Posted originally on the CTH on April 3, 2024 | Sundance
Before getting into the weeds, here’s the big picture baseline. All
documents and records created within the executive branch are created for the benefit of the head of the Executive Branch, the president.
There is no entity, organization, assembly, institution, person or individual, above the President of the United States. The president holds absolute power and absolute immunity. Everyone within the executive branch works at the pleasure of the president, and all work products are created for his administration. This is the plenary power of the president.
The entire documents case in Florida rests on the principle that another entity supersedes the president within the executive branch. Some unknown, unnamed bureaucracy can override the president and decide for themselves what would be called a “presidential record” and what would be called “classified information.”
Jack Smith, Norm Eisen (pictured left, red tie) and Andrew Weissmann each argue that some other entity rests atop the president and can make this decision.
Judge Aileen Cannon has not determined which constitutional argument is correct, and has told the parties to create jury instructions both ways. The Lawfare crew of Smith, Eisen and Weissmann are going bananas.
[…] Cannon’s first scenario would allow the jury to make a factual determination about whether a former president deemed a record to be personal or official under the PRA. That is nonsensical – presidents are not allowed to designate official records as personal ones, so there is no factual issue for a jury to resolve.
A different set of laws govern the classification process and the rules for handling highly sensitive classified documents — not the PRA. They include Executive Order 13526. One of the authors of this column (Eisen) helped write that executive order. The 11th Circuit has already established that those rules fully apply to former presidents.
Cannon seems to think that the PRA somehow supersedes the executive order and the rest of federal law pertaining to the handling of classified materials. It does not. On the contrary, the PRA defines “personal records” as “all documentary materials … of a purely private or nonpublic character which do not relate to or have an effect upon the carrying out of the constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties of the President.” That cannot possibly include highly classified battle plans, nuclear secrets and the other official documents at issue in this criminal prosecution.
That rules out Cannon’s first hypothetical. But as Smith points out in his filing, the second alternative is just as bad. She made up a legal standard, asking both sides to assume that Trump could have deemed a record personal by simply not including it with the records transmitted to the National Archives and Records Administration at the end of his term. If this were true, the mere fact that Trump took the documents with him from the White House would inherently turn them into personal records.
Of course, Trump leaped at this interpretation, fashioning proposed jury instructions that would inevitably result in his acquittal. But, as Smith noted, this approach has no basis in the law — or the facts. Even Trump himself does not seem to have considered classified documents personal after he left the White House, as evidenced in an audio recording CNN obtained last year in which Trump, during a conversation at his Bedminster, New Jersey, estate in 2021, discussed documents remaining classified even though he took them with him upon leaving office. Smith hits this point hard, arguing that Trump’s position that records are personal was “invented” when the controversy over the documents began to emerge in February 2022, over a year after Trump left the White House. (read more)
Posted originally on Mar 25, 2024 By Martin Armstrong
COMMENT: Marty, you are one hell of a strategic lawyer. The NY Supreme Court either reads you or realizes that this AG will bankrupt the city if she starts seizing property and Trump wins in the appellate courts. It’s just brilliant. Let them sell his properties that will collapse in price and then sue for the original value.
You should be on our board.
All the best
UT
ANSWER: The New York State Supreme Court is probably getting negative feedback from the major banks and companies in NYC. I can confirm that people are exiting NYC because of this case. I would have preferred that they seized the property, sold it for $1, and then I would own NYC for a song. It was the perfect hedge. They would become liable for the maximum value so that it would have been selling at the top, and the government would have been the buyer.
As they say, you must be VERY careful about what you wish for.
They were trying to consume all of his cash to drain his ability to run in the 2024 election
Posted originally on the CTH on March 25, 2024 | Sundance
President Trump delivered remarks and took questions from the narrative engineers following a day in court defending against another Lawfare case.
Each case is intended to bleed the candidate of financial resources, overwhelm the psyche of his supporters and keep the target under attack. Sound familiar? It should. This is Alinsky tactics right from the rulebook, Rules for Radicals. Isolate, ridicule, marginalize.
Rule #13 “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.”
1. “Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.” Power is derived from 2 main sources – money and people. “Have-Nots” must build power from flesh and blood.
2. “Never go outside the expertise of your people.” It results in confusion, fear and retreat. Feeling secure adds to the backbone of anyone.
3. “Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.” Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty.
4. “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules.
5. “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.
6. “A good tactic is one your people enjoy.” They’ll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They’re doing their thing and will even suggest better ones.
7. “A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.” Don’t become old news.
8. “Keep the pressure on. Never let up.” Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new.
9. “The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.” Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist.
10. “The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.” It is this unceasing pressure that results in the reactions from the opposition that are essential for the success of the campaign.
11. “If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive.” Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog.
12. “The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.” Never let the enemy score points because you’re caught without a solution to the problem.
13. “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.
Posted originally on the CTH on March 25, 2024 | Sundance
The New York State appeals court waited until the last minute to intervene and rule substantial modifications to the lower court ruling. [SEE pdf Here]
The timing here is transparently political. The court could have intervened earlier with this decision but appears to have preferred to allow the Lawfare narrative the maximum amount of time to permeate the anti-Trump news cycle. However, faced with the reality of a full appellate review later this year collapsing and reversing the underlying case, the NY court had few options other than timing their intervention.
The appeals court lowered the bond amount to the maximum possible in real terms. Meaning the demand for a $454 million bond was never sustainable, explainable, or legally comprehensible under all precedent. In reality it was an impossible bond for any organization to obtain, and ultimately that issue was going to lead to massive legal consequences within the New York state legal system. They might hate Trump, but without intervention New York would be collapsing their corporate business structure.
The lower court ruling was stayed, and the bond was lowered to an obtainable $175 million for the appeal. The lower court ruling against Trump organization officers was also stayed, allowing the corporate leadership of the various Trump organization LLCs to remain as they are. All of the substantive elements of Judge Engoron’s verdict were stayed, pending appeal.
Attorney General Letitia James was left only with a public relations narrative to sell, saying in part, “the $464 million judgment — plus interest — against Donald Trump and the other defendants still stands.” Duh, pending appeal – which is transparently obvious and the point therein.
Once again, Lawfare at its root is a narrative weapon used primarily to sway public opinion. AG James statement in response to the appeals court intervention is essentially an affirmation of this reality.
Appearing in New York to defend against another Lawfare operation, President Trump spoke briefly to the media after the ruling was made public.
The hardline leftists always end up with a case of the ‘outcome sads’, because they do not accept the nature of Lawfare intent. However, the non-sheeple democrats and independents are eyes-wide-open to how this Lawfare nonsense works. Hence, President Trump climbing in the polling.
“It’s the beginning of the end.” or “The walls are closing in.” or, “__ fill in the blank __.”
Politico – […] The ruling — issued by a panel of the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court — means the civil fraud case could remain effectively frozen through the November election. The panel told Trump’s lawyers to prepare his case to be presented at the court’s September term, and any decision on the merits of the appeal could take weeks or months. (More)
Posted originally on the CTH on March 24, 2024 | Sundance
Eric Trump runs the day-to-day operations of the Trump organization. Today Eric Trump appeared with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the ongoing battle with the state of New York as Attorney General Letitia James threatens to seize Trump assets. WATCH:
Posted originally on the CTH on March 22, 2024 | Sundance
The Eighth Amendmentprohibits cruel and unusual punishments, but also mentions “excessive fines” and bail. The “excessive fines” clause surfaces (among other places) in cases of civil and criminal forfeiture. [TEXT and SOURCE]
In New York state, Attorney General Letitia James, in coordination with New York Judge Arthur Engoron, are seeking to continue the targeting of President Donald Trump with a series of financial judgements, penalties and control mechanisms intended to isolate the leading 2024 Republican presidential candidate from his wealth.
As if something akin to the John Galt character in Atlas Shrugged was coming to life, no American individual has ever faced this level of intentional weaponization of power. If the state appellate court does not intervene, I predict a federal judge will have to get involved. The reason is simple; the State of New York is clearly violating the 8th Amendment, and despite the compromised judiciary, the scale of overreach is even beyond the ability of the pretending judicial system to overlook it.
Perhaps, oddly, despite my intense anger toward these creatures of corruption, I fear not for the final outcome. I fully accept that a righteous and loving God has favor upon Mr. Trump, and there is a protection around him. It is a feeling, a sense about things, that is difficult to explain beyond, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper.”
NEW YORK – The New York attorney general’s office has filed judgments in Westchester County, the first indication that the state is preparing to try to seize Donald Trump’s golf course and private estate north of Manhattan, known as Seven Springs.
State lawyers entered the judgments with the clerk’s office in Westchester County on March 6, just one week after Judge Arthur Engoron made official his $464 million decision against Trump, his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization.
[…] Trump now has four days to satisfy the judgment or sway an appeals court to allow him to post a smaller amount or defer posting the payment until after the appeal.
[…] The attorney general’s office on Wednesday said that it’s common for large companies to post billion-dollar bonds and suggested Trump should have posted real estate with the court.
“The suggestion is both impractical and unjust. The Attorney General cites no New York case law to support this contention. In any event, from the perspective of risk, the Attorney General’s proposal of a ‘court-appointed officer’ to ‘hold real estate’ is functionally equivalent to what Supreme Court has already imposed through the requirement of a court-appointed monitor to oversee Defendants’ business operations,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
[…] “By demanding an undertaking in the full amount of the judgment in order to appeal, the Attorney General and Supreme Court have sought to impose a patently unreasonable, unjust, and unconstitutional (under both the Federal and New York State Constitutions) bond condition,” they wrote.
[…] Thursday, Engoron expanded the role of the monitor overseeing the Trump Organization to include more expansive oversight of Trump’s real estate business’ internal financial practices.
[…] “The Trump Organization shall inform the monitor, in advance, of any efforts to secure surety bonds, including any financial disclosures requested or required, any information provided in response to such requests, any representations made by Trump Organization in connection with securing such bonds any personal guarantees made by any of the defendants, and any obligations of the Trump Organization required by the surety,” the judge ordered.
Engoron laid out a timeline of certain steps the Trumps must take within the next month, including providing the monitor, retired Judge Barbara Jones, with full access to its day-to-day financial operations. (more)
Keep in mind, the original civil charge against President Trump revolves around inverting a state statute intended to protect the consumer from predatory lending. To construct her case, AG James had to reverse the statute and make President Trump a predatory borrower, despite the lenders saying they had no issue with the paperwork used by President Trump to secure reconciled bank loans.
All the banks and lenders did their own due diligence on the financing in question. All operational loans and business loans were paid back. There were no defaults or banking interests adversely impacted. There are no victims of what the State calls “fraud,” yet activist judge Engoron ruled against Donald Trump and triggered a fine of nearly half a billion dollars.
Additionally, New York Attorney General Latisha James campaigned for office with promises to target the Trump Organization and Donald Trump himself. This is transparent and malicious Lawfare in the extreme, and every member of the legal profession, sans ideological leftists/communists, calls it exactly that.
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