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Up until now, Democrats have loved felons. The advent of Soros district attorneys and the criminal justice "reform" movement has turned felons into Democrat heroes. Just ask George Floyd. But they've done a 180 now, screaming from every mountaintop that President Trump is a 'felon,' which is highly questionable given that the case they hit him with stands a good chance of being thrown out on appeal. But they're happy enough about it, given that they achieved their political aim, which was to be able to call Trump a 'felon' and peel off a few GOP votes from him ahead...

OK, serious answers only please... I'm trying to understand exactly what felony Trump was convicted of in yesterday's verdict. Here's what I understand (please correct me if I am wrong or inaccurate in any of my interpretation) : 1) Trump was accused of a sexual affair with Porn Star Stormy Daniels almost 20 years ago. 2) 9 years later, as Trump was planning to ran for President, he had Stormy Daniels sign a non-disclosuer agreement in exchange for paying her $130,000 for her silence. 3) Trump is being charged with falsifying business records in relation to this particular payment. Now,...

It's official, the verdict is in, and the deed is done; as RedState's own Susie Moore reported only moments ago, former President Donald John Trump has been found guilty of all counts by a Manhattan jury. The next few days will be filled with discussion of this result and what will happen next. As a certain character in a certain film franchise involving gene-engineered dinosaurs famously repeated: "Hold on to your butts." One of the biggest questions is this: "How will this affect the 2024 election?" The nominations on both sides are effectively decided. Donald Trump has the delegates sewn...

If the five-woman, seven-man jury doesn't find Donald Trump guilty of the alleged bookkeeping mistakes, it will be a miracle. This is because the 55-page final jury instructions that attorneys saw only moments before the judge read them in court on Wednesday is a "directed verdict" to Trump's guilt. That's it. That's why an uncharacteristically somber Trump announced that even "Mother Teresa couldn't beat these charges." See his comments below. The "fix is in," as one notable former U.S. attorney decreed. "This is most corrupt judicial proceeding in the history of the United States," former District of Columbia U.S. Attorney...

The more time we have to look through Judge Juan Merchan's byzantine jury instructions in Donald Trump's "hush money" trial in Manhattan, the worse they look. The vague nature of the instructions has even led to disputes among legal analysts who have struggled to make sense of the case from the beginning. At Townhall, our colleague Matt Vespa has a good rundown of one of the most glaring problems with the instructions. The judge gave the jurors the unheard-of option of picking any one of three crimes that were "concealed" by the entry of "false business records" and said that...

It’s true that Trump has been charged with a non-crime and that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump has been severely undermined by his own witnesses. In fact, several Democrat experts have said Trump could be acquitted because of how bad some of the prosecution’s witnesses have been for the case. But between the partisan jury and Biden donor Judge Juan Merchan’s jury instructions, it seems likely that Trump will be found guilty. So the question is: what happens if the jury returns a guilty verdict? According to conservative radio host Mark Levin, in the event of a...

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley has been following the trial of Donald Trump in Manhattan closely. Yesterday Turley pretty much considered the prosecution's closing arguments to be a dumpster fire and also has been far from impressed by Judge Juan Merchan's handling of the trial: ...The fraud instruction alone is so generalized that it would seem to encompass any claim that the defendant sought to influence the election through his actions. Merchan has done little to tailor standard instructions for this novel and frankly troubling case...— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) May 28, 2024This morning Judge Merchan is delivering instructions...

Closing arguments in the trial of former President Donald Trump in New York City, where he is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, have concluded and Judge Juan Merchan has given the jury their instructions. The instructions were given verbally and jurors won't receive printed copies, although they can ask questions. According to legal experts, Merchan's standards for a conviction are abnormal and do not require jurors to reach a unanimous decision on the charges. Further, jurors don't have to determine what crime was committed. "Judge Merchan has ruled that the jury does not have to agree...

It's no secret that Judge Juan Merchan is a partisan judge who has exhibited prejudicial behavior against Donald Trump in his Manhattan trial, but famed lawyer and law professor Alan Dershowitz had to see for himself. He attended the Trump trial on Monday and was appalled at what he saw.Dershowitz appeared on Sean Hannity's show on Fox News Monday evening, during which he destroyed Merchan for his conduct during the testimony of Michael Cohen's former lawyer, Bob Costello. It got extremely tense at times, and Merchan even cleared the courtroom before scolding Costello over his alleged violation of decorum. “I’d...

Judge Juan Merchan gagged President Trump and his lawyers, but doesn’t gag Micheal Cohen or the prosecution. Merchan doesn’t care that the prosecution hasn’t actually shown a crime that segues to a supposed bookkeeping violation. The judge won’t allow an expert defense witness who would testify that there was clearly no campaign finance violation that would allow the prosecution to go back to the supposed hush money expenses. The judge doesn’t care that state courts have no jurisdiction over federal election laws. The judge doesn’t care how much Cohen lies on the stand. He doesn’t even care that Cohen is...

After Michael Cohen's disastrous testimony, it would seem that the case against President Trump over the bookkeeping entry in a hush-money payment case would be in tatters as it goes to the jury. Many legal eagles have said as much. But the politically partisan New York justice in this case, Juan Merchan, doesn't give up that fast and clearly wants to salvage the case. He's instructing the jury to ignore the detail about the 'underlying crime' and treat the case the same way a burglary case is treated. According to Newsweek:A hush-money payment is not illegal, and under New York...

Well, it's toilet-flushing time, with the Trump trial resuming, this time with Michael Cohen on the stand again crossed examined by the defense. Taken in line with the trial's biased judge, its corrupt district attorney, its beyond-trashy witness Stormy Daniels, Cohen managed to top them all in sheer disgustingness, openly admitting in court that he stole $30,000 from his employer like it was a good thing. According to the Associated Press: Cohen was the last witness — at least for now — for prosecutors, who are trying to prove that Trump sought to bury unflattering stories about himself and then...

You’d think a guy who lies as much as Michael Cohen would be better at it.On Thursday, under relentless cross-examination from defense lawyer Todd Blanche, Cohen drove the effort to make Donald Trump a felon for the “crime” of misclassifying accounting records over a cliff.To recap: in October 2016, Cohen paid the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 to buy her silence over her alleged affair with Trump. In 2017, Trump and his company paid Cohen $420,000, partly to reimburse Cohen for that payment. Trump is now on trial in Manhattan for 34 felony charges of “falsifying business records” because -...

Cohen’s testimony on cross-examination unraveled his claims about Trump’s motivations, a phone call he previously alleged, and his collusion with Bragg.Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s flimsy case against former President Donald Trump rests on the testimony of its star witness, convicted liar Michael Cohen. But unsurprisingly, Cohen — and his allegations against Trump — fell apart on the witness stand under cross-examination by Trump’s defense team on Thursday.Even CNN couldn’t help but admit it.“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a star cooperating witness get his knees chopped out quite as clearly and dramatically as what just happened with Michael Cohen,”...

TOWNHALL MEDIA Warning to the New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his people running the prosecution of former President Donald Trump: When you've lost Anderson Cooper, you're in trouble. Cooper commented Thursday on Trump's team cross-examining "star witness" Michael Cohen, and he wasn't happy with the outcome. Watch: WATCH: CNN’s Anderson Cooper left stunned by Trump's attorney's cross examination of Michael Cohen:"It was incredible... lawyers want to build a box around the witness & slam it shut--that's what Todd Blanche did to Cohen... it was an extraordinary cross... Cohen was cornered… in... a lie" pic.twitter.com/d3aznuKvhS— TV News Now...

Stormy Daniels is joining the long list of celebrities who have threatened to flee America because of Donald Trump. Given that Cher, Barbra Streisand, Snoop Dogg and every other Trump-hating celebrity is still stateside, Cockburn is doubtful Daniels will keep her word. In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Barrett Blade, Daniels’s porn star husband, revealed that the couple will likely leave the United States if Trump is acquitted in his hush money trial. “I know that we would like to get on with our lives,” Blade said. “I know that she wants to move past this.” Blade added his...

Even after five weeks, the Trump bookkeeping case in Manhattan is a "Potemkin Village," according to law professor Jonathan Turley. That means it has all the appearance of being real, but upon closer inspection, there's no there there. Indeed, the indictment of former President Donald Trump on 34 counts of bookkeeping errors, statute-expired misdemeanors that have been miraculously spun into a series of felonies, is the Seinfeld of criminal cases. But a jury could still find him guilty. "It's Trump," Manhattan jurors could say to themselves. "Of course, Cheeto-man must be guilty of something." But after the prosecutors told Judge...

On Monday, conservative attorney, legal scholar, and commentator Jonathan Turley weighed in on the day's testimony by Michael Cohen in the ongoing New York trial of former President Donald Trump. Mr. Turley's comments about Cohen were, to say the least, sharply pointed.Michael Cohen apparently wants a reality show but, if his testimony Monday is any indication, reality is about to sink in for not just Cohen but the prosecutors and the court.In stoking interest in his own appearance, the former Trump counsel promised the public that they should be “prepared to be surprised.” Thus far, however, Cohen has offered nothing...

Up to now, there is a winner and a loser out of this Manhattan trial. The winner is President Trump, who keeps getting stronger. The loser is New York, or the perception that the Empire State is a banana republic. Using the legal system to target political opponents is Banana Republic 101. This is from Jonathan Turley:Cohen’s testimony will be the culmination of this travesty of a trial. But Bragg already jumped the shark with Daniels. After three weeks, legal experts are still debating what the crime was that Trump was seeking to conceal by recording payments for a standard...

John Dean, former President Nixon’s White House counsel, said in an interview Saturday that the New York hush money criminal trial against former President Trump is “very powerful” ahead of highly anticipated testimony this week from Trump’s ex-fixer Michael Cohen. Dean said in a CNN interview that he has read the transcripts from the trial and thinks the prosecution has laid out a compelling case that can stand alone, independent from Cohen’s testimony. “It’s a very powerful case the government has put on in New York,” he said. “They have really filled in so many of the blanks, and they...