access cables running through it, sources said.
Strauss said it's not uncommon for agents executing search warrants to miss some things, especially when they're searching expansive properties.
Nevertheless, the fact that witnesses were saying the FBI missed a "hidden room" within Trump's bedroom caught the attention of Smith's team, according to sources.
'Bathrooms and bedrooms'
A federal judge had signed off on the search of Mar-a-Lago, approving the FBI's plan to search Trump's office and "all storage rooms and any other rooms or locations where boxes or records may be stored."
During their search, they allegedly found 27 classified documents in Trump's office and 75 more in the basement storage room, where Corcoran had searched two months earlier and found a smaller set of other apparently classified documents, according to the indictment against Trump.
The FBI did not find classified documents in any ballroom, bathroom, or in Trump's bedroom, where he allegedly stored classified documents at times over the year-and-a-half after leaving the White House.
During the summer of the FBI search, Trump was primarily living at his property in Bedminster, New Jersey. The FBI didn't search that property -- it only searched Mar-a-Lago.
As ABC News previously reported, within months of the FBI search, the Justice Department suspected Trump was still holding classified documents somewhere, so -- under pressure from the department -- one of Trump's attorneys conducted another search of Mar-a-Lago and other properties, and he found a handful of more classified documents.
In his testimony to Congress last year, Wray said that, under "specific rules," there are only certain locations that can securely store classified information, "and in my experience, ballrooms, bathrooms and bedrooms are not" among them.
"Our folks in this case have proceeded honorably and in strict compliance with our policies, our rules, and our best practices," Wray added.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing, insisting he did not break the law by holding onto the documents later seized by the FBI. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
Nauta, the aide who allegedly helped move Trump's boxes, and Mar-a-Lago's property manager, Carlos De Oliveira, have also been charged for their alleged roles in Trump's conspiracy. Both have pleaded not guilty.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/special-couns ... =106826552
The FBI missed the rooms in their search for classified documents, said sources.
By Katherine Faulders, Mike Levine, and Alexander Mallin
February 1, 2024, 7:28 PM
Special counsel Jack Smith's team has questioned several witnesses about a closet and a so-called "hidden room" inside former President Donald Trump's residence at Mar-a-Lago that the FBI didn't check while searching the estate in August 2022, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
As described to ABC News, the line of questioning in several interviews ahead of Trump's indictment last year on classified document charges suggests that -- long after the FBI seized dozens of boxes and more than 100 documents marked classified from Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate -- Smith's team was trying to determine if there might still be more classified documents there.
According to sources, some investigators involved in the case came to later believe that the closet, which was locked on the day of the search, should have been opened and checked.
As investigators would later learn, Trump allegedly had the closet's lock changed while his attorney was in Mar-a-Lago's basement, searching for classified documents in a storage room that he was told would have all such documents. Trump's alleged efforts to conceal classified documents from both the FBI and his own attorney are a key part of Smith's indictment against Trump in Florida.
Jordan Strauss, a former federal prosecutor and former national security official in the Justice Department, called the FBI's alleged failure to search the closet "a bit astonishing."
"You're searching a former president's house. You [should] get it right the first time," Strauss told ABC News.
In addition to the closet, the FBI also didn't search what authorities have called a "hidden room" connected to Trump's bedroom, sources said.
Smith's investigators were later told that, in the days right after the search, some of Trump's employees heard that the FBI had missed at least one room at Mar-a-Lago, the sources said.
According to a senior FBI official, agents focused on areas they believed might have government documents.
"Based on information gathered throughout the course of the investigation, areas were identified and searched pursuant to the search warrant," the official told ABC News.
Within a few months of the FBI's search, federal prosecutors in the Justice Department pushed Trump's legal team to ensure that no classified documents remained at any of Trump's properties, but it's unclear if those prosecutors or any Trump lawyers even knew about the unexamined spaces then.
It's also unclear if Trump ever kept any classified documents in either of those spaces, or whether Smith's team ever considered seeking another warrant to search Mar-a-Lago again.
In their questioning of witnesses, Smith's team seemed to focus more on the missed spaces in the three months before first indicting Trump in the case, sources said.
Reached by ABC News, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign criticized President Joe Biden and the news media, saying the investigations into Trump are "just desperate attempts at election interference ... to stop the presumptive Republican nominee for President."
'Rigorous and professional'
Strauss, who served in the Justice Department from 2005 to 2016, said he was particularly surprised to hear about the FBI's alleged inaction considering how "exceptionally thorough" he said they usually are and how meticulously they planned for the Mar-a-Lago search ahead of time.
Testifying before Congress last year, FBI Director Chris Wray noted that agents conducting the search even wore casual clothes to Mar-a-Lago -- rather than the more common "raid jackets" -- so they wouldn't draw too much attention.
Wray assured lawmakers that in such "sensitive" investigations, "Our folks take great pains to be rigorous [and] professional."
But when agents reached the locked closet near the front of Trump's residence, they couldn't locate a key for it and were told the space behind the door -- an old stairwell turned into a closet with shelves -- went nowhere, so they decided not to break it open, sources said
Sources also told ABC News that FBI agents didn't do more in part because they felt like they had been at Mar-a-Lago long enough. But the senior FBI official disputed that, saying, "Discussions took place that day about additional areas of the property and it was determined that actions already taken met the parameters of the search warrant."
"[The FBI] is almost notorious for their relentlessness and follow-through," Strauss said.
At the time, the FBI didn't know the lock change -- at least in their view -- could have been potentially significant, sources said.
According to the indictment against Trump, after Trump received a federal subpoena demanding the return of all classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, his attorney -- identified to ABC News as Evan Corcoran -- was told to look for any responsive documents in boxes stacked inside a basement storage room.
But in the days before Corcoran arrived at Mar-a-Lago on June 2, 2022, Trump aide Walt Nauta -- acting "at Trump's direction" -- moved more than 30 boxes from the storage room to Trump's residence, so the attorney never even saw many of Trump's boxes, according to the indictment.
Corcoran found 38 classified documents in the storage room and gave them to the FBI, but Trump ensured that "many documents responsive to the [subpoena] could not be found," the indictment alleges.
Through their investigation, Smith's team learned that while Corcoran was still in the storage room, Trump asked a longtime Mar-a-Lago employee to change the lock on the closet, sources said. For years, the lock on the closet was managed by the Secret Service, but on June 2, 2022, Trump had it changed and wanted the key, the sources said.
One former maintenance worker described Trump's request as unusual, according to the sources.
Unlike the locked closet, the FBI didn't even know the so-called "hidden room" existed until after they left Mar-a-Lago, sources said.
Though agents searched Trump's bedroom, a small door in one of the walls was concealed behind a large dresser and a big TV, sources said. The space behind the wall was the "hidden room," which maintenance workers sporadically entered to access cables running through it, sources said.
Strauss said it's not uncommon for agents executing search warrants to miss some things, especially when they're searching expansive properties.
Nevertheless, the fact that witnesses were saying the FBI missed a "hidden room" within Trump's bedroom caught the attention of Smith's team, according to sources.
'Bathrooms and bedrooms'
A federal judge had signed off on the search of Mar-a-Lago, approving the FBI's plan to search Trump's office and "all storage rooms and any other rooms or locations where boxes or records may be stored."
During their search, they allegedly found 27 classified documents in Trump's office and 75 more in the basement storage room, where Corcoran had searched two months earlier and found a smaller set of other apparently classified documents, according to the indictment against Trump.
The FBI did not find classified documents in any ballroom, bathroom, or in Trump's bedroom, where he allegedly stored classified documents at times over the year-and-a-half after leaving the White House.
During the summer of the FBI search, Trump was primarily living at his property in Bedminster, New Jersey. The FBI didn't search that property -- it only searched Mar-a-Lago.
As ABC News previously reported, within months of the FBI search, the Justice Department suspected Trump was still holding classified documents somewhere, so -- under pressure from the department -- one of Trump's attorneys conducted another search of Mar-a-Lago and other properties, and he found a handful of more classified documents.
In his testimony to Congress last year, Wray said that, under "specific rules," there are only certain locations that can securely store classified information, "and in my experience, ballrooms, bathrooms and bedrooms are not" among them.
"Our folks in this case have proceeded honorably and in strict compliance with our policies, our rules, and our best practices," Wray added.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing, insisting he did not break the law by holding onto the documents later seized by the FBI. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
Nauta, the aide who allegedly helped move Trump's boxes, and Mar-a-Lago's property manager, Carlos De Oliveira, have also been charged for their alleged roles in Trump's conspiracy. Both have pleaded not guilty.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/special-couns ... =106826552
“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
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Re: The Tiny Scandals and Trials
Trump’s Former Finance Chief in Negotiations to Plead Guilty to Perjury
Allen H. Weisselberg would admit to lying on the stand during the former president’s civil fraud trial, according to people familiar with the talks.
By William K. Rashbaum, Jonah E. Bromwich and Ben Protess
Feb. 1, 2024
Updated 4:28 p.m. ET
Allen H. Weisselberg, a longtime lieutenant to Donald J. Trump, is negotiating a deal with Manhattan prosecutors that would require him to plead guilty to perjury, people with knowledge of the matter said.
As part of the potential agreement with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, Mr. Weisselberg would have to admit that he lied on the witness stand in Mr. Trump’s recent civil fraud trial, the people said.
Mr. Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer at Mr. Trump’s family business, also would have to say that he lied under oath during in an interview with the New York attorney general’s office, which brought the civil fraud case.
The situation springs from a web of criminal and civil cases brought by the two agencies and would culminate a lengthy pressure campaign by the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, whose prosecutors had sought Mr. Weisselberg’s cooperation as they investigated whether Mr. Trump committed electoral and financial crimes. Even without Mr. Weisselberg’s cooperation, they indicted Mr. Trump last year in the election-related case, which is scheduled for trial in late March.
The deal being negotiated would most likely not require Mr. Weisselberg, 76, to turn on his former boss. Although Mr. Weisselberg was involved in the action at the heart of that case — a hush-money payment meant to bury a potential sex scandal just before the 2016 election — prosecutors are not expected to call him as a witness. And the investigation that most required Mr. Weisselberg’s help, the district attorney’s inquiry into Mr. Trump’s finances, may no longer be a priority for prosecutors.
Although the potential agreement is unlikely to immediately affect Mr. Trump, it could strengthen Mr. Bragg’s hand before the former president’s trial. It could deter other witnesses in Mr. Trump’s circle from lying on the stand. And perjury charges could discredit Mr. Weisselberg, who has disputed details of the prosecution’s evidence in the case involving the 2016 election.
Yet Mr. Weisselberg, a fiercely loyal aide who for decades oversaw the finances of Mr. Trump’s family business, the Trump Organization, already had a credibility problem: It will be his second guilty plea in Manhattan in two years.
Mr. Weisselberg previously admitted that he orchestrated a scheme to award himself and other Trump Organization executives off-the-books luxuries. He went to jail on Rikers Island for about 100 days, and while he was there, the district attorney’s office warned him that it could file new charges.
Mr. Bragg’s office renewed that threat after the fraud trial last month, according to the people with knowledge of the matter, who requested anonymity to discuss confidential negotiations. That set the plea negotiations in motion. If the two sides don’t agree, the district attorney’s office could seek to indict Mr. Weisselberg.
Prosecutors often argue that perjury — particularly in a high-profile trial — undermines the broader ends of justice and cannot be ignored.
But Mr. Trump’s legal team has decried what it believes is an overzealous prosecution in service of a larger pursuit of Mr. Trump, and has argued it would be unfair to send Mr. Weisselberg — a septuagenarian with no violent history — to jail for a second time.
Mr. Weisselberg’s lawyer, Seth Rosenberg, declined to comment through a spokesman for his firm, Clayman Rosenberg Kirshner & Linder. A lawyer for Mr. Trump declined to comment as well, but the former president has previously accused Mr. Bragg, a Democrat, of carrying out a politically motivated witch hunt against him and Mr. Weisselberg.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Bragg declined to comment.
It is not yet clear whether, if the deal happens, Mr. Weisselberg would plead guilty to a low-level felony or a misdemeanor, or what his sentence might be.
It is also unclear which of Mr. Weisselberg’s statements in the civil fraud case caught prosecutors’ attention — but trial transcripts offer hints.
In 2022, the attorney general, Letitia James, sued Mr. Trump, his adult sons and Mr. Weisselberg, accusing them of fraudulently exaggerating the value of the former president’s assets to obtain favorable loans from banks. One such asset was Mr. Trump’s triplex apartment in Trump Tower, which is 10,996 square feet, but had been listed for years on his annual financial statements as measuring 30,000 square feet.
While testifying, Mr. Weisselberg claimed that he “never focused” on the unit.
Shortly thereafter, Forbes magazine published an article contending that Mr. Weisselberg had lied under oath. The article cited emails and notes between the former chief financial officer and the magazine, which compiles a list of America’s richest people, showed that Mr. Weisselberg “played a key role in trying to convince Forbes over the course of several years” of the apartment’s value.
After that article was published, Mr. Weisselberg abruptly stopped testifying.
Mr. Weisselberg was also questioned under oath in 2020 about the triplex during an interview with Ms. James’s office, statements that might now also be under scrutiny by the district attorney’s office.
A plea would cap a legal odyssey for Mr. Weisselberg. After decades of serving the Trump family outside the public eye, his life was upended in the summer of 2021, when Mr. Bragg’s predecessor filed criminal charges against him and the Trump Organization for a tax fraud scheme involving the luxury perks.
In August 2022, Mr. Weisselberg pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Mr. Trump’s company. After the Trump Organization was convicted of tax fraud and other crimes that year, the judge, Juan M. Merchan, decided that Mr. Weisselberg had testified truthfully as the deal had required.
But none of Mr. Weisselberg’s testimony had damaged Mr. Trump personally. In fact, Mr. Weisselberg never provided evidence implicating the former president in any case.
Mr. Weisselberg went to jail in early 2023, but not before Mr. Trump’s company awarded him a $2 million severance package that required him not to cooperate with any law enforcement investigation unless legally required.
In April, while Mr. Weisselberg was on Rikers Island, Mr. Bragg announced criminal charges against Mr. Trump stemming from what prosecutors say was the cover-up of the sex scandal in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign.
Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors also renewed their pressure campaign while Mr. Weisselberg was behind bars. They offered him a way out: Cooperate with the district attorney’s office against Mr. Trump and avoid further jail time. Mr. Weisselberg still didn’t budge.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/01/nyre ... fraud.html
Allen H. Weisselberg would admit to lying on the stand during the former president’s civil fraud trial, according to people familiar with the talks.
By William K. Rashbaum, Jonah E. Bromwich and Ben Protess
Feb. 1, 2024
Updated 4:28 p.m. ET
Allen H. Weisselberg, a longtime lieutenant to Donald J. Trump, is negotiating a deal with Manhattan prosecutors that would require him to plead guilty to perjury, people with knowledge of the matter said.
As part of the potential agreement with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, Mr. Weisselberg would have to admit that he lied on the witness stand in Mr. Trump’s recent civil fraud trial, the people said.
Mr. Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer at Mr. Trump’s family business, also would have to say that he lied under oath during in an interview with the New York attorney general’s office, which brought the civil fraud case.
The situation springs from a web of criminal and civil cases brought by the two agencies and would culminate a lengthy pressure campaign by the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, whose prosecutors had sought Mr. Weisselberg’s cooperation as they investigated whether Mr. Trump committed electoral and financial crimes. Even without Mr. Weisselberg’s cooperation, they indicted Mr. Trump last year in the election-related case, which is scheduled for trial in late March.
The deal being negotiated would most likely not require Mr. Weisselberg, 76, to turn on his former boss. Although Mr. Weisselberg was involved in the action at the heart of that case — a hush-money payment meant to bury a potential sex scandal just before the 2016 election — prosecutors are not expected to call him as a witness. And the investigation that most required Mr. Weisselberg’s help, the district attorney’s inquiry into Mr. Trump’s finances, may no longer be a priority for prosecutors.
Although the potential agreement is unlikely to immediately affect Mr. Trump, it could strengthen Mr. Bragg’s hand before the former president’s trial. It could deter other witnesses in Mr. Trump’s circle from lying on the stand. And perjury charges could discredit Mr. Weisselberg, who has disputed details of the prosecution’s evidence in the case involving the 2016 election.
Yet Mr. Weisselberg, a fiercely loyal aide who for decades oversaw the finances of Mr. Trump’s family business, the Trump Organization, already had a credibility problem: It will be his second guilty plea in Manhattan in two years.
Mr. Weisselberg previously admitted that he orchestrated a scheme to award himself and other Trump Organization executives off-the-books luxuries. He went to jail on Rikers Island for about 100 days, and while he was there, the district attorney’s office warned him that it could file new charges.
Mr. Bragg’s office renewed that threat after the fraud trial last month, according to the people with knowledge of the matter, who requested anonymity to discuss confidential negotiations. That set the plea negotiations in motion. If the two sides don’t agree, the district attorney’s office could seek to indict Mr. Weisselberg.
Prosecutors often argue that perjury — particularly in a high-profile trial — undermines the broader ends of justice and cannot be ignored.
But Mr. Trump’s legal team has decried what it believes is an overzealous prosecution in service of a larger pursuit of Mr. Trump, and has argued it would be unfair to send Mr. Weisselberg — a septuagenarian with no violent history — to jail for a second time.
Mr. Weisselberg’s lawyer, Seth Rosenberg, declined to comment through a spokesman for his firm, Clayman Rosenberg Kirshner & Linder. A lawyer for Mr. Trump declined to comment as well, but the former president has previously accused Mr. Bragg, a Democrat, of carrying out a politically motivated witch hunt against him and Mr. Weisselberg.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Bragg declined to comment.
It is not yet clear whether, if the deal happens, Mr. Weisselberg would plead guilty to a low-level felony or a misdemeanor, or what his sentence might be.
It is also unclear which of Mr. Weisselberg’s statements in the civil fraud case caught prosecutors’ attention — but trial transcripts offer hints.
In 2022, the attorney general, Letitia James, sued Mr. Trump, his adult sons and Mr. Weisselberg, accusing them of fraudulently exaggerating the value of the former president’s assets to obtain favorable loans from banks. One such asset was Mr. Trump’s triplex apartment in Trump Tower, which is 10,996 square feet, but had been listed for years on his annual financial statements as measuring 30,000 square feet.
While testifying, Mr. Weisselberg claimed that he “never focused” on the unit.
Shortly thereafter, Forbes magazine published an article contending that Mr. Weisselberg had lied under oath. The article cited emails and notes between the former chief financial officer and the magazine, which compiles a list of America’s richest people, showed that Mr. Weisselberg “played a key role in trying to convince Forbes over the course of several years” of the apartment’s value.
After that article was published, Mr. Weisselberg abruptly stopped testifying.
Mr. Weisselberg was also questioned under oath in 2020 about the triplex during an interview with Ms. James’s office, statements that might now also be under scrutiny by the district attorney’s office.
A plea would cap a legal odyssey for Mr. Weisselberg. After decades of serving the Trump family outside the public eye, his life was upended in the summer of 2021, when Mr. Bragg’s predecessor filed criminal charges against him and the Trump Organization for a tax fraud scheme involving the luxury perks.
In August 2022, Mr. Weisselberg pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Mr. Trump’s company. After the Trump Organization was convicted of tax fraud and other crimes that year, the judge, Juan M. Merchan, decided that Mr. Weisselberg had testified truthfully as the deal had required.
But none of Mr. Weisselberg’s testimony had damaged Mr. Trump personally. In fact, Mr. Weisselberg never provided evidence implicating the former president in any case.
Mr. Weisselberg went to jail in early 2023, but not before Mr. Trump’s company awarded him a $2 million severance package that required him not to cooperate with any law enforcement investigation unless legally required.
In April, while Mr. Weisselberg was on Rikers Island, Mr. Bragg announced criminal charges against Mr. Trump stemming from what prosecutors say was the cover-up of the sex scandal in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign.
Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors also renewed their pressure campaign while Mr. Weisselberg was behind bars. They offered him a way out: Cooperate with the district attorney’s office against Mr. Trump and avoid further jail time. Mr. Weisselberg still didn’t budge.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/01/nyre ... fraud.html
“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
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Owendonovan
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Re: The Tiny Scandals and Trials
Federal Appeals Court Rejects Trump’s Claim of Absolute Immunity
The ruling answered a question that an appeals court had never addressed: Can former presidents escape being held accountable by the criminal justice system for things they did while in office?
A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected former President Donald J. Trump’s claim that he was immune from prosecution on charges of plotting to subvert the results of the 2020 election, ruling that he must go to trial on a criminal indictment accusing him of seeking to overturn his loss to President Biden.
The unanimous ruling, by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, handed Mr. Trump a significant defeat. But it was unlikely to be the final word on his claims of executive immunity: Mr. Trump, who is on a path to locking up the Republican presidential nomination, is expected to continue his appeal to the Supreme Court.
Still, the panel’s 57-page ruling signaled an important moment in American jurisprudence, answering a question that had never been addressed by an appeals court: Can former presidents escape being held accountable by the criminal justice system for things they did while in office?
The question is novel because no former president until Mr. Trump had been indicted, so there was never an opportunity for a defendant to make — and courts to consider — the sweeping claim of executive immunity that he put forward.
AKA Loser.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/06/us/p ... court.html
The ruling answered a question that an appeals court had never addressed: Can former presidents escape being held accountable by the criminal justice system for things they did while in office?
A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected former President Donald J. Trump’s claim that he was immune from prosecution on charges of plotting to subvert the results of the 2020 election, ruling that he must go to trial on a criminal indictment accusing him of seeking to overturn his loss to President Biden.
The unanimous ruling, by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, handed Mr. Trump a significant defeat. But it was unlikely to be the final word on his claims of executive immunity: Mr. Trump, who is on a path to locking up the Republican presidential nomination, is expected to continue his appeal to the Supreme Court.
Still, the panel’s 57-page ruling signaled an important moment in American jurisprudence, answering a question that had never been addressed by an appeals court: Can former presidents escape being held accountable by the criminal justice system for things they did while in office?
The question is novel because no former president until Mr. Trump had been indicted, so there was never an opportunity for a defendant to make — and courts to consider — the sweeping claim of executive immunity that he put forward.
AKA Loser.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/06/us/p ... court.html
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Honorary_medal
Re: The Tiny Scandals and Trials
Judge orders Trump to pay more than $350 million in N.Y. civil fraud trial
New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron on Friday ordered former president Donald Trump to pay more than $350 million in penalties, handing down a hefty penalty following a months-long civil trial in which Trump and others were accused of financial fraud by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Engoron also said Trump could not serve as an officer or a director for any New York company for three years. Trump has denied all wrongdoing and assailed the case.
Here's what to know
Trump was not the only member of his family penalized Friday. Two of his adult children — Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, who were also defendants in the case — were fined $4 million each. Both men were also blocked from serving as an officer or director for any New York corporation for two years.
Attorneys for Trump sharply criticized the ruling, with one calling it “manifest injustice" and saying they hoped it would be overturned on appeal.
With this decision, Trump now owes more than $440 million in fines and damages across multiple civil trials.
Trump testified in this case in November, clashing with the judge and lashing out at the case. In his decision Friday, Engoron said the hefty financial penalty was in part due to how unreliable Trump was as a witness.
Engoron ruled before the trial that Trump and his company had broadly committed fraud. The trial was meant to allow Engoron to determine any penalties and whether any illegal acts occurred.
The case stems from a 2022 lawsuit James filed against Trump, which alleged that he, his company and others inflated the value of his assets to get better terms from lenders and banks. Trump’s defense said nobody was victimized and that there was no fraud.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... -decision/
New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron on Friday ordered former president Donald Trump to pay more than $350 million in penalties, handing down a hefty penalty following a months-long civil trial in which Trump and others were accused of financial fraud by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Engoron also said Trump could not serve as an officer or a director for any New York company for three years. Trump has denied all wrongdoing and assailed the case.
Here's what to know
Trump was not the only member of his family penalized Friday. Two of his adult children — Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, who were also defendants in the case — were fined $4 million each. Both men were also blocked from serving as an officer or director for any New York corporation for two years.
Attorneys for Trump sharply criticized the ruling, with one calling it “manifest injustice" and saying they hoped it would be overturned on appeal.
With this decision, Trump now owes more than $440 million in fines and damages across multiple civil trials.
Trump testified in this case in November, clashing with the judge and lashing out at the case. In his decision Friday, Engoron said the hefty financial penalty was in part due to how unreliable Trump was as a witness.
Engoron ruled before the trial that Trump and his company had broadly committed fraud. The trial was meant to allow Engoron to determine any penalties and whether any illegal acts occurred.
The case stems from a 2022 lawsuit James filed against Trump, which alleged that he, his company and others inflated the value of his assets to get better terms from lenders and banks. Trump’s defense said nobody was victimized and that there was no fraud.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... -decision/
“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
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ti-amie
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Honorary_medal
Re: The Tiny Scandals and Trials
Kyle Griffin
@kylegriffin1
Judge Engoron knocks Ivanka Trump: "She consistently denied recalling the contents of documentary evidence that confirmed that she actively participated in events, even after she was confronted with the evidence."
"The Court found her inconsistent recall, depending on whether she was questioned by OAG or the defense, suspect. In any event, what Ms. Trump cannot recall is memorialized in contemporaneous emails and documents; in the absence of her memory, the documents speak for themselves."
@kylegriffin1
Judge Engoron knocks Ivanka Trump: "She consistently denied recalling the contents of documentary evidence that confirmed that she actively participated in events, even after she was confronted with the evidence."
"The Court found her inconsistent recall, depending on whether she was questioned by OAG or the defense, suspect. In any event, what Ms. Trump cannot recall is memorialized in contemporaneous emails and documents; in the absence of her memory, the documents speak for themselves."
“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
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ti-amie
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Honorary_medal
Re: The Tiny Scandals and Trials
A good question...
And the answer
And the answer
And this:joeshill OP
·
55 min. ago
Competent Contributor
"enjoined from applying for loans from any financial institution chartered by or registered with the New York Department of Financial Services"
This would seem to prevent him from getting a bond from any company licensed to do business in NY.
BigSkyMountains
·
5 min. ago
Not only a bond. He can't refinance any of his existing properties, even if the loans come due.
There are plenty of state-by-state lenders out there, but I doubt there's many that are in the business of bonds at this scale, or commercial real estate at this scale. Maybe his billionaire buddies will chip in with unsecured personal loans?
They're going to have to do some type of asset sale here on a short timeline.
An interesting tidbit from the ruling (page 28) is that Trump's statement of financial condition said that 40 Wall St was budgeted to earn $26M per year in NOI (operating income before loan payments). Instead, they were actually losing $20M per year in 2015. They also put unrealistic cap rates (a valuation metric for real estate) on top of inflated financials. A lot of his properties clearly have negative equity. And now is a really bad time to be selling commercial real estate.
“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
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Re: The Tiny Scandals and Trials
The donations will come in.
"I will do ANYTHING for the real president of the USA!!!"
"I will do ANYTHING for the real president of the USA!!!"
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