Trump Indictment Omnibus Questions Thread
Added 2023-04-05 17:00:33 +0000 UTCAs you might imagine, we've gotten hundreds of questions in light of the Trump Indictment -- it's impossible to keep track of them all!
So post your questions here (even if you've previously sent them to us via other means) & upvote with the heart the ones you'd like to see answered and we will do our best!
Comments
OMG did you get the story about all the friendly traveling for The ohh great judge Thomas. But not conflict of interests
Pierre
2023-04-06 23:33:53 +0000 UTCAs an American, man do I wish things worked that way. Trump is a leader of the Republican Party only in a really vague, amorphous sense. The party didn’t appoint him leader, he just is the “leader” because he’s the most popular current Republican candidate for the highest position in the land. It would be impossible to prove in a U.S. court that the Republican Party—or even the MAGA part of it—was a criminal organization, just because Trump, an indicted individual, is the spiritual leader of it. Too much free speech, free association, and lack of true agency in the way. In short, I get you, but there’s just no way the Republican Party is a criminal organization (yet), and even if it was, Trump is not actually it’s leader in an agency sense.
Rich Gilliland
2023-04-06 02:30:45 +0000 UTCIs the tax charge surprising? My very limited understanding is the tax related crimes are extremely difficult to prove because the intent requirement is ludicrously high. Or is that just federal taxes and not NY?
Tom
2023-04-06 00:42:36 +0000 UTCI'm going to guess no, as that would establish precedent for politically targeting officeholders for actions prior to them being in office. That would be bad. And the New York DA, in his speech after the hearing, made it very clear that this was about *business*, specifically keeping accurate business records (which is what this all boils down to), and that in New York which is the business capital of the world (his words), intentionally deceptive business record keeping is not ok. Remember that this all happened before he was in office, so he was a private citizen. He's got a long, long history of shady organized-crime types of business dealings. They have plenty of reasons to go after him. Would any of this be happening if he'd kept his fat blabbermouth shut and/or not run for office and just kept doing financial crimes like every other businessperson? Likely.
Sally
2023-04-05 23:48:03 +0000 UTCHe paid out of two different accounts, the first was from his trust, the second was from his personal account. Please correct me if im wrong, im just a carpenter, but if he claimed that on his taxes as a legit business expense, then hes going down like al capone! I tried to make that last sentence rhyme.
jason hatley
2023-04-05 23:44:58 +0000 UTCAnd not just his lawyers, but his children as it was either Dump Jr or Eric that first posted the picture of the judge's daughter.
Sally
2023-04-05 23:38:41 +0000 UTCIf trump paid cohen and then deducted that payment as a business expense would that not constitute tax fraud?
jason hatley
2023-04-05 23:36:35 +0000 UTCThe underlying charge of “falsifying, business records“… How common is that for wealthy individuals and businesses? I’ve had conservative friends say that “everyone does it“. Is this a charge that is typically leveled against other individuals and businesses? or is it kind of like saying that your donated furniture was worth more than it probably was in your itemized tax deduction?
Sparkle Donkey
2023-04-05 23:20:58 +0000 UTCKeep in mind that in this case, by directing Cohen to lie about the purpose of the payments Cohen ended up paying taxes that would not otherwise be owed. Now, I do not know what tax implications (if any) there are for the Trump Organization (or Trump personally), but it seems silly to charge someone with tax fraud that resulted in deliberate over-payment.
Why do podcasters say moron that later
2023-04-05 23:09:08 +0000 UTCIs there a possible broadening of charges against trump for tax fraud, if the people are able to prove that trump deliberately falsified business records for tax purposes.
jason hatley
2023-04-05 22:39:25 +0000 UTCBefore all this, one could reasonably explain Bragg's behavior under the "chickenshit prosecutor" theory - too afraid to go after Weisselberg even though the evidence is super clear. But I don't think you can say that about him anymore. Do you have a big-picture take on Bragg and why he seems to have shifted from overly cautious to VERY ambitious?
All the good Patreon names are taken, including this one!
2023-04-05 20:26:13 +0000 UTCNot a legal question but a political one Is it worth the Democrats agreeing with Republicans that Trump's legal woes ARE politically motivated, by taking the position that the current Republican party under Trump (aka MAGA) has become a criminal organisation which needs to be reigned in? Disclaimer: I am not an American
--Jonathan--
2023-04-05 19:46:00 +0000 UTC(and now for something completely different.... Cue Monty python foot stomp video) when a mobster says to his fixer "maybe he gets hit by a truck", in reference to a co-conspirator, what does that imply? https://youtu.be/-G8XO7jONt8 start at 2:25 or so Disclaimer: I am not an American
--Jonathan--
2023-04-05 19:15:59 +0000 UTCIf Trump dies before his trial(s), will the prosecution evidence be released? Same for other current and future-indicted persons?
Dana Schwartz
2023-04-05 19:03:14 +0000 UTCLast question is more meta: Why should I care about this case? I understand right away that the Georgia and J6 cases are very serious and need to be examined and prosecuted. As someone who had their first independent political thoughts as a teenager during the Bill Clinton impeachment I have always taken a dim view of cases that are based on non-criminal sex. If a Republican, and especially if a Democrat did the same thing, I just wouldn’t care as in my mind, it’s about sex.
Steve S
2023-04-05 18:11:18 +0000 UTCCNN recently reported that stormy has north of $500k in legal fee judgements against her from a failed defamation lawsuit, can that be used to impeach her as a witness? https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/04/04/politics/stormy-daniels-pay-trump-legal-fees/index.html
Steve S
2023-04-05 18:06:49 +0000 UTCAnother question is that the checks I have seen scans of went from the trump revocable trust or Trump himself to Cohen. If there is no business expense or tax implication, how is it not a personal expense?
Steve S
2023-04-05 18:03:36 +0000 UTCNot 6 hours after the judge instructed Trump to refrain from saying things that could create disruption and threaten the rule of law, he gave a long speech saying bad things about the DA, judges etc and their families. Shouldn’t he have his ass in the chair in front of the judge again?
fran reichenbach
2023-04-05 17:49:29 +0000 UTCIf the judge asks Trump's lawyers to control his out of court statements (as I believe he did), and the lawyers fail to do so (which appears to be the case) can the lawyers be fined and held in contempt (personally), in addition to holding Trump in contempt? This could be effective if Trump would know that he won't get any new lawyers to sign on unless he behaves Disclaimer: I am not an American
--Jonathan--
2023-04-05 17:48:02 +0000 UTCI would like you to explain the mens rea in much further detail. It just makes intuitive sense to me that Trump would want to avoid having his wife find out, or avoid the loss in endorsement value that would come from having unprotected sex with a porn actress. I also think it’s a matter of fairness that if our society allows one to sell their story to the press, you should be allowed to, the others involved should be allowed to purchase it as well.
Steve S
2023-04-05 17:45:15 +0000 UTCWhat are the chances Trump gets indicted for his threats and calls for violence?
Hotspear
2023-04-05 17:25:47 +0000 UTCBragg cited in his press conference a federal election violation as a possible reason for the modification of the misdemeanor to felony. We know since it's a federal crime, the Manhattan DA can't charge that anyways. But does the status of the federal DOJ decision on that cited/related crime matter? Presumably, the DOJ under Sessions or Barr sat down and wrote an internal memo deciding that they were exercising prosecutorial discretion in not bringing charges against Trump himself. Likely they'd cite "because he's a sitting president" as their reason. But I'm guessing we haven't seen that decision memo, so maybe there's other reasons they cited? Would Bragg's citing of federal election laws run afoul of a federal internal decision to not charge that crime in the same case? Can Bragg say the misdemeanors are now felonies because of this federal crime, only for the DOJ to say that it wasn't a crime they would prosecute? And then have to argue the merits on the non-sitting President parts of that memo?
Rick & Sara
2023-04-05 17:10:42 +0000 UTCNow that we've seen the indictment and the charges that Alvin Bragg is going to bring to Donald Trump can you speculate as to why Bragg is bringing charges now versus a year and a half ago when the prosecutors resigned because he wouldn't bring charges... New evidence? political pressure? legal pressure? just let Conspiracy Liz speculate out loud
striderfighter
2023-04-05 17:04:20 +0000 UTC
