So I read the live updates throughout the day - and was then surprised to see headlines later claiming that Cohen’s “knees were cut out from under him.”
From what I heard, the defense made a point that on a call where Cohen called Trump’s body guard to say the Stormy thing was taken care of, text messages before the call suggest that Cohen was calling to instead complain about a 14 year old that was prank calling Cohen.
The defense also pointed out that Cohen was conservatively getting something like 20,000 calls a year. All in all, the point they were making seemed to be that Cohen couldn’t be sure about when the phone call took place and that the exact call he specified early likely was about something else.
So how devastating is that to the prosecution’s case? In my mind, it sounds like a reasonable mistake. But is it crucial that they identify exactly at what point in time Cohen talked to Trump? I could see if this was a murder case and they were like “the victim was killed at 8:00, but your call at 8:02 was about something else so you’re lying!” But does the exact time and date of this call actually matter?
Interesting. As much as Trump has been trying to paint Merchan as totally corrupt, he’s actually shown significantly more leeway than I think he would show any other defendant. When it came to the contempt charges, he specifically stated that he didn’t want to jail Trump because he was a former president and current candidate. With that in mind, I would be shocked if he chooses to jail Trump during the appeals process.
Interesting article. This point bothers me the most, because I feel it’s so true deeply in my bones. When discussing Trump’s team potentially losing the trial but winning political points, they say:
Practically, the appeals process will inevitably take time, and I doubt if Trump wins the election, he would be sent to state prison. So maybe in the long run, it’s not a terrible miscalculation.
I feel like even a guilty verdict still does not mean Trump will ever see consequences.
Who was it that said Trump “lacks the character and the moral center we desperately need again in the White House”? Cause Mike Johnson should listen to that guy.
Lol I absolutely complained about the cost of songs in Rock Band and Guitar Hero. I started playing those games in Guitar Hero 2 and refused to ever pay extra for additional songs. I guess in my mind, that was vastly different than paying for stuff like Stellaris DLC since I felt like I was being nickled and dimed.
I take that back though. Now that I think about it I might have paid for the Trogdor song… unless that was included in the base game.
You know, I actually appreciate Paradox. They make top notch games like Stellaris, that are absolutely playable and complete by themselves, then add optional DLC while continuing to support the original game with updates. Some of their DLC is purely cosmetic, but they also add a lot of cool shit like “what if we had giant star sized dragons?”
For a game that’s 8 years old, I don’t mind dropping a few bucks on interesting DLC every now and then. All in all, I’d say I’ve spent about $50 on Stellaris DLC and have more than enough content to keep me busy for a while.
The Sims, on the other hand, is just fucking out of control. They’ve got expansion packs, game packs, stuff packs, and kits. Buying everything for The Sims 4 would be close to $1,100 as of a year ago - probably quite a bit more by now.
their strategy is to pretend Michael Cohen used his own home equity loan_ to pay off Stormy Daniels for no reason. As if that’s totally normal.
That’s the thing that cracks me up. They’ve got to convince the jury that there are just rogue lawyers out there taking out home equity loans to protect their clients without discussing it with their clients. Like it’s just a completely normal thing to do.
Maybe Trump’s current team of lawyers will make their closing arguments and be like “and it turns out that during this trial, the entire defense team has mortgaged their houses to keep this trial going, all unbeknownst to our client. The defense rests.”
I would love to have your optimism. I have no doubt that he’ll be found guilty for some - probably not all, but hopefully a significant amount - of the charges against him. However, I am highly skeptical about him facing any serious consequences.
He has the political power and wealth to delay justice indefinitely. If he’s found guilty, I highly doubt a judge will have the courage to sentence him to jail. Even then, he’ll spend years appealing and delaying. If he’s reelected, that will make things even more complicated, likely delaying many of his pending cases. Then he’d be 82 years old at the end of this term. Starting trials then, with their endless appeals and delays, would never result in him facing jail.
The best case scenario is that he loses all his trials and loses the election. Assuming some judge is ballsy enough to sentence him to jail, he will still be able to drag this out in appeals until his hamberder stuffed heart gives out.
That part always makes me laugh too. It would be like if Trump ordered a hitman to kill someone and then his defense was “why would anyone take the word of an admitted killer?”
He has remained free pending the outcome of his appeal.
Why is it these assclowns can get convicted and postpone jail seemingly indefinitely? Even with him losing this appeal, the article still mentions other legal maneuvers he can attempt to continue avoiding jailtime.
I get that money buys good lawyers, but this shit seems ridiculous. What does it take to throw him in jail and let him appeal from there like a regular person?