Bragg Manhattan DA charges tfg? Hush money. tfg “INDICATED!”

[Gregg]

Barr: The federal government has never pursued this, uh either when I was in office.. they never brought it to me as a potential case against the president

And why would they when it's known that the AG couldn't persue a case against a sitting president?

Barr is a master of saying things like that and then twisting reality by NOT saying part of it. Or dancing around a thing like he's too stupid to know what simple words mean, as he did in his confirmation hearing. He's one of my all time villains, along with Mitch McConnell.

[humblescribe]

Gregg,

I have not seen any indication that the payments to Cohen as reimbursements for Stormy and others were actually deducted on tax returns as business expenses. It is certainly not uncommon for partnerships and LLCs to make payments on behalf of one or more of the owners but charge those payments off as personal distributions instead of business expenses. Those payments only affect the owner's capital account.

I am not saying you are wrong. It is just that I have not seen that sort of inference floating about the interwebs.

[p0rtia]

TFG characterized the payments to Cohen as legal fees pursuant to a retainer agreement that did not exist. That's the falsification of records. State/Federal law.

The payments are also the campaign contribution violations; based on the well-established principle that hush money payments, when e made to keep someone quiet so that the voters will not hear negative stories, are an illegal campaign contribution (because they were not reported as a campaign contribution). Federal law.

Hence the quandary of Bragg, who can't charge the Federal case (fuck you, Merrick Garland). And it has the talking heads all a twitter about whether or not he can successfully upgrade the misdemeanor to a felony by saying the falsification of records was involved in another crime,w which is Federal.

cf Lots of theories about how Bragg doesn't have to prosecute the "other crime", just state that it happened. Heads saying "Bragg can't point to an uncharged Federal crime"; other heads saying, "Why not?"; and still other heads say8ing "Cohen was convicted in part for that illegal campaign contribution."

Non of which would be a problem if F.U. Garland had done his job.

[p0rtia]

Mark Pomerantz's reply to Jordan's subpoena and Bragg's TRO.

Good stuff--skip to (7) for the high point.

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap ... 5.31.0.pdf

[Dave from down under]

[MN-Skeptic]

[AndyinPA]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/allen-weis ... from-jail/

Allen Weisselberg, the former Trump Organization chief financial officer who pleaded guilty to tax fraud and other crimes, was released from jail Wednesday, records show.

Weisselberg spent 100 days in New York City's Rikers Island jail, beginning in January, serving more than two-thirds of his five month sentence, after appearing as the star witness for prosecutors in the corporation's tax fraud trial. Two Trump Organization companies were found guilty of 17 counts related to tax fraud and other charges on Dec. 6, 2022

[somerset]

Since I wondered what a Gomberg Inquiry was, I figure others may have the same question:

Screen Shot 2023-04-19 at 11.09.21 AM.png (108.22 KiB) Viewed 1961 times

http://www.nylawz.com/uploads/9/4/2/0/9 ... _names.pdf

[Kendra]

FILINGS:
@ManhattanDA
seeks order barring Donald Trump access to certain documents in his criminal case for fear he may mishandle them—think Mar-a-Lago, the DA says—or attack people with them.

Trump's counsel rejected such an order, DA says.

[chancery]

[Twitter quote/link deleted; relevant portions quoted below

Manhattan DA Bragg's office turns up heat on Trump's attorney Joe Tacopina, pushing for more information about whether he has a conflict of interest involving Stormy Daniels.

Tacopina denies it.

Daniels at the time had been represented by Michael Avenatti, who was a cable news darling, Twitter celebrity, and rumored presidential hopeful before his coast-to-coast prosecution for serial fraud.

Lemon, however, said that Daniels approached Tacopina first on the hush money matter.

“So before being represented by Avenatti, Stormy approached you about representation,” Lemon noted. “Did you get any impression that she may have signed NDA under duress and was she afraid for her physical safety?”

Tacopina did not dispute Lemon’s assertion.

“Yes, of course, and I can’t really talk about my impressions or any conversations we had because there is an attorney-client privilege that attaches even to a consultation,” Tacopina answered.



On Tuesday, Tacopina told CNN that his 2018 interview comments “lacked clarity” and he said that he referenced an attorney-client privilege in the TV appearance “to terminate the inquiry, because someone on Stormy Daniel’s behalf did ask whether I would represent her, and I did not wish to discuss the matter on television.”

“However, those circumstances do not give rise to an attorney-client relationship in any form,” Tacopina said Tuesday.

If what Tacopina says now is true, I don't think he has attorney/client relationship issues with Clifford. But he was a horse's ass to have said what he said in 2018. What you say about someone you don't represent is "I don't represent her."

[Foggy]

But he said that:

1. He got the impression that Ms. Clifford signed the non-disclosure agreement under duress, which is a very serious allegation implying possible violence, and

2. He got the impression that Ms. Clifford was afraid for her personal safety, which is even more serious about possible violence, and

3. He said he "can't" talk about his consultation with Ms. Clifford, and he volunteered that the reason he couldn't talk about it was attorney-client privilege.

I can’t really talk about my impressions or any conversations we had because there is an attorney-client privilege that attaches even to a consultation,” Tacopina answered.

Given all that, I suspect he's got a conflict.

[chancery]

If what Tacopina says now is true

It wouldn't surprise me if it turned out that he had not in fact received any client confidences in 2018, and was just bullshitting on TV to make himself look important, someone with the inside dope, the lawyer that everyone wants to hire. It looked pretty sleazy in 2018, because he seemed to be teasing purported client confidences while in the same breath claiming the privilege.*

But I certainly don't have any inside dope.

_________
* However, if prior to his interview there had already been public chatter about the NDA being signed under duress and Clifford's fear for her safety, it's possible that he was trying to say, "Yes, that's been reported, but I can't say anything about it." Not so sleazy, but sloppy.

[Kendra]

NEW: The judge presiding over Trump's criminal case has ordered Joe Tacopina to turn over his communications with Stormy Daniels & disclose what information from Daniels he has shared with Trump.

I am unable to access the link.

[Phoenix520]

Tacopina looks like the dictionary definition of a goombah. I hate to say it for many reasons, one of which is that I’m of Italian descent myself.

But come on, doesn’t his face scream Mafia at you?

[Kriselda Gray]

Tacopina looks like the dictionary definition of a goombah. I hate to say it for many reasons, one of which is that I’m of Italian descent myself.

But come on, doesn’t his face scream Mafia at you?

Oh yeah. It's not just his looks, though, it's his mannerisms, the way he presents himself, his attitude, things like that.

[Dave from down under]

That he is working for “The Boss”…

[Foggy]

Cohen thought he was, or pretended to be, a Russian mafia lawyer. Trump likes the mafia typecast look.

[p0rtia]

[Dr. Ken]

Tacopina looks like the dictionary definition of a goombah. I hate to say it for many reasons, one of which is that I’m of Italian descent myself.

But come on, doesn’t his face scream Mafia at you?

The picture just screams one big long EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[chancery]

NEW: The judge presiding over Trump's criminal case has ordered Joe Tacopina to turn over his communications with Stormy Daniels & disclose what information from Daniels he has shared with Trump.

I am unable to access the link.

Law360 is marketed to the legal profession, and it's heavily paywalled.

[Kendra]

NEW: The judge presiding over Trump's criminal case has ordered Joe Tacopina to turn over his communications with Stormy Daniels & disclose what information from Daniels he has shared with Trump.

I am unable to access the link.

Law360 is marketed to the legal profession, and it's heavily paywalled.

TY.

[Gregg]

Tacopina looks like the dictionary definition of a goombah. I hate to say it for many reasons, one of which is that I’m of Italian descent myself.

But come on, doesn’t his face scream Mafia at you?

That or Jersey Shore

[Phoenix520]

Which I’ve never seen. Same thing though right? I’m sticking with Mafia

[Ben-Prime]

Tacopina looks like the dictionary definition of a goombah. I hate to say it for many reasons, one of which is that I’m of Italian descent myself.

But come on, doesn’t his face scream Mafia at you?

The Sub-Par-nos.

[W. Kevin Vicklund]

Goomba?