Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Also, are you sure you want people to rate your comments?

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

No Kings: Americans standing in the way of bad history saying “Oh, Fuck No!”

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Tick Tock, Motherfuckers!

Tick Tock, Motherfuckers!

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Prosecutors Signal Criminal Charges for Trump Are Likely  (NYT)

The Manhattan district attorney’s office recently signaled to Donald J. Trump’s lawyers that he could face criminal charges for his role in the payment of hush money to a porn star, the strongest indication yet that prosecutors are nearing an indictment of the former president, according to four people with knowledge of the matter.

The prosecutors offered Mr. Trump the chance to testify next week before the grand jury that has been hearing evidence in the potential case, the people said. Such offers almost always indicate an indictment is close; it would be unusual for the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, to notify a potential defendant without ultimately seeking charges against him.

In New York, potential defendants have the right to answer questions in the grand jury before they are indicted, but they rarely testify, and Mr. Trump is likely to decline the offer. His lawyers could also meet privately with the prosecutors in hopes of fending off criminal charges.

Any case would mark the first indictment of a former American president, and could upend the 2024 presidential race. It would also elevate Mr. Bragg to the national stage, though not without risk.
Mr. Trump has faced an array of criminal investigations and special counsel inquiries over the years but has never been charged with a crime, underscoring the gravity of Mr. Bragg’s inquiry.

Mr. Bragg could become the first prosecutor to charge Mr. Trump, but he might not be the last.

In Georgia, the Fulton County District Attorney is investigating whether Mr. Trump interfered in the 2020 election, and at the federal level, a special counsel is scrutinizing Mr. Trump’s effort to overturn the election results, as well as his handling of classified documents.

The Manhattan inquiry, which has spanned nearly five years, centers on a $130,000 payment to the porn star, Stormy Daniels, in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign. The payment was made by Michael Cohen, Mr. Trump’s former fixer, who was later reimbursed by Mr. Trump from the White House. Mr. Cohen is expected to testify in front of the grand jury, but has not yet done so.

Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors have not finished the grand jury presentation and he could still decide against seeking an indictment.

Mr. Trump has previously said that the prosecutors are engaged in a “witch hunt” against him that began before he became president, and has called Mr. Bragg, a Democrat who is Black, a politically motivated “racist.”

h/t Jim, Foolish Literalist

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

92Comments

  1. 1.

    steppy

    You make my mouth water

    I hope this is the first domino. “See, Ms. Willis, Mr. Smith, this isn’t so hard after all!”

  5. 5.

    Old School

    Mr. Trump has previously said that the prosecutors are engaged in a “witch hunt” against him that began before he became president, and has called Mr. Bragg, a Democrat who is Black, a politically motivated “racist.”

    Well, it would be out of character for Trump to throw around accusations like that without solid proof, so it seems worth mentioning this in the article.

  9. 9.

    Layer8Problem

    I looked through the article and didn’t find the word “imminent,” as in “legally imminent”.  Maybe that means tomorrow!

  13. 13.

    Layer8Problem

    Also this choice sentence: “In recent years, Mr. Trump has been wary of answering questions under oath, given the legal intrigue swirling around him.”

    I’d amend that to “. . ., given that he’s a lying bastard.” Perhaps that sentence was Ms. Haberman’s, seeing as she’s credited as helping out at the bottom of the article.

  14. 14.

    WaterGirl

    @JPL: All the talking heads who lean Dem, or who are at least in the pro-democracy column, had guessed that imminent in the case of Fani meant 3-5 weeks.

    But now that there are 5 democratic District Attorneys in the 5 biggest counties, and some of them are black (!) and uppity (!!!) the Republican legislature in GA is trying to remove a lot of the powers of the DA and put decisions in the hands of a panel.

    Which, coincidentally would surely be less Democratic and a lot more white.

    I keep trying to get a post together on that.  Tomorrow for sure!

  15. 15.

    Alison Rose

    @zhena gogolia: For me, it’s not necessarily ho-hum, it’s the fact that this asshole has always seemed to be made of Teflon and has never been held accountable, to any notable degree, by the legal system for anything he’s done. It’s just hard to get one’s hopes again yet again when it’s never panned out before.

  16. 16.

    Bill Arnold

    @zhena gogolia:

    Okay, the ho-hum crowd is out in force!

    Indeed.
    My attitude, to be clear, is that the first priorities of justice for DJT involve keeping him separated from the levers of power, increasing his personal level of misery, and decreasing his level of sanity. With significant damage to the GOP an very desirable and expected side effect, and an actual trial a bonus, and an actual conviction a bigger bonus.

  17. 17.

    WaterGirl

    @zhena gogolia: Yes!  Without an indictment from some entity, somewhere, that would cement precedent, I think, that presidents and former presidents are indeed above the law.

    If we think things are bad now, that would make them exponentially worse!

    So yeah, damn right I think it’s a big fucking deal.

  19. 19.

    Layer8Problem

    @zhena gogolia:  No ho-humming here.  I really am optimistic.  There are always going to be people saying “Mark my words, he won’t do a DAY in jail . . . becuz I’m psychic or something.  And cynical.”

  21. 21.

    Almost Retired

    Imminent or not, the reporting alone should provoke the Orange Goon to angrily pitch an embossed Mar-a-Lago plate of biscuits and gravy at the wall.

    Interestingly, when typing this comment, “pitch” was initially changed to “putsch.”  Maybe Autocorrect knows something we don’t.

  22. 22.

    different-church-lady

    OK, it’s really stunning to me that “doing hush money to a porn star the wrong way” is maybe going to just hinder his political career, when “doing hush money to porn star in and of itself” is not going to end it outright.

  25. 25.

    Layer8Problem

    @different-church-lady:  Either it’s the pose of the jaded esthete or a professional demoralizer.  Right up there with “there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between the two parties.”

  26. 26.

    Scout211

    Mr. Trump has previously said that the prosecutors are engaged in a “witch hunt” against him that began before he became president,

    Goodness gracious, so many prosecutors hunting for witches! I think I read somewhere that Trump said, “I am not a witch,” but I could be misremembering that.

    I hope all of those “witch hunters” charge him and force him to keep spending his millions to stay out of jail.  I hope he goes to jail but spending all of his money and not getting elected to public office ever again, I could live with.

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

  31. 31.

    Elizabelle

    I want indictments to start landing on Trump and his family like planes at O’Hare. Incoming!

  32. 32.

    sanjeevs

    @zhena gogolia: It’s five years since Michael Cohen was convicted and Trump named as Individual 1.

    And not a single Republican has been indicted for Jan 6th after more than two years.

  35. 35.

    Gvg

    @different-church-lady: And the “evangelicals” voted for him. Lately I have been feeling like religious doesn’t mean what it used to when I was young and …this is not an improvement. I know some people who I think are sincerely good religious and this is not how they live.

    The honorable title religious has been hijacked by tacky bigots who don’t even seem to be aware that they are not real. These aren’t the people that volunteer at homeless shelters or go spend 2 weeks in Mississippi with their church group shoveling mud out of peoples houses after a hurricane and come back and make it sound like fun that the mud was so full of toxins that they had to wear 2 layers of latex gloves to keep the skin on their hands. Those are my definition of religious Christians.

  36. 36.

    WaterGirl

    @sanjeevs: Speaking of 5 years and Michael Cohen, I loved hearing that they brought Hope Hicks in to testify before the grand jury this week – apparently she was on some of the calls and in on some of the meetings related to the hush money, so they are calling her to corroborate Michael Cohen’s testimony about the hush money.

    Hope Hicks of “now we are all going to look like domestic terrorists” and “we’ll never be able to get jobs again” fame, saying that on Jan 6

    edit: Who knew there was a downside to being the Trump whisperer?

    Narrator:  nearly everyone!

  40. 40.

    Delk

    I have said it many times: nothing will make me happier than seeing his name off of the building in Downtown Chicago. Everything else is gravy. Delicious gravy.

  42. 42.

    WaterGirl

    Isn’t today (Thursday) Amir’s big day at the cat shelter?  I suck at time zones, so I’m not sure what day it is here when it’s Thursday for Amir.

  43. 43.

    Amir Khalid

    This whole Stormy Daniels thing could have easily been avoided. If TFG didn’t want it to come out that he had fucked a porn actress, he could have just, you know, not fucked a porn actress.

  47. 47.

    steppy

    Let’s not forget, Mikey has a gigantic axe to grind in this case. His testimony in this case will be difficult to impeach due to his serving time for the very same offense.

  49. 49.

    raven

    @WaterGirl:

    To some, the impetus of the Republican-backed effort to rein in local prosecutors is Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her ongoing probe of Donald Trump’s attempt to meddle with the 2020 election.

    But to the measure’s sponsors, the motivation for the legislation is a lesser-known prosecutor: Athens-Clarke County District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez, who is accused by critics of being incompetent and ineffective.
    Gonzalez held a tense ”listening session” late Wednesday before a crowd of roughly 100 people where she defended her stint as prosecutor — and faced a mix of cheers and jeers from the audience.

  50. 50.

    WaterGirl

    @JPL:    @raven: So what’s your take on Gonzalez?

    Is she doing a bad job?  Or is all of that bullshit cover because they don’t like her, her party, and her decisions?

  51. 51.

    raven

    She’s an outspoken opponent of still-pending legislation that would create a state oversight board with powers to investigate, sanction and remove prosecutors for a range of violations, including “willful misconduct.”

    Two of its chief proponents are her constituents: Gov. Brian Kemp and state Rep. Houston Gaines, R-Athens. Both have cited her handling of high-profile cases when stressing the need to bring “accountability” to prosecutors.
    And Gaines has taken it a step further, criticizing his erstwhile adversary (they have competed head-to-head twice for a House seat) for a mass departure of staff attorneys on her watch and her decision not to prosecute certain low-level drug offenses.

    It has also galvanized the community. The session was packed with supporters who cheered the Democrat’s tenure and opponents who heckled her throughout, including one who yelled: “Judges have an oversight committee. Why not DAs?”
     

  54. 54.

    raven

    @WaterGirl: It’s a tough one, she’s doing what she was elected to do here in Athens but there are lot’s of people in her office that are leaving.

  55. 55.

    raven

    Gonzalez has argued that the measures are an “overstep” that circumvent the will of the people. And she criticized the Senate version, which would allow GOP leaders to tap the members of the oversight panel.
    “There is no need to have another mechanism that is partisan in the way it has been comprised and the way it has been introduced,” she said.
    Near the end of the event, one attendee asked bluntly whether Gonzalez will just call it quits. Many in the audience cheered.
    “I will not resign because I’m doing the job that the people elected me to do,” to more applause from her supporters in the room. “And I think we’re going to end it on that note.”

  57. 57.

    JPL

    @WaterGirl: If you do research you will find out, that Fulton County has a large backlog, but that was before Fani was elected.  I’m sure her enemies will use it.

  58. 58.

    Steeplejack

    @WaterGirl:

    It got postponed to Saturday, I believe.

    He is currently 13 hours ahead of blog time, i.e., 8:51 a.m. Friday. Might change with Daylight Saving Time on Sunday.

  59. 59.

    PaulWartenberg

    I was so eager for the Mueller Report to spell out all that trump had done wrong, but then AG Barr pulled the plug and redacted 60 percent of the report while lying to the public that the results exonerated trump (no, trump was on the hook for at least five charges of Obstruction).

    After that, I’ve developed a “wait and see” approach to whether actual, honest-to-God indictments are issued, and watching video of handcuffs getting snapped on trump’s wrists.

    I am, of course, itching for that to happen TOMORROW IF YOU CAN GET AROUND TO IT, GEORGIA DAs, PLEASE AND THANK YOU.

  60. 60.

    bbleh

    So what I love about this particular case is, it’s so tawdry.  Like, it involves hush money paid by a presidential candidate to a porn actress, and the principal witness is a sleazy lawyer and confessed liar who served time.  I mean, the producers of the Jerry Springer show would have rejected this because it’s just not believable, not even by the kind of people who voted for Donald Trump watched Jerry Springer.

    And yet, here we are.  The media will go nuts, the bottom feeders the more so, and their audience are exactly the ones you want this story to reach.

    And I’m all outta popcorn …

  69. 69.

    zhena gogolia

    @WaterGirl: I’m totally exhausted. Two more classes until spring break. But I’m already behind on all the work I have to do during spring break

  72. 72.

    dww44

    @sanjeevs: I’m kinda with you here.  We’ve all been waiting for some sort of accountability to be paid by Trump and his enablers and it hasn’t happened.  We’ve been told to be patient; that these things take time .. that no one is above the law.  

    Well, here we are 2 years and 2 months past the insurrection and all that preceded it.  Here in Georgia if the DA doesn’t do something pronto she’s likely to find her ability to do so taken away.
    I am sorely disappointed with the apparent timidity of those whose jobs it is to deliver justice for our democracy. Justice delayed is also justice denied.

  78. 78.

    Shalimar

    @Old Dan and Little Ann: It’s difficult to convict a cult leader when his cult members make up 30% of the jury pool.  I don’t blame them if they get a bad jury and fail.  I do blame them if they’re too cowardly to try.

  79. 79.

    Frankensteinbeck

    I do not give even one shake of a dead dog’s tonker whether Trump slept with a porn star, paid her for it, or covered it up.  Sex work happened, I have no problem with that, and it’s his and her business, not mine.  I am not particularly up in arms about the campaign finance laws aspect, but I do think such laws should be enforced when possible, because cheating on those is already bad enough.

    Still, anything that makes Trump’s life harder is good for the country.  For all I think he’s a symptom and not the cause, so is a zit, and you want its pus cleaned up as fast as possible.

    @prostratedragon:

    Kudzu likes to be the only living thing in its biome.  It does not share.

    @sanjeevs:

    not a single Republican has been indicted for Jan 6th

    They’re not going to be.  It’s pretty god damn hard to prove anybody who wasn’t part of breaking in actually thought it would happen instead of just running their mouth.  I could see Trump getting nailed for refusing to send help, maybe.

    There are reasonable legal expectations and unreasonable.  Some of the ones facing Trump are very reasonable indeed.  I think he’s screwed on the documents, but it’s going to look like nothing’s happening until he’s suddenly in court and it’s obvious he’s done for.

  80. 80.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I imagine it would not be very difficult to prove to a judge that the security risks of incarcerating a former president are too great, and some kind of home detention, at his expense, (here, a non-lawyer’s speculation becomes semi-snark) maybe in the least pleasant of the (as I understand it) three homes in Palm Beach. Essentially as a nation we would give the giant toddler a time out, with no golf.

  81. 81.

    columbusqueen

    I always believed Trump paid Stormy off to keep her quiet about how unimpressive Little Donnie was. The more a man boasts, the less he’s really got to show.

  82. 82.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I think he’s screwed on the documents, but it’s going to look like nothing’s happening until he’s suddenly in court and it’s obvious he’s done for.

    IANAL, but what if his defense attorney just says “They all do it. Look at Biden.” Again, they only need one, and I believe defense lawyers have pretty wide latitude as to the arguments and evidence they can present. Lawyers?

  83. 83.

    Ruckus

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I think he’s gone way too far and I’ve seen way to far before this. But instigating a Federal insurrection and attempting to fix an election for the president, seems just a tad to far. I’m not sure the country can remain standing if he isn’t tried. The right will go crazier and the left will be left trying to figure out how to have one country this divided over a complete bug fuck nutty deranged asshole.

  84. 84.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    what if his defense attorney just says “They all do it. Look at Biden.”

    The DoJ lays out the vast mountain of evidence they have that Trump did it deliberately, and indeed fought hard against every attempt to let him return the documents with no prejudice.  For us, it kinda blends into a hazy memory mush of malfeasance.  For the jury it’s going to be day after day of “And here is another way Trump broke the law.”  I’m not worried about the jury pool, either.  I was at first, but Trump has been facing court cases, and losing them.  I guess the jury pool picking system works in practice.

  85. 85.

    Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)

    March 17th is Ms. Daniels’s birthday. No idea of her age, and it would be ungentlemanly to inquire. Raise a toast to her for her adding another part to the sordid Drumph story.

  88. 88.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: There is no evidence that Biden or Pence obstructed the investigations, moved the documents, had their people lie on sworn affidavits etc.  Prosecutors really on statutes that are quite specific.  They will be happy to show, in detail,  all the ways that Trump violated various criminal statutes but Biden and Pence did not.

  90. 90.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @UncleEbeneezer: Yes, the crime is not in having classified documents; it is in intentionally keeping them after you discover that you have them.*

    *Extremely simplified.

  91. 91.

    Ruckus

    @columbusqueen:

    SFB’s problem is that he’s the rich boy who is incapable of doing any thing whatsoever positive. Nothing, zero, hell has frozen over low, coal miners couldn’t find any thing positive in his life or on any trail he’s left because he’s about a million times worse than useless. He’s the bull in the china shop who’s convinced that he’s supposed to steal the toilet paper when he’s in the museum that houses the worlds largest diamond but he’s so bad he sets off the fire alarm trying to get toilet paper off the roll because he can’t figure out how to.

  92. 92.

    Regine Touchon

    @WaterGirl:

    @WaterGirl: Yes this should be a bigger deal. Governor Kemp is slyer than DeSantis. He does the suppression of our democracy on the low down. Let’s look into this and see if we can help Georgia Dems in any way.

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