In attempting to predict the sentence Judge Juan Merchan will impose on Donald Trump, we are certain of one conclusion: If the past is prologue, the sentence will not be motivated by fairness or justice; it will be the harshest sentence Merchan can impose without risking reversal or the possibility that it will help Trump’s electoral prospects.
HALT THE VERDICT HOAX! all so-called false entries were in 2017. Clearly they couldn’t impact the 2016 election. In 2016 the Stormy NDA was done, but NDAs indisputably are totally legal. Trump’s indictment never even mentions the NDA. No crimes occurred, not even a misdemeanor!
Me too. I feel like the kid who cried “the Emporer Has no Clothes”. It was all sinister warnings and smoke and mirrors : “hush money!” “34 Felonies!” “Cover-up!” 4 1/2 hour closing argument by the D.A, insisting there was a “mountain of evidence” when there wasn’t even an anthill. Teasing everyone to guess as to what was the “second crime” was a genius way to slip by that there was no need to prove a first crime”!
It was all kabuki theatre. The jury had to have violated their oaths by deciding the case with no regard to the evidence, based on the brevity of their deliberations in relation to the complexity of the case. Also damning is the fact that no juror was willing to say “I have reasonable doubt since I can’t see why we are being asked to convict a once and possibly future president of 34 claimed felonies about stealing an election that all happened after the election. Even assuming they were true.”
It was pure kabuki theatre, as the left is never searching for truth, only doing what they need to do to advance their agenda
Trump must be re-elected or truth will remain antithetical to how our government operates.
It is really sad that there is no good way to stop this kind of unfair verdict.
This seems to highlight a fundamental flaw in the American justice system. It is not based on law and fairness, it is based on the assumption that everyone will try to be fair.
But we see that for people that don’t won’t to be limited by that social norm there is nothing to stop them.
No one is willing to stop this kangaroo court because the people that don’t like kangaroo courts don’t want to believe the reality that there are plenty of lawyers, judges and jurors that don’t care about fairness.
This is nothing but a lynch mob dressed up like a legitimate court. It looks like the adults in the room are not willing to stop it. Our legal system as we know it is about to vanish and it will not be easy to get it back.
This will inevitably lead to everyone of all political persuasions, using lawfare.
Based upon the fact that the judge has refused to lift the gag order, I wouldn't be surprised if he decided to include every time he (almost) cited Donald Trump for contempt in his eventual sentence. And I also suspect he'll suspend the sentence until after Election Day, and then impose it.
Normally, based upon the level of charges involved, I wouldn't expect a prison term to be imposed. But with this "judge," all bets are off.
I think that incarnated a President-elect would be unacceptable considering our norm of peaceful transfer of power, and daily IC briefing, which he is scheduled to receive now.
I’m beginning to sense that this could be the DOJ interfering with the Executive branch, with all the power of that branch being vested in one person. He cannot have a subordinate operating in his office. Because the NY cannot be forced on the other 49 states, I don’t see how SCOTUS can avoid this one via State v. State common law court of Original Jurisdiction.
Michelle, I don't know what will really happen; this case has been so out of bounds based upon precedent. It's possible you could be more correct than me; I was just offering a guess based upon the way this "judge" has acted. If it gets that far, we'll see what happens.
The whole point of these bogus charges against Trump is the prevent him from becoming president. They really want to see him behind bars, the DA campaigned on it. Therefore I suspect the hostile and bias Merchan will do as his predecessor did in the previous Real Estate Case, he will sentence Trump to a maximum prison sentence and a maximum fine, as huge as we have ever seen before. Reality, justice and fairness has nothing to do with it. The judge does not care about risking reversal...he cares only about stopping and or damaging Trump. He is well aware that upon appeal, everything will be reversed, but that takes time and money, so he is banking on that. If he can keep Trump from campaigning, even for a few months, he will do it.
Totally agree. He doesn’t care if Trump serves time or even completely exonerated, he just wants to damage Trump’s campaign enough to prevent him from winning the election. If Trump loses then all these corrupt people won and will be happy.
He is playing the role he was assigned. The whole democrat party is a stage, and everyone plays a part. Merchan has a leading role, and probably won’t disappoint.
Since when is Judge Merchan concerned about being reversed on appeal? From his denial of motions to recuse himself (for blatant bias and conflict of interest) and to dismiss the indictment (for failure to state a cognizable crime), through his evidentiary rulings and jury instructions, Merchan must KNOW that the conviction will be reversed on appeal sooner or later. Given his behavior so far, I would be amazed if he did NOT sentence Trump to a jail sentence at least long enough to keep him from attending the National GOP Convention and off the campaign trail through November.
What about Bill Clinton’s payment to quiet Paula Jones and the mess with Monica Lewinsky? Plus, what about Pervert Joe showering with his daughter, Ashley, that has traumatized her for life?
I am inclined to believe that Judge Merchan will pursue the most severe course of action, possibly opting for confinement. He has already compromised the integrity of his judicial role by displaying overt partisanship. It is evident that his reputation is not a concern for him, as he appears indifferent to public opinion. His career trajectory resembles that of a kamikaze pilot, with one significant distinction: he will not perish. Instead, he is likely to be rewarded with a long-term analyst contract at CNN or MSNBC.
The rule of law no longer exists in New York. All Republicans should boycott the entire state in every way possible: goods and services; real estate; travel; schools; employment ; entertainment; all commerce.
Assuming that there are sheriff deputies or court marshals who are willing to do so, how would you think officers attempting to take Trump into custody would get past his Secret Service protection?
I think both would cooperate, as SS did with FBI at MAL. Secret Service will have a much more difficult job in a prison. Patrolling the halls, testing the food, taking shifts with some sleeping in a different cell. It’s a nightmare to think of.
You state that the appeal should be argued and decided before the election so voters have necessary information before the election. Yet voters do not have the necessary information on the two most important cases involving former President Trump: the January 6 election case and the national security case involving allegations of defying a subpoena, hiding classified documents and sharing classified information with nongovernmental individuals at a country club. These cases have been unnecessarily (and I believe deliberately) delayed by Republican appointed judges. I don’t see your concern with letting the American people hear the facts in these cases aired before juries and decided before the election.
Well I’ve been practicing law for 41 years and I have read the indictments. On their face they are very serious cases. If they truly are BS as you claim, then Trump’s attorneys should have no problem showing that is true. I believe otherwise.
You are free to doubt whatever you want. You can find the indictments online. They are so called “speaking indictments “ and lay out specific allegations against Trump, which if true are serious felonies. Of course Trump is free to dispute the facts in court in accordance with the law.
Rich — You just torpedoed your credibility and we all appreciate it. If you really had read the indictment, you would have seen that all it did was refer to some financial records that were first entered in 2017, obviously too late to influence a 2016 election. They are, moreover, all misdemeanors and - in violation of Trump’s due process rights- the indictment never spelled out how they got magically converted into felonies, even assuming they were misdemeanors which they weren’t . This was the biggest hoax ever perpetrated against the American legal system, and the idea that Dems want to jail Trump without having proved even a misdemeanor is beyond evil. Good for us all to know who we are dealing with.
I’m not talking about the state of New York case. The indictment in that case is irrelevant as the trial has already finished. I’m talking about the two federal indictments for January 6 and the classified documents. Read them. They are very specific.
If they are so serious then why haven’t Obama, Clinton and Biden been charged as well. They all did the same or more serious. If you can’t see that you are blind to bias.
What we have is the Soviet System at work. Everyone is guilty of a crime but those with the most political power decide who to prosecute.
The end result is the law is nothing worthy of respect. It is just a political tool.
Yes, I recall Obama, Clinton and Biden paying off porn stars and hiding the payments through doctoring business records, attempting to overturn elections with fake electors and bogus legal cases denied by every single court, and evading subpoenas and hiding documents from the FBI. Exactly the same.
I recall Kennedy employed the dual electors. (was 8 so I recall history of it). Prior to that it was Harding, although he employed more than that to win. Paying an extortionist or any other person to be quiet is legal, and requires a legal document that is not disclosed to your family, employees, or the public. Clinton was not guilty for employing that option…
I’m not going to go into the details of the various elector cases other than to note that anyone familiar with the litigation over the Hawaii electors would know the situation was fundamentally different in substantive ways, including that both slates of electors were certified by the Hawaii Governor, who was a Republican. In Arizona a number of individuals have been indicted in a fake elector scheme and in fact the attorney for the defendants referred to them in writing as fake electors. We shall see what happens in the criminal trial. As to the court cases, virtually all of which were so baseless that a number of attorneys were subject to frivolous claims awards against them and bar disciplinary proceedings, unlike Al Gore in 2000 who accepted the legal results on an election decided by less than 600 votes in one state, President Trump and his supporters refused and still refuse to accept the court rulings. Under the logic of Trump and his supporters, Al Gore could have declared the Florida electors invalid (or divided them equally) and declared himself President. As one Federal judge put it, the attempts to overturn the Electoral votes awarded to President Biden was an attempted coup in search of a legal theory.
The DC case is still at SCOTUS, having been argued. The FL case has uncovered the need for additional discovery after finding additional actors through a Motion to Compel from the Defense. The Prosecution was found to have tampered with evidence, making matching of physical documents to electronic impossible. Eight PreTrial hearings were added to Cannon’s docket, causing her to suspend trial date. This was two months ago. Not so simple, but serious …for many actors.
The government should have no problem proving their cases. Burden of proof on the courts. (The main problem with the NY case. No proof of the crime that created a felony out of a tolled misdemeanor! )
The case in Florida is delayed for good reasons. Smith did not release all the discovery but a Motion to Compel Discovery from Defense uncovered a trove of evidence that requires much more discovery requests from government sources, since government agencies emails to WH and DOJ potentially makes them defendants. Then there is the issue of the SC and the appointments clause eligibility, evidence tampering. Issues that the Judge cannot ignore. Many pretrial hearings have been added to the court calendar.
There is only one Republican appointed judge, Aileen Cannon in FL. The documents case had expanded because of a motion to compel discovery. Unsealed documents reveal the discovery required by the judge of the entire prosecution team will require many more pretrial hearings. The case has been turned around with government actors now needing to defend themselves. Additionally, the legality of Smith’s appointment has been drawn into question by amici, and defense, judgment which needs to be ruled on. Smith could have provided full discovery to the defense, but he insisted that it stay sealed, leading to this impasse.
Joe Biden is campaigning on the claim that Donald Trump is a convicted felon. That's why it is important that appeals in that case are heard before the election. It would have been more fair if all four cases had been decided after the election, but that one was, so it needs to be completed.
I'm a longtime lawyer too and I think Jack Smith's two federal indictments are far from being serious. On the Espionage Act case Joe Biden (and Hillary Clinton) both committed the same crime as Donald Trump is charged with. But Democratic prosecutors let them both slide. (On the January 6 case, Jack Smith made up charges that have never been made against anyone. Trumped up for Trump, if you will.
Let the voters decide. If Donald Trump loses try him then. If he wins impeach him. But to force him to defend himself in court in the heat of an election makes a mockery of justice and democracy. We don't do that in America.
Fair enough, except the current president got away with it by Hur’s decision to not indict because of his perception that 46’s mental condition made for a poor prosecution case. Remember that, although President Biden was not charged with obstruction, he was charged with illegally having classified documents, showing them etc.
Is there any video of the guests at Bedminster? The audio sounds like Trump was trying to get them out, shuffled papers, but didn’t hand over documents for reading.
HALT THE VERDICT HOAX! all so-called false entries were in 2017. Clearly they couldn’t impact the 2016 election. In 2016 the Stormy NDA was done, but NDAs indisputably are totally legal. Trump’s indictment never even mentions the NDA. No crimes occurred, not even a misdemeanor!
So I'm not the only one with this view. Perhaps I am not insane yet.
Me too. I feel like the kid who cried “the Emporer Has no Clothes”. It was all sinister warnings and smoke and mirrors : “hush money!” “34 Felonies!” “Cover-up!” 4 1/2 hour closing argument by the D.A, insisting there was a “mountain of evidence” when there wasn’t even an anthill. Teasing everyone to guess as to what was the “second crime” was a genius way to slip by that there was no need to prove a first crime”!
It was all kabuki theatre. The jury had to have violated their oaths by deciding the case with no regard to the evidence, based on the brevity of their deliberations in relation to the complexity of the case. Also damning is the fact that no juror was willing to say “I have reasonable doubt since I can’t see why we are being asked to convict a once and possibly future president of 34 claimed felonies about stealing an election that all happened after the election. Even assuming they were true.”
It was pure kabuki theatre, as the left is never searching for truth, only doing what they need to do to advance their agenda
Trump must be re-elected or truth will remain antithetical to how our government operates.
I have a “mountain of evidence” in my office. There is no probative evidence of a crime ( as of 2024).
It is really sad that there is no good way to stop this kind of unfair verdict.
This seems to highlight a fundamental flaw in the American justice system. It is not based on law and fairness, it is based on the assumption that everyone will try to be fair.
But we see that for people that don’t won’t to be limited by that social norm there is nothing to stop them.
No one is willing to stop this kangaroo court because the people that don’t like kangaroo courts don’t want to believe the reality that there are plenty of lawyers, judges and jurors that don’t care about fairness.
This is nothing but a lynch mob dressed up like a legitimate court. It looks like the adults in the room are not willing to stop it. Our legal system as we know it is about to vanish and it will not be easy to get it back.
This will inevitably lead to everyone of all political persuasions, using lawfare.
Based upon the fact that the judge has refused to lift the gag order, I wouldn't be surprised if he decided to include every time he (almost) cited Donald Trump for contempt in his eventual sentence. And I also suspect he'll suspend the sentence until after Election Day, and then impose it.
Normally, based upon the level of charges involved, I wouldn't expect a prison term to be imposed. But with this "judge," all bets are off.
I think that incarnated a President-elect would be unacceptable considering our norm of peaceful transfer of power, and daily IC briefing, which he is scheduled to receive now.
I’m beginning to sense that this could be the DOJ interfering with the Executive branch, with all the power of that branch being vested in one person. He cannot have a subordinate operating in his office. Because the NY cannot be forced on the other 49 states, I don’t see how SCOTUS can avoid this one via State v. State common law court of Original Jurisdiction.
Michelle, I don't know what will really happen; this case has been so out of bounds based upon precedent. It's possible you could be more correct than me; I was just offering a guess based upon the way this "judge" has acted. If it gets that far, we'll see what happens.
Agree, anything could happen, or be litigated after it happens.
The whole point of these bogus charges against Trump is the prevent him from becoming president. They really want to see him behind bars, the DA campaigned on it. Therefore I suspect the hostile and bias Merchan will do as his predecessor did in the previous Real Estate Case, he will sentence Trump to a maximum prison sentence and a maximum fine, as huge as we have ever seen before. Reality, justice and fairness has nothing to do with it. The judge does not care about risking reversal...he cares only about stopping and or damaging Trump. He is well aware that upon appeal, everything will be reversed, but that takes time and money, so he is banking on that. If he can keep Trump from campaigning, even for a few months, he will do it.
Totally agree. He doesn’t care if Trump serves time or even completely exonerated, he just wants to damage Trump’s campaign enough to prevent him from winning the election. If Trump loses then all these corrupt people won and will be happy.
He is playing the role he was assigned. The whole democrat party is a stage, and everyone plays a part. Merchan has a leading role, and probably won’t disappoint.
Professor,
You have a horrible microphone, which clearly shows on your every Piers appearance. Please buy yourself a nice microphone. It's not that expensive.
Thank you and keep up great work.
(: ha ha
Since when is Judge Merchan concerned about being reversed on appeal? From his denial of motions to recuse himself (for blatant bias and conflict of interest) and to dismiss the indictment (for failure to state a cognizable crime), through his evidentiary rulings and jury instructions, Merchan must KNOW that the conviction will be reversed on appeal sooner or later. Given his behavior so far, I would be amazed if he did NOT sentence Trump to a jail sentence at least long enough to keep him from attending the National GOP Convention and off the campaign trail through November.
What about Bill Clinton’s payment to quiet Paula Jones and the mess with Monica Lewinsky? Plus, what about Pervert Joe showering with his daughter, Ashley, that has traumatized her for life?
I am inclined to believe that Judge Merchan will pursue the most severe course of action, possibly opting for confinement. He has already compromised the integrity of his judicial role by displaying overt partisanship. It is evident that his reputation is not a concern for him, as he appears indifferent to public opinion. His career trajectory resembles that of a kamikaze pilot, with one significant distinction: he will not perish. Instead, he is likely to be rewarded with a long-term analyst contract at CNN or MSNBC.
So President Trump’s attorneys cannot skip straight to the Supreme Court?
The rule of law no longer exists in New York. All Republicans should boycott the entire state in every way possible: goods and services; real estate; travel; schools; employment ; entertainment; all commerce.
Assuming that there are sheriff deputies or court marshals who are willing to do so, how would you think officers attempting to take Trump into custody would get past his Secret Service protection?
I think both would cooperate, as SS did with FBI at MAL. Secret Service will have a much more difficult job in a prison. Patrolling the halls, testing the food, taking shifts with some sleeping in a different cell. It’s a nightmare to think of.
Dersh should comment on this:
https://x.com/CollinRugg/status/1799180318706114711
The question is whether the cousin spoke to him, if she is actually a juror.
You state that the appeal should be argued and decided before the election so voters have necessary information before the election. Yet voters do not have the necessary information on the two most important cases involving former President Trump: the January 6 election case and the national security case involving allegations of defying a subpoena, hiding classified documents and sharing classified information with nongovernmental individuals at a country club. These cases have been unnecessarily (and I believe deliberately) delayed by Republican appointed judges. I don’t see your concern with letting the American people hear the facts in these cases aired before juries and decided before the election.
Because those are bullshit cases, too.
Well I’ve been practicing law for 41 years and I have read the indictments. On their face they are very serious cases. If they truly are BS as you claim, then Trump’s attorneys should have no problem showing that is true. I believe otherwise.
I doubt you know anything about the law, practice law or that you have read the indictments.
You are free to doubt whatever you want. You can find the indictments online. They are so called “speaking indictments “ and lay out specific allegations against Trump, which if true are serious felonies. Of course Trump is free to dispute the facts in court in accordance with the law.
Rich — You just torpedoed your credibility and we all appreciate it. If you really had read the indictment, you would have seen that all it did was refer to some financial records that were first entered in 2017, obviously too late to influence a 2016 election. They are, moreover, all misdemeanors and - in violation of Trump’s due process rights- the indictment never spelled out how they got magically converted into felonies, even assuming they were misdemeanors which they weren’t . This was the biggest hoax ever perpetrated against the American legal system, and the idea that Dems want to jail Trump without having proved even a misdemeanor is beyond evil. Good for us all to know who we are dealing with.
I’m not talking about the state of New York case. The indictment in that case is irrelevant as the trial has already finished. I’m talking about the two federal indictments for January 6 and the classified documents. Read them. They are very specific.
If they are so serious then why haven’t Obama, Clinton and Biden been charged as well. They all did the same or more serious. If you can’t see that you are blind to bias.
What we have is the Soviet System at work. Everyone is guilty of a crime but those with the most political power decide who to prosecute.
The end result is the law is nothing worthy of respect. It is just a political tool.
Yes, I recall Obama, Clinton and Biden paying off porn stars and hiding the payments through doctoring business records, attempting to overturn elections with fake electors and bogus legal cases denied by every single court, and evading subpoenas and hiding documents from the FBI. Exactly the same.
I recall Kennedy employed the dual electors. (was 8 so I recall history of it). Prior to that it was Harding, although he employed more than that to win. Paying an extortionist or any other person to be quiet is legal, and requires a legal document that is not disclosed to your family, employees, or the public. Clinton was not guilty for employing that option…
I’m not going to go into the details of the various elector cases other than to note that anyone familiar with the litigation over the Hawaii electors would know the situation was fundamentally different in substantive ways, including that both slates of electors were certified by the Hawaii Governor, who was a Republican. In Arizona a number of individuals have been indicted in a fake elector scheme and in fact the attorney for the defendants referred to them in writing as fake electors. We shall see what happens in the criminal trial. As to the court cases, virtually all of which were so baseless that a number of attorneys were subject to frivolous claims awards against them and bar disciplinary proceedings, unlike Al Gore in 2000 who accepted the legal results on an election decided by less than 600 votes in one state, President Trump and his supporters refused and still refuse to accept the court rulings. Under the logic of Trump and his supporters, Al Gore could have declared the Florida electors invalid (or divided them equally) and declared himself President. As one Federal judge put it, the attempts to overturn the Electoral votes awarded to President Biden was an attempted coup in search of a legal theory.
The DC case is still at SCOTUS, having been argued. The FL case has uncovered the need for additional discovery after finding additional actors through a Motion to Compel from the Defense. The Prosecution was found to have tampered with evidence, making matching of physical documents to electronic impossible. Eight PreTrial hearings were added to Cannon’s docket, causing her to suspend trial date. This was two months ago. Not so simple, but serious …for many actors.
The government should have no problem proving their cases. Burden of proof on the courts. (The main problem with the NY case. No proof of the crime that created a felony out of a tolled misdemeanor! )
The case in Florida is delayed for good reasons. Smith did not release all the discovery but a Motion to Compel Discovery from Defense uncovered a trove of evidence that requires much more discovery requests from government sources, since government agencies emails to WH and DOJ potentially makes them defendants. Then there is the issue of the SC and the appointments clause eligibility, evidence tampering. Issues that the Judge cannot ignore. Many pretrial hearings have been added to the court calendar.
There is only one Republican appointed judge, Aileen Cannon in FL. The documents case had expanded because of a motion to compel discovery. Unsealed documents reveal the discovery required by the judge of the entire prosecution team will require many more pretrial hearings. The case has been turned around with government actors now needing to defend themselves. Additionally, the legality of Smith’s appointment has been drawn into question by amici, and defense, judgment which needs to be ruled on. Smith could have provided full discovery to the defense, but he insisted that it stay sealed, leading to this impasse.
Joe Biden is campaigning on the claim that Donald Trump is a convicted felon. That's why it is important that appeals in that case are heard before the election. It would have been more fair if all four cases had been decided after the election, but that one was, so it needs to be completed.
I'm a longtime lawyer too and I think Jack Smith's two federal indictments are far from being serious. On the Espionage Act case Joe Biden (and Hillary Clinton) both committed the same crime as Donald Trump is charged with. But Democratic prosecutors let them both slide. (On the January 6 case, Jack Smith made up charges that have never been made against anyone. Trumped up for Trump, if you will.
Let the voters decide. If Donald Trump loses try him then. If he wins impeach him. But to force him to defend himself in court in the heat of an election makes a mockery of justice and democracy. We don't do that in America.
He has already been impeached for J6. Double Jeopardy, since he was not convicted?
Fair enough, except the current president got away with it by Hur’s decision to not indict because of his perception that 46’s mental condition made for a poor prosecution case. Remember that, although President Biden was not charged with obstruction, he was charged with illegally having classified documents, showing them etc.
Is there any video of the guests at Bedminster? The audio sounds like Trump was trying to get them out, shuffled papers, but didn’t hand over documents for reading.