Michael Cohen cashing in on the Trump trial with TikTok livestreams could be a problem: Experts

NY Post ^ | 04/30/224 | Isabel Keane

[stylin19a]

yet Pres. Trump continues to defy it...

[Verginius Rufus]

Andy McCarthy was on Fox & Friends this morning commenting on the trial so far. He pointed out that most of the trial so far has had nothing to do with the official charge against Trump but is rather designed to make the jurors believe that Trump stole the election (as if federal election fraud was the real charge).

Considering that probably all 12 jurors voted for Hillary in 2016 and Biden in 2020 it won't be a hard sell. And if the two attorneys are Democrats (as they probably are), they may recognize the bait-and-switch but tell their fellow jurors they have a chance and a duty to rectify the historic wrong down in 2016 when Trump stole the election from Hillary.

I think it's very likely the jury will convict Trump. The question is whether the judge will then order him to prison immediately or only after appeals are exhausted. That probably will depend on what Biden's DOJ tells him to do.

[Brilliant]

I think there is a chance that the judge will let the jury decide, and then if it convicts, he might overturn the verdict. There is some logic in that. He doesn’t want to be the one who decides the case, but if the jury goes off the rails, he also doesn’t want to be the one who lets it do so. Even if the judge accepts the verdict, however, I suspect that the appeals court would throw it out. Whether it throws it out immediately or waits until the election is over is the question. It would certainly be a departure from procedure to simply throw it out immediately, but this whole trial is a departure from procedure, so maybe it will happen.

[Brilliant]

I agree it could happen. I’m just not betting it will. This is a very politicized trial. The judge should have thrown it out on day one because they haven’t even disclosed in their pleadings what statute they are proceeding under. Yet he did not. I presume the judge is well educated. But he obviously is motivated by politics. Any objective judge would have demanded that the prosecution tell the defendant what the crime was. That is certainly required by the rules of criminal procedure, and by the Due Process Clause.

[Verginius Rufus]

It's incredible that we can have such obviously biased judges (Engoron and Merchan) and at least half of the public doesn't see anything wrong with it. Basic constitutional rights like to be informed of the charges against you, and the right of free speech, don't apply to Trump. Both this trial and the Engoron trial, plus the E. Jean Carroll trial, are travesties and should never have taken place. But all's fair in war and politics (as long as you are a Democrat).

The judge may find it embarrassing if he is overturned on appeal, but that will happen after November 2024. In the meantime he won't be welcome at cocktail parties if he lets Trump off.

[Svartalfiar]

Isn’t the judge’s daughter basically doing the same thing: moneymaking off of the Trump case?

Yea, but the judge's daughter isn't one of the witnesses in the case...

[butterdezillion]

True, but she is the daughter of the person gagging Trump.