Former President Donald Trump’s Thursday courtroom tirade could backfire, legal experts warn.
Trump attorney Chris Kise asked Judge Arthur Engoron, who is overseeing Trump’s New York fraud trial, to allow Trump to speak on his own behalf during closing arguments. Engoron asked Trump if he would agree to stick to the facts and relevant law but the former president launched into a lengthy diatribe, accusing the judge and New York Attorney General Letitia James of waging a “political witch hunt” and demanding “damages” because the real “fraud is on me.”
During one portion of his rant, Trump referred to a key allegation in James’ lawsuit alleging that the former president’s Trump Tower penthouse was valued at three times larger than it actually is.
“They made a mistake. It was an honest mistake,” Trump said.
James’ team allowed Trump to speak until the judge ultimately shut him down and pleaded for Kise to “control your client.”
“There may be a reason that James’ staff didn’t interrupt,” wrote NBC News legal analyst Lisa Rubin. “The AG’s office may have struck gold because some of what Trump said was so damaging to him, especially his explanation of the triplex square footage ‘error.’”
His entire personality and life constitutes a major argument against inherited wealth. He knew that he was set to inherit a ton of money and a business that would enable him to coast through his whole life and never bothered to develop maturity or intellectual curiosity.
The thing is, he could’ve just put that stuff in a trust fund and lived off interest/dividends/whatever. But he just had to go into business, screw people over, and then do the same in politics.
And then become a very disloyal American neofascist, who is also a megolomaniac who craves power and attention, and a convicted sex offender.
Have to wonder what the motive is. If I didn’t need food, water, shelter, etc. getting out of bed before noon would be a hard sell.
Are you a sociopathic narcissist? I think that might be the only motivation.
I hate Cheeto chimp … but, for the record, he’s not convicted. It wasn’t a criminal case, it was civil.
Do you really think that very disloyal American neofascist Treason Trump cares about stuff like that?
Sure. He could have even just hired competent people to run it and stayed out of their way, even entered politics earlier. I assume probably he wanted the chance to be an asshole to people in person, since he clearly has this huge angst. Also he’s a poster child for Dunning-Kreuger - he has absolutely no idea how dumb he is, so he thought he would be the best and only choice to run his businesses.
Living reasonably isn’t possible for greedy narcissistic sociopaths.
Yep. Is “Certified Idiot” a new kind of career?
Only if you are white and rich.
It’s been 9 years of these headlines. Christ. I’ve heard this shit so many times.
I’ll second this motion.
Of course Trump wanted to do one of his usual “omg witch hunt” speeches. He didn’t seem to realize that the trial was already over, and in the penalty phase, or that the speech would not be on TV. The email chain between Trump’s incompetent lawyer (who had previously been reported on as one of his ‘good’ ones) was hilarious but also just sad, I mean, the guy can’t even be bothered to capitalize words starting sentences and the request to ‘delay until Jan 29th because Melania’s parent died’ is ludicrously transparent. Anyway, his lawyer needs to be fined or formally censured some more.
I am convinced his 'incompetent" lawyers are just a means for appeal. He will say his defense was inadequate and that his lawyers did not do their due diligence to give adequate defense or some such bullshit.
I’m not sure “I’m such a fucking deadbeat that no reputable lawyer will go near me” is a winning proposition.
I didn’t say it would work but at this point, I think everything is on the table for this shit show.
So appoint a public defender! 🤣😂🤣🤣
To me it feels like the lawyer was trying to make sure Trump wouldn’t be allowed to do the speech (because allowing your client to talk is always bad), but couldn’t convince him to do it himself. So he tried to get the judge to do it for him (and eventually failed anyway).
Perhaps, and also some of the emails practically read like they were dictated by Trump. I doubt if the lawyer has 100% control since surely Trump insists on things and tries to micromanage it himself.
I saw a pundit claim that you can tell some stuff was pasted in because it was in a different job, so wouldn’t surprise me.
Wouldn’t put it past TFG to kill an in-law (or even a blood relative) in an effort to delay just a bit longer.
I’m willing to bet he didn’t even know she was still alive.
Most likely… Unless she owed him money.
He knows he’s lost the case, and has nothing left to lose. He might as well try to make the whole thing political. He’s backed in ca corner & his only hope is to become president again. (Notice I didn’t say win the election. Winning would be great, but the means is unimportant to him)
I’ll believe it when he’s sentenced.
I’ll second this motion
The sentence, “Former President Donald Trump’s Thursday courtroom tirade could backfire,” is so fucking funny. I’m sorry, was this a strategy?? Did a team of legal experts come up with a plan which included a senile fascist screaming at a judge for 6 minutes? Did that seem like it was going to go in his favor???
Apparently so. Rolling Stone ran an article where they claim to have been informed by sources that the rant was rehearsed.
According to two people familiar with the matter who spoke to Rolling Stone, in recent weeks Trump had told several close allies of his intention to personally deliver a closing argument, and at times previewed some of the things he wanted to say before the judge. One of the sources describes it as the ex-president informally “rehearsing” his spite-filled court monologue for his friends.
This idiot thinks he’s in a courtroom drama.
Bootleg Hitler just practicing his speeches like real Hitler
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I’m not denying he’s bootleg Hitler, but that’s an odd simile to make. What politician doesn’t practice their speeches?
It’s not supposed to be a speech in a closing argument. Like, that’s contempt of court territory!
There is a well known speech by hitler after his trial (IIRC for treason) which halve owed support for him because of his oration.
I saw it pointed out elsewhere that they may have been hoping the judge would lose his cool in some manner that would warrent an appeal or retrial.
I don’t see that mattering since they were always going to appeal. Trump has never quietly accepted a consequence in his life, why would he start now.
On the other hand, you may be right: These are some mighty incompetent defense lawyers, and they may have thought this would help.
Basically any case right now is a SCOTUS case, and that’s a stacked deck.
So that’s fun.
Not this one - it’s a civil case on the state of NY.
If Trump is actually convicted, I wouldn’t be surprised if the oligarchy that owns the SCOTUS decides to cut him loose completely. The SCOTUS can just decline to hear any appeals and leave him out with the laundry.
How do you still have optimism?
we’re huffing the good copium.
I remember pointing out, that Trump was a millstone around the GOP, and they lost their chance to be rid of him with the second impeachment. If they had convicted him… he’d go away and they’d now be running somebody else against Biden. and probably win.
The problem with the SCOTUS avoiding responsibility on the issue is that it will up to each state to decide whether he should be on the ballet. Only blue states will abide by the constitution and keep him off. It won’t make a difference to the outcome, but it will feed the magats accusations of a rigged election.
“I’m getting paid. Let the idiot lose.”
If they think they’re getting paid, I would argue that they’re also idiots
Show of hands, please.
How many people have gotten into trouble at work over a $30.00 error?
When I worked in fast food if we were off on our tills by more than $0.05 per $100 we were fired on the spot.
Sams club in highschool. They used janky things to count bills- by weight. The thing is, a new bill weighs substantially more than an old bill.
Enough that across 500 in 20’s because they didn’t come around early as often as they’re supposed to, it’s enough to be off by a few bills. Never mind all the ones.
They spent weeks arguing, insisting we were stealing- every single cashier was on average off by about the same margins. The same margin, incidentally, that was the margin of error on the machines…
We counted our bills by hand luckily, but there were more than a few occasions where some change ended up getting shuffled about in the tray which led to some errors
The worst was seeing someone get fired and then when the new till was being put in we figured out the $20 bill that was missing got caught in the register some time during the day
or the cash office people, were the ones looting it the entire time. They had their fingers in every one’s drawers and got to see all the camera angles.
Shit covered money weighs more too, what kind of smooth brained fuckboi MBA thought this was a good idea?
the kind that winds up working for Walmart Inc.
The kind of asshole that creates a reason to fire anyone at anytime they feel like it, even if the state laws are not “at will”, and if they are, they save on unemployment insurance.
Back in the 80s my McD manager was an ex-Marine, real tough guy type. Chewed out a poor, dumb 16-yo over a $10 discrepancy, accused me of stealing it, threatened to fire me.
LOL, I was scared to death but I managed to stutter something like, “$10 is less than 3-hours pay. Why would I risk my job over what I make in half a shift?”
The amount of power tripping assholes in the fast food industry is astounding
I saw my fair share of them in the almost 3 years I worked at Burger King
Even at 16, I was thinking, “If you made it through the Marine Corp, fuck are you doing as an assistant manager at McDonalds bossing around high school kids?”
I’m a former Marine and the Corps is really bad at preparing a person for life after serving, especially if they are in combat arms. Also some of the dumbest people I’ve met were Marines and they usually made rank because promotions are heavily based on physical fitness and rifle score, and not on technical expertise or leadership skills.
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$30 error gets you in trouble.
$650,000 error, you phone up the vendor and laugh about it.I was fired from a job over an error of about that much. After working there for 5 years.
Then they fought me on unemployment. The judge was not amused with them
No, but I was almost shot in the back over a matter of $80. Thankfully, some guy in a pastel leather jacket named Clint Eastwood helped me out.
That’s heavy, did a horse throw a shoe or something?
So, the jacket was named Clint Eastwood. Did you get the man’s name, too?
So if Clint was good, and your manager bad.
What does that make you?
I had a boss jump down my ass for buying a $3.00 web cam to allow for our radio show hosts to see each other during a broadcast.
No errors, but when I was a cashier at Kroger I got in trouble because I wasn’t doing my job fast enough
If your till was off by $20 or more, including overages, at the theater they would review the footage for your shift. If it was if an accident you’d get written up. Deliberate you’d be fired and possibly charged if it was enough.
That poor stenographer having to dictate all that bullshit
I’d sue for damages if I were them.
Maybe we can all do a damages class action suit for… like all of 2016 through 2020
2016-2024. I fixed it for you
Not american here, but let me join that class-action
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It’s just a witch hunt. They have ulterior motives. They are deep state setting me up. They can’t see the real truth. Only I do.
Am I missing anything else?
Just FYI, it’s “ulterior”. It’s one of the weird ones.
Dammit. Thanks.
If you elect me ill ‘take care’ of them. Wink wink (he says the wink wink part out loud now)
The nihilism of legal consequences has so far come from the lack of charging him with anything, mostly when he was president and the policy was not to charge him with anything. He hasn’t actually gotten away with anything that has gone to court.
He lost the E Jean Carroll suit and the Trump Corp fraud case. The other stuff is still ongoing.
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91 criminal charges
4 independent grand jury indictments.
Yeah. I’ll take that bet.
One would think that with all the litigation this man has been involved in throughout his life, he’d have sense enough to STFU. Especially in a trial where he’s already been found liable and is in the penalty phase.
More evidence that some form of dementia has set in, and is getting worse. Irrational anger is part of the deal.
People bag on me for saying this, but look at Trump interviews from the 80s and 90s, even the 00s. He may have been full of shit, but he could string a sentence together. You could parse meaning from his speech. Though this outburst seemed pretty straightforward, his speech over the last 2-3 years has been teetering on the edge of full-blown dementia.
I give him 2-years until he’s screaming that Nazi squirrels are stealing his acorns.
He’s never been punished, how could he learn
He’s never really had a good track record in cases that actually went to court. You can bully vendors, mistresses and customers with endless court cases, but the government has unlimited lawyers to throw at you, so that strategy doesn’t work any more.
Watch the video of his election night win at Trump Tower. Everyone is partying, he puts his head in his hands. I think he knew, at least on some level, that the game got far too serious for him. As you said, “unlimited lawyers”.
And speaking of, I eat insurrectionist tears for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Nothing is stopping the FBI and DOJ. Every. Single. Day. Another one goes down. I’m here for it.
Good that means they’ll be out of my yard and I can finally plant my acorns…
Especially in a trial where he’s already been found liable and is in the penalty phase
You forget that all this is playing for his base who he keeps telling that he’s innocent and will ultimately be found innocent… They still think there’s a chance he can win this and completely ignore the fact that the ruling has been made already against him
You’re right! And I do forget that to my chagrin.
Playing to his base almost worked on 01/06. He’s all in betting this election. No choice but to push in the whole pot and double down, no draw, win or lose.
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He’s incapable of just shutting the fuck up. His personality disorders won’t allow it.
Can we name narcissism stupidity “Trump syndrome”?
surely if Lou Gehrig was famous enough to define ALS, the stank orange fart is famous enough to represent all narcissists everywhere
This doesn’t matter. Even the justice system keeps moving the goal posts for this guy.
They can’t even hold him in contempt or institute an effective gag order.
Brilliant play, Justice Engoron.
"Former federal prosecutor Kristy Greenberg, who was in the courtroom, told CNN she was stunned to “see somebody have so much disrespect” for the judge and the court.
"The attacks on — the personal attacks on the judge — this is a judge who had a bomb threat this morning. That’s why the amount of security that was in the courthouse was unlike anything I have seen. and I have been other days when various Trump family members have testified, and this was heightened. They were very concerned about threats,” she said.
"I’m waiting for the judge to tell him ‘You’re done and if you continue you’ll be held in contempt!’” she added. “That’s what happened to me and any other lawyers happening in courts and it was not done.”
Engoron is expected to issue a ruling by Jan. 31."
I think it was doubly-brilliant by Engoron because now Orange Hitler can’t say he didn’t get a chance to speak.
Pretty sure he’ll still say it.
When has reality ever mattered to him (or his supporters) before?
“There may be a reason that James’ staff didn’t interrupt,” wrote NBC News legal analyst Lisa Rubin.
No, really? You think maybe they were giving him rope to hang himself? /s
This expert analysis brought to you by the best legal analysts at NBC. FFS, of course that’s what they were doing, you ignoramus. The judge is interested in maintaining an orderly courtroom, but unhinged rants are gold mines for prosecutors.
The articles in news are often written for a wide range of readers. Not all of whom understand it like you. Certainly I imagine many republicans probably have trouble even reading 🫢
I was discussing GOP obstructionism with a MAGoo last night. He brought up a 1980 Government shutdown caused by the evil Dems. A quick search showed that it was caused by an arcane law, and exactly one agency was affected.
So, the guy knew all about this tiny hiccup from five decades ago, but couldn’t see things that happened in the last few months.
They can read, but with selective blindness.
No, that chud didn’t even read that. Bet you dollars to donuts his propaganda outlet of choice told him that it’s not bad for Republicans to shut down the government because a Democratic Congress did it before. Of course, they’ll leave out all context and nuance so they can scream BSABSVR.
They didn’t even give him rope! The man got his own damn rope manufactured in China, planted a seed, watered it for 20 years, and then hung himself!
Never interrupt your opponent while they’re making a mistake.
Bet on your opponent’s arrogance like in this scene from :
A Few Good Men, Starring : Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, …
… Finally, he bellows with contempt that he ordered the “code red”. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Few_Good_MenThe goddamn code red
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