Hush money isn't illegal, it's 'democracy,' Trump lawyer says in defiant trial opening statements
Hush money isn't illegal, it's 'democracy,' Trump lawyer says in defiant trial opening statements
Opening statements in Donald Trump's hush-money trial began Monday. A prosecutor said the case is about a "criminal conspiracy and a coverup."
- Opening statements began in Donald Trump's hush-money trial on Monday.
- Trump faces 34 felony counts for falsifying business records in the historic case.
- "This case is about a criminal conspiracy and a coverup," ADA Matthew Colangelo said.
Opening arguments in Donald Trump's historic criminal trial got underway on Monday with a prosecutor describing the case as being about a "criminal conspiracy," while a defense attorney for the former president likened hush-money payments to "democracy."
"This case is about a criminal conspiracy and a coverup," Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo told the 12-person Manhattan jury in the hush-money trial.
Prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office allege Trump illegally falsified business records by covering up a $130,000 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Unfortunately for him the case is actually not about paying hush money, it’s about lying about the payments in company documents and its direct impact on the election.
Sure you can give money to people, the lying about it on financial/campaign finance documents is what he’s being tried for.
Of course the media keeps calling it “hush money trial” which it is not.
It’s because Hush Money Trial is pithy. It is succinct yet distinct. Fraud Trial would be a great name if there weren’t several more of them to differentiate from, and Election Fraud Trial Relating to the Disclosure of Hush Money Payments regarding a Mushroom Shaped Erection doesn’t fit in the headline.
Erection Fraud Trial does have a ring to it, though.
Also, you shouldn’t believe Michael Cohen because he’s a liar who went to jail! (for making and then lying about illegal hush money payments for Trump, lol)
Or Stormy Daniels who is a porn star who has a grudge! (yeah, the porn star Trump made illegal hush money payments to after sleeping with her, lol)
Besides, none of what they say matters! (none of the facts matter? lol!)
Also, you should believe trump because he’s a shining beacon of truth and who’s honesty is beyond reproach.
That's not true.
He's being charged with lying on his payments and that being connected to another crime, because that radically upscales the lying crime. The other crime in question genuinely is hush money.
I'm partial to Trial for the crime he committed and his former lawyer went to prison for covering up.
I agree, it's not as pithy.
The case may not be, but another one should be maybe. Paying hush money to hide something from the voters is fraud. He's trying to deprive Americans of the information they need to make an informed decision. It's perpetrating a fraud on the US people.
They're calling it a "hush money" trial because it stands out more than "falsifying documents" trial, and that's not an unreasonable thing to do when Trump has so many different trials going on at once that is kind of hard for the public to keep it all straight.
As for the defense attorney, this is just the opening arguments, he's laying down track and trying to get certain facts on the jury's minds right up front.
Can we kill this whole concept that money is fucking speech? Shit like this is part of the reason why citizens united is a fucking train wreck.
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could pay your bills by just blabbing on the phone to your landlord for an hour? Money is speech after all.
The only people who ever pushed it as a concept were the rich, and it was never agreed upon by any of the masses. It was agreed upon by a group of judges that were likely bought by corporate interests, and most of them still sit on our highest court.
"Money talks."
"Whoa. What's it say?"
"Not literally, ya dope."
Good luck.
Biden and the DNC changed their rules so a Billionaire doesn't even have to use a PAC for insane contributions.
It's the only way he can fund his expensive campaigns (2020 was over a billion) because he can't attract small donors like actually popular candidates.
However, during a primary, the value of big donors and high-dollar bundlers is greatly reduced by federal contribution limits — it was why Biden consistently struggled, and it was why Bernie Sanders’ grassroots dollars made him such a prolific fundraiser. Biden, along with every other candidate, was limited to receiving a maximum of $5,600 from an individual or $11,200 from a couple.
That changed in mid-May, after Biden secured enough delegates to become the presumptive nominee. This status allowed the Biden campaign to create a joint fundraising agreement with the Democratic National Committee and various other committees and state parties. After inking this contract with the DNC and 26 state Democratic Party organizations, “The Biden Victory Fund” took the $5,600 contribution cap and expanded it more than 100-fold — the new committee can now accept up to $620,600 per person. Every dollar after the initial $5,600 that is given to the campaign is then shared with the DNC and various organizations that are all organizing in support of Biden’s candidacy.
If you think getting money out of politics is important, you need to fight Republicans and "moderates" like Biden.
Remember when Bill Clinton was impeached for lying about sex?
It's not about the sex it's about the lies.
Like I personally don't give a shit that Clinton had sex with an intern. If it was all informed and consensual, that should between them and his wife. Same for any president. If Biden or Trump wants someone to give him a blow job in the oval office, go for it. I genuinely don't care how the president gets their rocks off, as long as it's not illegal or rape.
But the fact that its considered bad to have sex in puritanical society, they have to lie and now its a perjury case. It's weird how we can impeach a president for lying about getting a blowjob, but we can't stop an orange fucker for making a riot happen in the capitol.
Maybe this is me starting to be mentally coherent during the second term of Dubya, but Jesus Christ. You can lock kids in cages and no one gives a shit, you can start an attempt at a coup, and almost nothing happens. But somehow a blowjob was a major scandal that harmed the next election because your VP is running.
- That didn't happen.
- And if it did, it wasn't that bad. <-- We are here
- And if it was, that's not a big deal.
- And if it is, that's not my fault.
- And if it was, I didn't mean it.
- And if I did You deserved it.
I'm pretty sure we're way further down that list
It jumps around a lot
It's more of a circle really
We’re at step 1
The problem is the falsifying records to hide the payments
"Democracy is when you give money to porn stars" - Julius Ceasar
When you give money to cover up a time when you awkwardly, briefly, floundered your body on a sex worker.
Mentioned it to his best friend, Brutus, as he was crossing the Rubicon.
The hours practicing that Hitler look at the mirror....
That's him, just toddler grunting as he's shitting himself.
I bet he has a mirror in front of his toilet so he can do both
Between practicing his Hitler gaze, sleeping in court, and bouts of shitting his diapers, it's no wonder he hasn't found much time to campaign.
Wrong...he's just trying real hard to hold it
Im I wrong to think that we (the media) should stop calling it a "hush-money" case? I think its a poor move to put more focus on the moral issues of him spending a night with a porn star and paying them to keep quiet than to focus on the fact that he falsified business records to save face during a presidential campaign.
No...and it's like Trump already won the court of opinion due to it. It's terrible messaging.
No one really cares that he banged a prostitute. Clinton was all over that too...We DO care that he committed fraud.
But reading through this...well...who cares really: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/22/trump-hush-money-trial-charges/
Instead of framing this as Trump is a terrible person who did terrible things, it's worded like he tripped on a very complex piece of legislature.
TL;DR: You made an important point.
I don't tend to mind the "hush money" framing, since that makes him sound like the mobster that he definitely is.
One of the best parts of this story is Mr Art of the Deal, the master negotiator payed a porn star to keep quiet and she wrote book.
I like this take
I think they're confusing democracy from capitalism
It's not democracy, but pay for play, hush money, and an overall culture of bribery is more American than apple pie ever was.
The prominence of Trump is just a symptom of America's long running greed disease of putting capital miles above people.
If we had altered our economy and culture not to worship at the alter of sociopathic avarice and reckless growth/metastasis, Donald Trump would have gone to jail before he was a game show host, let alone POTUS.
I'm voting for Biden to keep my conscience clean but without hope, because the sad truth is, Donald Trump absolutely represents what America is in all it's grotesque, sociopathic, schadenfreude reveling, toxic hyper-individualistic, inhuman glory.
He's like a cartoon embodiment of who we actually are as a society in practice, and why I can't stand this place, a nepo-wealth bully obsessed with wealth hoarding that's got his, knows that means he makes the rules, and fuck you 🇺🇸
This is the best summary I could come up with:
"This case is about a criminal conspiracy and a coverup," Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo told the 12-person Manhattan jury in the hush-money trial.
Prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office allege Trump illegally falsified business records by covering up a $130,000 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Interestingly, in describing the reason for the coverup of the $130,000 payment to Daniels, the prosecutor did not refer to an "alleged" sexual encounter with the adult film star whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
During his opening statements, Colangelo told jurors about a similar scheme to silence ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal, who has said that she had a nearly year-long sexual relationship with Trump beginning in 2006.
In contrast, Colangelo referred to the National Enquirer paying a Manhattan doorman $30,000 earlier in 2015 to "catch and kill" a story about "an alleged illegitimate child" of Trump that lived in the building.
"She's made hundreds of thousands of dollars," Blanche said without mentioning the "Make America Horny Again" strip club tour that the porn star embarked on after news of the hush-money scandal broke.
The original article contains 1,180 words, the summary contains 183 words. Saved 84%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
All trials should be available to the public (video, transcript, etc). Body cams on cops and court cameras, transparency is necessary for justice.
Yes, let's talk upfront about how the system is failing.
meanwhile, the ex-president can't attend the hearing on the unlicensed bond he claimed to secure for the nine-figure fraud judgment against him because he's in a different court on trial for charges of criminal falsification of records to influence an election
Just like corporate donations are "speech". Some Citizens United logic here.
Oh no. .. have his attorneys missed the point of the trial too?