Posted on 02/20/2024 5:08:19 AM PST by MtnClimber
Josef Stalin set the example for the world as the most ruthless practitioner of the art of using a thoroughly corrupt and subservient “justice system” to eliminate all political opposition. Many, many others have since followed Stalin’s lead. Current notable examples include the recent murder of Alexei Navalny in prison in Russia; Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who fled that country in late 2023 after his arrest was threatened by the Maduro regime; and Pakistan’s former Prime Minister and current opposition leader Imran Khan, convicted in January 2024 of “disclosing a state secret” and sentenced to 10 years in jail. Funny how the countries that engage in such practices virtually always have failed economies as well.
The United States has been remarkably free of such practices during its history. But we have seen a sudden complete reversal of that commendable history with the efforts of multiple political actors and prosecutors to use the courts to take down former President Trump. Readers here are likely familiar with the long list of such efforts, from the two federal Jack Smith criminal prosecutions, to the Fani Willis criminal prosecution in Georgia, to the Alvin Bragg criminal prosecution in Manhattan (supposedly for incorrectly recording the blackmail payment to Stormy Daniels in financial statements), to the many efforts to remove Trump from primary and general election ballots.
Of all the multitudinous “get Trump” efforts, the most proudly and nakedly Stalinist is the civil fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. What distinguishes the James crusade from all the others, as political as those might be, is that the others all have had at least a pretext of investigating some known or suspected wrongdoing. With James, by contrast, from the start it has always been about finding some way, any way, to take out the man. James initially ran for AG in 2018 on a campaign explicitly promising to get Trump, who was President of the United States at the time. My first post covering James’s vendetta against Trump was on December 13, 2018, shortly after her first election victory and before she took office. That post quoted at length from an interview James had just given to NBC News. In her interview, James emphasized that her focus in office would be on somehow getting Trump, and she essentially conceded that she had no basis at the outset to believe that wrongdoing had occurred. A short excerpt:
"We will use every area of the law to investigate President Trump and his business transactions and that of his family as well," James, a Democrat, told NBC News in her first extensive interview since she was elected last month. James outlined some of the probes she intends to pursue with regard to the president, his businesses and his family members. They include: - Any potential illegalities involving Trump's real estate holdings in New York.
In other words, when the investigation began, James had no inkling of what, if any, wrongs might have been committed “involving Trump’s real estate holdings,” and no complaining party asking for redress.
I had a second post about the James jihad against Trump on September 21, 2022 — shortly before James was re-elected to a second four year term in November of that year. The September 2022 post was titled “A New Low For New York Attorney General Letitia James.” The occasion for the post was that James, now nearing the end of her first term, had finally announced the big Complaint against Trump that everyone had been waiting for. The Complaint listed some ten attorneys in the AG’s office as participating — a truly extraordinary investigatory team. My comments in that post have stood the test of time, so rather than re-writing them, I will quote a few of the more notable items:
- First, there are no criminal charges.
- [T]his is almost entirely about . . . alleged over-valuation of properties when preparing unaudited personal financial statements as part of getting loans.
- I can’t find any allegation that any of the loans in question has ever been in default or not paid on time. (Indeed, the proof at trial was that all of the loans were always paid on time.)
- [T]here is no one claiming harm.
- [H]ow much equity was there? The Complaint doesn’t say. If there’s lots of equity to spare, then various overvaluations are just so much meaningless puffery, and likely would be immediately obvious to a reader with any sophistication.
- I have no doubt that Trump gave some ridiculously high values for some of his properties on his financial statements. My reaction is, so what? Particularly in the absence of any defaults after many years. Nothing about that is nearly as serious a matter as the ethical violation of New York’s chief law enforcement officer in misusing the office to select a target on the basis of politics without any reason to suspect particular wrongdoing. Such conduct should get the AG disqualified from running for office and even disbarred.
Well, James drew for the case a judge worthy of a Stalin show trial named Arthur Engoron. After previously granting summary judgment to the AG on one count, Engoron conducted a trial from October through January to determine liability on the other counts, and also to determine damages, if any. Justice Engoron issued his 92-page decision on Friday, February 16. Readers likely know that Engoron found the defendants liable on all seven counts (not all defendants on all counts). As monetary relief (technically he calls it “disgorgement” rather than “damages”) the judge ordered a total of some $355 million payable by Trump himself, plus interest from various dates, which could add tens of millions more.
Here are a few legal notes:
- This case is brought under something called Executive Law Section 63(12). That statute gives authority to the Attorney General to enjoin someone who is engaging in “repeated fraudulent or illegal acts” or “persistent fraud or illegality.”
- The judge notes — correctly — that the statute does not require three elements that are usually part of actionable fraud, namely intent, reliance, and damages. However, the judge skips over the problem that the statute does not do away with the element of “materiality.” Materiality is a critical element of a claim of fraud, and proof of it was completely missing here.
- The State Comptroller at the time the statute was passed in 1956 was a guy name Arthur Levitt. Engoron quotes Levitt as saying at the time “Why not grant the Attorney General authority to enjoin anyone from continuing in a business activity if such person has been guilty of frequent fraudulent dealings?” Well, Mr. Levitt, now you know your answer. To remove the ancient common law requirements of intent and reliance from proof of fraud is to give a politicized Attorney General way too much power to attack political adversaries.
- Several bankers from Trump’s lender, Deutschebank, testified that they did their own valuations of Trump’s properties instead of using the valuations provided by the borrower. That testimony completely undermines any finding of materiality.
- The monetary relief is characterized as “disgorgement.” The idea is that Trump paid less interest than he would have paid if he had honestly valued the properties, and therefore he should have to give up that ill-gotten gain. But where does the “disgorgement” go? The answer is that Engoron orders the money to go to the “plaintiff,” or in other words, the AG’s office. (Does it even go to the state general fund? Good question.).
Trump at least theoretically gets two levels of appeal from here — first to the Appellate Division, First Department; and then to the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals (which only takes cases by its own discretion, like the U.S. Supreme Court). Unlike the federal courts, the Appellate Division in New York has the statutory authority to review findings of fact. Likely before the appeals proceed there will be a battle as to whether Trump is entitled to have enforcement of the judgment stayed pending the appeals.
The Appellate Division, First Department has long had a reputation as a non-politicized court. I do not have any confidence that that reputation remains deserved today, and particularly in this case. Should it so choose, the Appellate Division has ample authority to reverse or drastically reduce the judgment, the most obvious grounds being lack of materiality and lack of damages.
All business leaders in New York, including those who hate Trump, should rightly be concerned about what has happened here. If a Stalinist Attorney General and one judge can do this to Donald Trump, they can do it to anyone they want. Jamie Dimon, David Solomon — this means you. Trump also thought he had the politicians bought off with political contributions.
The New York legal establishment has also shamed itself in this matter. Where are the lions of the bar calling out Letitia James for her conduct? I can’t find that. A few days ago, somebody finally brought an ethics complaint against James for the obvious conflict of campaigning to “get” a particular individual and then remaining involved in the subsequent investigation and trial. The complainant is Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, a known Trump ally.
Every day New York becomes more known for descending to third-world country status.
Malicious prosecution?
It appears the road the our government is going down. It appears that first the wealthiest pay for special legislation and policies. What happens when the silver does not work? Some of these wealthiest people appear to be a little touched in their head…..
The most important question should be, where is the fines going and who is the benefactor of such monetary recoveries? There is where you will find the real crime. If there is no plaintiff other than the AG then you know where the cashola is going to go. It falls back to the Great Society giveaway mentality where you take from those who have the means and give to those who don’t. I expect there will be more businesses pack up and move to a more business friendly environment after this charade.
Proverbs 17:9 (King James Version)
He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.
Every member of the Democrat Party who is not outraged by the level of corruption the judges are going to stop President Trump from running is just as guilty as he is. For someone to agree with convict someone of a fake crime like they do in the Soviet Union you have to have a hatred which goes to your very bone marrow. The same people who are outraged by the killing of the Russian Presidential candidate are cheering the attempted jailing of America’s.
They are feigning outrage Trump will not condemn the killing of the Russian hard enough yet everyone knows they would be cheering the assassination of Trump. One of the stalwarts of the Democrat Party other than their ability to lie with conviction is their feigned outrage of anything they believe they can leverage to their own benefit. In this case it is their pretending to be outraged by the very thing they wish would happen to President Trump.
To take away a person’s business who did everything by the book to the point of the very banks the Attorney General claimed to be protecting testified the Trumps conducted their business fairly and without any issues. The only issue was he ran and won the presidency from the corrupt Democrat Party and now America sees their version of Democracy.
Democracy to the DNC is anyone who belongs to the Party can steal and cheat as much as they want and everyone else will live under their jackboot thugs having their lives taken from them. This is a terrorist organization which has spent the last fifty hears getting into the halls of power until they had full control to abuse this power for themselves to become wealthy or powerful beyond their dreams.
Trump is not only a threat to their wealth, but he is being made an example of what happens when you challenge City Hall. The old liberals believed in a strong opposition and the need for freedom of speech until they became the ones in control and now, they are pushing every censorship plan everywhere. They want the Soviet Style snitches which people talked in the bathroom with the water on only this bunch will spy on you no matter where you hide.
This is their definition of Democracy, Jackboot Thugs pretending to be judges and Attorney Generals to jail the opposition while pratting on about fairness and equality. Just like the old Soviet Union everyone is equal; it’s just the Party members are more equal than everyone else. In a free country if one person has his rights taken away then nobody is free which is where America is with Trump.
States like NY and CA have been a one-Party state for decades with corrupt politicians like the Cuomos have institutionalized voter fraud to the point of nobody can be elected fairly inside the city. These cities are their definition of Democracy with the ability to take away your business simply because a judge hates your guts and will do whatever it takes to stop you from being elected.
How a Democrat cannot be as outraged by this action is a mystery. Sure, this is a Godless cult which abides in fear and hate, but taking a half a billion from someone for a non-crime is horrific. Do they not see how the same thing can be done to them if the shoes change and some prosecutor wants to take your house? Do they not see this means there is no such thing as personal ownership and in reality, everything is owned by the gummit from here on out. You question the gummit and you lose your life, what kind of lifestyle is that liberals? Do you have any morals left or does your hatred of Trump justify anything?
This is what happens when you worship your Party rather than God. This is what happens when you fear man rather than God and allow yourself to be brainwashed by the 24/7 drumbeat. This happens when you allow yourself to be convinced one person or a group of persons are subhuman and you are superior to them socially and morally. You have convinced yourselves everyone who does not think exactly the way you do are lepers and deserve to be thrown out of society or worse. This is what happens to Godless countries around the world and is now happening in America.
Christians are forced to love their enemies and not hate them. They cannot allow themselves to dehumanize their enemies and only want to change them. Communists want their enemies to die, which has been proved 200 million times in the last hundred years around the world. They call an entire movement Nazis which is another way of saying they are subhuman and do not deserve to live.
What they are doing to Trump is what they want to do to you. There is a million crimes they can come up with you no matter how innocent you are. Libs are extremely tolerant of everyone they agree with and absolutely intolerant of those they don’t. Everyone should condemn this abuse of power no matter who the victim is. If one American loses his freedom then no American is truly free.
Pray for Donald Trump.
But that's not what this is. This isn't a victimless crime. It's a victimless tort, which is even more nonsensical. A tort, by necessity, requires a party that has had some demonstrable wrong committed against it. That Trump was accused of committing a tort is evidenced by the fact that he was given a civil trial instead of a criminal one.
I'm not a lawyer, but I'd argue that Trump was deprived due process here. He was slapped with what amounts to a criminal fine via a civil process (along with the lowered burden of proof that entails). A law that allows criminal penalties to be applied under the guise of civil jurisprudence (but without a "wronged" party) is on its face unconstitutional.
Such obvious desperation by the evil Left. Only those fools who want to stay fooled are still fooled.
This is a tiny glimpse of what the coming ‘Socialist Utopia’ is going to look like for any successful ‘citizen’ in America.
Let’s just relax, lie back and enjoy the downward spiral, shall we? Sure would be nice if we had a opposition party that had our backs!
*SPIT*
I’m thinking that President in Exile Trump never pays a DIME of any of this - or to that Carol beotch, either! He needs to liquidate ALL NY assets - STAT!
I agree. It is treason...and they should be hanged.
Let’s just relax, lie back and enjoy the downward spiral, shall we?
OK.
Sure would be nice if we had a opposition party that had our backs!
Would be nice.
I think he must be mocking the leftist reporting in NYC who say that as if it is a crime. Just my guess.
Is that a thing? If not, it should be. Trump has all the proof in the world for that.
Is that a thing? If not, it should be. Trump has all the proof in the world for that.
Brilliantly written piece. Thank you for sharing. This summarizes the case better than anything I have seen.
And the author is 100% correct for calling out people who KNOW BETTER being silent about this lawfare BS.
Here is what Co-pilot says about it:
In New York, malicious prosecution is not a criminal offense, but it is recognized as a tort—a civil wrong for which the law provides a remedy. To establish a claim for malicious prosecution, a plaintiff must prove four elements:
Initiation of a proceeding: A criminal proceeding was commenced against the plaintiff.
Termination in favor of the plaintiff: The proceeding ended in favor of the plaintiff.
Lack of probable cause: The proceeding was initiated without probable cause to believe it could be successful.
Actual malice: The proceeding was initiated with malice, meaning with the intent to harm without justification or excuse12.
If these elements are met, the person wrongfully prosecuted may be able to recover damages for legal fees and emotional distress1. It’s important to consult with a legal professional for advice specific to any individual case.
My comments: I would say that Donald Trump has a hell of a case in both the State of NY and the City of NY. He can sue for damages of 1 Billion or more, and that is what he is probably doing.
BTTT
‘ESSENTIAL’ FEDERAL SPENDING BILL
....
The Treasury shall withhold payment of all money under current federal law to the State of New York and its political subdivisions and legislated entities and pay it instead to Donald J. Trump upon his application at any IRS office in the State of Florida until he has received $500 million.
Any payment he shall so receive shall be free of federal revenue imposition.
18 U.S. Code § 595 - Interference by administrative employees of Federal, State, or Territorial Governments
Whoever, being a person employed in any administrative position by the United States, or by any department or agency thereof, or by the District of Columbia or any agency or instrumentality thereof, or by any State, Territory, or Possession of the United States, or any political subdivision, municipality, or agency thereof, or agency of such political subdivision or municipality (including any corporation owned or controlled by any State, Territory, or Possession of the United States or by any such political subdivision, municipality, or agency), in connection with any activity which is financed in whole or in part by loans or grants made by the United States, or any department or agency thereof, uses his official authority for the purpose of interfering with, or affecting, the nomination or the election of any candidate for the office of President, Vice President, Presidential elector, Member of the Senate, Member of the House of Representatives, Delegate from the District of Columbia, or Resident Commissioner, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
This section shall not prohibit or make unlawful any act by any officer or employee of any educational or research institution, establishment, agency, or system which is supported in whole or in part by any state or political subdivision thereof, or by the District of Columbia or by any Territory or Possession of the United States; or by any recognized religious, philanthropic or cultural organization.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/595
I just sent this off to my Congressman:
‘ESSENTIAL’ FEDERAL SPENDING BILL
....
The Treasury shall withhold payment of all funding under current federal law to the State of New York, the City of New York, the four largest counties of New York City, the City of Buffalo and Erie County and pay it instead to Donald J. Trump upon his application at any IRS office in the State of Florida until he has received $500 million.
Payment he shall so receive shall be free of federal revenue imposition.
The evil runs deep.
it’s selective prosecution...
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