Free Republic

Around the world, corrupt political regimes are weaponising the courts to go after political rivals. In one country, a prosecutor is trying to persuade a court to impose a prison sentence of up to hundreds of years on a former national leader on the basis of technicalities about handling official documents. In another lawless, illiberal regime, a partisan prosecutor is using a law intended to prosecute organised crime to destroy a politician of the other party. In a country in which the rule of law is at risk, a prosecutor and a judge seek the financial ruin of an opposition...

Was the $355 million fine against Donald Trump, for a “crime” that even the judge issuing the ruling admitted hurt no one, a bridge too far? New York Gov. Kathy Hochul seems to think so, which is why she rushed out to say that other people doing business in New York have nothing to fear: “Law-abiding and rule-following New Yorkers who are businesspeople have nothing to worry about because they’re very different than Donald Trump and his behavior.” What she should have said is: “if they are different from Donald Trump and his political views.” Because nothing about this case,...

Rabid hatred hellbent on the personal destruction of a defendant is normal for a DA... no? As Trump is quick to remind us, Letitia James promised voters that she would be all about grievance politics and the personal destruction of POTUS 45. It was so blatant that Dershowitz wrote a book about it called, ‘Get Trump’. In the eagerness to destroy him, James cut corners. In the event that those corners violated his rights as an American citizen, he will have every right to sue the government — and the agents of the state responsible — for personal damages. It...

Oscar Wilde wrote that “moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.” Justice Arthur Engoron took that line to heart with his absurd imposition of $455 million in fines and interest against Donald Trump and his corporation. ... Engoron then combined that unprecedented application with an equally extraordinary penalty, which is greater than the gross national product of some countries. He disgorged hundreds of millions in a case where not one dollar was lost by anyone. Indeed, the “victims” wanted to get more business from Trump and are now being prevented from doing so by Engoron. ... Nothing succeeds...

A lawyer representing former President Donald Trump said that his team will challenge a New York judge’s decision last week, targeting the judge’s definition of what fraud is. Last Friday, Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that the former president is liable for a $355 million fine and cannot operate his Trump Organization in New York state for three years. “The case raises serious legal and constitutional questions regarding ‘fraud’ claims/findings without any actual fraud,” Chris Kise, the former lawyer in the case, told Newsweek on Monday. Regarding the appeal of the cause, the lawyer said that it “will depend on many...

Former President Donald Trump must pay nearly half a billion dollars as a bond to New York State before he can appeal the ruling by Judge Arthur Engoron last week that he must pay $354 million in fines — over $450 million, with interest — for fraud. Critics have noted that Trump is the only person ever to be sued under an obscure New York fraud statute that does not require any harm be done, and that effectively criminalizes the everyday practice of real estate valuations in negotiations with banks. Though Attorney General Letitia James — who ran for office...

Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) tried and failed to reassure businesses that they “have nothing to worry about” after a recent penalty ruling against former President Trump. During an appearance on WABC 770 AM with The Cats Roundtable’s John Catsimatidis, Hochul was asked if New York businesses need to worry that if “they can do that to the former president, they can do that to anybody.” “I think that this is really an extraordinary, unusual circumstance that the law-abiding and rule-following New Yorkers who are business people have nothing to worry about,” Hochul replied, “because they’re very different than Donald Trump...

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has admitted the lawfare deployed against the Trump organization and President Donald Trump himself was a specific plan for his targeting and any other business interests or people within New York should not be concerned. It’s a rather brazen admission all things considered; however, if it changes the public outlook as the various New York lawfare cases against President Trump continue, is yet to be determined. (Via The Hill) – New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) addressed New York business owners in a new interview and told them there was “nothing to worry about” after...

In a scathing rebuke of a New York Judge’s decision to fine Donald Trump a staggering $355 million, the entrepreneur and media personality Kevin O’Leary minced no words, denouncing the ruling as “unjust,” “appalling” and ultimately “un-American.” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron’s Friday ruling not only slapped Trump with that hefty fine, but also with a temporary ban from conducting business in his native New York. O’Leary, known for his role on “Shark Tank,” lambasted the decision, arguing that it sets a dangerous precedent for the entire real estate industry. O’Leary had previously been critical of the months-long fraud...

Never knew the name of this department. But every American should. They're the ones who show up to harass and threaten rape victims and the families of murder victims They exists to insinuate and threaten legal consequences for victims who "make it about race" and bully vulnerable people into surrendering their first amendment right to say whatever they damned well please about the people who harm them and their family no matter how "hateful" Whenever the parents of a murdered girl make a statement about "Saying no to hate" or fathers "Don't want to comment"... These are the people behind...

Was there ever a more predictable outcome than that of Donald Trump’s civil trial? Attorney General Letitia James came into office vowing to punish him and ignore all other crimes. Judge Arthur Engoron found him guilty before anyone even set foot in a courtroom. It was all over but the punishment: a $355 million fine and a three-year ban from running a business in New York. Guess they were out of tar and feathers. This was a politically motivated trial from the start, one that had the progressive James “protecting” big banks she would otherwise demean.

The essence of the case, the Manhattan D.A. says, is that Trump "corrupt[ed] a presidential election" by concealing embarrassing information.When Donald Trump's lawyers urged a federal appeals court to approve "absolute" presidential immunity last month, they argued that it was necessary to prevent frivolous, politically motivated criminal charges against former presidents. Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit unanimously rejected that argument, along with the other reasons Trump offered for shielding him from prosecution for trying to reverse the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. The three-judge panel said the danger Trump perceived "appears slight" given...

X and SpaceX owner Elon Musk dismissed the verdict in Trump’s civil fraud case by simply asking who the supposed victim was if all of the loans granted to Trump were paid back with interest. In a rather unsurprising move, the former was found liable in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil suit brought against Trump and his companies. Trump was ordered to “pay back” more than $350 million after the years-long case brought forward by an attorney general who campaigned on “getting Trump” came to a close. Musk responded with a simple question in an X post. “Given...

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James may have scored a major hit on former President Donald J. Trump with the unprecedented $354 million penalty but they may have inadvertently inflicted grave damage on the entire real estate industry. On Friday, leftists were jubilant when Engoron announced the crushing financial blow on Trump, a ruling that in the opinion of one notable business expert, Kevin O’Leary of the popular television show “Shark Tank” is “un-American” and if not reversed on appeal, could potentially lead to other real estate developers facing similar charges from political...

VIDEOPolitically weaponizing the justice system aka Lawfare against Trump requires criminal convictions against him PRIOR to the 2024 election. There are two federal Jack Smith cases currently in the pipeline. The Florida documents case which looks like it won't be concluded until AFTER the election and the J6 case which was originally slated to start on March 4 but was put on delay pending Trump's immunity appeal. It is the latter situation that is driving liberals absolutely BONKERS as you can see with Elie Mystal. First you can see Mystal in November 2022 whining that Merrick Garland was already too...

Nutty Judge Engoron (rhymes with moron) now moves Donald Trump closer to exoneration. His crazy ruling now heads to the appeals court to be dismissed. The judge set the world record for falsely valuing real estate, when he wildly claimed that Mar a Lago was worth $18million. Just the parking lot would sell for ten times that.

The judge who presided over a civil business fraud trial against Donald Trump and his company has issued his decision in the case. Judge Arthur Engoron ordered the former president and the Trump Organization to pay over $364 million in damages, and bars Trump "from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in New York for a period of three years." The judgment is the second this year against Trump after he was hit last month with an $83.3 million verdict in writer E. Jean Carroll's defamation case against him. The former...

By now, everyone in the entire world heard about a New York federal jury’s award of $83 million dollars to E. Jean Carroll against Donald J. Trump for what she claims was defamation arising from her claim of a sexual assault in a Bergdorf’s dressing room. The verdict itself consists of $18.3 million dollars in compensatory damages and $65 million in punitive damages. What virtually no one reports is these damage awards are grossly excessive. The overwhelming likelihood is Donald Trump won’t have to pay anywhere near this amount of money, even if his efforts to reverse the verdict altogether...

We already knew that the FBI used the Clinton-funded Steele Dossier to obtain FISA warrants and justify spying on Trump campaign officials in the hopes of thwarting his campaign and undermining his presidency. But this week we learned that the CIA under Barack Obama recruited the intelligence services of foreign allies to illegally spy on 26 associates of Donald Trump before the FBI launched its counterintelligence probe in the summer of 2016. But before we get more into that, let's take a step back. Back in December, CNN reported that a binder "containing highly classified information related to Russian election...

A New York judge says former President Donald Trump’s hush-money trial will go ahead as scheduled with jury selection starting on March 25. Judge Juan Manuel Merchan said Thursday that he made the decision after speaking with the judge in Trump’s now-delayed federal election interference case in the nation’s capital. Donald Trump arrived at NYC court Thursday, where a judge will finalize a trial date in the criminal case charging the real estate mogul with concealing payoffs to alleged lovers to hide potential sex scandals from voters in the 2016 presidential election. Trump, 77, took a seat at the defense...