Free Republic

NEW YORK — New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan blamed Donald Trump’s attorney Susan Necheles in court Thursday for not sufficiently objecting in real time to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels’s detailed testimony this week — and again said Daniels’s testimony does not warrant a mistrial. In the lead-up to his ruling against a mistrial, Merchan observed that there were “many times when Ms. Necheles could have objected but didn’t.” The judge acknowledged that he wished New York prosecutors hadn’t asked Daniels certain questions. But in a biting review of Necheles’s performance as Trump’s defense lawyer, Merchan cited one incident...

Legal analysts are accusing Judge Aileen Cannon of pro-Donald Trump bias after indefinitely suspending his classified documents case. Cannon, a Trump appointee, indefinitely postponed the trial on Tuesday, citing legal disputes around classified evidence. Cannon said there were eight outstanding substantive pending motions for her to rule on and predicted this will take until at least late July. It is unknown whether the case will begin before the November 2024 presidential election. If elected, Trump has a number of options to kill the trial, including pardoning himself or appointing a favorable attorney general to drop the charges. Cannon is overseeing...

A disbarred, serial perjurer walks into a courtroom and asks to take an oath . . . No, seriously, this is not a joke. Michael Cohen will soon appear in a Manhattan courtroom in what is sure to be one of the most bizarre moments in legal history. Cohen nearly comprises the prosecution’s entire case against former President Donald Trump under a criminal theory that still has many of us baffled. It is not clear what crime Trump was supposedly trying to conceal by making “hush-money” payments to former porn actress Stormy Daniels. What is clear is that none of...

Fox News continued its dominance in the April ratings, while network coverage of Donald Trump’s hush money trial has failed to produce blockbuster viewership. In fact, all the major cable news networks saw a drop off in the key 25-54 demo versus a year ago. Working against the networks is the fact that the television coverage of the Trump trial is prohibited in the courtroom, leaving it to correspondents to check in with regular reports along with an assortment of legal analysts. CNN and MSNBC have added scrolls on the side of their screens with real time text updates from...

VIDEOThe Biden-directed prosecution of President Donald Trump in the Manhattan trial is so pathetically weak that even the MSNBC Legal Correspondent Lisa Rubin was forced to admit that the prosecution presented NO EVIDENCE of Trump's personal guilt. You just know that if the prosecutors had slam dump evidence of Trump's supposed guilt, they would have presented it at the get-go of this CORRUPT trial. This trial is starting to resemble the EVIDENCE=FREE impeachment trial of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton last year when the case completely fell apart in the state senate when the prosecution's witnesses were forced to admit...

Prosecutors made the unusual decision this week to remain almost entirely mum about the order in which they planned to call their first witnesses in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial in New York. Joshua Steinglass, a prosecutor working on behalf of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, said Friday evening he would let Trump’s attorneys know the name of their first witness on Sunday night, the day before opening arguments in the case are set to begin, according to a report from the courtroom. Trump’s defense team had asked for the names of the first three witnesses that prosecutors...

All jurors, including the replacements and an alternate have been revealed in President Trump’s “Hush Money” trial. As Jim Hoft reported, Fox News host Jesse Watters previously revealed seven of the jurors selected to serve in Trump’s “hush money” trial involving porn star Stormy Daniels. Two were dismissed after radical-left Judge Juan Merchan agreed they could not be fair to Trump. But the jury pool is still tilted far to the left and even includes a woman who has called Trump “very selfish” and “self-serving.” Here’s the FULL list of people deciding Trump’s fate. The following information is gathered from...

Max Azzarello is the name given by the man who set himself on fire outside the Trump trial in New York after leaving behind a “rambling” manifesto and social media accounts in which he sang about starting a “revolution.” “Start a “f****** revolution,” he sang over and over again on Instagram in January. “You’ve got nothing to lose.” Another Instagram post showed him posing as an Uncle Sam-like figure, pointing at the camera. It read, “I want you to tear down a haunted carnival.” Heavy has located the manifesto, on which he writes, “My name is Max Azzarello, and I...

One prospective juror broke down in tears after revealing her connection to Trump’s former lawyer and convicted perjurer Michael Cohen and former NJ governor Chris Christie. “I feel so nervous and anxious right now,” the juror said as she began to cry. “I don’t want to waste the court’s time,” she said. “I thought I could do this. This is so much more stressful than I thought it was going to be.” The judge excused the juror. Fox News reported: A potential juror who said she had connections to both former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Donald Trump’s former...

Crazy

They said they couldn't be fair or impartial Developments on the first day of Donald Trump's historic criminal case in New York:Dozens of potential jurors dismissed. More than 50 of the 96 potential jurors brought in for a preliminary round of questioning were immediately excused after raising their hands to indicate they couldn't be fair or impartial, reports the New York Times. The fail rate was "surpassingly rare," the Times reports. Before the trial ended for the day, Judge Juan Merchan questioned nine potential jurors, CNN reports. He dismissed a woman who said she had strongly held beliefs about Trump...

Former President Trump said he will miss the E. Jean Carroll trial on Thursday so that he can attend his mother-in-law’s funeral, blasting the judge presiding over the case as "nasty" for not delaying court proceedings for the day. ... "So, it happened very terribly as we asked to just delay the trial for one day so I could go to the funeral tomorrow and then we could start Friday or Monday or any time they want," Trump explained. "And he said, absolutely not, the trial will go on just as it is." Trump said the judge said, "You can...

Harrison Floyd, former director of Black Voices for Trump, considered grabbing the gun of one of the FBI agents who allegedly did not show a badge as he tried to serve him a subpoena in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s 2020 election probe, Floyd told police in bodycam footage obtained by Politico. While Floyd’s altercation with the agents is not captured on camera, his description of it to local police who responded to the 911 call he placed following the incident is contained in bodycam footage obtained by Politico. The agents, who Floyd says did not show a badge, approached him...

Lawyers for Donald Trump have once again urged a federal judge to grant them access to the classified documents that special counsel Jack Smith wants to redact. Trump is facing dozens of felony charges accusing him of illegally retaining classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, after leaving the White House and hiding them from government investigators. The 37 charges include retaining classified information, obstructing justice and making false statements, among other crimes. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges in June. The trial is set for May 20, 2024, but could be delayed. Earlier in...

Florida is livid. They want to know why Governor DeSantis passed up good candidates to pick a controversial candidate for Sheriff in their county. The local St. Lucie press reported on the move this week. Gov. Ron DeSantis’ appointment of Lt. Keith Pearson to be sheriff after the abrupt resignation of longtime Sheriff Ken Mascara shocked local Republican leaders, who asked DeSantis to reconsider the decision. DeSantis, a Republican, on Friday tapped Pearson the same day Mascara, a Democrat in his sixth term, notified the governor about his sudden retirement. In a letter Mascara released Friday afternoon to the public,...

The ongoing “fraud” trial led by Letitia James in New York City continues to unfold, and to anyone watching, it’s apparent that the highly biased TDS judge is already chomping at the bit to hand down a “guilty” verdict. This has always been the predetermined outcome for the first tragic act against Trump, and the rest will follow the same way. But President Trump understands this game and isn’t just rolling over. He actually floored Judge Engoron by whipping out a bombshell document right there on the witness stand—a total game-changer for this sham trial. And the judge’s reaction? It...

Special counsel Jack Smith urged a federal judge on Friday to bar media outlets from televising the election subversion case against former President Donald Trump in Washington, DC. Last month, attorneys for a coalition of news organizations, including NBCUniversal, asked United States District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan to make an exception to the longstanding rule that prohibits broadcasting and photographing criminal proceedings in federal courts under the Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure. Prosecutors are trying to uphold the rule that states, “the court must not permit the taking of photographs in the courtroom during judicial proceedings” or broadcasting those proceedings...

The Manhattan judge deciding Donald Trump’s $250 million civil fraud trial lost his cool on Wednesday — slamming his hand on the bench and snapping, “This is ridiculous” — as the former president’s lawyers grilled his ex-accountant over inconsistent testimony. The judge’s annoyed reaction came after Trump’s side claimed that Donald Bender, a partner at accounting firm Mazars USA, was evading their questions. The attorneys had also repeatedly insisted they needed to meticulously go through Trump’s financial records with Bender “year by year.” “Don’t waste time,” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron said sternly. Trump attorney Jesus Suarez had spent...

Kangaroo Court Day 2, Live Thread. President Trump, Judge Engoron, and Attorney General James. So, 80% of the charges cleared yesterday because of the statute of limitations. Nice work by AG Letitia James. Yet, they still get airing according the judge? How is that fair if Trump is innocent until proven guilty and these earlier charges are no longer relevant or being prosecuted. How does Trump defend himself? And will Trump get new attorneys? Can't believe they were so incompetent to no check off the box for a Jury Trial. Seriously?! Okay, let the spectacle begin...

Former Presiden Trump announces that the judge has ruled that 80% of the trial is dismissed due to the statute of limitations at the end of his first day in the NYC civil fraud trial. Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more: